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Even as the opposition lambasted the UPA for adopting the ordinance route to implement the much-awaited National Food Security programme, the government is of the view that the executive step was the only option as implementing the gigantic scheme involves a lot of preparatory work.
Officials involved in the process said promulgating an ordinance in July will enable it to practically put the law into effect around November-December since much of the work like identification of eligible households and setting up of grievance redressal mechanisms in each state are yet to be completed.
This also made a perfect political sense for the ruling dispensation as five assemblies will go to polls later this year and even political activities related to the General Elections will heat up by end of 2013, some experts said.
To give time to state governments to make all preparatory arrangements for implementing the programme, the ordinance has introduced two new clauses-- 10 and 41.
Clause 10 provides six months time from the date of commencement of the ordinance to the state governments as lead time to identify eligible households as per the guidelines framed under the National Food Security Bill.
However, state governments will continue to receive foodgrains under the existing Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) till such identification.
The clause 41 states that existing orders, guidelines, food standards etc will function as on date of commencement of the ordinance till new guidelines or schemes are framed.
The food ministry, the nodal ministry for implementing the food security programme, brought in an ordinance just weeks before the monsoon session of Parliament to enable it to kick start all the preparatory work well in time, officials involved in the process said.
The ministry felt that any further delay in implementing the provisions of the law could be counter-productive as any report of hunger-related death in any part of the country could be linked to Government’s inaction.
The ordinance seeks to guarantee legal entitlement for cheap grains to almost 67 per cent of the Indian population. It will provide 5 kilograms of rice or wheat or coarse cereals to every identified beneficiary per month at the rate of Rs 3, Rs two and Re one a kg respectively.
The government’s annual food subsidy Bill is expected to swell to Rs 1,24,724 crore once the ambitious programme is fully implemented, as against the 2013-14 Budget estimate of Rs 90,000 crore. However, a quarter of the financial year is already over and at least another three months will be gone by the time the massive programme is fully rolled out.
Officials said the argument put forward in favour of the ordinance to implement the programme instead of usual discussion over bill in Parliament was that some parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh were affected by drought. The Food Security Ordinance will enable the states to effectively handle the situation and also guarantee assured foodgrains to the people. Foodgrains will also be guaranteed to a wider section of the population as it takes into account the latest population estimate.
Some officials said, the ordinance was also needed as current entitlements for foodgrains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) are based on 1993-94 poverty ratio applied on the estimated population in the year 2000.
India's population had just crossed one billion in 2000. Since then, it has grown enormously to over 1.2 billion. As such, the entitlements are being met through ad-hoc allocation to Above Poverty Line (APL) families. This was not sufficient as in many cases the allocations are not regular, while states were lackadaisical in lifting the grains. “The ordinance will correct this aberration,” an official said. EoM
