Food subsidy to touch Rs 1.31 lac cr for implementing food law

The government's food subsidy bill is estimated to touch Rs 1,31,086 crore annually to implement the food security law, Parliament was informed today.
"Annual food subsidy implication of implementation of National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) at 2014-15 costs, is estimated to be around Rs 1,31,086 crore against which Rs 1,10,500 crore has been provided in the current year budget," Minister of State for Food Raosaheb Patil Danve said.
In addition to this an amount of Rs 4,500 crore has been allotted for sugar subsidy, he said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
"Implementation of law is contingent upon identification of eligible households by States/UTs for receiving subsidised foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). For which a period not exceeding 365 days has been provided in the Act," the Minister said.

Stating that the identification exercise is yet to be completed in many states/UTs, Danve said they have been asked to complete identification process at the earliest and ensure implementation of the Act within next three months.
In September last year, Parliament passed the Food Security Act that gave legal entitlement to highly subsidised foodgrains to two-thirds of the country's population. The ordinance was, however, issued in July 2013.

About 81.35 crore people would get subsidised foodgrains under the law.
Each eligible person would get 5 kg of of rice and wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kg respectively. The existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35 kg of foodgrains per family a month.

So far, Danve said allocation of foodgrains to 11 states/ Union Territories has started under the Act.
Out of these, in 6 states, namely Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan has reported completed identification as per coverage under the Act.
In the remaining five states/UTs namely Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh identification is partial.