18 states/UTs not ready to meet Sept deadline on food security

As many as 18 states/UTs including Uttar Pradesh have expressed inability to roll out the Food Security law by the Centre's September deadline and most of them have sought time till year-end for its implementation, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.
The deadline for implementation of the National Food Security Act, passed in Parliament in 2013, has been extended thrice till September 4 this year. So far, 12 states/UTs have implemented the food law.
"Six states/UTs -- Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Kerala and Lakshadweep -- have assured implementation of the Act by this September. The rest of them have sought more time," Paswan told reporters after the meeting of state food ministers here.

Most states like Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Assam and Nagaland have said that they will be able to implement the law fully by the year-end, he said.
"Two states Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir has said they would require 2-3 years time to implement the Act," he added.
The government has not yet taken any decision to further extend the deadline, Paswan said, adding, "however, it has been decided not to allocate additional foodgrains to APL and BPL families under public distribution system (PDS) to those states which fail to implement the food law by September."

There is improvement in the functioning of PDS but leakages and diversion of foodgrains can be addressed effectively with the bound completion of computerisation of PDS operations, he said.

The day-long conference on price rise and food law, attended by 33 states/UTs, also discussed issues related to Aadhar seeding in beneficiary database and installation of point of sale devices at ration shops for authentification of beneficiaries besides electronic recording of transactions.
The ambitious law aims to provide legal entitlement of 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per person per month at Rs 1-3/kg to two-thirds of the country's population.
As things stand, 12 states and UTs have rolled out the Food law, of which Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan have implemented it fully while Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Chandigarh have done so partially.