The National Food Security Bill, promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee on July 5 aims to give right to subsidised food grain to 67 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people, and will ensure food and nutritional security.The salient features of the bill are:· Up to 75 percent of the rural population and upto 50 percent of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of five kg food grain per month, at highly subsidized prices of Rs.3, Rs.2 and Rs.1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains, respectively.· The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 kg food grain per household per month under the Antyodaya Anna Yojna at subsidized prices of Rs.3, Rs.2 and Rs.1.· State-wise coverage will be determined by the central government. The work of identification of eligible households has been left to the states/Union Territories, which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data, if they so desire.· There is a special focus on nutritional support to women and children. Pregnant women and lactating mothers, besides being entitled to nutritious meals as per the prescribed nutritional norms, will also receive maternity benefit of at least Rs.6000 for six months. Children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years will be entitled to take home ration or hot cooked food, as per prescribed nutritional norms.· The central government will provide funds of state/UTs, in case of short supply of food grain from central pool.· In case of non-supply of food grain or meals to entitled persons, the concerned state/UT governments will be required to provide such food security allowance to the beneficiaries as may be prescribed by the central government.· The central government will provide assistance to the states towards cost of intra-state transportation, handling of food grain and fair price shop (FPS) dealer’s margin, for which norms will be developed.· The bill also contains provisions for reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS) through doorstep delivery of food grain, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end-to-end computerization, leveraging ‘Aadhaar’ for unique identification of beneficiaries, diversification of commodities under the Targeted PDS (TPDS) for effective implementation of the bill.· The eldest woman in the household, of 18 years of age or above, will be the head of the household for the issue of the ration card. If the eldest woman is not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.· There will be state and district level redressal mechanism with designated officers. The states will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of new redressal set-up. Redressal mechanism may also include call centers, helping etc.· Provisions have also been made for disclosure of records relating to PDS, social audits and setting up of Vigilance Committees in order to ensure transparency and accountability.· The bill provides for penalty to be imposed on public servants or authority, if found guilty of failing to comply with the relief recommended by the District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO).“ SHORTCOMINGS OF THE BILL”· The Industry Chamber FICCI has stated that implementation of the food security bill will bring additional fiscal pressure and push up the fiscal deficit to five percent of GDP in the current financial year.· There are doubts on how effectively the bill will tackle all factors perpetuating malnutrition in India. Government touted the bill as their chief means to tackle malnutrition in the country. But data on the nutrition problem suggested that the bill is inadequate to deal with certain facets of the issue. The bill currently stipulates five kg of food grain, classified as “coarse grain” (including rice, wheat and millets) per person per month. However, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines stipulate at least 16 kg for adults and seven kg for children.· The bill also fails to provide access to the entire basket of nutrients necessary to effectively improve the nutrition status of the target population. The bill is “too focused on calories” and not on diet diversity.· Free meals to children, especially adolescent girls, can also increase their weight-for-age and allow them to have healthy pregnancies and infants. But the success of free Anganwadi meals is questionable especially after the deaths of 22 children in Bihar who consumed a mid-day meal.Food Security act deadline extended:The union Cabinet on October 30 extended the deadline for implementing the National Food security Act to one year from six months. The Cabinet also gave its nod to another proposal to protect the current food grains allocations. The government is apparently seeking more time for the roll out of the National Food Security Act in the light of a lot of preparations needed to be done by the state government.
