Parliamentary panel for Food Bill wheat guarantee at Rs 2, rice at Rs 3 to all beneficiaries
proposed in the original Bill.
The Food Security Bill aims to benefit 67 per cent of the nation's population.
Speaking to media after presenting the report, Muttemwar said the panel had suggested coverage of 75 per cent of rural population and 50 per cent of urban as proposed in the Bill.
The bill, a pet project of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was introduced in December 2011 and was referred to the Standing Committee for examination in January 2012.
The report of the panel, which comprises 31 members cutting across party lines, had only one dissenting note from CPM member T N Seema.
On other recommendation, Muttemwar said: "We have asked the government to give additional 5 kg of foodgrains per month to women during pregnancy and till two years after child birth". The panel has asked the government to modernise PDS and computerise supply chain.
"We have suggested that there should be single category of beneficiary with uniform entitlement of 5 kg per person per month at uniform subsidised price," Muttemwar said.
"There should be no general and priority households categories, only inclusion and exclusion. This suggestion has been made to make food bill sustainable," he added.
The panel was of the view that "such categorisation is very complicated and impractical" and it would have been difficult to implement, he said.
Asked about lowering the quantity from 7 kg to 5 kg, he said: "The Committee found that entitlement of 7 kg or 11 kg would not be feasible considering the current production and procurement trends."
The requirement of
