New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) A working group of the National Advisory Council (NAC) on the food security bill Thursday urged broadening the ambit of the legislative measure to make sure its benefits reached more people.
Eminent agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan and bureaucrat-turned-social activist Harsh Mander made presentations on ‘the need for universal entitlements’ at the second meeting here of the NAC, presided over by its chief Sonia Gandhi and attended by all members.
The working group wanted efforts ‘towards increasing overall availability of foodgrain by increasing the productivity of agriculture and also larger procurement of foodgrains’, said an NAC statement.
‘The working group advised that special care should be taken to cover the poorest among the poor, namely disadvantaged groups such as the aged, the infirm, the destitute, the homeless, the differently-abled, street children, primitive tribes and persons suffering from debilitating diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV AIDS and leprosy,’ it said.
‘The need for systemic reforms to improve the functioning of the PDS (public distribution system) was also emphasized,’ the statement added.
The NAC was told that its working group on the communal violence bill had held consultations with senior officials of the home ministry, law ministry and representatives of ‘anti-communal’ groups.
