The Centre on Wednesday threatened to stop supply of subsidised foodgrain to Above Poverty Line (APL) families from April if States which have not yet implemented the National Food Security Act fall in line by then. Only 11 States and Union Territories (UTs) have fully or partially implemented the food law so far.
“If the rest do not implement the scheme by April 4, the Centre will not supply subsidised foodgrains to APL families who will have to buy them at the minimum support price,” said Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan after a meeting with State Food Secretaries.
States such as Jharkhand and Odisha had expressed their inability to meet the April deadline but gave an assurance to have the NFSA implemented by June and August, respectively.
Uttar Pradesh is likely to begin operations in 64 districts by March.
Infrastructure set-up
“We will look into it, on a case by case basis. If a State has genuine issues in implementing the Act, then we will consider it,” said Paswan. The Centre also told States where the NFSA was underway to have infrastructure in place by February 15.
Among the States to have partially implemented the scheme, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka had no system for doorstep delivery of rations while Aadhaar coverage across some of them, such as Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, were poor. Having a digitised list of beneficiaries was a challenge in many States including Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
“Some States have infrastructural shortcomings and have been told to finish the digitisation process by February, otherwise only those beneficiaries identified by them will be covered,” said Sudhir Kumar, Food Secretary. Kumar also said that the process of identifying eligible households was entirely up to the States.
The NFSA aims to provide 5 kg of rice, wheat and coarse grains at Rs. 3/kg, Rs. 2/kg and Rs. 1/kg respectively per person each month and cover two-thirds of the population. States were given a year to identify beneficiaries and the April deadline marks a second extension since the scheme came into force last July.
Cabinet proposal
Paswan told reporters that the Agriculture Ministry had moved a Cabinet proposal to raise import duty on vegetable oils from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent for refined oils and from 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent for crude edible oils.
The Food Ministry, he said, had recommended a hike up to 15 per cent for refined edible oils.
In the 2013-14 marketing year, India imported a record 11.82 million tonnes due to a spike in domestic demand.
PTI reports : He also said the Centre is examining the sugar industry’s demand for extending export subsidy in the current season to September.
“The export assistance scheme was for the two sugar seasons. Scheme was to be reviewed after the end of 2013-14 sugar year. The review process is on,” Paswan told reporters.
The subsidy was originally fixed at Rs. 3,300/tonne for February-March and the Centre had decided to review the quantum of subsidy every two months. Incentive was reduced to Rs. 2,277 for April-May and then again raised to Rs. 3,300 for June-July.