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With its politically crucial food security agenda facing time-consuming scrutiny by a parliamentary panel, the government is considering the option of rolling out key elements of the programme through an executive decision that can be later subsumed by an act of Parliament.
Concerned the bill that negotiated divides within the government and involved discussions with the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council might be delayed till later this year, the Centre could kick start an ambitious recast of the public distribution system soon after the five-state polls get over in early March.
An expansion of the number of beneficiaries in accordance to the Tendulkar poverty formula and the pricing and quantity of foodgrains can be notified by an executive order may also require Cabinet approval but need not await the report of the standing committee on food, consumer affairs and PDS.
Sources said government can alter the contours of the current PDS programme by incorporating the food security Bill's pledge of seven kg of foodgrain per person with rice, wheat and coarse grains at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 a kg, respectively. The scheme would be rolled out in phases, without trying to reach all intended beneficiaries at one go.
The task of increasing food productivity and procurement will go hand in hand with the agriculture ministry working at specific initiatives in this regard. The food and consumer affairs ministry is also pushing an upgrade of storage capacities and procurement.
The move would not seek to undercut the committee headed by Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar, but will rollout "core elements" of the bill that aims to cover 67% of the population. The standing committee's views on contentious issues like beneficiary criteria and autonomy of states in determining scope of PDS could be incorporated later.
The food security programme can draw lessons from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill that has been in the works since 2005, although the scheme became functional in 2003. The bill was stalled by the Left in UPA-I and recent efforts to resuscitate it fell afoul of Congress ally Trinamool Congress.
With food security seen as UPA-II's big idea on the lines of rural employment guarantee and Right to Information, legislative backing for the massive support programme is essential to enshrine it as an entitlement. But waiting for Parliament's nod first can mean the programme will begin to materialize on the ground only in 2013, despite food security being the highlight of UPA-II's first presidential joint address to Parliament in 2009.
By the government's admission, some 20-odd bills spanning welfare, health, education and economic reforms are stuck in Parliament and there is a growing feeling that unless the Centre opts for executive action, its agenda will remain stalled in a legislative mill.
Even if standing committees were to deliver reports on legislation ranging from the companies bill to minor additions to the tribal lists, forging consensus amid an increasingly distracted Parliament will be an uphill task.
The below poverty line census being conducted by the government is expected to be over by middle of this year, and is to help identify food security beneficiaries with a sharply delineated cut-offs. But this exercise is not likely to be entirely smooth with states demanding their lists of the beneficiaries be included in the central list for the PDS.
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