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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s orders and observations on rotting foodgrains have created a piquant problem for both the government and the Congress.

Though the ruling Congress wanted to reap political dividend from the big-ticket National Food Security Bill, the apex court has stolen a march over the UPA government, thanks to the lackadaisical approach of Sharad Pawar-led Union food ministry.

The court’s observations and orders could also upset the balance between the National Advisory Council and the government since the two have already been locked in a tussle over the food Bill.

For instance, the NAC and the government have not been able to come to a conclusion over the ambit of the National Food Security Act — how many people should benefit from the Rs-3-a-kg foodgrain scheme in rural and urban parts of the country.

Now, with the SC on Tuesday claiming that it had not merely `observed’ but ‘ordered’ that the government look at providing free foodgrains to the poor, the UPA could be caught between a rock and a hard face.

To make matters worse, the court has observed that the government should only procure as much as it can store. In the light of this observation, the UPA has to explain the macro-economics of buying foodgrains from the farmers as not only a requirement to feed the poor but also as a tool to support a failing agricultural sector.

On Monday, the gap between the NAC members’ understanding and the government became evident. The NAC members failed to convince Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi about an almost universal spread of the social security net, where 80% of the rural population could benefit from the cheap foodgrain scheme by the time the Bill becomes operational.

The court’s observations on dissolution of the above poverty line list of beneficiaries also hold a potential headache for both the NAC and the government.

Going by existing norms, only 27% of the population (as per the figures recorded in 2000) is `approved’ as living below the poverty line and the Centre allocates subsidised foodgrains only for them. The rest come in the APL bracket irrespective of their real living standards.

While a majority of the NAC members have been arguing for doing away with such artificial cut-offs of who is poor and who is not, so far the government — supported strongly by the Planning Commission — has been keen to allow an increase in the number of beneficiaries to a very limited extent — going by the Tendulkar Committee report and mindful of budgetary considerations. The top court’s decision on the matter is bound to further complicate the calculation and decision making that the UPA would finally make.

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This post was submitted by Harshit Agrawal.

Thanks to timesofindia.indiatimes.com