After UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi sent a missive to the government, the latter has gone in for discussions on amending the National Food Security Bill over the weekend to accommodate some of the demands of the Right to Food campaign.
Even as the government prepares for a discussion on the bill in Parliament, various ministries reviewed the points raised by the campaign that were marked by Ms. Gandhi. The Food, Women and Child Development and Human Resource Development ministries then sent a report to the Prime Minister’s Office for it to take a final call. Food Minister K.V. Thomas is expected to present the Congress’ amendments on Tuesday.
The changes asked for by the campaign, if accepted, could increase the benefits covered under the legal rights that the bill promises to provide.
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But some of these were previously opposed by the ministries in charge of the programmes that the campaign wants brought under the aegis of the bill as legal rights.
One of the key demands is the banning of contractors from a backdoor entry into the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under legislation. While the HRD ministry had opposed the move to provide access to manufacturers of packaged meals under the law, the Women and Child Development Ministry favoured keeping a provision that ensured only manufacturers of such food items would get access to the lucrative ICDS supplementary food business.
A footnote to one of the schedule to the bills had provided that children between 6 months and 3 years, malnourished children between 6 months and 6 years, and pregnant and lactating women would get only energy dense fortified foods.
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The government has also reviewed its position on keeping out community kitchens, destitute feeding, the starvation code and provisions for the homeless under the bill. While the National Advisory Council had backed these provisions the government eliminated them while finalising the bill.