NEW DELHI, Dec 12: The Government today informed the Rajya Sabha that there was no proposal under its consideration to exclude taxpayers and Government employees from the purview of the
Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Raosaheb Patil Danve, in a written reply, said the Central government has notified the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) in September, 2013, under which State Governments/ Union Territory (UT) Administrations are required to evolve the criteria for identification of priority households and conduct their actual identification, within the coverage determined for each State/UT, for receiving subsidised foodgrains under the TPDS.
The Minister made it clear during a Conference of Ministers of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution of States/UTs in July this year to inter alia review the implementation of NFSA. It was suggested that though the criteria for identification of households is to be evolved by the States/UTs, while identifying the eligible households, they should ensure that Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households are included, except those in Government service, public sector undertakings or autonomous institutions or income tax payers. (UNI)