Time is apparently running out for the ruling UPA to reap political dividends from the Food Security Bill. The growing sense within the ministry of food and consumer affairs is that there would not be enough political mileage by going for an executing order, while the ordinance route would amount to giving states six months time to implement the provisions by which it would be too late to build a political slogan.
The ministry is also wary of the fact that the ordinance could not be as simple as it’s being made out for the reason that the Monsoon Session of the Parliament is not far away, while the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar appears determined to put his foot down against any attempt to rush through the Food Security Bill.
“The realistic case scenario appears to wait for the Monsoon Session and allow a thorough discussion over the legislative proposal on Food Bill before enacting it into a law. The government will have a weaker case to push for an ordinance route due to Parliament reconvening in another two months time, while the President Pranab Mukherjee may not be so agreeable to such a haste,” said a senior official in the ministry of food and consumer affairs.
The option to rush through an executive order apparently is not exciting the Union minister of state for food and consumer affairs, as it would only amount to quantitative changes in the current public distribution system without the legal entitlement, which the Congress is keen on, added the official.
“As far as the ordinance option is concerned, the states will take a minimum six months time from the date of the notification to put in place the measures to implement the provisions of the legislative proposal. So, there will not be much time for the benefits to be seen on the grounds,” said another official in the ministry.
The view within the Congress is emerging to get the Food Security Bill passed in the next session of the Parliament and build a campaign for the next Lok Sabha elections on the plank of having delivered on the 2009 manifesto promise, said a senior party leader.