After announcing the direct cash transfer rollout from January 1, the focus has come back on the Food Security Bill, for which the UPA government is looking at the Budget Session for passage. The parliamentary standing committee is learnt to have given its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
Along with direct cash transfer, the UPA is banking on the Food and Land Bills to yield the Congress rich dividends. “The standing committee report could be tabled in the Lok Sabha this week. The government will (then) move to the Cabinet with its final draft,” a senior official said.
While the Centre plans to exclude 33 per cent of the population from the Food Bill’s ambit, several states, including Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, want universal coverage for food entitlement.