As the Food Security Bill is the brainchild of the Central government, it should bear the total cost of implementing it, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said.
While he welcomed the Bill in principle, he felt there was lack of clarity on the issue of financial burden.
“The Centre is bearing the cost of the public distribution system and this bill has been conceived on the lines of the PDS. In States, especially Bihar, there is a dearth of resources. The Centre is not clear on this. When the final bill is presented, the States will have to bear additional financial burden,” he said here on Monday.
The Centre and the States should have one member each from the minority community and backward sections in the food security commissions. Of the seven members, five should be from the rural areas also having representation from women and Adivasis. The State had submitted its recommendations and concerns to the Centre and the draft passed by the standing committee had addressed some of them, he said.
‘Individual as unit’
Instead of considering a family as a unit, he preferred an individual as a unit, since the family size could vary and different surveys had thrown up varying estimates. He also recommended 7 kg of grains instead of 5 kg.
