FOOD
SECURITY – SOCIAL ISSUE
News:
81 crore people to get
free food grains for one year
What's
in the news?
●
The Union Cabinet on December 23 decided
to provide free foodgrains to all 81 crore beneficiaries covered under the
National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year.
●
The
beneficiary families which used to pay ₹1 for coarse cereals, ₹2 for wheat and
₹3 for rice per kg will now get 35kg of foodgrains free for the next one year
and others will get 5kg for free in a month till December 2023.
●
The Centre has estimated an additional
amount of ₹2 lakh crore for the
scheme.
NATIONAL
FOOD SECURITY ACT (NFSA), 2013:
Objective:
●
To provide for food and nutritional security in the human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantities of
quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity.
Coverage:
●
The Act provides coverage for nearly 2/3rd of the country’s total
population, based on Census 2011 population estimates.
Selection
of beneficiaries:
●
Stata/UT
wise coverage is determined by the erstwhile Planning Commission which is now
NITI Aayog on the basis of the 2011-12 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey
of NSSO.
●
Many states use the Socio-Economic Caste
Census (SECC) data for the identification of beneficiaries.
Categories:
●
75%
of rural and 50% of urban population are entitled to receive
highly subsidized food grains under two categories i.e. Antyodaya Anna
Yojana(AAY) households and Priority Households (PHH).
Foodgrains
Entitlement:
●
The Act entitles 35 kg of food grains as
per Antyodaya Anna Yojana Households per month, whereas 5kg of food grains per
Priority Households per person.
Prices:
●
Rs 1/2/3 per kg for Nutri-cereals/wheat/rice
respectively.
Nutritional
Support to women and children:
●
Children in the age group of 6 months to
14 years and pregnant women and lactating mothers will be entitled to meals as
per prescribed nutritional norms under Integrated
Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal(MDM) schemes.
Maternity
Benefit:
●
Pregnant women and lactating mothers will
also be entitled to receive maternity benefits of not less than Rs. 6,000.
Women
Empowerment:
●
Eldest woman of the household of age 18
years or above to be the head of the household for the purpose of issuing
ration cards.
Grievance
Redressal Mechanism:
●
Grievance redressal mechanism at the
district and state levels.
Provisions
of the Act:
●
The NFSA assigns joint responsibilities to
the federal and state governments.
●
Role
of Central government:
○
The NFSA mandates the centre with the
responsibility of allocating and transporting food grains to designated depots
in the states and UTs.
○
The centre must provide central assistance
to states/UTs for the distribution of food grains from authorized FCI godowns
to the doorsteps of Fair Price Shops.
●
Role
of States:
○
States and union territories are
responsible for identifying eligible households, issuing ration cards,
distributing foodgrain entitlements through fair price shops, licensing and
monitoring Fair Price Shop (FPS) dealers, establishing an effective grievance
redress mechanism, and strengthening the Targeted Public Distribution System
(TPDS).
●
The NFSA also includes provisions for TPDS
reforms, such as cash transfers for food
entitlement provisioning.
●
Direct Benefit Transfer involves the cash
equivalent of the subsidy being transferred directly into the bank accounts of
eligible households.
Significance
of NFSA:
●
It is beneficial to the agricultural sector.
●
It also helps the government control food prices.
●
Creation
of job opportunities: Because agriculture is a labor-intensive
industry, a boost in the agricultural sector would result in more job
opportunities. This would boost economic growth and lead to a reduction in
poverty.
●
Health
benefits: Access to nutritious food would improve the public’s
overall health.
●
Food
security is important for the nation’s global security and
stability.
Concerns:
●
The
Act fundamentally talks about hunger and its eradication but fails to take into
account the evils of undernutrition and removing the same.
Thus, the Act should strive to include
both, Right to Food as well Right to Nutrition.
●
Malnutrition
is a major problem faced in India which can’t be solved merely through
establishing a Public Distribution System. Besides ensuring the supply of food,
measures related to sanitation, health care, and water form an important aspect
of the distribution.
●
The benefits of Anganwadis are not yet reaching many areas, and their coverage in
many areas is poor. It is a challenge to see how the benefits of the Act would
be reaped without sufficient means.
●
The Act also faced opposition from the
Farmer’s Union, contending that the Act would nationalize agriculture, making
the government buy, sell and hoard the majority of agricultural production.
●
It reduces
farmer's bargaining power and minimizes the support extended to marginal
and small farmers.
●
The Act also allows private entities in
the supply chain, which allows room for profit-making and unfair trade
practices.
●
The leakages
and corrupt practices in the Public Distribution System and supply chain
also stand as an obstacle to the efficient functioning of the Act.
●
The National Food Security Act of 2013 is
an important step toward addressing the country’s food insecurity and hunger,
but it requires restructuring and the
incorporation of new changes in various areas in order to achieve its goal.
●
The Act states that the right to food
can’t be availed during times of natural calamities and during times of war.
States which are highly prone to natural disasters would not be provided with
the right to food when required the most.
Challenges
to Food Security:
1.
Climate Change:
●
The increase in the global temperatures
and the capricious rainfall makes farming
difficult.
●
A change in the temperatures not only
impacts the crops but the other species which are reared for food such as
fisheries, livestock, etc.
2.
Lack of Access:
●
There is a lack of access to remote areas.
●
The tribals
and other communities living in remote areas do not get the opportunity to
avail of the benefits of the schemes implemented for food security due to lack
of access.
3.
Over-population:
●
A substantial increase in the population
when not accompanied by an increase in agricultural production results in a
shortage of food.
4.
Non-food crops:
●
Crops grown for commercial purposes such
as biofuels and dyes have reduced the area under cultivation for crops.
5.
Migration from Rural-Urban cities:
●
This causes a problem as it leads to a lot
of confusion as to which PDS shop to buy the subsidies from.
6.
Lack of storage facilities:
●
Improper storage facilities for grains
& cold storage facilities.
7.
Transportation infrastructure:
●
Poor roads and inefficient transport
systems & limited reach of mandies.
8.
Food Wastage:
●
India being the 2nd largest vegetable
producer, encounter a waste of close to
18% worth INR 44,000 crore ($7 billion) of produce.
9.
Policy & administration issues:
●
Fragmented approach & improper implementation
& lack of monitoring.
Ways
to increase the effectiveness of NFSA:
●
The Government should provide strategies
for better food storage, and adopt an
integrated policy framework to facilitate agriculture productivity.
●
The usage of Information Technology
throughout the process from acquisition of the food grains till distribution
will aid in enhancing the effectiveness of the process. For example, in January
2021, Digi-Locker facility was
advocated for adoption in the PDS. This is to help make e-ration cards accessible for the beneficiaries anytime from
anywhere under One National One Ration Card Scheme.
●
Information regarding the entire process
from the quality of food grains to the storage facilities where the grains were
stored should be available to the beneficiaries.
●
A One
Nation One Ration card system would be effective in eliminating the
confusion, especially for the migrants, as this would provide the beneficiaries
the freedom to choose from the PDS shop of their choice.
●
Expand the coverage of Integrated Management of PDS (IMPDS) to
all the states.