The Centre and National Advisory Council?s (NAC) dilemma over the food security Bill seems to have no end. The silence, which followed Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia?s presentation to the NAC last week, is a clear indication of the tussle going on over the issue.
While rather liberal suggestions have been made on the draft Bill by NAC members?including recasting the Bill as one, which guarantees nutritional security and universalises the Public Distribution System (PDS)?the reality check by Ahluwalia has not been ignored.
NAC members refused to discuss the presentation. Jean Dreze, NAC member told FE, ?No discussion took place after the presentation, but the sub-group on the FSA will meet in a week or so to discuss it.?
The startling statistics on just how much the food subsidy bill will swell after these suggestions have been incorporated are not the only reason for a rethink. Top sources in the government confirm that NAC chairperson Sonia Gandhi has not been as unsympathetic to fiscal concerns as in the last avatar of the NAC.
?The fact remains that the finance minister has to tackle fiscal deficit, and next year this would be without the crutch provided by the amount garnered through the 3G auction,? said a top official in the government. In fact, Gandhi and NAC member NC Saxena have counselled a pragmatic approach on the FSA.
The NAC appears a little divided over not just the FSA but also the the question of the Unique Identity Authority (UIDA) or Aadhaar. Gandhi and NC Saxena (NAC member) again have put their considerable and unqualified support behind the idea while members like Aruna Roy have counselled that the roll out of the numbers be kept on hold till privacy issues and other problems with the entire idea of a unique identification number are thrashed out. The first UID numbers rolled out on Wednesday.
Sources also confirm members like AK Shiva Kumar and Anu Aga have different take on matters?quite at variance with the pure activism of the members who have been taken from the last NAC. Considered neo-liberals by some, the two are expected to weigh in with different point of views.
Going by all this, it can be safely said the NAC, in its current avatar, is expected to behave a little differently than in the past, and the change, it seems, has come from the top.