Rajya Sabha passes National Food Security Bill 2013

September 5, 2013

The National Food Security Bill 2013 has been passed in the Rajya Sabha.

Entitles 5 kg of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per person at 3, 2 and 1 Rupees respectively to around 67% of nation’s population.
With this Bill, India will join the select club of nations which guarantee food-grains to majority of its population.
It will be the largest programme of its kind in the world which will cost government Rs. 130,000 crore.
To implement the bill a total of 62 million tonnes of food-grains will be required.
It is being viewed as the first step towards universalization of Public Distribution System.
The Bill proposes to provide free meals to all the pregnant women as well as lactating mothers during the pregnancy till six months post delivery.
Maternity benefit of Rs. 6000 will also be given to pregnant women.
Children till the age of 14 years will also be given free meals.
The state will pay the food security allowance to the beneficiaries in the event of non-supply of the foodgrains.
The scheme will be linked to the Aadhar number that’s linked to a database that includes the biometric information of all card-holders.