NFSA, 2013 – FOOD SECURITY

News: Expand the food safety net without any more delay

 

What's in the news?

       The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, through the Public Distribution System (PDS), provides a crucial safety net for roughly 800 million people.

       Even critics of the PDS appreciated its services during the COVID-19 lockdown.

 

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.

       The NFSA mandates the center with the responsibility of allocating and transporting food grains to designated depots in the states and UTs.

       The center must provide central assistance to states/UTs for the distribution of food grains from authorized FCI godowns to the doorsteps of Fair Price Shops.

       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.

 

PDS:

       PDS is the "social security programme for the distribution of food grains and essential goods to the vulnerable section at subsidized price, through a chain of fair price shops.

       It has been working in Indie (as a general entitlement scheme since 1960s) which later on rationalized as TPDS in 1997.

 

Rationale/Importance of PDS:

       It is essential to fortify food & nutritional security of the nation by ensuring social, economic and physical access to food grains. Access to nutritious food would improve the public's overall health.

       It is beneficial to the agricultural sector.

       It also helps the government control food prices.

       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.

       Food security is also important for the nation's global security and stability.

       The right to food is not explicitly mentioned in the Indian Constitution.

       Until the NFSA, the fundamental right to life under Article 21 was interpreted to include the right to live with dignity, which could include the right to food and other basic necessities.

 

Challenges in PDS:

1. Leakages and Diversion:

       Diversion of food grains during transportation.

       Black marketing by Fair Price Shops (FPS) employees.

       In this context, "De-Privatization" of the Ration shops and "Doorstep Delivery" of grains to FPS by the chattisgarh Govt. has addressed this issue.

2. Exclusion:

       The deletion of ration cards, problems in linking ration cards to Aadhaar the system seems to create more problems than it solves excluding many families rather than including them.

3. Storage issues:

       Inadequate storage capacity with FCI.

       Food grains rotting or damaging on the CAP or Cover & Plinth storage.

4. Poor quality of grains supplied:

       The poor quality of commodities supplied seems to be the proximate cause of poor off-take of commodities like wheat and rice in urban areas.

       The poor quality of grains supplied to the beneficiaries of the PDS also fails to check out the perishing issue of malnutrition in India.

5. Rising Subsidy and financial burden:

       As recent data show, the central government procures about a third of the quantity of cereals produced domestically. However, the amount slated for procurement is expected to increase under the NFS Act, raising concerns regarding the sustainability of such a food delivery mechanism.

       There are also concerns regarding the financial feasibility of such a system. The centre bears a large financial burden, the food subsidy because the cost of procuring and delivering food grains is about six times its sale price.

       It is anticipated that the food subsidy will rise steadily due to the increased procurement of grains under the Act, related costs and other factors.

6. Issue with procurement:

       Open-ended Procurement i.e., all incoming grains accepted even if buffer stock is filled, creates a shortage in the open market.

7. Urban Bias:

       A close look at the geographical distribution of fair price shops reveals that administrative convenience rather than the essential objectives of the PDS had determined its expansion.

       It has an urban bias, with most of the shops being located in cities and towns.

       As a consequence, the benefits of PDS are available to the urban rich and not to the rural poor.

8. Lack of transparency in the selection of procedure of PDS dealers.

 

Measures taken by Government:

1. Aadhaar Linked and digitized ration cards:

       This allows online entry and verification of beneficiary data. It also enables online tracking of monthly entitlements and off- take of foodgrains by beneficiaries.

2. Computerized Fair Price Shops:

       FPS automated by installing 'Point of Sale' device to swap the ration card. It authenticates the beneficiaries and records the quantity of subsidized grains given to a family.

3. DBT:

       Under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, cash is transferred to the beneficiaries account in lieu of foodgrains subsidy component.

       They will be free to buy food grains from anywhere in the market.

       For taking up this model, pre- requisites for the States/UTs would be to complete digitization of beneficiary data and seed Aadhaar and bank account details of beneficiaries.

       It is estimated that cash transfers alone could save the exchequer Rs.30,000 crore every year.

4. Use of GPS technology:

       Use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track the movement of trucks carrying foodgrains from state depots to FPS which can help to prevent diversion.

5. SMS-based monitoring:

       Allows monitoring by citizens so they can register their mobile numbers and send/receive SMS alerts during dispatch and arrival of TPDS commodities.

6. Use of web-based citizen's portal:

       Public Grievance Redressal Machineries, such as a toll-free number for call centers to register complaints or suggestions.

7. Universal PDS:

       Tamil Nadu implements a universal PDS, such that every household is entitled to subsidized food grains. This way, exclusion errors are reduced.

 

WAY FORWARD:

1. To eliminate exclusion errors:

       For including the excluded in the PDS during this pandemic, experts like Abhijeet Banerjee, Amartya Sen and Raghuram Rajan have gone on record recommending a temporary ration card for a period of six months to everyone who is in need with minimal checks.

       They have rightly remarked: “The cost of missing many of those who are in dire need vastly exceeds the social cost of letting in some who could perhaps do without it.”

       The Delhi government has initiated this type of temporary e-coupon system.

2. Door-step Delivery:

       During this pandemic, all the respondents complained of overcrowding at the ration collection points. They also expressed fear of catching the disease due to the complete absence of social distancing norms. Door-step Delivery is a good alternative to respond to such a situation.

       If the doorstep delivery takes time to be rolled out, the government can consider increasing and diversifying distribution points. Government schools have already been used as PDS delivery points but other public spaces such as sports stadia, public parks, post offices can be roped in to distribute ration as an emergency measure.

3. To meet inadequate food-supply:

       Various State governments should consider establishing community kitchens providing free food as done by the Kerala government to cater to the hungry as an immediate measure.

       Kerala’s community kitchens have been quite successful in the current situation.

4. Addressing the food quality issue:

       Technology-driven solutions have the potential to resolve immediate challenges as well as long term challenges.

       Use of upcoming technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things could be urgently adapted to eliminate the menace of adulteration and bad quality food grains.

5. Ensuring accountability:

       One mechanism for checking and making the process of distribution more accountable was suggested by the Delhi High Court in a petition filed by Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan which sought time-bound redressal of complaints regarding non-supply of rations and transparency in the distribution of food grains.

6. A separate cadre for ration inspection:

       Experts suggest that a separate cadre of government employees be established for this purpose and stationed at all the FPS. They could be called Ration Inspectors and their job would be to ensure impartial and hassle-free delivery of food grains from the FPS.

       The formation of such a cadre only needs a notification by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and the legislation can take place later.

 

PDS is one of the government's largest welfare programs, assisting farmers in selling their produce at fair prices and allowing the poorer sections of society to purchase food grains at reasonable prices. Its effectiveness can be increased with technology-based solutions, as evidenced by some state's successes in this area. The best way forward is to strengthen the existing TPDS system through capacity building and training of implementing authorities, as well as efforts to plug leaks. To improve the nutritional status of the masses, bio-fortified foods must be distributed through the PDS, which will make it more relevant in the context of widespread malnutrition in India.