Failure to push Food Bill in Parliament unfortunate: Amratya Sen

GREATER NOIDA: Noble laureate Amratya Sen today said it is unfortunate that government has not been able to push through the Food Security Bill that sought to provide subsidised foodgrains to people below poverty line.

"It is unfortunate that we are not able to pass the Food Security Bill because Parliament is not able to meet", he said during a seminar at the ADB annual meet here.

He further said the country needs to set its priority right and focus on the real issues concerning the people.

"We have to think about getting our priorities right," Sen said.

The government, which had introduced Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha in 2011, could not get it passed with the opposition stalling the proceedings in the House over some issue or the other.

The proposed Food Bill, the UPA government's ambitious social welfare programme, aims to provide legal right over subsidised foodgrains to 67 per cent of the population.

It seeks to provide a provide uniform allocation of 5 kg foodgrains (per person) at fixed rate of of Rs 3 (rice), Rs 2 (wheat) and Rs 1 (coarse grains) per kg to 67 per cent of the country's population.

At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated annual foodgrains requirement is 61.23 million tonnes and is likely to cost the exchequer Rs 1,24,724 crore.