[New Delhi]National Food Security Act Of 5th July,2013 Is Yet To Be Implemented:Center To Review
A conference of Food Secretaries of 25 States/UTs, which have not yet started implementation of National Food Security Act, has convened by the center tomorrow.
Main objective of the conference is to review the status of preparedness of these States/UTs to implement the Act and progress in end-to-end computerization of Targeted Public distribution System (TPDS).
Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan,From Bihar, himself will chair the conference.
The Act, which came into force w.e.f 5th July, 2013, provided for a period of one year for identification of eligible households for receiving subsidized foodgrains, However, as many States/UTs had not completed the exercise of identification at the end of one year, the period had to be extended first by three months and then by another six months i.e. upto first week of April, 2015. They have been requested to complete the identification and ensure implementation of the Act in the extended period.
During the Conference being held tomorrow, status of preparedness to implement the Act in 25 States/UTs will be reviewed which include identification of eligible households through a participative & transparent process and computerisation of PDS in a time-bound manner.
Earlier, implementation of the Act and progress in computerisation of TPDS in 11 States/UTs, where the Act has been implemented, was reviewed in a meeting with Food Secretaries of these States/UTs on December 03, 2014.