Cabinet to take up food bill
IANS | Dec 18, 2011, 06.42PM IST
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NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet will on Sunday evening take up the contentious National Food Security Bill that seeks to provide rice at Rs3, wheat at Rs2 and coarse grains at Re1 per kg to over half of India's 1.2 billion population.
The bill seeks to cover 75% of the rural population and 50% of urban households and proposes the right of every individual to 7 kg of foodgrain. But the cabinet is unlikely to take up the Lokpal bill, which is still being fine tuned, government sources said.
The cabinet December 13 had deferred a decision on the food bill as the government thought it proper to bring the allies on board.
Sources said agriculture minister Sharad Pawarhas expressed concern that the food subsidy, currently at Rs 63,000 crore ($12 billion), may go up to Rs.1.2 lakh crore ($23 billion) to implement the right to food law.
The food bill is the pet project of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council and was part of the Congress manifesto for the 2009 general elections.
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