‘Analyse, resolve govt objections’
National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi has asked the working group on National Food Security Bill to “analyse and resolve” the objections raised against its draft proposals by the government agencies.
Sources said though there is a general agreement to have an inclusive but differential public distribution system under the proposed bill, two major areas of disagreement have cropped up between the advisory body and the Planning Commission related to procurement of grains and the price to be charged from the above poverty line (APL) category.
While the NAC working group has suggested the issue price of food grains for the APL persons be kept at around 50 per cent of the minimum support price (MSP) given by the government to the farmers, the Planning Commission and the food ministry want it to be close to the MSP.
For the BPL persons, the NAC has generally agreed upon an issue price of Rs 3 per kg.
The other point on which there was no consensus between the NAC and the government agencies is the procurement of food grains. Sources said while the working group on Food Security Bill has suggested 60 million tonnes food grains to meet the requirements of the proposed law, the Planning Commission and the food ministry were stuck at a figure of 55 million tonnes.
The total foodgrain production including rice and wheat in the country is around 170-180 million tonnes.
The government procures around 55 million tonnes annually to meet the requirements of its various schemes including the TPDS.
On Friday, convenor of the working group on the proposed National Food Security Bill Harsh Mander made a presentation on the draft prepared by them.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, secretary, food and public distribution, Alka Sirohi, secretary, women and child development D.K. Sikri and housing and urban poverty alleviation secretary Kiran Dhingra presented the viewpoint of various government agencies on the issue.
“We will hold further deliberations and hope the working group would be able to arrive at some conclusions by the next meeting on October 23,” said an NAC member.
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