PM to discuss alternative food Bill today

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting tomorrow to discuss an alternative plan for the National Food Security Bill, the ruling coalition’s most ambitious social security programme.

Also termed ‘Plan B’, it seeks to widen the numbers covered under the programme to about 68 per cent of the entire population from the 64 per cent in the pending Bill. It was first floated by a section of activists on the issue. The original Bill, as cleared by the cabinet last year, is currently being vetted by a standing committee of Parliament.

The PM is also expected to discuss a host of related issues such as the delivery mechanism for foodgrain, storage and other related issues, officials said. Food Minister K V Thomas, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan, are to attend.

Plan B seeks to provide a uniform 25 kg of cheap grain (five kg per person per month) to all poor families, irrespective of the below and above poverty line (BPL and APL) distinction. Rice will be given at Rs 3 per kg, wheat at Rs 2 per kg and coarse cereals at Rs 1 per kg.

The existing Bill had sought to provide a legal entitlement for cheap grain to 75 per cent of all rural households and 50 per cent of urban ones. Priority category households, a classification similar to the current BPL one, were to be supplied seven kg of grain per person per month, while general category households were to get three to four kg per person per month. Rice was to be given to priority sector households at Rs 3 a kg, wheat at Rs 2 a kg and coarse cereals at Rs 1 a kg. To general category households, it was to be given at a price related to the government’s Minimum Support Price for the crop.

At present, the Targeted Public Distribution System provides subsidised grain to 65.2 million BPL and 110.5 mn APL families. Once the current Bill is implemented, the government’s average annual procurement will have to rise to 60-65 mt, as against the current 55-60 mt of grain.

The new plan would raise the food subsidy to around Rs 120,000 crore, up from the current estimate of Rs 110,000 crore annually, and would require around 62 mt every year.

In the first week of July, the Prime Minister’s Office had also reviewed the progress of computerisation of the Public Distribution System, leakages in it and the issue of storage, transportation and distribution of foodgrain.