The National Food Security law will be implemented in all states and Union Territories, barring Tamil Nadu, by April this year, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.
Till now, 25 states and UTs have rolled out the law while 11 are in the process of doing so, he said. The law was passed by Parliament in 2013 and state governments were given one year to implement it.
Since then, the deadline has been extended thrice till September 2015. The food law provides legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per person every month at Rs 1-3 kg to two-thirds of India's population. “When we came to power, the food law was implemented in only 11 states. Now, it has been rolled out in 25 states. All states and UTs, barring Tamil Nadu, will implement by April this year,” Paswan told reporters here.
Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Megalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman Nicobar, Mizoram, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Tamil Nadu are 11 states which are yet to implement the food law.
The minister said that direct cash transfer of food subsidy is being implemented on a pilot basis in Puducherry and Chandigarh.