National Food Security Bill makes a mockery of the idea of Food security.
National Food Security Bill makes a mockery of the idea of Food security. The draft of National Food Security Bill has been uploaded on the website of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, inviting the public for its comments and suggestions by September end. The 27-page-long draft Bill placed on the website steers clear of defining who live below poverty line (BPL) terming them—'priority households'—and guarantees subsidized food grain to them as well as to other poor families classified as 'general households.' It seeks to empower the Centre to issue guidelines from time to time defining the priority households and those who are excluded from the category, with a proviso that those in the exclusion criteria cannot have the facility extended to it by state governments. The draft also envisages cash transfer or food coupons to these two sections in lieu of their food grain entitlements, which are fixed at 7 kg per head per month for the priority households and...