Confusion prevailed in the food ministry over the scheduled meeting of an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on food on Thursday in the absence of food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, recuperating from a minor surgery in Mumbai.
Mr Pawar has been advised rest by the doctors and is expected to attend office only by next week, said sources. Unsure if the EGoM would meet in his absence, the food ministry requested it to defer taking up the draft food security bill as the minister concerned would not be present there.
With no fresh communication from the office of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee (who heads the EGoM) till Wednesday evening, food ministry officials prepared for the meeting anxiously all through the day. However, government sources said the EGoM is slated to meet on Thursday even without Mr Pawar.
This would be the first time the EGoM on food would be meeting in the absence of the food and agriculture minister.
Sources said the EGoM is likely to take stock of the wheat and rice procurement policy. The group is also likely to review the shortage of storage facilities, which leads to large-scale wastage as foodgrains have to be stored in the open.
Sources said food grain procurement in the ongoing season has dropped marginally by 2 to 3 per cent as compared to the same period last year. Another issue the EGoM is expected to take up is the count of below poverty line (BPL) persons, who would be the beneficiaries of the proposed food security bill.
Sources said the Planning Commission is expected to make a presentation on the below poverty line estimates, based broadly on the recommendations of an expert panel headed by Suresh Tendulkar, which pegged the number of below poverty line persons as 37.5 per cent of the population.
The plan panel may also give its opinion on the inclusion of other vulnerable sections of society including women and the disabled in order to make the right to food law more broad-based.
This is necessary as it would help the government plan the food grain allocation and make provisions for the enhanced food subsidy bill. At present the government provides subsidized ration to 6.5 crore BPL families under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS).
A fairly accurate count of the BPL would further help the government reform the inefficient targeted public distribution system, which is part of the draft food security bill.