food security
Food Security Act hits selection criteria hurdle
All efforts to bridge the gap between government estimates and the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council over the Food Security Act are coming up against a central concern posed by the Congress chief: How can the selection criteria ensure the poor and deserving don't get left out?
NAC members who interact with the government point out that Sonia repeatedly underlines her personal experience over the years during visits to deprived areas where she has found that the poor are simply not counted in any state survey and are denied any benefits.
The Congress chief's poser that the inability of the poor, particularly tribals and dalits, to access below poverty line cards needed to tap official welfare schemes will defeat the very objective of a law providing 35 kg food grain a month to the widest set of recipients is proving tough to answer.
Here, even automatic inclusion parameters may not mean the severely disadvantaged groups will be assured a minimum level of food security, said sources familiar with the Congress supremo's thinking.
Sonia is keen the proposed law be effective in addressing needs of those who live on the brink and need state support and her conviction that exclusion criteria are applied in a bureaucratic manner and end up leaving the needy out in the cold tilts the scale towards universal eligibility which the government continues to baulk at.
Several permutations have been considered including limiting universal public distribution system to districts with chronic poverty or looking for the right urban-rural ratios. But while some campaigners argue that government's fears of having to maintain large stocks are misplaced as universal PDS will be accessed only by those who need it, the government is not quite convinced.
The government feels that legal provisions stating population percentages to be catered for will mean it has to provide for adequate food grain for all intended
All efforts to bridge the gap between government estimates and the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council over the Food Security Act are coming up against a central concern posed by the Congress chief: How can the selection criteria ensure the poor and deserving don't get left out?
NAC members who interact with the government point out that Sonia repeatedly underlines her personal experience over the years during visits to deprived areas where she has found that the poor are simply not counted in any state survey and are denied any benefits.
The Congress chief's poser that the inability of the poor, particularly tribals and dalits, to access below poverty line cards needed to tap official welfare schemes will defeat the very objective of a law providing 35 kg food grain a month to the widest set of recipients is proving tough to answer.
Here, even automatic inclusion parameters may not mean the severely disadvantaged groups will be assured a minimum level of food security, said sources familiar with the Congress supremo's thinking.
Sonia is keen the proposed law be effective in addressing needs of those who live on the brink and need state support and her conviction that exclusion criteria are applied in a bureaucratic manner and end up leaving the needy out in the cold tilts the scale towards universal eligibility which the government continues to baulk at.
Several permutations have been considered including limiting universal public distribution system to districts with chronic poverty or looking for the right urban-rural ratios. But while some campaigners argue that government's fears of having to maintain large stocks are misplaced as universal PDS will be accessed only by those who need it, the government is not quite convinced.
The government feels that legal provisions stating population percentages to be catered for will mean it has to provide for adequate food grain for all intended