Food Bill passed in LS

It was unanimous and by voice vote

Anita Saluja

New Delhi: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s pet project, the National Food Security Bill, was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha on Monday night. The Bill was passed by the Voice-Vote as no political party pressed for Division. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said that her party was supporting the "incomplete" Bill and was hopeful to bring it in a "complete" form, when the BJP-led NDA came to power, after the next elections. The Bill will now go to the Rajya Sabha before it finally becomes a legislation, replacing the Ordinance, which was promulgated to bring it into force.

Ironically, Sonia Gandhi, was not present when the voting took place. She left the House with Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Selja and headed straight to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), as she was feeling feverish. She was later admitted to the hospital.

Under the food security programme, rice at Rs 3, wheat at Rs 2 and coarse grain at Re 1 will be made available to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population, making a total of 67 per cent of the population.

Several amendments moved by leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Harin Pathak (from the BJP), Gurudas Dasgupta and Prabodh Panda (CPI), A Sampath (CPM) and Bhartuhari Mehtab (BJD), besides others, were negatived. The Samajwadi Party, however, chose not to press for division, after moving the amendments. The Bill was supported by the BSP and the JD (U) MPs, with the government bringing several amendments.

The amendments moved by Trinamool Congress were also not pressed, when the Centre gave them the assurance that the Bill would not violate the federal structure of the country. Earlier, batting for her favourite flagship programme, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who rarely participates in debates, urged all the parties to pass the Food Security Bill that will provide cheap food to nearly 67 per cent of Indian population, a plan that will cost Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

Speaking in Hindi and then in English, Sonia Gandhi termed the scheme as “something we are proud of,” that will wipe out hunger and malnutrition in the country. She said that there were people, who were asking whether they had the means to implement the scheme. “I would like to say that we have to figure out the means. The question is not whether we can do it or not. We have to do it,” she remarked, addressing the concerns of her opponents, who have questioned the scheme at the time when economic growth is declining.

Sonia Gandhi said, “Time has come when this House can send out a loud and clear message to the world at large, that India has taken full responsibility to provide food security cover to its entire population.” Appealing to the members to convert the Bill into an Act unanimously, which according to her was a part of “empowerment revolution,” Sonia Gandhi said that this legislation was just a beginning. “We will be open to constructive suggestions, we will learn from experience but we must set aside our differences,” she remarked.

Talking about the Bill, she said that the food security scheme would root out corruption and put an end to the fake ration-cards. The government, would, however, have to ascertain that the PDS was implemented in all the states.

Reaching out to the people ahead of the 2014 elections, Sonia Gandhi said that under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, UPA in 2005 enacted Right to Information that ushered in an era of transparency, which even worked to the disadvantage of the Congress-led UPA government, then MNREGA became a reality. In 2006, the path-breaking Forest Rights Act was enacted. In 2008, the Right to Education was brought that led to sharp increase in enrolment of children in the schools.

Fifth in the series of the rights-based approach, is the Food Security Bill that promises to transform the lives of millions of people. Union Food Minister K V Thomas, while replying to the debate, assured the House that all the constructive suggestions would be positively considered. “I know this will not be a perfect legislation. As we go along implementing it, we will plug the loopholes.

We will protect the federal system of this country,” he remarked. It was on June 4, 2009, that the then President Pratibha Patil had made an announcement of bringing the Food Security Bill. The minister said that a series of consultations were held on the Bill. Four times meetings of state ministers were convened and twice at the NDC, this was taken-up when the Chief Ministers were present. The Bill was sent to the Standing Committee, where it was consulted for one year. The recommendations were unanimous and all of them were accepted by the government.

The Food Minister refused to accept the universal PDS, as desired by the Opposition, saying that it was unpractical at this stage. He, however, assured all the parties that the government would include all the positive points of several states, where foodgrains were being given at cheap rates.