The food ministry headed by Sharad Pawar is upset after an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on food headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee shot down its proposal of food tribunals to look into delivery related problems while implementing the proposed National Food Security Act.
Sources said the ministry had introduced the idea anticipating litigation from unsatisfied beneficiaries and NGOs once the proposed food security act came into practice.
Sources explained there can always be bottlenecks in arranging and supplying the promised quantity of food grains to the poor keeping in mind the huge logistics involved and given the unpredictable nature of the Indian monsoon. “Once a certain quantity of food grains per month to the poor becomes an entitlement, as envisaged in the Draft Food Security Bill, there are bound to be short comings in the delivery system, which is controlled by the states,” said a senior government official associated with the exercise.
The draft bill promises 25 kg of food grains per month at Rs 3 per kg to the below poverty line (BPL) persons in order to ensure food security for the poor. Sources said the EGoM had turned down the concept of food tribunals, suggesting a mechanism like an “ombudsman” being pursued by the rural development ministry to ensure transparency in the implementation of UPA flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
But it is not working on the ground owing to an inbuilt resistance to transparency from within the state governments. Sources said the Draft Food Security Bill must have a separate mechanism to address problems related to the delivery of promised ration other wise the resultant public resentment will end up further clogging the judicial system. “The delay owing to the backlog of cases in the local courts is well known to everybody. If things come to this pass, it is the poor who will at the receiving end ultimately,” said an activist.