Wednesday June 30, 2010
At the meeting of the NAC (National Advisory Council) in New Delhi on Ist July, the ambitious Food Security Bill is expected to come in for sharp focus, with food inflation perched around 17 per cent.
Headed by Sonia Gandhi UPA Chairperson, the Council is meeting at a time when she had sought improvement in the draft Food Security Bill cleared by an EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers).
The improvements were explicitly focused towards monthly food supply and the number of beneficiaries attached. The bill is unanimously directed towards to provide legal right to the poor to get wheat and rice at Rs 3 per kilogram.
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has asked the planning commission to provide firm estimates on the number of people living below the poverty line, as there are conflicting estimates about the number of poor who are the intended beneficiaries.
Besides, the first after the introductory one on 10th June, the meeting, is also anticipated to premeditate on the much-deferred Communal Violence Bill. The flagship programmes of the Government would be reviewed by the NAC and it will also provide the suggestive measures to address constraints in their implementation.
Sources revealed that the meeting is also expected to discuss measures to be adopted for consultations with different ministries as also for drawing up the outline for the Council meeting.
In their first meeting, the NAC emphasized that the people have “high expectation” from the advisory body which played a crucial role in ratification of rural job scheme and Right to Information Act during UPA – I. On 1st June the 14-member NAC was constituted and is expected to advise the government on various social programmes like rural development and food security.
