A strong message from Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday resulted in many of the 14 party-ruled States planning to implement the game changer Food Security Ordinance from August 20 — birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
At a meeting of Congress CMs, which was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Sonia asked the Chief Ministers to implement the Ordinance in letter and spirit as it was their responsibility to become a role model for other States in this regard. She explained that the Government brought the Ordinance on food security as the Bill was getting delayed due to disruptions in Parliament.
Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda and his Delhi counterpart Sheila Dikshit announced to implement the Ordinance from August 20 as most of the works regarding identification of beneficiaries have been completed in the two States. Delhi has also set up a Food Commission required to monitor the implementation of the legislation.
Other CMs also assured to implement at the earliest the dream project of Sonia, which the Congress feels would pay rich dividend in the elections, but did not specify the date. However, they indicated that they would also try to do by Rajiv’s birth anniversary. Rajasthan, which is going for Assembly polls along with Delhi in November, is also keen on implementing it soon to reap the benefits in elections. After Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Rajasthan is going to get maximum increase in subsidised foodgrain quota from the Centre under the Ordinance.
However, some North-eastern States shared the problems they would face in transporting the additional foodgrains to far flung areas. But Food Minister KV Thomas, who gave a presentation explaining the technical details of the Ordinance at the meeting, dismissed it as the issue concerning individual States which could be sorted out separately. But the PM assured to help them in this regard, sources said.
Sonia said that the Ordinance will give legal entitlement of food to 82 crore people and will serve as bulwark to fight against malnutrition and deprivation. The PM made the concluding remark while Rahul keenly observed the presentation along with general secretaries, political secretary of the Congress president Ahmad Patel, party treasurer Moti lal Vora and senior Ministers who are members of the Congress Core Group.
The 13 Chief Ministers of Congress ruled State — only absentee being Vijay Bahuguna of Uttarakhand — were highly appreciative of the that the legislation is based on a life cycle approach aimed to ensure adequate nourishment for every age group, starting from when the child is in his/her mother’s womb and special focus on vulnerable groups like pregnant and lactating women and children, AICC general secretary incharge of Communication Ajay Maken said. However, he said that the Ordinance should not be linked to possibility of early polls.
About why the Congress is not focusing on Opposition-ruled States and just called its own CMs for meeting, Maken said that he would be sending eight Congress spokespersons to various States from Monday to hold workshop on Food Security legislation and hold consultation with PCC chiefs on the issue. The party would also circulate booklets detailing the various provisions of the legislations to increase awareness about food security so that people could get their legal entitlement.
Rejecting the BJP’s charge that the Congress has brought the legislation in hurry, Maken said that after the announcement was made by the President in June 2009, the Food Ministry had held three meetings with the States to discuss the issue and get their feedback, eGoM held eleven meetings on the issue while Parliamentary Standing Committee deliberated the Bill for one year and on its suggestion 73 changes were made and efforts were made to pass the Bill in March 2013 in Parliament. Since it was not allowed there was no option but to enact the Ordinance which was circulated to all the States, he said.
Dismissing Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s apprehensions that the Ordinance was anti-farmer, Maken said that under Schedule 3 of Section 31 of the Ordinance measures to increase procurement and storage of foodgrains and incentivise agriculture and protecting interest of small and marginal farmers have been listed. Moreover, MSP of wheat and rice has doubled and procurement increased from 382.2 lakh tonnes to 602.4 lakh tonnes since 2006, he said.