Food Security Bill Ordinance Deferred

Bowing to the pressure from the BJP, Samajwadi Party and many others, the Congress-led UPA Government has deferred its plan to come up with an ordinance on its ambitious Food Security Bill and decided to call a special session of the Parliament to hold a debate on this issue. The government will talk to the Opposition and all other parties to bring everyone on Board.

The BJP and many other parties wanted a debate on Food Security Bill, saying they would support the bill. The Congress did not want to share its credit with others and wanted to prevent them from projecting the bill as an unanimous decision. However, pressure from the BJP and threat from the Samajwadi Party made the government change its plan.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), which has been supporting the government from outside even threatened to pull out if the government brings an ordinance on Food Security Bill.

Key Features of Food Security Bill:

1) Food Security to be provided to 75% of people in rural areas.
2) 50% people in urban areas to get the benefits.
3) Rice to be available at Rs 3 per kg.
4) Wheat to be available at Rs 2 per kg.
5) Each family of 5 persons will get at least 25kg of subsidised food grains in a month.

The Food Security Bill is reportedly based on the Chhattisgarh model and some of its features are already being implemented by many states in the country.