Food ordinance postponed, Govt to try for Parliament special session instead

The Union Cabinet today decided against pushing through the an ordinance on food security, and decided to reach out to the Opposition one more time in an attempt to have it passed in a special session of Parliament.

Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, “We have decided to make one more effort to get Food Security Bill in a special session of Parliament.”

“The Food Security Bill is ready. We would like to pass it as a bill but Ordinance version of bill is also ready. We decided today that we would like to make one more effort to ask the Opposition parties whether they will cooperate in passing the bill in a special session of Parliament,” he said.

Home Minister and Leader of the Lok Sabha Sushil Kumar Shinde, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Food Minister K V Thomas will meet opposition leaders to elicit their support for passage of the key legislation, he said.

Questioned on the proposed ordinance, Chidambaram said: “It is our intention to get it passed in a special session of parliament and make one more effort….”

“We will talk to the opposition parties. If they agree to a special session, it can be called pretty early. The bill is ready… we will like the opposition support,” the finance minister said.

The bill is presently stuck in Parliament as the BJP did not allow a debate on it in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session, which ended on 8 May.

The cabinet decision is in keeping with demands from major opposition parties such as the BJP, who have been demanding that the bill be debated in Parliament before being passed.

Sources also told CNN-IBN that the Congress feared the Samajwadi Party would back out of supporting the government and would result in its falling, due to which they deferred the ordinance. The bill is considered the brainchild of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, had, however, said earlier  that she was not in favour of a special session of Parliament, asking instead that the Monsoon Session be advanced.

“There are media reports that government is considering the option of an Ordinance or to convene a special session of Parliament. The ordinance route for such an important legislation is not desirable. We are not opposed to a special session of Parliament,” Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had tweeted earlier.

However, she said, “the better option will be to prepone the Monsoon session which is anyway due in July”.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had also suggested last week that the bill be debated in parliament, indicating his reservations on an ordinance. In the past, Pawar has expressed his reservations on the bill, saying it would entail a huge subsidy burden on the exchequer and harm the interests of farmers. However, the NCP today said they would be willing to support an ordinance if the bill could not be passed.

The bill aims to provide 7 kg of super-subsidised foodgrain at Rs 3 a kg for rice, Rs 2 for wheat, and Re 1 for coarse grains.

with inputs from Agencies