A day ahead of the UPA-II first budget, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said that families bracketed under the above poverty line category won?t be excluded from the public distribution system even after the much publicised Food Security Act that will ensure 25 kg of rice and wheat to all BPL families by law was implemented.

The minister also said that the government is considering a proposal for giving food subsidy in cash instead of foodgrains at cheaper rates in five districts in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi on a pilot basis.

The Economic Survey 2008-09 on Thursday, had advocated distribution of food and fertiliser subsidy directly to consumer instead of producer to ensure effective implementation.

Replying to supplementaries, food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said the government would follow an inclusive policy wherein both APL and below poverty line families will get foodgrains at cheaper rates.

“We have only circulated a note to all the state governments, seeking their views on this. We have not taken a final view on PDS allocation for APL families. Some states have sent in their views, while responses from the rest are awaited. We won’t exclude anybody, we will include all the categories for allocating foodgrains through PDS under the Act,” Pawar said.

He told the House that in order to frame the proposed Act, government has initiated necessary action. Examination of different aspects of the proposed law in consultation with state governments, various ministries and other stakeholders is currently going on. Pawar also said that as per government records there are 6.5 crore BPL card holders in the country. At the same time, states have distributed about 12 crore BPL cards.

“This is an unresolved issue, and we are trying to resolve it through discussions,” he added.

He added that the annual subsidy burden on the government would come around to Rs 50,000 crore after the ?Food Security Act is implemented.

For BPL families with low purchasing power, wheat and rice are distributed at highly subsidised prices of Rs 4.15 a kg and Rs 5.65 a kg, respectively. For the 2.43 crore poorest families among the BPL, categorized under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, wheat is distributed at Rs 2 and rice at Rs 3 per kg.

Meanwhile, the minister also added that the government is considering a proposal for giving food subsidy in cash instead of foodgrains at cheaper rates in five districts in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi on a pilot basis.

Based on the proposals by governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi, a draft scheme has been prepared to study the feasibility of the alternative mode of transfer of food subsidy to BPL and AAY beneficiaries under the public distribution system, Pawar said.