The draft National Food Security Bill 2011 that has finally been approved by the empowered Group of Ministers contains several dangerous provisions that point towards a tendency to curtail and dismantle the PDS system itself.
It directs Central, state and local governments to strive to “introduce scheme of cash transfer in lieu of entitlements.” And it also provides for a “food security allowance” to be given “in case of failure to supply the entitled persons,” which is nothing but a license to replace food rations with a cash “allowance.”
For the needy, cash is no substitute for food in hand. For one, the cash amount will not cover food costs in times of speedily rising prices. For another, there are multiple urgent demands on cash in such households – in case of a medical emergency, pressing debts etc. in such circumstances, diversion of cash is all too likely, and therefore cash amounts cannot ensure food security.
Further, cash transfers are a recipe for dismantling the PDS. Since in case of cash transfers, the Government will no longer need to procure grain for the PDS, it will also spell doom for procurement, and therefore rob farmers of MSP. The Government’s eagerness to shift to cash transfers from food rations needs to be seen in the context of its push for FDI in the retail sector. It wants to expand the market for the corporate and MNC retailers by putting the poor people too at their mercy.
The draft Bill has further curtailed the already diluted provisions of the NAC draft. It has removed pulses and oil from the purview of food rations, providing only rice, wheat or other nutritional cereals. Vegetables, milk and other essential foods are of course a far cry. For non-BPL households it has cut down the ration to three kg. of food grain per person per month, to be provided at 50 percent of MSP – which, in the long run, will be a far higher price than the present BPL/APL prices.
The draft Bill also further curtails PDS coverage. BPL numbers are to be fixed by the Central Government for each state, passed on state-wise ‘poverty ratios’. The number of ‘general’ beneficiaries will also be determined by the Centre, in a manner that claims to cover (under the combined TPDS) only 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population. Linking BPL/APL numbers to ‘poverty ratios’ paves the way for shrinking these numbers even further in the future.
The draft Bill also recommends “leveraging ‘aadhaar’ for unique identification,” thereby linking the PDS with the UID scheme which is yet to get parliamentary approval and which is highly controversial.
The draft Bill defines ‘cooked meal’ as “nutritious cooked and ready to eat meal” – in preparation for replacing cooked meals with ‘ready-to-eat’ foods?
Its provisions for pregnant women and lactating mothers are weak, while the provisions for malnourished children, out-of-school children, migrant workers, starvation deaths, destitute feeding and community kitchens are either non-existent or weak.
With the eGOM approved draft Bill, the UPA Government has made it clear that it has no intention of ensuring food security for the people or tackling the abysmal nutritional conditions prevailing in India. They have instead revealed their hidden agenda of dismantling the PDS and procurement, furthering the interests of corporate and MNC retailers and pushing the poor out of the welfare schemes.
