Shocking suggestions pour in for Food Security Bill

NEW DELHI: The Food Security Act would encourage below poverty line women to have more children, defeating the government's population-control efforts, says one of the 1.6 lakh opinions the standing committee on food and consumer affairs has received. The suggestion, hence, is to remove pregnant women from the list of beneficiaries of the food security bill.

This is not the only shocking suggestion. Another suggestion is to avoid nutritional protection to pregnant women till they have crossed their first trimester, to avoid 'wastage of grain' in case there is termination of pregnancy.

"The suggestion is based on the premise that most miscarriages occur in the first trimester of pregnancy," said a member of the committee. Not all suggestions regarding maternal food security were negative, however. One suggestion advocated protein supplements for pregnant women in place of grain subsidy, since nutrition was the main idea behind the bill.

The sheer number of suggestion itself is overwhelming the committee. "The bill was referred to the Speaker on December 22, and sent to the standing committee in January, 2012.

We invited suggestions from the public and have received more than 1,60,000 so far," he added. The bill cleared by the Cabinet envisages the right to 75 per cent of rural India and 60 per cent of urban India to buy wheat and rice at heavily subsidised rates.

"The maximum number of suggestions has come from West Bengal. The suggestions from the state veer towards asking that food security be made universal rather than targeted," said a member of the committee. The only way to deal with sheer numbers is to bunch up similar suggestions and take a vote. "It's impossible to go through all," he added.

According to Vilas Rao Muttemwar, who heads the standing committee, the panel already had two meetings this month on the bill. "The committee met on October 9 and 10, and again on the 17 and 18. We will meet again on October 30," he said. The bill will be discussed with 16 different government departments and state governments. Those who have appeared before the committee till now include CPM leader Brinda Karat, Janata Dal (U)'s NK Singh and professor MS Swaminathan.

The sheer volume of work makes Muttemwar wary. He did not commit on just when the bill would be finalised. "We are doing everything we can, to expedite this as soon as possible," he said. The Food Security Bill was supposed to be UPA-II's big social sector intervention.