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Protests over NFSA a case of much ado about nothing | | | It is a case of much ado about nothing.It cannot be other than that if the Government figures are correct. The breezy row in Kashmir is over the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) which the protesters say can reduce the quantum of ration supplied from the consumer Department. First the NFSA evoked some political controversy when the opposition National Conference berated the PDP-BJP coalition Government for trying to weaken the internal autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir. The plea of the National Conference was that the central Act was being made directly applicable to the state when under Article 370 it had to secure approval of the state legislature. However, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd. Sayeed has set at rest any controversy over it saying that since it was a central Act implemented in all the states it could be extended without seeking approval from the state legislature. However, the reason for people to protest against the NFSA was that once it was implemented each person would get five kgs of ration instead of 35 kgs. Their another grouse is that over one lakh people will be deprived of the benefits of cheap ration. Notwithstanding the Government's assurance that the NFSA will benefit a large section of people protesters However, allege that the NFSA implementation would leave out lakhs of poor people who may be deprived of subsided ration. The entitlement promised will be less than currently available to people under BPL and other category. It is 35 kg at present while the current bill will give only 5 kg of grains per person per month. Protesters complain the Bill may hoodwink the poor people in the name of Food Security. People will face shortage of grains if only 5 kg rice will be given on subsidy. In fact the coalition Government described the Bill as 'major achievement' because 74.13 lakh people from poor sections of the society will be provided ration at rates of Rs 2 per kg for atta and Rs 3 per kg for rice and another 45 lakh people will be provided atta at Rs 8 per kg and rice at Rs 10 per kg as per the Bill. Till date only 46 lakh people in the state would receive ration at subsidized rates. But after the NFSA is in force over 74 lakh people will be benefitted meaning that 20 lakh more people will get ration at subsidized rates. Director CAPD, Abdul Rashid Var says that implementation of Food Security Bill will ensure food grains to every person rather than uniform quantity for each ration card. 5 kg per soul is the uniform scale all over India and it will also ensure that every person gets equal quantity of ration. Var said people should cooperate with the department for creating genuine database for shifting from 2011 census and NFSA. Meanwhile, terming the protest incidents in Srinagar against CAPD department for announcing five kg ration per head as 'unfortunate', Zulfkar said that the people are being forced to protest against the government. The previous regime has miserably failed to implement such order, which will prove beneficial to the people due to which they are trying to create hindrance in our way. This way the coalition Government has reports which suggest that the opposition National Conference and the separatists were engineering protest rallies simply to malign the Government which is bent upon helping poor people. It is ridiculous that even the rich and those living in posh bunglows in Kashmir have been receiving ration at subsidized rates and this error had been pointed out by the central Government which has also assured that quality ration and that too in abundance was to be supplied to Jammu and Kashmir soon after the NFSA was implemented. The argument of the centre is valid because its ration supplied to Jammu and Kashmir used to gulped by the rich when it was meant for the poor and the common people. |
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