Parliamentary panel for wheat at Rs 3, rice at Rs 2 to all beneficiaries

NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary panel today suggested scrapping separate rates and quantity of foodgrains sold to poor and general public and said the UPA's ambitious Food Bill should guarantee 5 kg of wheat and rice to all beneficiaries at a uniform price of Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kg.

At present, below poverty line ( BPL) families effectively get 7 kgs of wheat and rice at Rs 4.15 and Rs 5.65 per kg per month, respectively.

In the Food Security Bill, the government had proposed to change this by giving 7 kg of wheat and rice to a person at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kg. Non-BPL families, as per the Bill, were to get 3 kg of foodgrain at half of the government fixed minimum support price which translates into about Rs 7 per kg for wheat and Rs 10 kg for rice.

Parliamentary Standing Committee, headed by Congress leader Vilas Muttemwar, in its report submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, suggested drastic changes in the Bill by seeking that all entitled beneficiaries be provided 5 kg of wheat and rice per month at a uniform rate of Rs 3 and 2.

The recommendations of the House Panel are generally not binding on the government. The government may however decide to accept the changes proposed as these suggestions match its own re-thinking on implementation of the ambitious scheme.

If accepted, the recommendations will benefit the general population in both price and quantity, while BPL member will get lesser quota than what was proposed in the original Bill.

The Food Security Bill aims to benefit 67 per cent of the nation's population.

Speaking to media after presenting the report, Muttemwar said the panel had suggested coverage of 75 per cent of rural population and 50 per cent of urban as proposed in the Bill.

The bill, a pet project of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was introduced in December 2011 and was referred to the Standing Committee for examination in January 2012.

The report of the panel, which comprises 31 members cutting across party lines, had only one dissenting note from CPM member T N Seema.