Food bill first drought casualty

With the countrys northern and eastern regions facing the spectre of a drought, the Manmohan Singh governments ambitious plans of providing food security to all has taken a hit, at least for the time being. The proposed National Food Security Bill, which had been included in the governments 100-day roadmap, has been put on the back burner. Under the programme, the government was to provide 25 kgs of rice or wheat at Rs 2 per kg to all BPL families. Government officials confirmed that the bill, which was being drafted by the agriculture ministry, had been put on hold, given the fact that the country was experiencing a deficient rainfall, which had affected the sowing of the kharif crops. The below-par monsoon has upset the calculations of the Manmohan Singh government. The deficit in rainfall was expected to be around 30%, and, to the agriculture ministrys dismay , the sown area under paddy, the foremost among kharif crops, was lower than last year. Latest estimates showed a decrease of six million hectares in paddy-sowing in the rainfed states a fact which was admitted as much by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. The moisture factor was also causing concern, and there were expectations that paddy production would also take a knock. A low paddy production would be accompanied by a low procurement, causing a severe strain on the countrys buffer stocks.

In his reply to the discussion the price situation on the concluding day of the budget session, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had sought to assuage the feelings of the Lok Sabha members, assuring that the government had enough rice and wheat in its stocks to meet the peoples requirements for the next 13 months. Riding on a record procurement of wheat in the previous season, its stock was pegged at 252 lakh tonnes. Rice procurement too touched dizzy heights last year, contributing 356 lakh tonnes to the coffers.`` As of now, weve enough stock of these foodgrains to feed the people for the next 13 months, he had told the House. With the monsoon playing hard to get, the government has now set its sights on delayed rainfall for a normal rabi season. `` But even if that too fails to gather momentum, then weve grim times ahead, a senior food ministry official told ET. That being the case, the Manmohan Singh governments plans to roll out the food security programme in this year itself has received a setback. `The conditions are not such to enable us to embark on such a grandiose adventure at this juncture, senior government officials pointed out. The proposed bill was part of the bouquet of poll-eve promises made by Congress in the run-up to the general election. President Pratibha Patil, in her address to the joint session of Parliament in June this year, had remarked that legislation would `` provide a statutory basis for a framework, which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled , by law, to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system (PDS). Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee , in his budget proposal for 2009-10 , had said that the agriculture department would draft the bill and put it on the website of the department of food and public distribution to elicit public opinion soon, but refused to come out with any timeframe.