Food security is likely to top the resurrected National Advisory Council's (NAC) agenda when its members gather here on Thursday for their introductory meeting.
They will also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
However, sources in the NAC told The Hindu that before food security became a reality, they expect a long hard battle ahead, similar to the one NAC-I faced over the enactment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, as the government differs with food security campaigners in the NAC, headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on the promised legislation.
Proposals
Ms. Gandhi's proposal, the sources said, included an Act that guaranteed a monthly quota of 35 kg of cereals at Rs.3 a kg a household; multi-layered classification of target groups going beyond the standard below the poverty line (BPL) definition; ensuring nutritional requirements for the most vulnerable groups such as infants, small children and the aged through mid-day meals; and appointing State food commissioners as part of a grievance redressal mechanism.
The UPA's Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) diluted this proposal, and the draft Bill it cleared in March delinked food security from nutritional security, recommended a blanket definition of BPL families without any provisions for the most vulnerable, suggested a monthly quota of 25 kg of rice/wheat without fixing the price, introduced the concept of a food security allowance to allow the government to provide cash if grains are unavailable, and a grievance redressal mechanism left to individual State governments to set up.
This Bill immediately drew fire from two people who are now NAC members — the former IAS officer Harsh Mander, who described the draft as “minimalist,” and Professor Jean Dreze, who said it needed to go back to “the drawing board.”
Debate irrelevant
Sources in the government told The Hindu that the 25 kg of cereals versus 35 kg a month a household debate was irrelevant till the Public Distribution System (PDS) itself was reformed.
“The Food Security Act,” the sources said, “must be preceded by a PDS Reform Act. Unless food reaches those it is meant for, it will be a colossal waste.”
The Planning Commission, and, interestingly, a NAC members, N.C. Saxena — a former Rural Development Secretary — also support this idea.
Other issues likely to engage the NAC, the sources said, would be those relating to tribal welfare, the long pending Communal Violence Bill, urban homelessness, and the identification of those living below the poverty line.
