Thomas, Pawar to discuss executing part of draft Food Bill

Faced with storage problems, the food and agriculture ministries will meet on Tuesday to discuss the feasibility of early supply of wheat and rice at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg, respectively, to BPL families through ration shops.

Under the draft National Food Security Bill, the Centre has proposed to give a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains to both BPL and APL individuals.

However, the Food Ministry plans to implement the proposal related to BPL categories even before Parliament's nod for the Bill is given.

According to sources, Food Minister KV Thomas is scheduled to meet Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on August 16 to discuss this issue.

At present, the government provides 35 kg of wheat/rice in a month through ration shops to 6.52 crore families at Rs 4.15 per kg and Rs 5.65 per kg, respectively.

The meeting will also discuss ways to liquidate foodgrains stocks and strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS), as suggested by a Narendra Modi-headed panel's report, sources added.

The Food Ministry is of the view that the execution of part of the draft Bill could improve foodgrains lifting via the PDS and also help the government gear up for its final implementation once the draft Bill is approved by Parliament.

"The draft Bill aims to give a legal right on subsidised foodgrains. That legal right can be given to beneficiaries later after the passage of the Bill, but we can explore whether the foodgrains can be supplied now," a highly placed source noted.

Sources also said subsidised foodgrains may be given to more than the current 6.52 crore BPL families, taking into account the revised BPL list of the Planning Commission.

Last week, Thomas had noted that "since it will take time to pass the draft Bill, why cannot we start implementing the proposal on BPL families in the draft Bill now?"

Food subsidy expenditure is estimated at around Rs 82,000 crore for the current fiscal.

The draft Food Bill was recently cleared by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food and has also been vetted by the Law Ministry.

Government godowns so far have foodgrains stock of 61.27 million tonne, triple the buffer norm of 21.2 million tonne. The covered storage space is only 44 million tonne and the rest is kept in open areas.