Ordinance on Food Security sent to Prez for consent

The government on Thursday sent the ordinance on food security to President Pranab Mukherjee for his consent.

The President's Secretariat received the ordinance at 10 pm, Rashtrapati Bhavan sources said, adding it will be given to the President for his consideration.

Brushing aside political opposition, the government had on Wednesday decided to issue the ordinance to give nation's two-third population the right to get 5 kg of foodgrain every month at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.

The Food Security programme when implemented will be the biggest in the world with the government spending estimated at Rs 125,000 crore annually on supply of about 62 million tones of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67 per cent of the population.

Opposition parties slammed the government bringing the ordinance, accusing it of bypassing Parliament which is due to meet in a few weeks and acting in a hurry with an eye on polls.

The government rejected the charge saying it wants to provide food security to crores and alleged that Opposition leaders, who had earlier disrupted Parliament sessions were now shedding "crocodile tears" over parliamentary propriety.