File Photo: Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan
About 1.11 crore eligible people have been left out under food law in Bihar, Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today, ticking off the Nitish Kumar Government for not effectively implementing the legislation.
With unseasonal rains and hailstorm affecting wheat crop in the state, he said the Centre is ready to relax quality norms for wheat procurement if the Bihar government writes to it seeking such relief.
"In Bihar, about 8.71 crore people are covered under the food law, but the state government has so far provided the list of about 7.61 crore beneficiaries. About 1.11 crore people are not getting the subsidised grains entitled under this Act," Mr Paswan said, addressing a conference in Patna on implementation of National Food Security Act - 'Khadya Suraksha Panchayat'.
Bihar rolled out the food law in March 2014 but it is not implementing the Act properly, he said.
"The Centre brought food law in 2013 to ensure that people do not remain hungry. We have asked state government many times to provide the list of remaining 1.11 crore people so that we can allocate grains for them," he said.
The law aims at providing legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains - rice, wheat and coarse grains - per person per month at Rs 1-3/kg to two-thirds of the country's population.
Only 11 states and Union Territories have so far implemented the National Food Security Act which was passed by Parliament in September 2013. The rest 25 states/UTs have not implemented it yet.
The Centre allocates 4.1 lakh tonne of foodgrains monthly for 7.61 crore people in Bihar, the minister said.
Mr Paswan also criticised the Bihar government for boycotting this meet, which was attended by Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav, senior BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav and LJP leader Chirag Paswan besides other stakeholders like rice millers and ration shop owners.
The minister said Centre has been pursuing Bihar government to implement food law effectively and a number of communications have been sent asking the state government to create proper infrastructure for transporting grains till ration shops and undertake end-to-end computerisation.
Mr Paswan also spoke about the deficiencies in foodgrains procurement and distribution systems in the state.
"Bihar government has lifted the entire foodgrains quota allocated for the month of April and 22 per cent of May quota. Then why are there complaints that poor are not getting foodgrains?" Mr Paswan asked.
Stating that Bihar produces sufficient wheat and rice, the Union Minister said the state government does not purchase enough grains from farmers although it adopted decentralised procurement system since kharif marketing season of 2013-14.
Bihar has procured only about 18-19 lakh tonnes paddy out of over 90 lakh tonnes of production, Mr Paswan said, adding that wheat purchase was also negligible last year.
The minister said that Bihar procures very low quantity of grains against its target even as the Centre provides 90 per cent amount in advance.
"The Centre is ready to buy grains directly in the state if Bihar government will write to us," the minister said, while responding to a suggestion that FCI should procure grains directly in Bihar.
During April-December 2014, the Centre has released Rs 1,430.99 crore to Bihar under DCP Scheme against the claim of Rs 1,452.08 crore.
The state government has claimed Rs 1,264.10 crore in advance against ongoing procurement under DCP mode for fourth quarter of 2014-2015. Out of this, the Centre has released Rs 302.41 crore last month.
On wheat crops being affected by the unseasonal rains, Mr Paswan said the Centre would relax the quality norms for wheat procurement if sought by the state government. It has already relaxed the norms in many states like Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.