Amendment to National Food Security bill gets CCEA approval

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday cleared an amendment to National Food Security Ordinance, Food Minister K V Thomas said. The move would raise grain allocation to many states under the new food security law, increasing the subsidy burden by Rs 5,094 crore.

"The cabinet has agreed to the demand of 18 states, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam Andhra Pradesh, for additional allocation of food grains over and above what has been proposed in the ordinance," said the minister .

The government would now allocate additional 31.03 lakh tonnes of food grains (wheat and rice) to states taking the proposed allocation to 549.05 lakh tonnes. This would raise the estimated subsidy to Rs 12,77,733 crore, said Thomas.

As per the amendment, if annual allocation of food grains to any states under the Act is less than the average annual offtake for last three years under normal targeted public distribution system, the same shall be protected at prices as may be determined by the central government and the state shall be allocated food grains as specified under schedule IV.