Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Right to Food will be a legal right - this was the much-promised legislation in the manifesto of the Congress party. Many believe this promised legislation helped the party win the May General Elections, but a President's speech not withstanding, and two Parliament sessions later, there is no sight of even the draft bill. In fact, there is no deadline for the bill to be implemented.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has even gone on record to say: "It may take anything between six months to one year."
Inaction on the proposed legislation has sent alarm bells ringing and more than 4,000 people from across India converged on the streets of Delhi demanding that the law be drafted and brought before Parliament on a priority basis.
Right to Food activist, Jean Dreze says, "Without a doubt there is a nutritional emergency in this country for the last 50-60 years, so there should be no excuse in delaying the process."
Meanwhile, the Opposition has lost no time in saying that the delay on the part of the Government is deliberate.
CPM leader, Brinda Karat says, "They have absolutely no explanation. Why have they continued futures trade in an essential commodity? Why are they not taking the strictest of action to ensure the strengthening of the public distribution system?"
Sources in the Agriculture Ministry say that the drought has pushed the legislation off the table for now, but activists and workers point out that precisely because of the drought and the high prices, the legislation should be brought in quickly.
However, there is no consensus on crucial issues - should it be 25 kilos per family, or 35 kilos? Should it be for people below the poverty line, or should it include those just above it? Should the Centre decide how many are poor or should it be the states? These are some of the questions that the Government still has to answer.
And granting the legal right to food in a season of low production and high uncertainty is something that the Government does not want to do.
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