K.V. Thomas

Are you relieved that that the National Food Security Bill has cleared the Lok Sabha and may now get through Parliament?

We have a lot to do. My next task is to cut the leakage from the public distribution system (PDS), which currently is to the extent of 30 to 35 per cent. If we succeed, we will be better off in economic terms.
For three-and-a-half months, we have been striving to strengthen the PDS, and storage and procurement. Computerisation is being effected with the introduction of the biometric system. We have succeeded in bringing down the number of ration cards from 22 crore to 16 crore by eliminating the non-deserving.

How confident are you about storage conditions? There have been reports of grains rotting in godowns?

We are working on the mechanisation of storage. Earlier, there was no serious verification of the storage facilities. To correct this we have embarked on a plan to completely evacuate one-third of them. In the next two years, we have to build silos with a capacity of 20 lakh tonnes.
We are also asking states to build storage capacity. The Centre will offer major financial support for this. Further, we are modernising the functioning of the Food Corporation of India, which is currently completely manual.
A pilot project has been started in Bengaluru where operations are semi-mechanised. Grain sacks move on conveyor belts. CCTV cameras are being installed to keep a watch on the whole process of procurement and distribution of grains.
The Right to Food cannot be effectively implemented until we complete these tasks. I’ll be travelling to all the 35 states to view the situation.

The UPA has been criticised for bringing the Food Security Bill at a time when the economy is in crisis.

The Food Security Bill was in the Congress manifesto in 2009. The Right to Food then found mention in the President’s address. A lot of work went into realising the commitment. An empowered group of ministers under then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was set up. Four meetings were held with state food ministers, and the matter was discussed in two meetings of the National Development Council. Only then was the draft bill introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2012. All recommendations of the Standing Committee were accepted except one.
As to your question about economic crisis, would the rupee not have faced pressure if there was no Food Bill for the poor. Currently, 32 crore people are covered under the PDS. This will zoom to 82 crore under the Right to Food. This is a burden we can bear.

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha claims that the full cost of the rollout of the Right to Food would be around Rs 3,00,000 crore.

The current food subsidy is Rs 1,09,000 crore based on the 2000 census. As per the 2011 census, the cost would be Rs 1,13,000 crore. The exaggerated figure cited by some is based on an investment of Rs 1,00,000 in agriculture.
It should be realised that agricultural produce are a big foreign exchange earner with an annual export of Rs 2,35,000 crore. Should we not invest in agriculture? Why should it be linked to the Right to Food?

But critics are worried about the ballooning subsidy burden.

Why are we not questioning subsidies in other areas that are not directly linked to the people? Biscuit manufacturers and flour mills also get subsidised grains, for example. The export of agricultural produce also has a subsidy element. Then why should we not spend on food security for the poor?

Many have criticised the Food Bill for not adequately addressing the issue of nutrition. Will the government consider including pulses and edible oils?

The Right to Food will address the nutritional aspect of a large chunk of the population as children up to Class 7, pregnant women and lactating mothers, would get a nutritional component. Besides, we are running the Integrated Child Development Scheme, and the Mid-Day Meal scheme. Additionally, the Centre has a pulses and edible oils scheme for which state governments receive a subsidy. Once the Right to Food programme is successfully rolled out, we may consider including more items, besides rice, wheat and millet.

The Food Bill will remain suspended at a time of natural calamities, disasters, or war. But it is in such times that food is needed the most.

This clause was inserted at the insistence of the law ministry as they wanted to be legally sound on technicality. But the Right to Food will never be suspended.

Do you think the Right to Food law will tilt the balance in favour of the Congress in the next election?

Pandit Nehru heralded the five-year plan under which he focused on dams and irrigation, for which he was criticised by the Left. But agriculture benefited. Indiraji nationalised private banks, boosting industrialisation. Rajivji brought the telecommunication revolution, computers, space satellites, and also panchayati raj institutions, and gave power to women. He too was criticised. Now, Soniaji and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have given the Right to Food. In fact, food is the birth right of the people. I do not see any alternative to the Congress.

International agricultural organisations are concerned that in the event of drought India would be rushing to import foodgrains to meet demands under the new food law, and this may jack up world food prices.

This is a valid concern. Being a nation of 120 crore people, we need to invest in agriculture. We cannot be a food importing nation. For the Right to Food scheme, we currently need 62 million tonnes of foodgrains, and this amounts to the procurement of 30 per cent of the total foodgrains production in the country.