The Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the Food Security Bill which will provide 67 per cent population of the country foodgrains at highly subsidized rate of Rs 3 per Kg rice, Rs 2 per kg wheat and Re 1 per kg millet.
The revised Bill will guarantee 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month, while families in the poorest of the poor will continue to get 35 kg of grains per month. It will cover 75 percent rural population and 50 percent of Urban population.
“The revised Food Bill has been cleared by Cabinet. We will try to bring amendments to the Food Bill in Parliament before Friday,” Food Minister K V Thomas said. The beneficiaries would be decided by state governments, while the criteria to exclude 33 per cent of population would be provided by the Planning Commission, he said.
The Bill, which is the brainchild of Congress President Sonia Gandhi lead National Advisory Council, is likely to get passed in the current session of Parliament that ends on May 10. The Congress feels that the Bill will prove to be a game changer along with Direct Benefit Transfer and help it reap electoral dividend in lok Sabha elections.
In the revised Bill over 55-56 amendments have been made in line with the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which submitted its report in January this year.
About 62 million tonnes of foodgrains would be required to implement the bill, while the food subsidy is estimated at Rs 1,24,747 crore at 2013-14 costs, which is Rs 23,800 crore higher than the existing level.
Unlike the original bill which divided beneficiaries into two categories -- priority and general households -- with different entitlement and price, the revised bill proposes only one category of beneficiary with uniform entitlement of 5 kg per person per month at uniform price of Rs 1-3/kg for all beneficiaries.
In the original bill the government had proposed 7 kg of rice or wheat or millet a month for priority category at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg respectively, while at least 3 kg per person per month for general households at 50 per cent of Minimum Support price.