New Delhi : The deadline for the implementation of the National Food Security Act, which was stoutly championed by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the previous government, has been extended by three months. The act was passed in July 2013, and it was to be imple-mented in a year’s time and the states had been tasked with the responsibility of identifying the beneficiaries.
As the matter came up for a review on Thursday, union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced that the deadline (July 5) has been extended by three months as only five states — Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh — have implemented the Act. There are some states like Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Chandigarh that have taken some steps for its partial implementation, whereas 19 states and union territories are still lagging behind.
Paswan said that a meeting of the food ministers of the states and union territories would be held in the first week of next month to sort out the problems related to the implementation of the Act. Under the Act, every person in about two-thirds of the population in the country is entitled to receive 5 kg of rice, wheat, and coarse cereals at a price of Rs.3, 2and 1 per kg. Meanwhile in view of the deficient monsoon so far, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a top level meeting to review the situation and directed that a coordinated effort should be launched by the centre and states to implement an action plan with districts and not states as the unit of planning.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley, water resources minister Uma Bharti, and food minister Ram Vilas Paswan and senior officials, including those from the weather department, attended the meeting.
