The idea of bringing a Food Security Bill is good. (But) Going by the criteria laid down in the Bill, the Government of India is seemingly not serious about its implementation said State Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Minister Pratap Keshari Deb.
Talking to mediapersons here about the Bill brought by the UPA Government through an Ordinance on July 5, Deb said, “The Bill is definitely good for the people….. .....Keeping the general elections in view, the Bill has been brought. But several criteria including survey of beneficiaries, issue of guidelines and implementation, grievance redressal mechanism, supplementary nutrition programme (SNP), etc., laid down in the Bill are bound to delay implementation of the Bill,” he observed.
Regarding the impact of the Bill on Odisha, he said: “In view of the diverse degree of poverty in different States, we have demanded separate databases of beneficiaries for each State with different inclusions and exclusions. However, the Bill is silent on the issue.”
“Similarly, a database of socioeconomic classes (SECs) is yet to be declared. We have also demanded inclusion of the entire tribal population of the State in the list of beneficiaries. For undertaking all these exercises, it will take a lot of time. People will only come know about it but are unlikely to get benefit out of it soon,” he said.
“Odisha is not economically viable to afford creation of yet another new department for grievance redressal mechanism. The mechanism will require officials and employees from the Secretariat to the district and block levels. The Bill expects that the entire expenditure will be borne by the State Government, which is practically not feasible,” Deb observed.
However, he suggested that both the State and Central Governments bear the expenditure with ratio pattern of 90:10.
“The BJD Government has already launched scheme of providing rice at `2 per kg since 2008 and now it is providing it at `1 a kg. The Congress leaders should realise the difference between a scheme and a law (Food Security Bill),FF the Minister added.