Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to replace the ordinance with a Bill which addresses the state’s concerns.”The union Government has unilaterally and hastily promulgated the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013.she said
Though the Ordinance claims to provide food security to all, unfortunately, contrary to such a claim, there are several flaws in the Ordinance which have created serious apprehensions and actually raise the specter of food insecurity for a State like Tamil Nadu,” she said
She suggested certain amendments be made in the Bill that is proposed to replace the Ordinance in Parliament. “There must be a fool proof and firm guarantee in the legislation through an appropriate clause in Chapter VIII of the Ordinance in order to ensure continued adequate level of allocation of food grains to States that are already implementing a Public Distribution System.
She ‘strongly’ urged Singh to ensure that the concerns of Tamil Nadu are addressed through the inclusion of appropriate amendments in the Bill that the Government of India intends to place before Parliament to replace the Food Security Ordinance.
“This provision should ensure that the present total allocation of food grains to the State under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, BPL and APL categories is not reduced”, she told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a letter.
“The Government of India is duty bound to protect the food security of States like Tamil Nadu. Respecting federal and democratic principles, any such Bill should be passed only after a detailed consultation with the States on the whole gamut of issues and after addressing specific concerns of different States and after adequate discussion in Parliament.”
Jaya said. “I have strong reasons to suspect that the Central Government is deliberately trying to create a Food Security crisis for Tamil Nadu, on the one hand by adopting arbitrary principles and formulae for allocation of food grains in the guise of the Food Security Ordinance, and on the other hand by acting against the interests of the State in receiving its due share of water in the River Cauvery which is crucial for paddy cultivation in the Cauvery delta”,
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply