Food Bill may be tabled in Parliament in Dec: Official
The proposed National Food Security Bill aimed at providing foodgrains at subsidised price to the poor is likely to be introduced in Parliament by December this year, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food K V Thomas said.
July 28, 2011 / 17:24 IST
The proposed National Food Security Bill aimed at providing foodgrains at subsidised price to the poor is likely to be introduced in Parliament by December this year, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food K V Thomas said.
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) had approved the draft Bill which was now before the Law Ministry, he told reporters."Once that is done, it has to go to the Cabinet. We will also discuss with the Chief Ministers, because they are the implementing agency...then it has to go to the Parliament," Thomas, who was here to inaugurate a CII conference, said."What I propose is to introduce the Bill by this December so that it can be implemented from next year," he said.The draft Bill, UPA II's flagship project aimed at making provision of food support to people facing hunger a duty of the state, had earlier been approved by the National Advisory Council headed by the coalition chairperson Sonia Gandhi.Earlier in the day, addressing the conference "Building Warehousing Competitiveness - The key to logistics success", Thomas said the government planned to create a special purpose vehicle to undertake studies of food grain storage handling and transportation.Last week, Thomas had said that the Food Ministry has sent the draft National Food Security Bill to the Law Ministry for vetting and public comments will be sought on it before introducing it in Parliament in the monsoon session. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
