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The proposed National Food Security Bill is currently being studied by the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution.
The Parliamentary Committee has so far held two meetings.
“We are waiting for the outcome of deliberations by the Standing Committee and further action will be taken accordingly to take the Bill forward,” said Prof K.V. Thomas, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
He said the Bill seeks to address the issue of food security in a holistic manner, by adopting a life-cycle approach.
There are recommendations to ensure about 70 per cent of the population is entitled to receive subsidised foodgrains under the targeted public distribution system. “We are also considering to supply 5 kg a person, instead of 7 kg as suggested earlier, at Rs 3/kg of rice, Rs 3/kg of wheat and Re 1 for pulses to the State Government,” the Minister said.
He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Advanced Technologies for Global Food Market,’ organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (Southern Region) today.
One aspect which has a bearing on the food security is, he said, how to stop wastage of food.
Apart from curbing social and cultural practices resulting in wastage of food and ostentatious consumption, development of a strong and vibrant food processing industry is essential to minimise the wastages, he said.
At present, a small percentage of agricultural raw material is processed into high value-added products. The scope and potential are huge in this area.
We need to adopt modern technologies and meet the international quality standards in order to become a global player in the food market.
The Ministry has taken various initiatives such as assistance to food processing industries, support to various research activities and human resource development to meet growing requirement of skilled manpower and to promote entrepreneurship, the Minister said.
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