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PM clears key amendment to food security bill
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SME Times News Bureau | 23 Aug, 2013
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday intervened and cleared a
key amendment to the Food Security Bill to protect the present grain allocation
of states even as senior cabinet ministers expressed reservations on the move,
sources said.
According to the sources, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde expressed their reservations
at the amendment, which involves an additional burden of Rs.5,000 crore to the
exchequer.
But Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Food Minister K.V. Thomas
pitched for it, arguing it was necessary for the passage of the food security
bill, stuck up in the Lok Sabha.
Finally, the prime minister gave his nod to the amendment, after the issue was
debated for around 45 minutes in the cabinet meeting, said the sources.
The amendment seeks to address the concerns of 18 states who were to get lesser
grain that they get under the existing public distribution system, once the
food bill became a law, said sources.
As per the amendment, these 18 states, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, would
continue to get the present quantity of wheat and rice allocated to them at the
price charged from the above poverty line people which is Rs.8.70 per kg for
rice and Rs.6.10 per kg for wheat.
For instance, Uttar Pradesh will get around 30 lakh tonne more grains and save
Rs.9,000 crore in subsidy under the new food bill.
However, there are as many as 17 states which will get more grain under the new
food bill in which there will be no BPL or APL category and 67 percent of
Indians numbering around 800 million will get subsidized grain at Rs.3 per kg
(rice), Rs.2 kg (wheat) and Re.1 a kg for coarse grains, said the sources.
The difference in allocation of states arose after the latest data collected by
the National Sample Survey Organization.
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