UN says, India’s food security bill
New Delhi: India’s Food Security Bill has global significance and it can inspire many countries to come up with similar legislation, a UN official said on Thursday.
“It (the Food Bill) has global significance. I believe it is an important movement for the right to food in India. It can inspire many countries to do the same thing,” Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said.
De Schutter, who met Food Minister KV Thomas on Thursday, said other countries have made similar attempts but India’s social welfare programme is the largest in the world because of the sheer size of its population.
To implement the law, the government will spend Rs 1,25,000 crore every year to supply 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals.
De Schutter noted that Chapter 9 of the food security bill has provisions for a grievance redressal mechanism. “I am particularly interested in how the redressal grievance commission will function and how people should be informed about the new law,” he added.
Schutter is preparing a report on world food security and is in India to study the country’s food law
