K.V.Thomas, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said on Sunday that the Centre would implement the National Food Security Bill within the next six months. The Minister was inaugurating the Centenary Memorial Building of the Government UP School at Kadakkarappally near Thuravur in the district.
He said the Bill would give 82 crore people in the country the right to cooked nutritious food. “Such a big project has not been implemented in Independent India so far. It will cost rupees one lakh forty five crore,” he said. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was to inaugurate the building, could not attend the function due to the protests by the Left organisations in Kottayam.
Cabinet nod
The Union Cabinet had on Wednesday approved a proposal to promulgate an ordinance on the National Food Security Bill that seeks to give legal rights to 67 per cent of the population over subsidised grains every month.
The beneficiaries will be identified by the States, which will also implement the programme under the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme.
