The National Advisory Council headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi appears to be driving the Food Security Bill, pushing the empowered Group of Ministers on food, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, to the back seat. Concerned over the delay in drafting of the key legislation, which was promised in the Congress manifesto in the 2009 general elections, the NAC chairperson has asked the members to work on it with a “sense of urgency”.
This is indicated by the fact that not only a sub-group of NAC members is holding consultations with each other on the proposed Right to Food law, the advisory body has even sought detailed presentations from the food and the HRD ministries besides the Planning Commission, to firm up its views. The first full-scale meeting of the NAC will take up the draft Food Security Bill on July 1.
“There is a sense of urgency. We hope to arrive at some conclusions and give a final shape to the draft bill,” said an NAC member.
That the NAC now appears to be steering the key legislation, is indicated by the fact that latest EGoM meet on June 25 did not take up the draft Food Security Bill, awaiting views of the “advisory body”. The EGoM on food was formed by the PMO on July 14, 2009. It cleared the draft Food Security Bill on March 18, 2010. Unhappy over the draft, the NAC chairperson had asked the EGoM to review it soon after she took over as the chief of the advisory body. The NAC chairperson’s prime concerns are to widen the ambit of the food security umbrella to include women, destitute, elderly and the BPL population.