New Delhi, February 13
UPA's efforts to introduce National Food Security Bill in the Budget session appears to be in for another bumpy ride as majority of states, including Tamil Nadu and Punjab, today opposed several provisions in the ambitious legislation, including identification of beneficiaries, and also objected to any financial burden on them.

The Congress-led Centre had called the consultations to put final touches to the legislation on the back of which the UPA hopes to ride back to power in the next General Election. Representatives of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Odisha, among others, however, vehemently questioned various provisions in the Bill, claiming that these would not only deprive them of their present entitlement of foodgrain but also put them under undue fiscal duress.

Their primary objection revolved around quantity of subsidised grain and the number of beneficiaries under the proposed law. Punjab, for instance, was certain that identification criteria for beneficiaries should be different for different states. State Food Minister Adesh Partap Singh was of the view that criteria to determine the list of beneficiaries in other states could not be applicable to Punjab. If similar exclusion criteria were also applied to Punjab, half of eligible beneficiaries in the state would become ineligible, he said.

Punjab, along with Bihar, Odisha, Kerala and Gujarat, suggested the Centre should first modernise public distribution system (PDS) and leave the job of identification of beneficiaries completely to the states.

Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, sought complete exemption from the implementation. State Food Minister R Kamaraj said the Centre should allow it to implement the existing universal PDS as it was more effective. Terming the Bill full of confusion and inaccuracy, he said after the implementation of law, monthly allotment of foodgrains to state would decline to 2.24 lakh tonne from current level of 2.96 lakh tonne.

The consultation meeting of state food ministers had been organised to evolve a consensus on recommendations of the Parliamentary panel that suggested drastic changes in the proposed food Bill, which aims to give legal right over subsidised foodgrains to two-thirds of the country's population.

Asked if lack of consensus would delay the Bill, Food Minister K V Thomas said except for Tamil Nadu, all states had welcomed the legislation. "Some have expressed reservation on certain provisions. We cannot satisfy everyone. We intend to present the revised bill in the forthcoming session of Parliament," he said.

Admitting the "challenges" in arriving at a consensus, Thomas admitted that identification of beneficiaries, entitlement to foodgrains and their prices were principal objections that required "careful consideration".