The final version of the food security bill, was cleared by Sonia Gandhi led the national advisory council (NAC) on Wednesday. The document will now be sent to the prime minister and is likely to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.

The draft bill envisages subsidised food for two types of households—priority households (those below poverty line) and general household (low middle class).

Those included in the priority household will be entitled every month to 35 kg and will pay Rs. 3 per kg of rice, Rs. 2 per kg of wheat and Rs. 1 per kg of millets. General households will have the right to 20 kgs at a price not exceeding 50% of the minimum support price paid to farmers for the three foodgrains.

Other key provisions include provisions on:

Maternal and child support: (1) Universalisation of ICDS (as per supreme court orders),

(2) counselling and support for optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding,

(3) nutrition take-home rations for children under 3 and pregnant/lactating women,

(4) cooked midday meals up to Class 8 in government and government-aided schools,

(5) maternity entitlements of Rs 1000/month for 6 months for pregnant women.

Special groups: (1) Daily, free cooked meal for destitute persons;

(2) Portable entitlements for migrants,

(3) Community kitchens (subject to successful pilots) forhomeless persons and the urban poor,

(4) emergency relief for disaster-affected persons,

(5) unconditional protection from starvation.

The draft bill also deliberates exhaustively on grievance redressal. It attempts to build a strong system of grievance redressal for all food-related schemes, to ensure that food entitlements are realised.

Grievance redressal provisions include:

1 Strict transparency standards for all food-related schemes.

2 Swift fines for any violation of the Act.

3 “Duty to fine” whenever irregularities are found.

4 Principle of “vicarious responsibility”.

5 Compensation in the event of any loss of entitlement.

All food-related schemes will come under a common grievance redressal framework, involving:

(1) Block-level facilitation centres: A non-official person or group appointed to help people with filing complaints, submitting appeals, resolving disputes, etc.

(2) District Grievance Redressal Officers

(3) State- and national-level Food and Nutrition Commissions: These will hear appeals, monitor the enforcement of the Act, and advise governments on food-related schemes.

Meanwhile, the government too has prepared its own draft of the bill. Though, it is believed, this draft is largely inspired by the NAC’s, there are some differences between the two on issues like grievance redressal.