Main provisions of food bill (To go with ‘Will food bill force government to eat humble pie’)

December 18th, 2011 - 4:47 pm ICT by IANS  

Main provisions of the National Food Security Bill:

- The draft bill seeks to cover 75 percent of the rural population and 50 percent of urban households and proposes the right to 7 kg foodgrain per person, at Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Rs.1 per kg for coarse grains.

- The general category will be provided at least 3 kg foodgrain per person per month at half the minimum support price (MSP).

- The bill provides a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism at district, state and national level.

- Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is concerned that food subsidy, currently at Rs.63,000 crore ($12 billion), may go up to Rs.1.2 lakh crore ($23 billion).

- It is estimated that against the current grain procurement levels of 54-55 million tonnes, the requirement may go up to 62 million tonnes.

- Government foodgrain stocks in August 2011 were 61.27 million tonnes.

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