In a bid to win support of the key opponent Samajwadi Party for the National Food Security Ordinance’s ratification in Parliament, the government is to move an amendment in the legislative proposal to compensate states for the losses of foodgrains allocation for three years.
The government is hopeful that it will ensure the ratification of the contentious ordinance on Thursday, after roping in the support of the SP and JD(U), while it’s hoping that the Trinamul Congress will not oppose the move.
While the government in its parleys with states had assured that the less allocation to them following the implementation of the food security scheme will be compensated, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had told parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath and Union minister of state for food and consumer affairs K.V. Thomas that it should be states in the Bill itself, sources said.
With the food security bill limiting the foodgrains to 25 kg a family, while the states are disbursing 35 kg a family under the current public distribution scheme (PDS), there would have been substantially less allocation to them. Sources said Uttar Pradesh alone would have received one lakh tonne less foodgrains annually after the implementation of the food security scheme.
“There will be only one official amendment for the food security scheme and that will be to guarantee that states will be given additional allocation of foodgrains to compensate them for less allocation as per the food security scheme,” said a senior official in the ministry of food and consumer affairs. It appears that the SP’s demand to include pulses also in the ambit of the food security scheme has not been met.
Further, the government is also not receptive to the demands of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi that the nutritional value, which as per the Food Ordinance is “inadequate”, should be raised. “Under the food ordinance the nutritional aspect is covered only for the children, pregnant and lactative women and for others it’s not about nutrition. So, there is no question about linking food security scheme with the issue of nutrition,” added the official.