New Delhi, July 3
Preparing for the 2014 General Elections, the Congress-led UPA today decided to take the ordinance route to provide India’s two-third population the right to food at subsidised rates.

Opposition parties, primarily the BJP and the Left, wanted National Food Security Bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s pet project, to be discussed in Parliament. However, the Cabinet today gave a green signal to the ordinance and forward it to President Pranab Mukherjee for his approval.

It was smooth sailing today as even the dissenting UPA members, including Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, agreed to go by the Cabinet’s decision. Once the President signs it, rules will be framed and the programme rolled out after state governments prepare their beneficiary lists. The scheme will take at least six months to cover the entire country. But the contentious decision has set the tone for a confrontation with the BJP and the Left.

Promulgated just weeks before the scheduled monsoon session, the ordinance will have to be approved by the Parliament. But Congress managers know that any political opposition to the provision will be read as an “anti-poor” move - a fact that Opposition parties are well aware of.

According to Congress leader Ajay Maken, the Congress is “not running away” from any discussion as the ordinance will have to be discussed on the floor of both the Houses. Maken, in fact, blamed the BJP for stalling the budget session when the Food Bill was due for discussions.

The BJP has been maintaining that it wanted the Bill to be passed by the Parliament but with certain amendments. Left parties also want to move amendments for a universal public distribution system and so do parties like the Trinamool Congress, the BJD and the AIADMK. Sources, however, said any further amendments would only delay the much-delayed 2009 poll promise of the UPA.

For the BJP, it would now be the proverbial Catch 22 situation. If the saffron party opposes the ordinance in Parliament, it will be sending a wrong message to the masses. If it supports it, the main beneficiary obviously will be the Congress. By supporting, it can claim partial credit.

Now with the JD(U) by its side, the Congress is confident of sailing through the Parliament. Politics apart, the decision makes India join select league of countries that guarantee a majority of its population foodgrains.

Rolled out at a massive Rs 1,25,000 crore government support, the food security programme will be the largest in the world. It will guarantee 5 kg of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per person at a fixed price of Rs 3, 2, 1, respectively. It aims to give legal rights to 67 per cent of the population a quantity of 5 kg foodgrains at a fixed price of Rs 1-3 per kg through ration shops. The government would require 62 million tonnes of foodgrains annually, which would cost the exchequer about Rs 1.25 lakh crore subsidy annually.