States get 6 more months to implement food security programme

The Centre has given six more months to state governments to implement the Food Security Act that give legal entitlement for subsidised foodgrains to two-thirds of population, Parliament was informed today.
The food law, which came into force in July last year, was to be implemented by state governments within a year by July 4, 2014. But the deadline was extended by three months till October 4 as many states could not put in place the necessary infrastructure for rolling out the welfare scheme.
"As period of 365 days for identification of eligible households got over on July 4, an additional three months time was given to these states/UTs to complete the identification exercise and start implementation of the act, which has been further extended by another six months ....," Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Raosaheb Patil Danve said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The allocation of foodgrains under the act has started to 11 states/union territories -- Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan,
Remaining 25 states/Uts have not completed preparatory measures required for implementation of the act. Implementation
of the act is reviewed on a regular basis and necessary advisories are issued to them, the reply added.

In September last year, Parliament had passed the Food Security Act under which 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.

During 2014-15, the allocation under food subsidy is Rs 1,10,500 crore against which Rs 88,509 crore has been released so far, the minister said.
In another reply, the minister said that under the act requirement of foodgrains is 614.3 lakh tonnes for Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and other welfare schemes, whereas the stock of foodgrains under central pool as on November 1 was 437.49 lakh tonnes.