Govt mulling special session of parliament on food bill

Agencies/New Delhi

The government is considering calling a special session of parliament to pass a populist but hugely expensive bill to provide subsidised food to millions of people, a minister said yesterday.

The landmark Food Security Bill, approved by cabinet in 2011, would provide subsidised rice, wheat and millet to more than 700mn people.

The bill is seen as a vote winner for the ruling Congress Party ahead of elections due by next year, but critics say the measure will further strain the country’s troubled finances.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government would meet members of the opposition shortly to see “whether they will co-operate in passing the bill in a special session of parliament.”

“If that support is forthcoming, the bill will be passed in a special session of parliament based upon the response of the main opposition parties,” he told reporters in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting.

“We would like to pass the bill as early as possible.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier made an announcement at the cabinet meeting that an ordinance proposal, which in effect meant getting the bill into law through decree instead of parliamentary approval, should be deferred as many political parties had suggested a debate on the bill in parliament.

Opposition parties have attacked the Congress-led government for attempting to push the bill, saying there has not been enough discussion of its impact on farmers and consumers.

Rajnath Singh, chief of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, said it would be “undemocratic” if the government tried to push through the bill without a parliamentary debate.

“We definitely would like the Food Security Bill to be passed in the upcoming monsoon session of the parliament with some amendments,” he told reporters.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a key ally of the Congress in the United Progressive Alliance government, welcomed the decision to take up the bill in a special session of parliament, saying that it needed to be discussed thoroughly.

Nawab Malik, an NCP legislator from Maharashtra, said the party supported the bill but had certain reservations.

“We want to discuss it on the floor of the house. It is a very important bill and some of the allies also want to discuss the issue,” he said.

The Samajwadi Party also preferred a parliamentary debate.

“It is a very serious issue as all political parties have their own reservations. We want to discuss it in parliament,” said Kamal Farooqui, spokesperson for the SP.

The measure, which government officials have said would increase the annual subsidy bill by Rs1.1tn ($19bn), is considered key to the Congress-led coalition’s fortunes ahead of elections.

Food prices have soared in India over the last seven years, causing increased hardship for the 455mn people estimated by the World Bank to live below the poverty line.

Critics of the bill say India can ill afford such a costly subsidy at a time of slowing economic growth, galloping inflation and a yawning budget deficit.

The bill will target 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population, providing a monthly supply of between 3kg and 7kg of grain per person, depending on need and priorities.

Existing food subsidy programmes in India have been marked by rampant corruption and inefficiency, with little of the grain actually reaching its intended recipients and much of it sold on the black market or left to rot inside warehouses.