Government has actually formed a food secretaries' panel to look into modalities of neighborhood cooking area schemeGovernment on Thursday formed a group of food secretaries from states which will brainstorm on the structure of the community kitchen scheme.Food Secretaries from eight states specifically Kerala, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh form the group while Madhya Pradesh's food secretary will head it.Minister for customer affairs, food - & public distribution Piyush Goyal revealed the formation of the group while chairing the conference of states' food ministers to work out the methods of formulating the neighborhood cooking area scheme as well as a nationwide food grid.Mr Goyal stated that the scheme will have to be simple, transparent and advantageous for people.
We should have compassion towards poor of the country and need to guarantee collective resolve to run successful and transparent food programs to guarantee proper nutrition to kids, he said during the meeting.Food ministers of states who participated in the conference included Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and union territory Puducherry amongst others.The next meeting at the officers' level will be held essentially on November 29 to deliberate on the structure proposition, official sources said.Mr Goyal stated in the conference that during the pandemic, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) proved useful for more than 80 crore recipients, as through it, free food grains were offered them and there was no food shortage in the country.On Wednesday, the union cabinet had actually cleared the extension of the plan till March 2022.
Referring to the meeting, the minister said that it was held according to the directions of the Supreme Court.Other problems which were discussed in the meeting consisted of the evaluation of the status of the execution of One Country One Ration Card (ONORC) plan and Aadhaar seeding of ration cards.Hearing a writ petition filed jointly by activists Anun Dhawan, Ishann Dhawan and Kunjana Singh that prayed for setting up neighborhood kitchens and establishment of a nationwide food grid, the Supreme Court had asked the federal government on November 16 to hold a conference and frame the policy in 3 weeks' time.