NEW DELHI: The Congress led government in State, the only Congress government in the country to have responded to the National Food Security Bill, has suggested that the Bill drafted by Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council(NAC) is far better than the one proposed by the Food Ministry.The government in its letter to the Food Ministry has said that, the latter’s version has watered down most recommendations of the NAC, killing the essence of the Bill.Emphasising the “right” to food security, the letter reads: “in the original draft of the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) prepared by NAC, the Right to Food Security was enshrined as a right of all citizens in the country. However, this has been omitted in the present draft.” The letter goes on to say that, enshrining food security as a right of every citizen through the NFSB, helps elevate it from the level of an extended nutrition- programme.The Food Ministry had made changes to the NAC draft owing to pressure from the Planning Commission and Prime Minister. Their focus is on “targeting”, rather than “universalisation”. The government has also opposed poverty estimate put forth in the Ministry’s version.Opposing the state-wise distribution by the Centre, the state government says that the basis adopted by the Planning Commission for the determination of Below Poverty Line(BPL) families is just a statistical estimate, and does not reveal anything about the true level of poverty.Similarly, regarding the ambit of the Bill, the government said that the Ministry should go by the NAC proposal to provide 90 per cent of the rural households with subsidised foodgrains. But according to the Food Ministry, only 75 per cent of the rural population will be included for subsidised foodgrains. This again, has been due to the insistence of Planning Commission.The Ministry - which has been given a deadline by the Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, to prepare the final draft by the Winter Session of the Parliament - is quite worried. “We had made changes to the NAC draft according to the recommendations of the Planning Commission. But if more Congress-ruled states are coming out in support of the NAC Bill, then things may go back to the NAC, which means more tussles and delays”, said an official with the Ministry.Kerala is among the 10 states which have responded to the Ministry’s call. The other states which have responded include West Bengal, Gujarat, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.After being told to hurry up by Sonia Gandhi, Union Food Minister K V Thomas has written to the Prime Minister asking him to convene the meeting of chief ministers before the Winter Session. The meeting is most likely to take place towards the end of October.
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