PRESENTATION FILE

1. FOOD SECURITY
Food security, as defined by the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security,
means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to
sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary
needs for an active and healthy life.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION (FAO) of the United Nations, or FAO,
Identified Four Pillars Of Food Security As Availability,Acess,Utilization,and Stability.

2. The national advisory council submitted its proposals on Draft National Food Security Bill in
January-February 2011.
The objective of NFSA was defined as to ensure “public provisioning of food and related
measures, to enable assured economic and social acess to adequate food with dignity,for
all persons in the country,at all times,in pursuance of their fundamental right to be free
from hunger,malnutrition and other deprivations associated with the lack of food and
related matters.”
The NAC recommended the shifting from household food entitlements to individual food
entitlements.
It presented two arguments in favour of this,
1 Per capita entitlements are ‘fairer’: households with more members will be entitled to
more food
2 Per capita entitlements would do away with the need for a precise definition and
identification of ‘households’, which tends to be difficult and prone to manipulation.

3. • 318 A Critical Evaluation of NFSA 1. Cost of implementation. Many economists have cringed at the idea of a
National Food Security Act on account of, what they argue, its high cost of implementation. For instance, a
Discussion Paper prepared by Ashok Gulati et al. for CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices)
estimated the food subsidy at 6.8 lakh crore over the three year period 2013-14 to 2015-16. However, this is an
overestimation. According to Schedule IV of the NFSA, the foodgrains to be allocated to the PDS under the Act
will be 54.9 million tonnes. Further, about 6.5 million tonnes are allocated for other welfare schemes. This
makes a total of 61.4 million tonnes. Dipa Sinha estimates the average subsidy at 21.50 per kg.25 Thus, for 61.4
million tonnes, the total subsidy comes to 1.32 lakh crore a year or just about 1.3 per cent of GDP at current
market prices. This is just a small price to pay for beating widespread hunger in the economy (the actual food
subsidy was, however, much higher at 1,71,298 crore in 2018-19 and 1,84,220 crore in 2019-20. It is estimated
to have risen to as high as 4,22,000 crore in 2020-21 because of COVID-19). 2. Problems in procurement. The
above-mentioned CACP report argues that production has to go up by 25 million tonnes to meet NFSA needs.
The figure is arrived at assuming that procurement must be maintained at 30 per cent of production of wheat
and rice. Dipa Sinha raises the following objections to this estimate: First, it is not clear why procurement cannot
be increased by a few percentage points, especially when our current procurement is already more than 30 per
cent of production. Second, this calculation assumes a requirement of 75 million tonnes for the NFSA whereas
what is required is only 62 million tonnes. Third, the projected increase in agricultural production is not taken into
account, and it is assumed that foodgrains production will remain constant. Fourth, the production of only wheat
and rice is considered, and coarse cereals have not been included in the CACP's numbers.26 3. The risk of
leakages. A study of PDS and TPDS earlier in this chapter points to the fact that there are large leakages from
the system. This is indeed a cause for concern. However, recent studies show some improvement in this
respect. According to NSSO data, the leakages in the PDS reduced from 54 per cent in 2004-05 to 44 per cent
in 2007- 08 and further down to 35 per cent in 2011-12. Although even 35 per cent is unacceptably high yet in
States where PDS reforms are being undertaken (like doorstep delivery, computerisation, effective grievance
redressal mechanism, etc.), declining trends in leakages are being observed, raising hopes regarding the future.
C ( b C S P C th m ch al al th tra in al
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4. • s and Food Security in India 1 1 317 6. For children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, the Act guarantees an age-appropriate meal,
free of charge, through the local anganwadi. For children aged 6-14 years, one free mid-day meal shall be provided every day (except on
school holidays) in all schools run by local bodies, government and government aided schools, upto Class VIII. For children below 6
months, 'exclusive breastfeeding shall be promoted." 7. Every pregnant and lactating mother is entitled to a free meal at the local
anganwadi (during pregnancy and upto six months after child birth) as well as maternity benefits of 6,000 in instalments. 8. The Act
provides for the creation of State Food Commissions. Each Commission shall consist of a chairperson, five other members, and a
member-Secretary (including at least two women, one member from scheduled castes and one member from Scheduled Tribes). The
main function of the State Commission is to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Act, give advice to the State governments and
their agencies, and enquire into violations of entitlements. 9. In case of non-supply of the entitled quantities of foodgrains or meals to
entitled persons under the Act, such persons shall be entitled to receive food security allowance from the concerned State government.
10. The Act has three schedules (these can be amended by 'notification'). Schedule 1 prescribes issue prices for the PDS. Schedule 2
prescribes 'nutritional standards' for mid- day meals, take-home rations and related entitlements. For instance, take-home rations for
children aged 6 months to 3 years should provide at least 500 calories and 12-15 grams of protein. Schedule 3 lists various 'provisions for
advancing food security', under three broad headings: (i) revitalisation of agriculture (for example, agrarian reforms, research and
development, remunerative prices); (ii) procurement, storage and movement of foodgrains (for example, decentralised procurement); and
(iii) other provisions (for example, drinking water, sanitation, health care, and 'adequate pensions' for 'senior citizens, persons with
disability and single women'). NFSA is now being implemented in all the 36 States/ Union Territories, covering 80.54 crore persons,
against the total targeted coverage of 81.35 crore persons. In Chandigarh, Puducherry and urban areas of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the
Act is being implemented in the cash transfer mode, under which food subsidy is being transferred into the bank accounts of beneficiaries
who then have a choice to buy foodgrains from the open market. During the year 2016-17, Government of India allocated 62.89 million
tonnes of foodgrains to States/Union Territories/Welfare institutions, etc. of which 51.34 million tonnes were allocated under NFSA.24
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5. • have et on tion. lati and ver s is SA, vill are of dy cal ut a e h e approach' 4. Identification of beneficiaries. The main
problem in implementing the NFSA is how to identify the beneficiaries? Although the Act purports to cover 67 per
cent of the population, it does not provide any identification criteria based on which beneficiaries will be chosen.
The Socio- Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data can give some direction on how this can be done. However,
as correctly pointed out by Dipa Sinha, instead of trying to identify the poor, it would be better to adopt an
'exclusion under which the rich are kept out and all the rest are covered. This can be done easily with the
increased coverage, especially in rural areas. In this respect, one can take a clue from the Chhattisgarh Food
Security Act (CFSA) which proposes four criteria excluding income tax payees, households owning a pucca house
in urban areas that has a carpet area of more than 1,000 square feet, and/or liable to pay property tax and
households in non-scheduled areas that hold more than 4 hectares of irrigated land or more than 8 hectares of
non-irrigated land. Such simple and objective criteria can be developed for each of the States. Given the state of
hunger and malnutrition in the economy (as pointed out earlier in this chapter, one-fourth of the people suffering
from hunger in the world, live in India alone and one in every seven persons was undernourished in 2014-16),
NFSA is an important step in meeting this problem, although a very insufficient one. Much more requires to be
done. The main importance of the Act is that it brings the right to food within the framework of legally mandated
entitlements. This can be a tool for people to demand the State's accountability for hunger. Cash Transfers vs.
PDS Some economists in recent times have argued that because of large leakages from the PDS and its massive
cost, it is better to dismantle the entire PDS structure and shift to providing cash transfers to the poor. For instance,
a panel headed by the then Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had, in a Report
submitted in March 2011, recommended that rather than foodgrains
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