Food Ministry to seek PM`s guidelines on food law: Paswan

New Delhi: Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday said his ministry will seek guidelines from the Prime Minister on certain "contradictions" in foodgrain entitlement to poor under the food security law. "The big issue is that many states have not implemented the food law. We will have to ensure implementation in those states. Then we we will have to see whether there is any need to make changes which are more beneficial to the poor," he told reporters.

"There is a confusion as AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana) scheme will run along with food security Act," he added. He said 5kg of foodgrains per month per person would be provided to poor under the law, while at the same time the AAY scheme would continue under which each family would get 35 kg of grain per month. Asked whether the government will bring amendments to food law, Paswan said: "There are contradictions. We will seek guidelines from the Prime Minister and the PMO. Ministry will present its views." Noting that the right to food means to "right to life", he said it`s a challenging task to ensure that no person remain hungry. In September last year, UPA government passed the National Food Security Act that gave legal entitlement on highly subsidised foodgrain to 67 per cent of country`s population. Each eligible person would get 5kg of foodgrains per month at Rs 3 per kg of rice, Rs 2 per kg of wheat and Re 1 per kg of coarse cereals through the state governments under the PDS. However, the Act said that the existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35kg of foodgrain per household per month. At present, there are 2.43 crore poor families covered under the AAY scheme under PDS. Till February 2014, as many as 10 states/Union territories had implemented the food law. These are Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Chandigarh.