Food Security Bill is 'half baked': BJP

The Bill is expected to come up for discussion in the Parliament today

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday criticised the Congress-led UPA Government over the Food Security Bill, saying that the ruling party wants to give half baked cake to the nation.

"The government wants to get the food security bill passed in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. But, the fact remains it's a half baked bill, the government wants to give half baked cake to the nation," said BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

"With an eye on elections, Congress wants to push this Bill in Parliament. The bill should be brought on board before passing it," he added.

BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of disrupting the Parliament and added that the opposition party will support the Food Security Bill with some amendments.

"We are not against the Food Security Bill but want to certain changes to be made in it. We want to include the Chhattisgarh model in it. The suggestions given by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in his letter to the Prime Minister also needs to be included. If the Centre accepts the changes, it will be good and there is no prejudice and the bill can easily pass," said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.

UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill is expected to come up for discussion and passage today.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had said that many leaders wanted to express their opinion on the Food Security Bill and they had requested the Speaker to take it up for discussion on Monday.

The National Food Security Bill is a historic initiative for ensuring food and nutritional security to the people. It gives a right to the people to receive adequate quantity of foodgrains at affordable prices.

The Bill has a special focus on nutritional support to the poorest of the poor , women and children.

In case of non-supply of foodgrains, the deprived will get a food security allowance. The Bill also provides for grievance redressal mechanism and penalty for non -compliance by a public servant or authority. Under the plan, the government will sell subsidised wheat and rice to 67% of its 1.2 billion population.