Patna,(BiharTimes): Right to Food activists have questioned the silence of Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan over the non-implementation of the National Food Security Act in 25 states and Union Territories of the country, including several BJP-ruled ones, like Gujarat Jharkhand etc. Instead he is repeatedly targeting Bihar for pure political reason.

Talking to BiharTimes Rupesh, Advisor to Commissioner of Supreme Court in Right to Food Case, and Convenor of Right to Food Campaign said that the truth is that Bihar is the first state to implement this Act. Not only that the criteria fixed by the state government to identify the poor is much better than other states. In contrast states like Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat and neighbouring Jharkhand, have not even implemented it. This is so in spite of the fact that the Centre has extended the deadline thrice, for six months each––third time on April 4 last.

He said that even in Chhattisgarh, which had its own food law, the system is not functioning well.According to these activists the tragedy is that in Gujarat, unlike in Bihar, civil society campaign is not strong enough to put pressure on the state government, which was till May last was ruled by none else but Narendra Modi.The National Food Security Act was passed in September 2013. Bihar implemented it in a few districts in the first week of February 2014 and than in the entire state about a month later.

Only 11 states and Union Territories have so far implemented this Act––some of them fully and others partially. They are Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Chandigarh.

According to Rupesh it is because of the Centre’s approach that the Act is not being implemented properly.“We met Ram Vilas Paswan five times, both in Delhi and here. We even gave him rule on Right to Food, but to no avail,” he said.

Rupesh said that the National Food Security Act is not just like a Public Distribution System (PDS) as Ram Vilas wants everyone to believe. It is a significant departure from the past as it includes several other schemes. Instead of 35-40 per cent the percentage of beneficiaries have increased to 84 per cent (6.90 crore) of the rural below poverty line people and 74 per cent (70 lakh) urban BPL. Earlier it was just a scheme, now legal right has been given to the people.

The Act now includes Mid-day meal, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS). Under the last named scheme Rs 1,000 per month would be paid for six months to the mother after the birth of a child––Rs 6,000 in total. Earlier, they used to get just Rs 1,400.

Rupesh said that Ram Vilas is focusing just on Bihar. Besides, he is yet to speak on other schemes under NFSA. In fact the Narendra Modi government, in its last budget, slashed funds meant for Mid-day meal, ICDS, NMBS as well as MNREGA and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.Rupesh said he did not go to attend the conference on implementation of National Food Security Act held in Patna on Sunday, where Ram Vilas Paswan, his son Chirag Paswan, Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav and others spoke. The food minister of Bihar, Shyam Rajak, abstained from the conference.“Had I attended it I would have certainly raised all these issues,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion Ram Vilas said that the Nitish Kumar government has failed in effectively implementing the National Food Security Act. He said that about 1.11 crore eligible people have been left out and thus they are deprived of the subsidized foodgrains entitled under this Act.According to him about 8.71 crore people are covered under the food law in Bihar but the state government has so far provided the list of about 7.61 crore beneficiaries.

However, what upset the Right to Food activists is that he failed to take the name of so many other states, which have not even started work on it.