Insincere ordinance after 4-year inaction: CPI(M)

It’s a ploy to hoodwink people before the impending elections, says CPI

Political parties are upset that the Food Security Bill was rushed through without taking them into confidence.

The Left parties have strongly disagreed with the government’s decision to take the ordinance route to implement the food security law.

The CPI (M) Polit Bureau termed the decision ‘insincere’. “The CPI (M) had wanted the Central government to give the utmost priority to this matter. However, it failed to bring in proper legislation for nearly four years for the consideration of Parliament, and now an ordinance is being promulgated. The ordinance route shows contempt for Parliament and is anti-democratic,” a statement said here on Thursday.

The ordinance does not provide for a universal public distribution system and there are other defects, the statement said. The CPI (M) will raise these objections and push for amendments to the Bill in Parliament.

The Communist Party of India said the UPA-II government had been taking decisions and issuing executive orders on major policy matters in a tearing hurry when it was at the fag end of its tenure.

“There is no proper debate and scrutiny by Parliament on any of these issues. This will have serious and adverse implications for the future dispensation. The government’s decision to issue an ordinance on the Food Security Act when actually the monsoon session is in the offing is a dishonest attempt to claim that it is making an earnest attempt to ensure food security to a large section of people. Obviously, this is a ploy to hoodwink people before the impending poll. The Food Bill is a very important piece of legislation and requires serious debate in Parliament over its various features,” a CPI statement said here.

Ill-conceived: Aidwa

The All-India Democratic Women’s Association has said that while it recognises the urgent need for legislation on food security based on the principle that access to food must be a universal right, steps like this ordinance, introduced with an eye on elections, are ill-conceived. Had the UPA government been sincere in its commitment to the needs of the poor and the undernourished it would not have waited for four years to bring in such a flawed ordinance, Aidwa said.