UPSC Articles
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Policies and interventions
In news
- Lok Sabha passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
- The Bill will replace the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance which was promulgated in June, 2020.
Key takeaways
- The Bill seeks to amend the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
- It empowers the central government in terms of production, supply, distribution, trade, and commerce of certain commodities under extraordinary circumstances.
- The Central government will be able to designate certain commodities including food items, fertilizers, and petroleum products as essential commodities.
- The Bill empowers the central government to regulate the stock of an essential commodity that a person can hold.
Do you know?
- The extraordinary circumstances include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature.
- The provisions of the bill regarding the regulation of food items and the imposition of stock limits will not apply to any government order relating to the Public Distribution System or the Targeted Public Distribution System.
