Dipankar Bose
The promise came on June 4, 2009 with then President announcing in the Parliament that India needs food security and a National Food Security Act would be formulated. It took two years for the UPA Government to prepare its first draft, which came in 2011.
Another two years went by and finally, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to the draft Food Bill only in March this year, which has been followed by promulgation of an Ordinance, with only weeks ahead of the Parliament’s Monsoon session, raising many eyebrows and drawing sharp criticism from several corners including the opposition that the Centre was trying to avoid any constructive debate on an important legislation like the Food Security Bill.
The argument that Congress party, which heads the UPA coalition at the Centre, wants to rush the Bill ahead of the election season, kicking off from end of this year with Assembly polls in some states and ending with the general elections next year, is also been strongly posed.
The Opposition’s frequent stalling of Parliament proceedings might add fodder to UPA’s counterargument that there was no way other than taking the Ordinance route to put the Food Security legislation to effect, but there are several problems and unanswered questions with the Bill in its present form.
And that is why, it needs to be deliberated and debated upon and appropriate forum of that was the floor of the Parliament.
A broad look at the Ordinance promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee shows that the UPA aims to give right to subsidised food grain to 67 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people and will ensure food and nutritional security.
The ordinance specially focuses on the needs of the poorest of the poor, women and children, provides for grievance redressal mechanism and penalty for non-compliance by public servants or any authority.
Up to 75 percent of the rural population and up to 50 percent of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of five kg food grain per month, at highly subsidised prices of Rs 3, Rs 2, Re 1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains, respectively.
The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 kg food grain per household per month under the Antyodaya Anna Yojna at subsidised prices.
State-wise coverage will be determined by the Central Government and work of identification of eligible households has been left to the states and Union Territories (UTs), which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data.
There is a special focus on nutritional support to women and children. Pregnant women and lactating mothers, besides being entitled to nutritious meals as per the prescribed nutritional norms, will also receive maternity benefit of at least Rs 6,000 for six months. Children in the age group of six months to 14 years will be entitled to take home ration or hot cooked food, as per prescribed nutritional norms.
The Central Government will provide funds to states and UTs, in case of short supply of food grain from central pool.
In case of non-supply of food grain or meals, state and UT Governments will be required to provide food security allowance to the beneficiaries as prescribed by the Central Government.
But critics have questioned the elements of nutrition and the delivery system of food grains to the actual needy.
If statistics on malnutrition are to be believed, India is in the grip of a severe crisis. But, many have questioned the malnutrition statistics itself and have pointed out that malnutrition figures could be biased by genetic factors as they are based on a worldwide norm that does not take into account ethnic differences.
The symptoms of malnutrition can also be caused by poor public health, especially abysmal sanitation and lack of basic facilities, mostly to those who are targeted to be covered by the Food Security Bill.
And above all these, experts have pointed out that the cure for malnutrition is not more nutrition, but better nutrition.
Another bottleneck for the success of Food Security is that UPA proposes to roll out the scheme through PDS and Food Corporation of India, considered as two most inefficient institutions in India with average estimated leakages ranging from 40 to 55 per cent.
According to experts like Ashok Gulati, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, a moribund delivery mechanism is not the only issue which is definitely going to pose a major challenge for the scheme; its impact on the Government’s finances has also not been fully made public yet.
Gulati points out that the Government’s estimate of Rs 1.3 lakh crore for the initial stage of the scheme, does not incorporate other peripheral costs like storage facilities and transportation of food grains.
He estimates the first year burden to be more than Rs 2.4 lakh crore and around Rs 6.8 lakh crore in the next three years, based on assumptions that the annual requirement of food grains is approximately 70 million tonnes, as against the Government’s estimate of around 61 million tonnes.
With a legislation solely emphasising on food grains, it is bound to cause rise in inflation, especially agri-commodities like vegetables and dairy products, experts say. With the country’s fiscal deficit continuing to be a problem with the UPA, it’s anyone’s guess as to where will the Government look to cut its spending to keep the deficit within manageable limits and yet dole out the scheme.
Economists have already ponted out that “Without fixing the food distribution system, without fixing constraints on food production, on spoilage and on storage, just upping the demand suddenly could create a whole new wave of inflation.”
Another important aspect would surely be the final outcome of the ongoing Socio-Economic and Caste Census being conducted across the country, which will be a benchmark for identifying households eligible for the Food Security scheme.
There could surely be angry voices from many corners of India, when the actual distribution of food grains begins.
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