New Delhi: Keen on a holistic approach on
food security issues, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory
Council will meet tomorrow to discuss proposals from a working
group on the right to food Bill that it would recommend to the
government.
The framework, proposed by the NAC`s working group headed
by human rights activist Harsh Mander, presents "a set of
scenarios" for food security, a key promise of the UPA prior
to it returning to power last year.
NAC is expected to consider this framework, which focuses
on addressing nutritional needs of those families below
poverty line, suggesting their entitlements through Public
Distribution System (PDS), including comprehensive nutrition
support schemes for all vulnerable sections such as children
and women.
The NAC, which is mulling creating an overarching
authority to monitor actions taken by the states to control
communal violence in their regions, will take up another bill
in this regard for consideration once again.
In its last meeting on July 14, the NAC had recommended
distribution of subsidised food grains to everyone in at least
200 most disadvantaged districts across the country by April
next year.
Asserting itself on the vexed issue, the NAC had, after a
marathon day-long meeting, also suggested gradual expansion of
universal public distribution system to other blocks but with
a caveat of differential pricing.
It suggested that people living in the poorest of the
poor districts or blocks, which include Naxal-affected areas,
should get 35 kg of food grains -- rice, wheat, millets and
pulses -- at a subsidised rate of Rs three per kg.
PTI
