Left flays Centre for food security ordinance

Left flays Centre for food security ordinance

The cabinet decided to promulgate the ordinance just weeks before the scheduled Monsoon Session.

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 Left flays Centre for food security ordinance

New Delhi: Left parties today attacked the government for taking the ordinance route to implement the Food Security Bill, saying the UPA-II has shown contempt for Parliament.

“This is a totally unnecessary step. The government has shown contempt for Parliament where such a major legislation should have been discussed and adopted,” said CPM general secretary Prakash Karat in New Delhi.

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CPM general secretary Prakash Karat. Reuters

Maintaining that the present legislation had serious flaws, Karat said, “We have a lot of criticism about the Bill (in its present form). We will move amendments to the legislation.”

His comments came as the Union cabinet decided to promulgate an ordinance to give the nation’s two-third population the right to five kgs of foodgrain every month at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.

In the same vein, CPI national secretary D Raja opposed the move, saying the government should have “advanced the Monsoon Session of Parliament if it was keen and honest to get the Food Security Bill passed”.

Holding that the current legislation was “not acceptable”, Raja said the measure needed to be “drastically amended and thoroughly debated. Congress cannot hoodwink the people by issuing this ordinance. The people are mature enough to see through the tricks played by the UPA-II government”.

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Observing that senior ministers like Sharad Pawar and KV Thomas had opposed the ordinance route, he said, “What changes have come in their position, we don’t know.”

Raja, however, said that it was not that the Left parties did not want a legislation on food security. “These parties carried out countrywide agitation on the issue of food security, right to food and public distribution system for all sections of the people a few months ago.”

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The cabinet decided to promulgate the ordinance just weeks before the scheduled Monsoon Session. Even after the ordinance, the Bill will have to be approved by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

PTI

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