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NEED FOR INDIA’S NATIONAL FOOD

SECURITY ACT

“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form

of bread.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

In India, where almost ! per cent of the children are undernourished the purpose of this act

was significantly important. The intention of this act was to pro"ide sufficient food grains to

meet the demand of an indi"idual at affordable prices so that they can li"e their life with

dignity. The focus of this act was to address the issues on the current approach on the food

security and what changes should be made in it to ma#e it more efficient.

India$s economic growth rate and the health status of the people for the last decade do not go

hand in hand. %ccording to &ational 'amily (ealth )ur"ey, ** per cent of the population is

underweight in which !. per cent are children under the age of three. These types of

malnutrition and other deficiencies can be seen in the children across different age groups. %ll

these disturbing data point to the nutritional deficiencies and improper distribution of

resources that the country is facing. Thus, this brought in point of proposing a &ational 'ood

)ecurity +ill to address these issues.

In *! - )eptember, &ational 'ood )ecurity %ct, *! - was published. There are lots of

contro"ersies about its ob ecti"e. )ome critics debated that it was one policy by /0%

go"ernment to pull the "ote ban# towards them. Is this real story1 May be /0% go"ernment

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would get an ad"antage due to the bill but why new Go"ernment is also behind this act to

implement at any cost and anyhow1 +y implementing this act, 234 of the country$s

population will get cheap grains. This act creates the world$s largest welfare go"ernment

scheme. +efore this act in India, subsidi5ed food grains were pro"ided to some specific

section of the population.

&ational %d"isory 6ouncil proposed the +ill and the 7xpert 6ommittee was formed to

examine the proposals and ma#e a suitable recommendation. The "arious pro"isions pro"ided

in the act are that each household would get fi"e #ilogram of foodgrains per person per month

at a subsidi5ed rate. )eparate subsidy rates were decided for the people who were li"ing in

the rural and urban areas. 0ro"isions are pro"ided for pregnant women who are gi"en rights

to a free meal during pregnancy and six months after the child birth.

%s per the %ct, for the children under six years of age, free meals would be pro"ided through

the local child care center. 6hildren till class eight or age group of six to fourteen years will

get a one free mid8day meal e"ery day in the schools whether it be a pri"ate or a go"ernment

school. )chools also need to ta#e care that they ha"e the facilities for clean drin#ing water

and coo#ing. The local child care center set8up by the )tate go"ernment shall pro"ide food to

children who are suffering from malnutrition.

% separate pro"ision was also pro"ided in this act that in the case the go"ernment is not able

to pro"ide the 9uantity of food grain entitled to an indi"idual then the go"ernment will

pro"ide them allowance. Till date, ele"en states ha"e already implemented the 'ood )ecurity

law. +oth the )tate and 6entral go"ernment ha"e made an effort to ma#e the 0ublic

:istribution )ystem more transparent and efficient. )tates are now setting up ;eb portals to

trac# the mo"ement of rations and ma#e sure that it reaches the right mass. )till efforts are

being put into exploring the others modes of communication li#e )M) to inform the

beneficiaries about the scheme.

The %ct also gi"es the right to the people to put up their grie"ances and the )tate go"ernment

is setting up centers for this li#e call centers, help line and another such mechanism. %

separate officer will be appointed at each district le"el to address these grie"ances and also to

all the matters relating to the distribution of meals and food grains.

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Figure 1 SOURCE: THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY [PART II - SEC.1] , NATIONAFOOD SECURITY ACT, SCHEDU E I!

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Implementing the act, Go"ernment can expand the reach of subsidi5ed food to its citi5en at

cost of nearly .-?4 of G:0. Go"ernment will ha"e to procure 2* million tons food grains

for each financial year. In *! *8 -, country bought 3* million tons and in *! 8 *@ the figure

was 2-.-A million tons. )o you may raise the 9uestion what is the logic behind this act and

what is new in it. The main problem is food grains are procured by go"ernment each year, but

there is no surety that the entire 9uantity will be distributed to the people. The amount of lost

rice and wheat, which was lea#ed in the system, was -?4 of the total purchased 9uantity in

that financial year. The new act ensures that the food will reach those citi5ens who need it

"ery badly.

The ma or responsibility that the &ational %d"isory 6ouncil had to face was to find out how

much food grain would be demanded and what is the country$s current production1. In India,

the agriculture is still highly dependent on the rainfall. The 7xpert committee and &%6

analy5ed the data of the last years to see how the production is effected at the time of drought

and how the mar#et rate fluctuates during these times. These bodies wor#ed on the budget

that will be re9uired for this the act, and the whether they had enough production to meet the

actual demand.

;T= has also shown a great effort in sol"ing the issue related to food security in the country.

;T= has been loo#ing to sol"e this issue permanently, as India now has pa"ed the path for

trade facilitation, other countries would also li#e to amend the agreement on the policy of

%griculture. 6urrently, ;T= norms states that the limit on food subsidies is ! per cent on

the total food grain production. India has as#ed ;T= to ma#e an amendment in the current

norms of the agriculture subsidies. This would empower the go"ernment to procure

agricultural goods from the farmer at a minimum price and ma#e them a"ailable to the p oor

at a cheaper price.

The act itself defines about obligations of 6entral Go"ernment and )tate Go"ernment. To

ensure regular and uninterrupted supply of "arious food grains at subsidi5ed price to the

eligible people, 6entral Go"ernment will allocate the re9uired 9uantity of food grains to the

state go"ernment. 6entral go"ernment and )tate Go"ernments shall procure food grains by

central$s and states$ agencies to set the central food grain pool then allocate food grains to the

)tates pro"iding transportation to the Targeted :istribution )ystem. 6entral Go"ernment

shall help the )tate Go"ernment by pro"iding some financial fund to meet the extraexpenditure incurred by )tates in implementing and monitoring the food security. 6entral

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shall pro"ide extra funds to )tates in case of the short fall of supply from the central pool to

the )tates.

)tate Go"ernment$s role will include implementation and monitoring of the schemes to

ensure food security to the targeted beneficiaries in their )tate. )tate Go"ernment has to ta#e

care about the deli"ery of food grains to the entitled person at a specified price. )tates are

supposed to create and maintained scientific storage system at grass root le"el of the

distribution chain. )tate Go"ernment shall pay the food security allowance to the

beneficiaries. )tate Go"ernment shall assign responsibilities to the local authority, and )tate

Go"ernment has the power of assigning extra responsibilities to local authorities to ensure

transparency in the food deli"ery chain.

%nother important concern that &')+ faced was recogni5ing the beneficiaries. It was

important for the go"ernment to ma#e a distribution system totally transparent so that the

helps is reached the needy. )till a large population group does not a proper ration card. In the

case of highly depri"ed states, this ratio is about ! percent. Moreo"er, if we mo"e to the core

of this ratio, we find that more than ?! percent of this population belongs to the rural parts of

India.

>ecently there were many pressures on the go"ernment to increase the subsidi5ed foodgrain

allocation from ? #ilograms to 3 #ilograms per person. (owe"er, in latest press conference

'ood Minister >am Bilas 0aswan, stated that the go"ernment as of now is not planning to

increase the allocation rate. The demand came from different states to increase the allocation

limit including Gu arat where the state demanded at least 3 #ilograms of food grain per

person. %s stated in the conference, he pointed out that though the go"ernment has sufficient

stoc# to supply, but there in no such proposal in play to increase the same. The reason that

Mr. 0aswan stated that as of now only ele"en states has started implementing the food law

and *? are yet to implement. )o as of now the go"ernment is still waiting for remaining states

to implement the necessary changes and after then only any changes to the present law will

be made.

The 6enter go"ernment has gi"en a time period of six months to all the states to implement

the &ational 'ood )ecurity %cts which would gi"e at least two8third of country$s population

to buy food grains at the subsidi5ed price.

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REFERENCES

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Food_Security_Act,_2 1!2. http://www.i"pri.org/#log/india$%$national$"ood$%ecurity$#ill$and$it%$path$"orward 3. http://www.redi"".co&/new%/colu&n/why$we$&u%t$%upport$the$"ood$%ecurity$

#ill/2 1! ' (.ht&). http://article%.econo&icti&e%.indiati&e%.co&/2 1)$1 $1 /new%/*)+( ' '_1_apl$

card$holder%$national$"ood$%ecurity$act$#pl$ration$card%*. http://www.thehindu.co&/new%/national/%tate%$get$($&ore$&onth%$to$roll$out$"ood$

%ecurity$act/article()+*)+(.ece(. http://i#nli-e.in.co&/new%/i&ple&entation$o"$"ood$%ecurity$act$e tended$#y$!$

&onth%/)+1'+*$! $().ht&l . http://www.outlookindia.co&/new%/article/State%$ et$Si $0ore$0onth%$to$

&ple&ent$Food$Security$Act/+(!2!+. http://indiane pre%%.co&/article/india/politic%/&odi$go-t$delay%$"ood$act$rollout/ '. www.archi-e."inanciale pre%%.co&/new%/correct$co%t%$o"$the$"ood$%ecurity$

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id N CN 3 452 1) '2!1!. Report o" the e pert co&&ittee on national "ood %ecurity

#ill: eac.go-.in/ report%/rep_NFS4.pd"