NEWDELHI: Meghalaya along with Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Andaman & Nicobar will roll out the landmark National Food Security Act by January 2016 while other states- Gujarat, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland will do it by March next year, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Monday.
Till now, 22 states and UTs have rolled out the law while 14 are in the process of doing so, he said. The law was passed by Parliament in 2013 and state governments were given one year to implement the scheme. Since then, the deadline has been extended thrice, with the latest one ending this September. The food law provides legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per person every month at Rs 1-3 kg to two-thirds of India’s population. “Except for Tamil Nadu, all other states have said they will implement the Food Law by the end of March 2016,” Paswan briefed media after the review meeting with state food secretaries here. Of 14 states that have not implemented the Food Law, the minister said Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim have said they will implement the same in December.
In the meeting, a Tamil Nadu government official said it can implement the law in July 2016 since it’s implementing the universal public distribution system. The state is also finding it difficult to identify beneficiaries under the Food Law and is yet to put in place end-to-end computerisation in this regard, the official said.
On direct cash transfer of food subsidy, Paswan said, “We are implementing it on a pilot basis in Puducherry and Chandigarh. It is not mandatory for states to implement direct benefit transfer (DBT). It is optional for states if they want to give cash subsidy in some parts of the state.”
Addressing concerns of some states on direct cash subsidy issue, Food Secretary Vrinda Swarup said: “We are not forcing states to go for DBT. If they want to implement at urban centres, they have that option.”
However, she made it clear that it is mandatory for states to install e-PoS machines backed with Aadhar identification to ensure subsidised grains reach the eligible beneficiary. Till now, e-PoS machines have been installed at over 51,000 ration shops while the target is to cover 1.5 lakh by the end of this fiscal, she said.
The secretary said digitisation of list of beneficiaries, doorstep delivery of grains and setting up of grievance redressal cell are three basic requirements that are mandatory for states to implement the Food Law. She also said the deletion of bogus ration cards in the last two years has helped the government save Rs 4,000 crore food subsidy. The meeting also discussed about foodgrain procurement, storage and transportation issues(PTI)
