Even as the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi is working towards a near universal public distribution system under the proposed national food security act, the food ministry headed by Sharad Pawar has ruled out a universal PDS.
Stating the government is not actively considering to re-introduce universal PDS, the food ministry has said the move will dilute the focus of the scheme on the poor.
The NAC, which is drafting the food security bill, has recommended roll out of act starting with 160 poorest districts or blocks in the country.
The NAC is working on ways to enhance production and procurement of food grains in the long run as the right to food law is expanded across the remaining districts.
The NAC’s aim is to cover the maximum number of beneficiaries while excluding the creamy layer.
Surprisingly, though the food ministry had been reluctant to increase the number of current BPL beneficiaries (6.5cr families) under the PDS as demanded by the states, following observations of the Supreme Court it has of late decided to take refuge in the enhanced numbers suggested by the planning commission and extend the scheme to 8.1cr BPL families.
Though the NAC is expected to accept the planning panel’s estimates of BPL numbers, the advisory body wants to include other vulnerable sections of society including pregnant women, destitutes, street children, urban poor and HIV patients under the right to food umbrella. This is bound to push up the count of beneficiaries from the projected 8.1 crore.
The food ministry’s reason is that procurement of huge quantities of wheat and rice (around 100 mt) to meet the requirement of a universal PDS would result in very less availability of foodgrains in the market, leading to a rise in the open market prices.
It has also argued that if the same quantity of food grains is distributed equally among all, then the scale of issue (35 kg per BPL family per month) will have to be reduced.
Further, in order to manage the level of food subsidy, the issue prices of rice and wheat may have to be increased substantially from the current Central Issue Prices (CIPs) which have not been revised during the past 10 years, said the ministry.
The move would mean that BPL families would end up not only getting reduced quantity but will have to pay higher price under the PDS, the ministry added.