JUNE 4- The UPA government wants to move an ordinance as part of its strategy on the Food Security Bill and then place it before Parliament in the next session, sources said on Tuesday.
The advantage to the government is that Parliament can only approve or disapprove an ordinance, but cannot amend it. The government is going to use this route to ensure that it avoids multiple amendments being suggested by the opposition parties.
The Food Security Ordinance will have to be approved by Parliament within six weeks of its next session being convened or it would lapse.
On Monday Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had said âall the options on the Food Security Bill on how to go ahead with it are still openâ.
He was addressing media after a meeting of the UPA Coordination Committee, called by the Congress to elicit views of the allies on the bill, which is a pet project of Congress president Sonia Gandhi aimed at giving legal rights to 67 per cent of the national population over a uniform quantity of 5 kg food-grains at a fixed price of Rs.1-3 per kg through ration shops.
