NEED FOR INDIAS 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 40 per cent of the children are undernourished the purpose of this act
was significantly important. The intention of this act was to provide sufficient food grains to
meet the demand of an individual at affordable prices so that they can live 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 make it more efficient.
Indias economic growth rate and the health status of the people for the last decade do not go
hand in hand. According to National Family Health Survey, 22 per cent of the population is
underweight in which 40.4 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. All
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 National Food
Security Bill to address these issues.
In 2013 September, National Food Security Act, 2013 was published. There are lots of
controversies about its objective. Some critics debated that it was one policy by UPA
government to pull the vote bank towards them. Is this real story? May be UPA government

would get an advantage due to the bill but why new Government is also behind this act to
implement at any cost and anyhow? By implementing this act, 67% of the countrys
population will get cheap grains. This act creates the worlds largest welfare government
scheme. Before this act in India, subsidized food grains were provided to some specific
section of the population.
National Advisory Council proposed the Bill and the Expert Committee was formed to
examine the proposals and make a suitable recommendation. The various provisions provided
in the act are that each household would get five kilogram of foodgrains per person per month
at a subsidized rate. Separate subsidy rates were decided for the people who were living in
the rural and urban areas. Provisions are provided for pregnant women who are given rights
to a free meal during pregnancy and six months after the child birth.
As per the Act, for the children under six years of age, free meals would be provided through
the local child care center. Children till class eight or age group of six to fourteen years will
get a one free mid-day meal every day in the schools whether it be a private or a government
school. Schools also need to take care that they have the facilities for clean drinking water
and cooking. The local child care center set-up by the State government shall provide food to
children who are suffering from malnutrition.
A separate provision was also provided in this act that in the case the government is not able
to provide the quantity of food grain entitled to an individual then the government will
provide them allowance. Till date, eleven states have already implemented the Food Security
law. Both the State and Central government have made an effort to make the Public
Distribution System more transparent and efficient. States are now setting up Web portals to
track the movement of rations and make sure that it reaches the right mass. Still efforts are
being put into exploring the others modes of communication like SMS to inform the
beneficiaries about the scheme.
The Act also gives the right to the people to put up their grievances and the State government
is setting up centers for this like call centers, help line and another such mechanism. A
separate officer will be appointed at each district level to address these grievances and also to
all the matters relating to the distribution of meals and food grains.

STATE-WISE ALLOCATION OF FOODGRAINS

Figure 1 SOURCE: THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY [PART II - SEC.1] , NATIONAL

FOOD SECURITY ACT, SCHEDULE IV

Implementing the act, Government can expand the reach of subsidized food to its citizen at
cost of nearly 1.35% of GDP. Government will have to procure 62 million tons food grains
for each financial year. In 2012-13, country bought 72 million tons and in 2011-12; the figure
was 63.38 million tons. So you may raise the question what is the logic behind this act and
what is new in it. The main problem is food grains are procured by government each year, but
there is no surety that the entire quantity will be distributed to the people. The amount of lost
rice and wheat, which was leaked in the system, was 35% of the total purchased quantity in
that financial year. The new act ensures that the food will reach those citizens who need it
very badly.
The major responsibility that the National Advisory Council had to face was to find out how
much food grain would be demanded and what is the countrys current production?. In India,
the agriculture is still highly dependent on the rainfall. The Expert committee and NAC
analyzed the data of the last years to see how the production is effected at the time of drought
and how the market rate fluctuates during these times. These bodies worked on the budget
that will be required for this the act, and the whether they had enough production to meet the
actual demand.
WTO has also shown a great effort in solving the issue related to food security in the country.
WTO has been looking to solve this issue permanently, as India now has paved the path for
trade facilitation, other countries would also like to amend the agreement on the policy of
Agriculture. Currently, WTO norms states that the limit on food subsidies is 10 per cent on
the total food grain production. India has asked WTO to make an amendment in the current
norms of the agriculture subsidies. This would empower the government to procure
agricultural goods from the farmer at a minimum price and make them available to the poor
at a cheaper price.
The act itself defines about obligations of Central Government and State Government. To
ensure regular and uninterrupted supply of various food grains at subsidized price to the
eligible people, Central Government will allocate the required quantity of food grains to the
state government. Central government and State Governments shall procure food grains by
centrals and states agencies to set the central food grain pool then allocate food grains to the
States providing transportation to the Targeted Distribution System. Central Government
shall help the State Government by providing some financial fund to meet the extra
expenditure incurred by States in implementing and monitoring the food security. Central

shall provide extra funds to States in case of the short fall of supply from the central pool to
the States.
State Governments role will include implementation and monitoring of the schemes to
ensure food security to the targeted beneficiaries in their State. State Government has to take
care about the delivery of food grains to the entitled person at a specified price. States are
supposed to create and maintained scientific storage system at grass root level of the
distribution chain. State Government shall pay the food security allowance to the
beneficiaries. State Government shall assign responsibilities to the local authority, and State
Government has the power of assigning extra responsibilities to local authorities to ensure
transparency in the food delivery chain.
Another important concern that NFSB faced was recognizing the beneficiaries. It was
important for the government to make a distribution system totally transparent so that the
helps is reached the needy. Still a large population group does not a proper ration card. In the
case of highly deprived states, this ratio is about 40 percent. Moreover, if we move to the core
of this ratio, we find that more than 50 percent of this population belongs to the rural parts of
India.
Recently there were many pressures on the government to increase the subsidized foodgrain
allocation from 5 kilograms to 7 kilograms per person. However, in latest press conference
Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, stated that the government as of now is not planning to
increase the allocation rate. The demand came from different states to increase the allocation
limit including Gujarat where the state demanded at least 7 kilograms of food grain per
person. As stated in the conference, he pointed out that though the government has sufficient
stock to supply, but there in no such proposal in play to increase the same. The reason that
Mr. Paswan stated that as of now only eleven states has started implementing the food law
and 25 are yet to implement. So as of now the government 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 Center government has given a time period of six months to all the states to implement
the National Food Security Acts which would give at least two-third of countrys population
to buy food grains at the subsidized price.

REFERENCES
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Food_Security_Act,_2013
2. http://www.ifpri.org/blog/india-s-national-food-security-bill-and-its-path-forward
3. http://www.rediff.com/news/column/why-we-must-support-the-food-securitybill/20130906.htm
4. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-10/news/54867909_1_aplcard-holders-national-food-security-act-bpl-ration-cards
5. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/states-get-6-more-months-to-roll-out-foodsecurity-act/article6485486.ece
6. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/implementation-of-food-security-act-extended-by-3months/481985-37-64.html
7. http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/States-Get-Six-More-Months-toImplement-Food-Security-Act/863230
8. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/modi-govt-delays-food-act-rollout/
9. www.archive.financialexpress.com/news/correct-costs-of-the-food-securitybill/1156251/0
10. http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghabahree/2013/09/02/how-bad-really-is-indias-newfood-security-bill/
11. http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/food-handouts-ram-vilas-paswan-wto-tradefacilitation-fm/1/210676.html
12. http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/23/india-food-ram-vilas-paswanidINKCN0HI0BY20140923
13. Report of the expert committee on national food security
bill: eac.gov.in/reports/rep_NFSB.pdf