Food Security Bill: A gamechanger. But whose game will it change?!
On Monday Congress led United Progressive Alliance government breathed sigh of relief as they succeeded in passing landmark Food Security Bill touted as UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's dream project in lower house of parliament. The Food Security Scheme aimed at providing food grain to whopping 82 crore people of India who fall below poverty line at the cost of Rs. 1,30,000 crore will be largest of its kind in the world. The bill will guarantee 5kg of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per person at a fixed price of Rs. 3, 2, 1 respectively. Price can be revised every 3 years. To realise a scheme of its calibre govt would require 62 million tonnes of food grains at its disposal but given the state of our godowns and ill storage one will doubt regarding its success. At a time when no day goes with reportage of grain-drain in rainy scum or stills of rotten grains in open storage across nation, anyone would be interested enough to know how this game-changer schem