Govt hopes to pass Food Bill in LS today

Keen to pass Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s pet welfare legislation, the Food Security Bill, but concerned over the large number of amendments (over 260) moved by the opposition parties, the government Monday indicated it would accommodate some of them, reports IANS. The government wants to pass the bill in the Lok Sabha Aug 20, the 69th birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. To mark the occasion, Sonia Gandhi will launch the scheme in Delhi while Congress-ruled Haryana and Assam are also expected to start the right to food plan Tuesday. The Food Security Bill, expected to be a game-changer for the ruling Congress ahead of five assembly polls this year-end and the 2014 general elections, aims to provide subsidised foodgrain at prices much below the market rate to around 67 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people; the bill would thus benefit about 800 million people. The bill, part of the Congress manifesto for the 2009 polls, is expected to bring electoral benefits, just as the rural job plan, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, is credited with the second term that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won in the 2009 polls. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the amendments Monday with his cabinet colleagues.

Most of the amendments moved by the opposition relate to making food security universal, including pulses and oil too, besides foodgrain, and increasing the entitlement from five to seven kg per person per month.

Among the parties which have moved the amendments are the BJP, the CPIM, the CPI, the JD-U, the BJD, the Akali Dal, the DMK, the AIADMK and the TMC. To enlist support of the Samajwadi Party, which supports the UPA from outside and has bailed it out many times in the past, Food Minister K.V. Thomas met party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, sources said.