JOIN USMamata shuns Centre on Food Bill
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has once again cold-shouldered the Centre’s overtures to win the Trinamool Congress’ support for the National Food Security Bill.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, K V Thomas, visited Kolkata on Friday, but returned without meeting Banerjee.
Though Thomas’ office had written to Banerjee to propose the meeting to allay concerns of the Bengal government over the bill, it did nor finally materialise.
Thomas’ visit to Kolkata was apparently in line with the Centre’s efforts to lessen chances of confrontation with Banerjee’s TMC over the bill considered close to Sonia Gandhi’s heart.
The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 22 last year. It is now being vetted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. The Congress hopes that the Bill, if passed by the Parliament, would boost its chances in the 2014 general election, as much as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act had in 2009.
While 75 per cent of the rural population will be covered by the food security net that the proposed legislation seeks to lay down, 46 per cent of them will be designated as priority households. Half of the urban population will be covered by the proposed legislation, while 28 per cent of them will be tagged as priority households.
But West Bengal Government pointed out that the NFSB should have some provisions “to allow the state government, in the interest of social justice, to modify, include or exclude certain categories of people in the priority and general household groups in view of the certain local conditions prevailing in the State.” Banerjee’s Government also declined to take any additional financial burden that the proposed legislation might result in.
The Janata Dal (United) government in Bihar also opposed the imposition of criteria and limit on the number of beneficiaries by the Centre. The All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam Government in Tamil Nadu too demanded ‘universal coverage’ under the proposed food security net.
The union Ministry of Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution argued that the perception of some States about the coverage under Targeted Public Distribution System provided in the Bill being restrictive was misplaced. Thomas said that the State Governments should not feel that the NFSB would come in the way of the universal PDS being implemented by them with much higher coverage.
The Food minister however did not get the opportunity to meet Banerjee. He instead met the West Bengal’s Governor M K Narayanan, apart from some high officials of the state government before returning to New Delhi.