The much-debated and much-delayed food security initiative – seen as the Congress’s last-ditch attempt to win next elections – finally rolls out from August 20, in Delhi and Haryana. The beginning, however, will remain half-hearted since the National Food Security Ordinance 2013 faces an uncertain fate.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will formally launch the scheme at an event at Delhi’s Talkatora stadium. The launch comes on the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

DELHI

In Delhi, providing food security to the vulnerable sections can improve chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s chances of winning a record fourth term.

“Thirty-two lakh people will be covered through this scheme by September 1,” Dikshit said at a press conference on Monday.

“Under the scheme in Delhi, the identified families would be eligible for wheat at Rs 2 per kg, rice at Rs 3 per kg and coarse grains at Re 1 per kg,” the Delhi government said in a press note.

Delhi will implement the scheme in two phases. The first phase will cover four categories: BPL card holders, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders, jhuggi ration card holders and resettlement colony ration card holders. It also plans to issue smart card to beneficiaries through which food grains will be issued.

HARYANA

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has chosen Panipat to launch the ambitious food security programme. The city MLA, Panipat Balbir Pal Shah, recently resigned accusing Hooda of not taking care of the constituency – though he took his resignation back.  

Haryana aims to provide food security to 127 lakh people: 90.28 lakh (54.61 percent) in rural areas and 36.21 lakh (41.05 percent) in urban areas.

In the first phase, Haryana will cover the beneficiaries of AAY, Central Below Poverty Line (CBPL) and State Below Poverty Line (SBPL), totaling 54.4 lakh people (21.4 percent of the population).

The Hooda government plans to provide 2.5 kg dal at the subsidised rate of Rs. 20 per kg under the ‘Dal Roti Scheme’ to AAY, CBPL and SBPL from September. Around 13 lakh families will benefit from the scheme.

Food grains will be distributed through 9,174 fair price shops of the state. Earlier there were 59 people covered under the targeted public distribution system and with the implementation of food security ordinance, around 127 lakh beneficiaries will come under its fold.

UNCERTAINTY

The food security legislation, also known euphemistically as Right to Food, has been a matter of hot debate – among political parties, among states and among headline-making economists. After completing the final round of consultations with the states in February, food minister KV Thomas dearly wished to get the food security bill during the budget session. However, that did not happen thanks to repeated disruptions in parliament over the various scandals.

The government then toyed with the idea of calling a special session of parliament exclusively on this issue. Surprisingly, the main opposition BJP was supportive of the legislation, and yet the cabinet chose to take the short cut of issuing an ordinance in July. Now, the government has to get it ratified during the monsoon session. If it fails to do so, the ordinance will lapse and there will be a question mark over the scheme rolled out in Delhi and Haryana.

Though the non-Congress states are not completely on board, the Congress-led UPA would like this scheme to be in place before next year’s general elections to prove its inclusive, pro-poor credentials.