Govt ready with draft food security Bill

Talking to state CMs to bring down inflation.

FINANCE MINISTER Pranab Mukherjee said the government was ready with the draft food security Bill and that it would be placed in the public domain soon.

At the same time, the government was talking to state chief ministers to bring down inflation over the next few months to ensure there was better management of food security in the country, the finance minister said in his Budget speech.

The government’s resolve was to “strengthen food security, improve education opportunities and provide health facilities at the level of households”, he said. These issues require significant resources. “We have to find those resources,” he said.

Budgetary allocations for food subsidies have come down marginally from Rs 56,002 crore (revised estimates) last year to Rs 55,578 crore.

However, the finance minister emphasised the government’s commitments towards social sector spending, which included providing food security. Social sector spending, which has been gradually increased to Rs 1,37,674 crore, stands at 37 per cent of the total Plan outlay for 2010-11, he said.

Mukherjee noted with concern the emergence of double-digit food inflation. “A major concern during the second half of 2009-10 has been the emergence of double-digit food inflation,” he said. The flare-up preceded the financial crisis and it was expected that the agriculture season beginning in June 2009 would help moderate food inflation.

“However, erratic monsoons and drought-like conditions in large parts of the country reinforced the supply side bottlenecks in some of the essential commodities,” he said. Since December 2009, there have been indications of high food prices, he said.