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The Government plans to call a special session of Parliament to pass the Food Security Bill after the Cabinet on Thursday deferred a proposal for an Ordinance.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Food Minister K.V. Thomas will hold talks with political parties on convening a special session of Parliament.
The Congress indicated that apart from its allies and supporters, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties had also opposed the ordinance route.
A senior Congress leader said some Opposition leaders had contacted Congress President Sonia Gandhi and said the idea for an Ordinance should be dropped. She requested the Government to seek other options too on the Food Security Bill, said the Congress leader.
Officially, the Congress said it was up to the Cabinet to decide on what will be the better option.
“An Ordinance has not been ruled out,” Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed said. He said the Government can decide whether to hold a special session or pre-scheduling the monsoon session.
All the parties except the Left, are supporting the Bill.
The report on the Food Security Bill by the Food and Consumer Affairs Standing Committee of Parliament was prepared with just one dissent note of the CPI(M) member, T.N. Seema.
“We have accommodated almost all suggestions from the standing committee. We will hold talks with all parties so that the Bill could be debated and passed in Parliament at the earliest occasion,” Food Minister K.V. Thomas told Business Line.
The BJP welcomed the Centre’s decision to defer the Ordinance. The party had called for an advancement of the monsoon session. A section of the Opposition believes that the Ordinance was just a ploy by the Centre to keep the Food Security Bill issue in the public domain.
If the Bill is being taken up in a special session, the BJP will be compelled to support it since it has officially said that it welcomes the legislation.
The ambitious National Food Security Bill, which the Government considers will be a game changer, aims to provide legal rights to about 67 per cent of the country’s population over a uniform quantity of 5 kg foodgrains at a fixed price of Rs 1-3 per kg through ration shops.
Earlier, talking to reporters Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the Government would like to make one more effort to seek the Opposition parties’ cooperation in passing the Bill in a special session.
Though the Food Security Bill was tabled in the Budget session, it could not be taken up for discussion because of the Opposition-led disruptions over the coalgate scam.
The Food Security Bill seeks to provide cheaper foodgrains to around 800 million people at an initial cost of around Rs 1.3 lakh crore.
Currently, the Government incurs a subsidy burden of about Rs 1 lakh crore in providing subsidised foodgrains to the poor through the public distribution system.
Implementation of the Bill would also increase foodgrain requirement by around seven million tonnes to about 62 million tonnes.
vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in
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