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Why
can't food be given to poor, asks Supreme Court
Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:43:34 PM, IANS
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New Delhi:
The Supreme Court Friday asked the central government why
foodgrains it had procured but could not preserve because of
inadequate storage capacity could not be given to the poor.
"Procurement of adequate foodgrains is essential to provide food
security and to protect the interest of the farmers. All through
our anxiety has been that the procured foodgrains be properly
preserved," said the bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice
Deepak Verma.
However, the court said: "The amount of foodgrains which cannot be
preserved because of lack of storing facility, at least that much
wholesome foodgrains be allocated to the BPL (below poverty line)
population forthwith."
The court also recorded the submission by senior counsel Colin
Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner People's Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL), that 150 of the poorest districts in India be
also given the same amount of foodgrains as distributed to the BPL
population.
The court also took note of the submission by PUCL that though in
2010 India's population was estimated to be 117.67 crore, the
foodgrains being distributed to the BPL families was on the basis
of the 1991 census.
The petitioner said that since the last census of 2000, there has
been an addition of another seven crore families to the BPL
category who were being kept of the targeted public distribution
system.
While stating that the foodgrains should be supplied to the BPL
families based on 2010 population estimates, the court asked
Attorney General G. Vahanvati to state why the remaining BPL
families should not be given the same quota of foodgrains.
According to the 2000 census, the population of the country stood
at 99.69 crore.
The court also took note of the submissions by some states that
even going by the central government's parameters of BPL families,
the number of people living below poverty line was much larger
than being put out by New Delhi.
The court said that all those states who have not filed their
affidavit so far should do so by Nov 8, 2010 when the matter would
be taken up for further hearing.
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