In signs of growing friction between the PMO and the National Advisory Council (NAC) over the fiscal burden of the National Food Security Act, the former has set up a committee under chief economic advisor to the PM C Rangarajan to review the draft bill prepared by the Sonia Gandhi-chaired think tank.
The development has come as a surprise to NAC which is veering close to including the entire SC/ST population as mandatory recipients of subsidised foodgrain.
The development has come as a surprise to NAC which is veering close to including the entire SC/ST population as mandatory recipients of subsidised foodgrain.
The PMO committee will have Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, chief economic advisor to the finance ministry Kaushik Basu, agriculture secretary and expenditure secretary as members. The choices are significant in view of their known concerns about the fiscal repercussions of an ambitious NFSA. For months, NAC members have been pushing for a more expansive bill that would covers as large a population as better foodgrain supply and procurement can handle.
Some members of the PMO panel would prefer conditional cash transfers and a smaller beneficiary list instead.
The naming of the committee could restart the debate on the contours of the bill. Though it was touted as the Planning Commission for UPA-2's social agenda, NAC members have found their influence over government policy clipped by a strong set of defenders of `fiscal prudence'.
The PMO had earlier intervened just before a crucial meeting of NAC to lay down the upper limit of additional food subsidy that the government would be willing to provide for in the NFSA. This had forced the NAC's hand and made them cut down on some of the proposals in the bill as well as substantially prune its declared ambitions of providing near-universal coverage to at least one-fourth of the country's districts.
Earlier too, the Planning Commission had pushed for a minimalist bill suggesting that issue prices for APL be kept high enough to bring down the number of those who could claim benefit. It also stuck conservative estimates of those living below the poverty line.
At the last meeting of the NAC, it was decided that a sub-committee of the council would draft the bill based on principles approved in a meeting presided over by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The draft was supposed to be circulated within the government.
While NAC members did not comment on the development in the meeting on Friday, sources said the significance of a committee set up by the PMO to review their draft had caused consternation within the council.
Some members of the PMO panel would prefer conditional cash transfers and a smaller beneficiary list instead.
The naming of the committee could restart the debate on the contours of the bill. Though it was touted as the Planning Commission for UPA-2's social agenda, NAC members have found their influence over government policy clipped by a strong set of defenders of `fiscal prudence'.
The PMO had earlier intervened just before a crucial meeting of NAC to lay down the upper limit of additional food subsidy that the government would be willing to provide for in the NFSA. This had forced the NAC's hand and made them cut down on some of the proposals in the bill as well as substantially prune its declared ambitions of providing near-universal coverage to at least one-fourth of the country's districts.
Earlier too, the Planning Commission had pushed for a minimalist bill suggesting that issue prices for APL be kept high enough to bring down the number of those who could claim benefit. It also stuck conservative estimates of those living below the poverty line.
At the last meeting of the NAC, it was decided that a sub-committee of the council would draft the bill based on principles approved in a meeting presided over by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The draft was supposed to be circulated within the government.
While NAC members did not comment on the development in the meeting on Friday, sources said the significance of a committee set up by the PMO to review their draft had caused consternation within the council.
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