National Food Security Act 2013

A historic legislation (because it took almost 6 decades to realise the problem) was passed on September 2013 which legally grants a right to food to 67% of our perennially hungry and nutritionally deficient population.The break up for rural and urban population goes like this: 75% rural population and 50% urban population will come under the ambit of the food security cover.
The bill has many other equally important features which have been less discussed in the public domain.Some of the salient features are as stated below:

• Right to receive foodgrains at subsidised prices by persons belonging to eligible households under Targeted Public Distribution System.To be specific eligible beneficiaries are entitled to get 5 kgs of quality grains at Rs 1 per Kg for coarse grains,Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice and persons covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (Central government scheme launched on 25th December 2000 for the poorest of the poor) will continue to get their monthly quota of 35 kgs of food grains.But the responsibility to identify the beneficiaries rests with the state government.
• In case there is a shortage of foodgrains with the state government, union government will provide the requisite quantity to meet the demand.
• Nutritional support to pregnant and lactating mothers in the form of free meals at anganwadis during pregnancy and after six months of childbirth and maternity benefit of not less than Rs 6000 for 6 months to be distributed in a manner to be decided by central government .
• For children upto 14 years free food in the form of mid day meal and through anganwadis will be provided to meet the nutritional needs
• If the state government fails to provide food to the beneficiaries then it will have to pay food allowance to them.
• State and district level grievance redressal units will be set up.
• State food Commissions will be set up for implementation and monitoring the scheme.

eac.gov.in/reports/rep_NFSB.pdf‎ - Read the full act here.

In short we can say it is an amalgamation of the best features of the myriad schemes run by the central government in a single legislation touted as the Right to Food Act .Can we say the bill is OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLE?

Given the vast diversity of India and the vast expanse of our territory there are an almost commensurate number of schemes to cater to the wide variety of needs of the diverse and vibrant population available in all hues and colours.

But still there is rampant poverty and hunger in our country and the world statistics are there to substantiate this fact.We have the largest number of children in our country who are below the acceptable levels of nutrition set by international bodies.

Then where does the problem persists?

It undoubtedly points to the failure and incapacity of our government machinery in effectively and efficiently implementing the policies launched by the government either as a populist measure or as a genuine one to meet the need of the hour.

And this historic legislation may also have the same fate if corrective measures are not taken in the implementation department earnestly.A hope lingers, for the act has a provision for redressal mechanism to check the rampant corruption but only the time will tell if it will prove to be a game changer or not.

We have problems in other areas too with respect to the effective realisation of the provisions of this bill. Some experts say that it will burden the Indian exchequer and that it will burn a hole in the pocket and will lead to inflation due to near wipe out of food grains from the private market.More and more food will be routed to the granaries of Food Corporation of India and less will be available for free market.

I see this situation as an opportunity for all the stakeholders to improve the infrastructure and help in satiating the hunger of millions.The situation can be used advantageously if public and private entities resolve to strengthen each other. FCI's infrastructure to store the additional amount of food grains is not at all adequate and thus a lot needs to be done in this regard.Government has the option of encouraging private players to invest in storage infrastructure to prevent losses.Also distribution can be planned near the site of procurement to avoid extra transportation and storage charges.

Not only the bill has got a national criticism but there was a consistent lobby against the bill at the international level too and to be specific, noises were coming from WTO side.WTO feared that to fulfil the obligations under the bill Indian Government will surely exceed its quota of 10% subsidy on total production.But at the WTO Bali convention,159 member WTO reached a historic agreement that allows nations such as India to fix a Minimum Support price for farm produce and to sell the staple grains to poor at subsidised prices.It also allows countries to store the foodgrains to meet contingency requirements. 

This indicates that even international bodies are taking flexible stand to help us fulfil our right to food dream.When the universe is conspiring for the success of the bill it becomes all the more important for Indian government to use all its strength and resources to make it a reality.

Notwithstanding the charges that the burden can be to the tune of about 1.5% of our GDP, we have a task to provide food to all the hungry souls under our geographical limits.It may be close to what people have estimated and even a little more given the amount of state machinery required to realize it but can we not afford to meet the very basic need of our human resource? Everyone boasts of the demographic advantage India is experiencing at the moment and likely to bask in it till 2025.Then why not make the full use of this advantage? We have enough food production ever since we ventured into an era of Green Revolution.All we need is effective procurement and distribution of the produce and giving maximum benefit to the producer for toiling hard(MSP is helping the farmers in this regard). 

And if the government is able to successfully implement this it can leverage the benefit that accrues from a healthy, skilled and educated population to become a dominant force in Asia.

The bill has also provided for the benefits for women thereby envisaging to bridge the gender divide and to make womenfolk socially as well as economically stronger.Children also have a lot to gain with the provisions of this bill not only in terms of nutrition but also in the number of hours and days they may be encouraged to spend in schools even if just for food.

Thus a lot of hope rests on the Food Security Bill and the government must buckle up to make it a huge success not just for the sake of garnering votes in the upcoming elections but to genuinely wipe out hunger of decades, hunger of millions.

A hungry man cannot see right or wrong. He sees only food.

For now i ask no more than the justice of eating because hunger is not an issue of charity but an issue of justice.