By IANS,
On Board Air India One: The recommendations of the National Advisory Council have to be taken seriously, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday in response to a query on the food security bill.
“When I go back, I will try and acquaint myself on the recommendations of the NAC,” the prime minister told reporters on his way home from a weeklong tour of Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.
The NAC, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, has urged the government to move beyond the below poverty line (BPL) criteria and recommended ‘priority’ and ‘general’ categories for legal entitlement of foodgrain under the proposed food security act.
The NAC has suggested that legal entitlements to subsidised foodgrains should be extended to at least 75 percent of the country’s population – 90 percent in rural areas and 50 percent in urban areas.