New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The path-breaking National Food Security Bill, which is facing opposition from several states as well as Congress ally Mamata Banerjee, will be taken up by a parliamentary panel Jan 23.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has referred the bill to the parliamentary standing committee on food, informed sources told IANS.

Given the bill’s importance for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance-II government, the standing committee, headed by Congress MP from Nagpur Vilas Muttemwar, faces an uphill task in reconciling the differences over the right to food law expressed by various parties.

The bill, a dream project of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is being compared to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the UPA-I regime (2004-09).

However, it has already been criticised by AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Janata Dal-United leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Bahujan Samaj Party head and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as well as Trinamool Congress supremo Banerjee.

The sources said these parties will definitely articulate their opposition as the standing committee deliberates the food bill.

If the panel’s report is submitted in the budget session, likely to start mid-March, the food bill could be taken up for consideration and passage in the same session.

Knowing the views of these chief ministers, the government wants to take the states into confidence and has called a meeting of the state food and agriculture ministers Feb 8 and 9 to find common ground on the food bill, said the sources.

Officially, the two-day meet is being described as a conference on the public distribution system, which will act as the delivery mechanism to provide subsidised grains to the benefciaries once the right to food law is rolled out.

At present, the PDS provides subsidised grains to around 6.5 crore poor families and 11.5 crore above poverty line households.

The food bill seeks to cover up to 75 percent of the rural population and 50 percent of urban households and proposes the right to 7 kg food grain per person, at Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Rs.1 per kg for coarse grains, to the priority (BPL) beneficiaries.

The general category (APL) beneficiaries will get at least 3 kg of ration per person per month at half the minimum support price (MSP) of grains.

Besides asking the central government to share cost of implementing the various schemes under the bill, the states are also demanding autonomy in deciding the number of beneficiaries.

At present, the central government fixes the quota of beneficiaries for each state, which some states want to change.

On its part, the central government wants to ask the states to take stern steps to reduce the number of bogus ration cards, digitise the PDS and ensure the grains reach only genuine beneficiaries.

Sources said PDS suffers from heavy (up to 40 percent) leakages.

These measures are expected to help the government reduce its current food subsidy burden at Rs.63,000 crore, which is likely to go up substantially once the right to food law is implemented.