Failure to push Food Bill in Parliament unfortunate, says
Amartya Sen
Greater Noida: Noble laureate Amratya Sen on Saturday said it is
unfortunate that government has not been able to push through the Food Security
Bill that sought to provide subsidised foodgrains to people below poverty line.
"It
is unfortunate that we are not able to pass the Food Security Bill because
Parliament is not able to meet", he said during a seminar at the ADB
annual meet here. He further said the country needs to set its priority right
and focus on the real issues concerning the people. "We have to think
about getting our priorities right," Sen said.
The
government, which had introduced Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha in 2011,
could not get it passed with the opposition stalling the proceedings in the
House over some issue or the other. The proposed Food Bill, the UPA
Government's ambitious social welfare programme, aims to provide legal right
over subsidised foodgrains to 67 per cent of the population.
It seeks to provide a
provide uniform allocation of 5 kg foodgrains (per person) at fixed rate of of
Rs 3 (rice), Rs 2 (wheat) and Rs 1 (coarse grains) per kg to 67 per cent of the
country's population. At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated
annual foodgrains requirement is 61.23 million tonnes and is likely to cost the
exchequer Rs 1,24,724 crore.
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