The Rajya Sabha yesterday passed the National Food Security Bill, 2013 by a voice vote, following the Lok Sabha's nod on August 26th. The Bill now only requires Presidential assent to become the law. However, the current economic situation has led to serious doubts about the Bill, reflected in the media (here, here and here) and the markets both. The Sensex dropped 590 points the day after the Lok Sabha's assent, and already today the Rupee opened lower, as compared to yesterday's close.
Following the concerns raised post the Lok Sabha debate, Harish Khare penned a strong-worded reply in the The Hindu to critics of the bill, pointing to the social obligations the State has towards the underprivileged sections of society and applauding the UPA for fulfilling its commitment. An excerpt:
"Once every few decades
comes a moment in a Republic’s life when a few fundamental commitments have to
be renewed — or rejected. This is one such week, a time to test our core
beliefs. It is also the time to ask a fundamental question: since when in this
country has a veto been ceded to the markets and its manipulators, at home and
abroad, to decide the issues of equity, social justice and economic fairness?
There is something inherently perverse in the suggestion that this much-needed
welfare measure would send out the “wrong” signals. Pray to whom? Those
half-a-dozen professional financial manipulators in London?"
Khare, a former adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh believes that the upper classes- controllers of public opinion today and the major beneficiaries of the earlier economic reforms- are directing an unfounded anger towards the State and the poor themselves. In a democracy, a single class of persons cannot, and should not be dictating the allocation of collective resources to the rest. The National Food Security Bill "strikes a new balance" between the interests of the various stakeholders of this democracy, and rightly so.
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