NEW DELHI, Aug 4: Left parties today asked the Government to universalise the public distribution system and sought distribution of excess foodstock at BPL prices to check the high food inflation.
Top leaders of the four parties, which ended a five-day protest on the issue of ‘food security for all’ here yesterday, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here and submitted a memorandum also demanding minimum allocation of 35 kgs of foodgrains per month at the rate of Rs two per kg.
“We told him (Singh) that the distinction between APL and BPL be abolished and everyone, excluding the rich, be included in the PDS,” CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told.
The Prime Minister indicated that this option could be considered by the government, Karat, who was accompanied at the meeting by S Sudhakar Reddy (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP), said.
Maintaining that around five crore tonnes of surplus stocks were available in government godowns, he said already 25 lakh tonnes have been exported by private traders who had been given foodgrains at subsidised prices.
“We believe that these foodgrains should be distributed universally. Particularly at a time when India is facing one of its worst droughts, export of foodgrains is shortsighted and will only benefit big agri businesses,” Karat said, asking government to stop exports and distribute the excess stock to the affected in the drought-hit states at BPL prices.
When the Prime Minister told the Left delegation that the Standing Committee was studying the Food Security Bill, the leaders suggested that necessary amendments be brought in the measure and tabled in Parliament in the Monsoon Session starting next week.
The four parties have decided to picket FCI godowns on September 12 to demand distribution of excess stocks to the poor and universalisation of PDS among other things.
Rejecting the Food Security Bill in its present form, the Left leaders said the targeted PDS being implemented now excluded a vast section which required subsidised foodgrains.
“With a large majority of the workforce in the unorganised sector with no fixed income, the errors of exclusion far outweigh those of inclusion in a targeted system. With the largest numbers of hungry people in the world, India requires a comprehensive and inclusive food security system, which can only be provided by scrapping the targeted system and replacing it with a universal system,” the memorandum said.
Pointing out that many state governments were using their own limited funds to provide foodgrains at Rs one or two a kg, they said the central food security system under the Bill must keep the prices of foodgrains down to a maximum of two rupees a kilo.
Referring to the “public outrage” against Planning Commission’s poverty line figures of Rs 26 for an adult in rural India and Rs 32 in urban India, the Left parties strongly opposed the linkages between these estimates and food security or other welfare rights and schemes.
They asked the government to implement the recommendation of the M S Swaminathan Commission on farmers for calculating minimum support prices on the basis of actual cost of production.
The parties also sought elimination of cash transfers to the needy, as proposed by the government, saying high food inflation would erode even the present inadequate allocations. There could be possible diversion of funds for other pressing needs. (PTI)
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