Food Bill will be tabled in winter session: KV Thomas

NEW DELHI: The Right to Food Bill, which proposes to give more subsidised grains to the poor, would be introduced only in the winter session of Parliament as consultations with states was taking longer than expected, Food Minister KV Thomas said on Wednesday.

The draft bill, approved by the empowered group of ministers, is currently being processed in the law ministry. It was expected to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament but some issues, including its cash transfer component and impact on open market prices, are still to be ironed out.

In either case, the Food Act would be implemented only from next fiscal, since after its introduction in Parliament, the bill will be sent to the Standing Committee of Parliament before it is adopted. This process is expected to extend till January. While the food ministry had proposed a median coverage of 75% of the rural poor under the bill, the NAC had suggested coverage of up to 90%.