Although the ruling party politicians and the economists seem to agree that we should implement the food security bill, they seem to disagree on who should be the beneficiaries of this bill. In very simple terms, food security bill promises 35 kg of grains per month to each family, which comes under its perview, at Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice.From the news reports it seems like we have difference of opinion on who these families should be.
On one side, we have the NAC - headed by none other Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who says that we should include both normal families & priority families(BPL famlies) under this scheme. This will amount to 75% of the indian population. On the other side, we have the Economic Advisory Council headed by Mr.Rangarajan,who says that we do not have sufficient grains to feed these many families. They opine that only the priority familes should be the beneficaries. This still amounts to 65% of the population. But NAC members such Mr.M.S Swaminathan(father of green revolution) vehemently disgrees with this point. He says that once government starts buying from the farmer, the agricultural output is bound to go up.
Another argument that the Economic advisory counsil makes is that goverment buying of grains at a higher price from farmers will distort the market price thereby leading to chaos. There also seems to be disgreement on how much this whole exercise is going to cost government. The NAC pegs the subsidy figure at 70,000 crore,where as the Economic advisory counsil puts the figure at around 92,000 crores.
In the end it would be fair to conclude that there is no disagreement over the fact that we should go ahead and implement the bill. Only disagreement seems to be on the implementation front. The government must start implementing the bill in stages. As the scene unfolds, it will get a clearer picture. But no time should be wasted as the food security bill is an important step towards inclusive growth.
On one side, we have the NAC - headed by none other Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who says that we should include both normal families & priority families(BPL famlies) under this scheme. This will amount to 75% of the indian population. On the other side, we have the Economic Advisory Council headed by Mr.Rangarajan,who says that we do not have sufficient grains to feed these many families. They opine that only the priority familes should be the beneficaries. This still amounts to 65% of the population. But NAC members such Mr.M.S Swaminathan(father of green revolution) vehemently disgrees with this point. He says that once government starts buying from the farmer, the agricultural output is bound to go up.
Another argument that the Economic advisory counsil makes is that goverment buying of grains at a higher price from farmers will distort the market price thereby leading to chaos. There also seems to be disgreement on how much this whole exercise is going to cost government. The NAC pegs the subsidy figure at 70,000 crore,where as the Economic advisory counsil puts the figure at around 92,000 crores.
In the end it would be fair to conclude that there is no disagreement over the fact that we should go ahead and implement the bill. Only disagreement seems to be on the implementation front. The government must start implementing the bill in stages. As the scene unfolds, it will get a clearer picture. But no time should be wasted as the food security bill is an important step towards inclusive growth.
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