The first major opposition to the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 will be in the form of a three-day dharna here beginning on Wednesday by the project-affected people.

The Right to Food Campaign on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set aside the government draft of the Food Security Bill which “minimises government's obligations, restricts people's entitlements and is devoid of any accountability”. Rejecting the government's draft Bill, the Campaign gave a national call for action.

Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan, who was earlier not in favour of the inclusion of above poverty line families under the proposed Food Security Bill, on Monday said that they could be given legal entitlements with lesser quantity of foodgrains.

The Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan, Delhi is a network for about thirty organisations working on issues related to food security, especially through the Public Distribution System (PDS), in the State of Delhi.

“The archaic Land Acquisition Bill is being misused to displace farmers and take away their land and livelihood but the amended Bill that is coming is even worse,” said farmer Pritam Chaudhary from Saharanpur.

The Food Security Bill, approved by a group of ministers this month, has ignored malnutrition as a subject, surprising many observers in UN bodies.

A study on the Public Distribution System by a team led by National Advisory Council member and economist Jean Dreze found only 18 per cent of respondents in a survey, of 1,227 below-poverty line households over 106 villages in nine states, wanted cash in place of food under the system.

The demand for cash transfers was highest in Bihar at 54 per cent, followed by 34 per cent in Uttar Pradesh a

New Delhi The final draft of the proposed food security Bill approved by the finance and food ministries has a provision for creation of a national food security commission for implementation of the mega scheme that aims at providing subsidised grains to close to two-third of the country

New Delhi In order to avoid imports of grain for implementing the proposed food security Bill in years when monsoon fails, the government will include a provision in the Bill to allow beneficiaries to get cash instead of grain.

According to sources, the requirement of grain for the proposed food security cover would be 60 million tonne (mt), which is less than a third of the total production.

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