New Delhi: Food security was an election promise and remains a top priority for the Manmohan Singh government.
The government is doing all it can to push the National Food Security Bill so that the poor can get grain at a subsidised rate.
The rural employment guarantee scheme, UPA's flagship programme, almost instantly became the popular political announcement of the Manmohan Singh government.
Now, it could well be replaced by the National Food Security Act, a social security act that guarantees food grains to the poor at Rs 3 rupees a kg.
Sources say Pranab Mukherjee could keep aside about Rs 50,000 crore in his first full Budget towards the food security programme. The government is planning to table the Food Security Bill in Parliament later in 2009, possibly in the Winter Session.
The bill is in process after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking his government to fast track the Food Security Bill.
"The letter that Sonia Gandhiji has written is basically what we had promised in our manifesto," said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni.
Details of the Food Security Bill are still being worked out. It will guarantee 35 kg of foodgrain at Rs three a kg to families Below the Poverty Line in both rural as well as urban areas.
Sources say the Right to Food programme may also target the poor families whose main breadwinner may have lost his or her job because of the current economic recession.
The National Rural Guarantee Programme was UPA's trump card. Now, it could be food security act in UPA's second innings.