National Food Security Act: Legal Framework, Role, and Challenges
The National Food Security Act (NFSA), enacted in 2013, aims to provide food and nutritional security by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices, enabling people to live with dignity.
Coverage
- Covers up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban populations (about two-thirds of India’s population).
- Beneficiaries receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
Key Provisions
Subsidized Food Grains
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- Government supplies subsidized food grains monthly to beneficiaries identified by state governments.
- Beneficiaries categorized into:
- Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): 35 kg food grains/month per household.
- Priority Households (PHH): 5 kg per member/month (rice at ₹3/kg, wheat at ₹2/kg, coarse grains at ₹1/kg).
Nutritional Support
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- Children aged 6 months to 14 years receive free nutritious meals via Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal (MDM) schemes.
- Pregnant women and lactating mothers receive maternity benefit of ₹6,000 over six months.
Institutional Framework
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- State Food Commissions for monitoring.
- District-level grievance redressal mechanisms.
- Mandatory social audits to ensure transparency.
Significance
Legal Right to Food
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- Marks shift from welfare to a legal rights-based approach, obliging the government to provide food.
- Citizens can seek judicial recourse if denied entitlements.
Food & Nutritional Security
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- Ensures affordable access to staples, reducing hunger and vulnerability to food price shocks.
- Supports marginalized communities including SC/STs, women, and children.
Economic Impact
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- Food subsidy frees household income for other needs, aiding poverty reduction.
- Acts as crisis management tool (e.g., during COVID-19).
PDS Reforms
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- Boosted adoption of technology (e-PDS, biometric authentication).
- Enhanced grievance redressal and accountability.
- Portability through One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme benefits migrants.
Challenges
Leakage and Inefficiency
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- Foodgrain diversion, corruption, and beneficiary identification errors persist.
Quality and Nutrition Deficits
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- Often poor-quality grains; limited provisions for pulses, oils, and dietary diversity.
Fiscal Sustainability
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- High subsidy burden strains finances.
- Storage and buffer stock maintenance costly.
Infrastructure Gaps
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- Poor logistics and inadequate storage facilities cause wastage.
Inclusion and Exclusion Errors
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- Eligible households left out; ineligible often included.
- Migration and urbanization issues insufficiently addressed.
Implementation Weaknesses
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- Poor enforcement of grievance mechanisms.
- Transparency and accountability need strengthening.
Way Forward
- Update beneficiary coverage based on latest population data.
- Use dynamic, tech-driven criteria for beneficiary identification.
- Universalize and improve ONORC infrastructure.
- Mandate fortification of distributed grains.
- Integrate local fresh produce into food distribution.
- Modernize supply chain with computerized, improved storage.
- Transform NFSA into a nutrition-sensitive, transparent social security pillar.
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