- The National Food Security Bill (NFSB) was originally introduced in Parliament in December 2011. The bill was cleared by a parliamentary committee in January. Lok Sabha on 8th May 2013 failed to pass because of opposite party not supporting the much-hyped National Food Security Bill which seeks to ensure access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people.
- Food security means the easy availability and access of food at all times in sufficient quantity in a safe and nutritious form to meet the dietary requirements and food preferences for an active, healthy and productive life.
- The government may soon pass the National Food Security Bill to give millions more people cheap food, fulfilling an election promise of the ruling Congress party that could cost about $23 billion a year and take a third of annual grain production.
The Bill seeks to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
Just like two faces of coin it The Food Security Bill is also mixture of good and bad taste.
Brighter Side of Coin
Right to food to become a legal right- The proposed bill aims to provide legal right over subsidized food grain to 67 per cent of the population.
The bill provide uniform allocation of 5 kg food grain (per person) at fixed rate of Rs. 3 (rice), Rs. 2 (wheat) and Rs. 1 (coarse grains) per kg to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the poor in urban India about 800 million people.
Continuance of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) Protection to 2.43 crore poorest of poor families under the Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) to supply of 35 kg food grains per month per family would continue.
Nutritional support to pregnant women without limitation are among other changes proposed in the bill. The bill will extend subsidized food to pregnant women and children under the age of 16. It is positive that it is including those who really need nutritious food The Bill proposes meal entitlements to specific groups. These include: pregnant women and lactating mothers, children between the ages of six months and 14 years, malnourished children, disaster affected persons, and destitute, homeless and starving persons.
For children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, the Bill 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, up to Class VIII. For children below six months, exclusive breastfeeding shall be promoted.
Endeavors to empower woman- The eldest woman in the household shall be entitled to secure food from the PDS for the entire household.
Bill seeks to utilize already existing infrastructures like PDS and aganwadis. This has prevented further wastage of money to develop the infrastructures.
Darker side of Coin
Credibility of PDS system- The government intends to use the Public Distribution System for delivering subsidies to the poor. The PDS is already used to deliver food subsidies to the poor but around 51% of the food delivered that way is currently lost to leakages. It is sold on the open market for a higher price.
The government is also considering using direct cash transfers. In cases where the government is not able to make food available in the PDS then they will give cash payments to be used for food directly into peoples bank accounts. I think here bill is deviating from its purpose. Bill is to provide access to food not money in lieu of food.
The cost of food grains is rising globally then how would government be able to provide subsidized food to 70% Indian population?
What are we going to do in a drought or a flood? The production of rice and wheat might come down dramatically. If we are entering the global market then the global price would shoot up along with the subsidy bill. If this situation prevails and climate change takes, place what is going to happen?
Effect on farmers and producers- The very low prices of the subsidized food will distort the market and farmers who cant sell to the government-assured program will lose out on the open market because prices will be forced down. Hence the person who are not poor at present but will become poor in days to come.
How to be implemented? Things are not very clear how it will be initiated. Every district will have a grievance officer who will deal with complaints about implementation at the local level. We dont know how that will function but they have the authority to punish people who are not giving out the food. Still the commission under this bill is yet to be set.
Failure to define the beneficiaries are some of the shortcomings of the bill. Also, the scheme does not define the beneficiaries properly. The bill says that States will provide the list of the poor but they have no such records. So, whether it will reach the right persons is hypothetical.
Division among three groups priority, general and excluded and adopting a complex, impractical and politically contentious inclusive criteria that too to be provided at later stage.
Not enough resources- Moreover, to implement this scheme, the total estimated annual food grains requirements will be 61.23 million tones and is likely to cost Rs.1,24,724 crore. Given the rising costs of the scheme and rising population, its sustainability is under question. This is a mega program and will require a huge food subsidy. The cost of it will go up from 0.8% of Gross Domestic Product to around 1.1% of GDP. This is a serious increase in a situation where the government does not have enough resources as it is.
Based on schemes which are already in trial stages- It will be linked to the Aadhar scheme which provides every citizen with a unique identification number thats linked to a database that includes the biometrics of all card-holders. Aadhar scheme and direct cash transfer both are in their trial stages. So burdening an still developing programme will lead to total failure.
Implementing this bill could widen the already swollen budget deficit next year, increasing the risk to its coveted investment-grade status. The government has already budgeted 900 billion rupees for the scheme in the current fiscal year ending March 2014. If the bill is passed, it will need to come up with as much as 1.3 trillion rupees in 2014/15, adding to a total subsidy burden that already eats up about 2.4 percent of gross domestic product.
Critics say the food bill is little more than an attempt to help Congress, reeling from corruption scandals, win re-election in a vote expected by next May.
Critics argue that eradication of malnutrition needs more than just removal of hunger. Food security is necessary but not sufficient for nutrition security.
Polishing the darker side
We should have learned lessons from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (which provides 100 days of work to the poor at 100 rupees a day) and strengthened it to make it more effective to help the very poorest. Those who are part of that program should be targeted for this subsidy.
Or we could link it to education as they did in Bangladesh where school children and their families were given access to subsidized food.
The bill should have included subsidized rates for pulses which for many of the poorest are their only source of protein and highly nutritious. The price of pulses has gone up, making them out of reach for many.
We need to reduce the leakages from the distribution system and make it transparent. This bill has transparency provisions but do not provide how this transparency shall be achieved.
Community based agricultural programs and teaching about sustainable farming shall enhance production in the country. And this in turn would bring down the prices of various essential commodities and people can be self sufficient themselves. Reliance on government programs would reduce and this would give people a feeling of security and not fear of dependence.
For reducing loopholes in PDS system government must take lessons from Chattisgarh government where after the delivery is made to PDS branch, all the beneficiaries get a message though mobiles about the same, so they know about it and reach to PDS branch on time.
Conclusion-
This bill is a good initiative but not a sufficient measure. A more better food security bill can be there. But still something is better than nothing.
Name Shreegopal Totala
Showing posts with label Food Security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Security. Show all posts
Monday, January 13, 2014
Food Security:
Food Security:
Overview:
1. Global Hunger Index(GHI) : India ranks 67/81 countries in worst Food security category
2. Achievement of food grain security at the national level(by 70s) didn't percolate down to households (Domestic Production of food grains far exceed our nation's food demands).
3. Dimensions of FS according to FAO(Food and Agricultural Organization):
1. Availability (aspect of production)
2. Accessibility (Physical Access - aspect of distribution - TPDS) & Affordability (Economic Access - purchasing capacity of people - MGNREGA)
3. Absorption/Assimilation (Nutritional aspect which includes sanitation, health infra.) - Which aims at turning Food intake into Nutritional outcomes
4. Acceptability (Culturally accepted food)
5. Stability (in all the above 5 aspects)
4. FS at different levels: Global, National, Household, Individual. Household and Individual FS can be attained by gender sensitisation and empowering women community as they are the ones who mainly manage household level food distribution.
5. Food security Problem is less to do with food and more with health, technology adaptation, global cooperation, cultural constraints, Governance structures.
6. Urban Areas are more vulnerable:
6. They are dependent for food supplies on surrounding areas; If the infrastructure is damaged, they became unsustainable on food security front.
7. Undocumented poor (refugees); Identification of the poor for targeting is difficult.
7. FAO predicts one-third of all food produced in the world gets wasted amounting to a loss of $750B a year
8. Food in developing countries is wasted mostly due to poor harvesting techniques (Eg: Cereals in Asia, Latin America)
9. In high-income areas the primary cause of waste is careless consumer behaviour(Eg: Meat in Wealthy regions)
MSPs:
Overview:
1. 1966-67 : Introduced for the first time for Wheat in the wake of Green Revolution and extended harvest to save farmers from depleting profits
2. MSPs announced for 25 crops currently at the beginning of each season
Objectives:
1. to stabilise the prices of major food items
2. to ensure the remunerative prices for the farmers (protect the interests of farmers in the event of over-production)
Features:
1. Public action of linking Producers(through procurements at MSP) & Consumers (distribution at affordable prices)
2. Govt. recently modified the procedure of MSP to include thecost of crop insuranceand thus ensuring better prices for farmers.
3. High MSP of Wheat and Rice has encouraged farmers to grow them more and more.
Functioning:
1. MSP is announced well ahead of the sowing season on the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural costs and Prices(CACP)
2. Central govt. is responsible for procurement, storage, transportation, and bulk allocation of food grains. Central govt. organises purchase operations through Public, Cooperative and other designated agencies (NAFED- National agri. cooperative marketing federation of India for oil seeds and pulses ,FCI, Cotton cooperation of India).
3. Central govt. has centrally designated agencies to undertakePSS(Price support Scheme)operations. The losses incurred,if any, are fully reimbursed by the govt.
4. It also implementsMIS(Market intervention scheme)on the request of states/UTs for horticultural and agri. commodities, generally perishable in nature that are not covered under PSS.States/UTs bear 50% of the losses,if any.(25% in the case of NE states). H/W the loss is restricted to 25% of the total procurement value. Profit, if any, earned by the procuring agencies is retained by them. The MIS is implemented in order to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production
Buffer Stocks:
Overview:
1. Central pool with FCI : TPDS, Open market intervention to stabilize prices, to meet emergencies in the case of droughts/crop failures
2. Buffer norms are the minimum food grains the centre should havein the central pool at the beginning of each quarter
3. Need for better Buffer Stock Management :
1. Despite being leading agricultural producer, it is only 10th largest global player (1.6% of the trade);
2. Fill the deficit with Grains : Exporting the surplus grains will bridge CAD and fiscal deficit; Need to act fast since global food prices are on decline; Proposal for creating regional stocks(say South Asia) after global food crisis; can earn $30-40B with predictable trade policy
4. Only for 2 crops : Rice and Wheat
PDS:
Procurement:
Functioning :
* Both central govts and state govts shared the responsibility of regulating PDS.
* Central govt. to procure, Transport, Storage,Bulk allocation to States as per the agreed norms and quantities
* State govt. is responsible for distributing the grains to consumers through the established network of Fair price shops and operational responsibilities(allocation and identification of BPL families, issue of ration cards, supervision and monitoring the functioning of FPS-Fair Price shops). 5 Lakh FPS through out India
* 1997 : Dual Pricing structure was introduced under TPDS : CIP (Central Issue Prices) : prices at which the Food Corporation of India (FCI) sells grain for the PDS to State governments
* Price for APL families = Economic cost (Costs of Procurement, Distribution, Storage)
* for BPL families = 50% of the economic cost (Economic costs - CIP is the subsidy borne by the Central govt.)
* Defects of PDS :
* Large scale Exclusion & Inclusion errors; Unable to accomplish timely revision of Beneficiaries list
* Ration card duplication(removal of Ghost ration cards) and leakages.Unclaimed ration(due to temporary migration) in states like AP is not carried over.
* Leaky nature of APL (Entitlements of APL by its nature is unclear and unstable. They are not entitlements, but adhoc handouts. Most of the APL quota goes straight to the black market). BPL quota is distributed properly to a largest extent even in districts like Korapat(Odisha), Chitrakoot (UP).
* Leakages to the tune of avg. 55% . But recent NSSO data shows that it came down to 30%; The National Sample Survey Ofce data shows that the leakages in PDS reduced from 54% in 2004-05 to 44% in 2007-08 and further down to 35% in 2011-12.
* Items covered under PDS : Rice, Wheat, Sugar, Kerosene constitute 86% of the PDS sale. Pulses less than 0.2% of PDS sale
* PDS not working well in states like Bihar b/c of leakages andlack of revenues to pay out of their pockets, which is different from the case of mineral rich states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.
* Many of the states fail to pick up the allocated food monthly from the central pool and distribute it to the seriously needy
* Economic viability of FPS so that tendency of leakages are reduced by resorting to malpractices.
* Leakages during transportation from Godown to FPS. States are advised to do door step delivery.Food Security Bill Proposes Doorstep Dilevery of Foodgrains and end to end Comupterisation of PDS
* Disparities between states : TN with 31000 fair price shops and Jharkhand with 14000; Justice Wadhwa cmt. suggested that there should be a FPS with-in a 3km radius for everyone.
* Bihar : PDS Rice is smuggled to Nepal for the purpose of manufacturing liquor
* Recent Initiatives: (Initiatives taken by state govts. proved to be more effective)
* To enable the last mile tracking whether the grains reached the beneficiaries some states adopted methods like issuing food coupons . The release of grain to a dealer is linked to the number of coupons he deposits after collecting them from cardholders when they buy their rations. Eg: Rajasthan and Bihar. It has been successful in Rajasthan.
* Smart cards, UID platform, ePOS(Point-of-sale) in pilot stages.
* Reduction in PDS prices : AP, Chattisgarh, TN, Odisha ,KA, Kerala, MP, Jharkhand, RJ
* Expanded coverage : in above mentioned states
* Introduction of pulses : HP, AP,CH, TN
* Edible oil : AP,HP,TN
* Transparency :
* GPS equipped trucks & easy-to-identify yellow trucks for delivery of PDS
* Painting of names of all beneficiaries on public and private walls to prevent "duplicates"
* Grievance redressal mechanisms
* TN and Chattisgarh computerised the database of Ration cards to track purchases.
Food Security Bill:
Overview:
1. Grain procurement is already around 60M tonnes and it has been going up steadily in the last 20 years at about 5% per year
2. Carrying costs of grain is double the cost of their production (costs INR 5 to transfer the worth of benefit INR 1)
3. 1990-2007 : Population growth at 1.9% ; Food grain production at 1.2%; But with recent initiatives, rate of growth in production surpassed the rate of growth in population
Estimates:
1. Grain availability
1. Food Production in India = 200 M tonnes (Last year 236 M tonnes)
2. Marketing surplus after Self-consumption of small farmers = 140 M tonnes
3. Commission of Agricultural costs and prices estimates of Requirements to Food Security Bill = 60 M tonnes (30% of the total production) - Half of the world's trade
4. Available to private market = 80 M tonnes
5. Crisis of Plenty : As per the requirements of the bill, by the end of July Govt stocks need to be 52MT ; But the actual stocks are expected to be around 88MT in which case, 38MT will be sitting as a dead weight; Total economic cost of 38MT is projected as Rs 75,000 Crore ; In a way food inflation is created by government; Year-on-Year inflation : Rice 17% and Wheat 20% (Gross Failure in Food Management); Shows that we are very tolerant of inaction and delays;
2. Subsidy Burden (According to official govt. estimates)
6. Existing burden to cover 45% of the population = 95,000 crore (1,09,000 crores in reality)
7. Extra burden to cover 67% of the population = 35000 crore if it manages a revamped delivery system with minimum leakages.
8. Existing PDS : Major cost component is into storage of the grain; with the roll-out of FSB these costs can be drastically cut.
9. Higher taxes of the states distorting markets Eg: PJ,HR,AP; Punjab taxes as high as 14.5%; Subsidy of 95000 crore in total food security, atleast 8000-10000 crore are taxes in the name of poor;
10. The foodgrains to be allocated to the PDS under the Act will be 54.9 million (mn) tonnes; Further,about 6.5 mn tonnes are now allocated for other welfare schemes
11. Assuming a subsidy of Rs 21.5 per kg, then for 61.4 mn tonnes, this comes to about Rs 1.32 lakh crore a year or about 1.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices
12. Other estimates:
1. Bhalla's estimations : Rs 3 lakh crore or 3% of GDP
2. CACP : 6.8 lakh crore over three years (roughly Rs 2.3 lakh crore a year)
3. Prachi Mishra from the nance ministry :annual incremental cost of the NFSA will be anywhere between Rs 44,411 crore to Rs 76,486 crore in 2013-14
3. Beneficiaries:
13. 35% of the national wide might be excluded (current beneficiaries of Dalits and Backward sections in certain western areas like Punjab, W.UP will be excluded with this criteria)
14. coverage under NFSA has been delinked from poverty estimates and therefore the hitherto followed system of APL and BPL beneficiaries would no more be relevant.
4. Storage: (total Central procurement & Storage (doesn't include PDS))
15. Present Storage capacity(Public Sector) : 82 M tonnes (2009-10 : 55M tonnes); the warehousing capacity available in India in public, cooperative and private sectors is about 109 mt and an additional 35 mt of are housing capacity is estimated to be required during the Twelfth Plan for the storage of major crops.
16. Upgrading our storage structures(wastage of only 0.02%) by involving Private players(72 Lakh tonnes in last 2 years with their help) in big way : April-June, 2013- 1Lakh tonnes of food grains worth INR 236.32 crore were lost in "Transit, Storage and due to theft".Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) schemeto create storage facilities
17. we are also thinking of going beyond traditional Godown structures by introducing 'Silos'
5. Need to stabilise production and distribution systems when you are committing Food supply as a right ; In 2002-03 itself, production fell by 38MT in a single year;
18. Storage and Railway wagons
19. Agricultural Min says that 100,000 crore in agriculture to stabilise production and it has to done in the first 3 years of FSB
20. CACP estimates it as 200,000 crore/year
6. State Coverage :
21. Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand will have coverage of about 85% of the population in rural a reas under the NFSA
22. UP, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh around 80-82%
Beneficiary Identification:
1. based on socio-economic and caste census.
2. Automatic exclusion and Inclusion (some proposed parameters) {It is opinion, not Saxena cmt parameters}
1. Urban : 3 types based on the vulnerabilities
1. Residential : Homeless-obviously poor; Slum-dwellers : High chances of being poor
2. Occupational : Rickshaw pullers, Construction Labour, Domestic help, Beggars
3. Social : households with no able-bodied male aged 18 to 60
2. Rural : some socio-economic categories : Single Women, Disabled people, old people,.
3. Complexities involved in the identification of beneficiaries based on caste survey
4. Exclusion criteria should be state specific; Eg: "pacca house" as an exclusion criteria : It is a sign of wealth in in plain, not necessarily in hills
Features:
1. Upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg foodgrains per month per person at highly subsidized prices of Rs. 3, Rs. 2, Rs. 1 per kg.for rice, wheat, coarse grains respectively . These are national coverage ratios to be adjusted state-wise so that the coverage is higher in poorer states.
2. The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kg foodgrains per household under AAY
3. Eldest Women of the household above 18 years to be head of the household for the purpose of issue of ration cards.
4. special focus on the needs of poorest of the poor, women and children.(Lactating mother will also receive maternity benefit of at least of Rs. 6000/-(INR 1000 for 6 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.)
5. In case of non-supply of foodgrains now people will get Food Security Allowance.
6. States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling of foodgrains
7. Eldest women is recognised as the head of the household
8. Grievance redressal
1. Increased role of PRIs, Women's SHGs
2. District Grievance redressal officers, State Food commission - provides for grievance redressal mechanism(at the district level) and penalty for non compliance by public servant or authority
3. Social audits and vigilance committees
4. PDS related records to be placed in public domain
5. Call centres & Helplines
9. Doorstep delivery of foodgrains to the TPDS outlets;
10. Application of information and communication technology tools including end-to-end computerisation in order to ensure transparent recording of transactions at all levels, and to prevent diversion;
11. Leveraging aadhaar for unique identification, with biometric information of entitled beneficiaries for proper targeting of benefits under this Ordinance.
12. Full transparency of records;
13. Diversification of commodities distributed under the Public Distribution System over a period of time;
14. Support to local public distribution models and grains banks.
15. The Center has proposed a committee of State Food Secretaries under the chairmanship of Union Food Secretaries to sort out issues of sharing expenditure towards intra-State transportation and handling of foodgrains, margins to fair price shop dealers and other implementation issues to ensure speedy implementation of National Food Security Act(NFSA).
Challenges:
1. Can we still uphold the right in the case of weak monsoon and subsequent fall in food production?
2. Need to streamline the PDS system and plugin the leakages and pilferage before making the food supply universal.
3. If the approach still is identification of a beneficiary, how will it be different from current scenario? Rigid targetting may only lead to exclusion of genuine BPL families and vulnerable APL families
4. Already some states are believed to have well developed PDS, this bill may seem retrograde.
5. Direct Benefit transfer - how will it adjust for the price fluctuations and the delay in payments will not be in sync with current inflation scenario.
6. Storage, Transport(planning to bring rail infra into the supply chain); Expansion of decentralised procurement.
7. Danger of over-centralisation of the PDS under the bill, at a time when many state governments are making good progress with reforming the PDS on their own
8. Better existing models:
1. TN already has universal PDS
1. FSB - Targetted coverage ; TN Model - Universal coverage
2. FSB - Rural population(75%), Urban Population(50%); TN - Rice free of cost to 1.8Crore families
3. FSB - Rice(INR 3/kg), Wheat(3/Kg), Millets(3/Kg); TN - Rice entitlements 12kg/month(min) - 20kg/month(max)
4. FSB - AAY beneficiaries to get 35kg/month; TN - AAY to get 35kgs/month
5. FSB - Food security allowance to be provided in case of non-supply; TN - Sugar to rice-drawing holders 500gms to max 2kg, edible oil and pulses at subsidised rates under special PDS
2. TN has 50% of the population in Urban areas => under FSB 25% of TN population will not be eligible for food entitlements.
9. India need to convince WTO that it is not violating AoA(Agreement on Agriculture) by this bill
10. Moving from household based entitlements(25kg/household) to percapita entitlements (5kg/person) . Could be disruptive if it is imposed overnight from the top. Could face resistance from the public.
3. AP and TN already has put in use Per-capita entitlements model
4. Population totals are better defined and better known than household counts and therefore better suited for determining state-wise allocations.
5. only 10% of the rural families have more than 7 members.// But this scheme of per-capita entitlements is done at a lower price than earlier, so it is more equitable
6. Adding a name to the ration card when a child is born tends to be difficult and enrollment is an issue even in the better governed states.
7. Could be disruptive in the states where per-household model works well (Chattisgarh, Odisha, HP,RJ)
8. Opinion:
6. Equity can be ensured without forcing states to adopt per-capita approach; Eg: by considering every nuclear family as a separate household(as in NREGA)
7. Central govt. could allocate grains on the basis of entitled population, and let states decide which approach to use.
11. The percentage of beneficiaries may vary from state to state(This would be based on caste & Socio-economic census) .Southern states' PDS will be affected b/c of this bill, since their existing quota will have to be diverted to other states unless our export of food grains to Europe to feed their cattle are curtailed or we import food grains from Vietnam or Thailand
9. Estimation of 18 states losing and 17 states and UTs gaining the quota (since it is based on population figures) - Losing states : TN, Kerala, Tripura; Gaining States: UP,Bihar, Gujarat
10. Estimated cut of 31.24L tonne to losing states and higher out-go of 110.28L tonnes to gaining states at subsidised rates (CIP)
11. Provision of additional grains at MSP
12. Leakages need to be plugged through (9-point strategy)
12. de-privatisation of ration shops (Community ownership of FPS SHGs )
13. end-to-end computerization - also a proposal of new independent agency manned by professionals to computerize PDS.
14. Aadhar - biometrics (authentication, portability)
15. Social audit
16. Leakages are minimum in AAY category, but high in APL category b/cAPL is not a fixed quota.
13. No clarity on cost-sharing formula b/n Centre and states.
14. Political consensus on these issues:
17. Cash transfers in lieu of food grains
18. Protection of present grain allocations to states
19. Framing of rules and guidelines
20. Ready-to-eat meals and fortified foods('energy dense' foods).
21. Role of Contractors and Manufacturers in ICDS
15. Demands of amendments on these issues
22. Raising the percapita entitlement from 5kg to 7kg
23. Inclusion of Pulses and Edible oil in PDS basket
24. Removing caps on percentage of eligible beneficiaries.
Dimensions:
1. the implementation of the legislation promises economy-wide benefits.
1. the guarantee of subsidised food grains, which constitutes a significant proportion of the consumption basket for most people, will have the immediate effect of increasing their disposable income. This is not trivial, given that the growth of consumption expenditure has doubled between 2009 and 2012
2. the provision can play the role of an economic stabiliser because food prices determine the floor wage level, which is why they are termed a wage good. The guarantee would thus not only help in controlling food prices but also stabilise wages. Indeed, it is perplexing that industry lobbies are attacking the provision of an enhanced social wage, from which they stand to benefit significantly.
3. if the fiscal deficit is run in an imaginative way, even more can be achieved. For instance, coupling the food guarantee to the MGNREGA can help in the construction of a countrywide network of godowns for the Food Corporation of India
2. a cash transfer scheme would negate much of the potential economy-wide benefits that would accrue from the implementation of the food security legislation.
3. Greater dependency of Centre on states to procure on their behalf ; High time centre and states rationalise tax structure (GST ); States monopoly in grain trade; 1972 : Centre tried to take over the grain trade, but political set up didn't allow this to happen;
Direct Benefit Transfer:
Prerequisites:
1. Financial inclusion with each beneficiary to have a bank or post office account
2. each bank and PO in India to have Internet Connectivity
3. to have an Aadhar number
4. each bank/PO account to be seeded with the Aadhar number
Benefits:
1. provides range of options. But vulnerable become more prone to market fluctuations ; So need to link DBT with nutritional outcomes (ie Conditional cash transfers), or food stamps (to buy Veg, Fruits, Micronutrients), or Mixed transfers.
2. Our strategy of DBT is essentially an attempt to streamline PDS. It talks about cash transfer of subsidy, not the total food grain ie When centre issues food grain to states at CIP, it bears food subsidy which is to be transferred to beneficiaries rather than to states directly and states are supplied grains at Economic cost. Beneficiary has to pay For Eg: Rs 3+ subsidy transferred to buy one Kg of Rice. It is qualitatively different from subsidy in cash given in-lieu of food grain. (Analyse its impact in terms of range of real choices(not spurious ones) it offers and transparency )
Case studies:
1. Brazil's "Bolsa familia" (food vouchers + PDS) solved 40% of its hunger problem
by A.Sunil Kumar
References: The Hindu and random articles in google
Overview:
1. Global Hunger Index(GHI) : India ranks 67/81 countries in worst Food security category
2. Achievement of food grain security at the national level(by 70s) didn't percolate down to households (Domestic Production of food grains far exceed our nation's food demands).
3. Dimensions of FS according to FAO(Food and Agricultural Organization):
1. Availability (aspect of production)
2. Accessibility (Physical Access - aspect of distribution - TPDS) & Affordability (Economic Access - purchasing capacity of people - MGNREGA)
3. Absorption/Assimilation (Nutritional aspect which includes sanitation, health infra.) - Which aims at turning Food intake into Nutritional outcomes
4. Acceptability (Culturally accepted food)
5. Stability (in all the above 5 aspects)
4. FS at different levels: Global, National, Household, Individual. Household and Individual FS can be attained by gender sensitisation and empowering women community as they are the ones who mainly manage household level food distribution.
5. Food security Problem is less to do with food and more with health, technology adaptation, global cooperation, cultural constraints, Governance structures.
6. Urban Areas are more vulnerable:
6. They are dependent for food supplies on surrounding areas; If the infrastructure is damaged, they became unsustainable on food security front.
7. Undocumented poor (refugees); Identification of the poor for targeting is difficult.
7. FAO predicts one-third of all food produced in the world gets wasted amounting to a loss of $750B a year
8. Food in developing countries is wasted mostly due to poor harvesting techniques (Eg: Cereals in Asia, Latin America)
9. In high-income areas the primary cause of waste is careless consumer behaviour(Eg: Meat in Wealthy regions)
MSPs:
Overview:
1. 1966-67 : Introduced for the first time for Wheat in the wake of Green Revolution and extended harvest to save farmers from depleting profits
2. MSPs announced for 25 crops currently at the beginning of each season
Objectives:
1. to stabilise the prices of major food items
2. to ensure the remunerative prices for the farmers (protect the interests of farmers in the event of over-production)
Features:
1. Public action of linking Producers(through procurements at MSP) & Consumers (distribution at affordable prices)
2. Govt. recently modified the procedure of MSP to include thecost of crop insuranceand thus ensuring better prices for farmers.
3. High MSP of Wheat and Rice has encouraged farmers to grow them more and more.
Functioning:
1. MSP is announced well ahead of the sowing season on the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural costs and Prices(CACP)
2. Central govt. is responsible for procurement, storage, transportation, and bulk allocation of food grains. Central govt. organises purchase operations through Public, Cooperative and other designated agencies (NAFED- National agri. cooperative marketing federation of India for oil seeds and pulses ,FCI, Cotton cooperation of India).
3. Central govt. has centrally designated agencies to undertakePSS(Price support Scheme)operations. The losses incurred,if any, are fully reimbursed by the govt.
4. It also implementsMIS(Market intervention scheme)on the request of states/UTs for horticultural and agri. commodities, generally perishable in nature that are not covered under PSS.States/UTs bear 50% of the losses,if any.(25% in the case of NE states). H/W the loss is restricted to 25% of the total procurement value. Profit, if any, earned by the procuring agencies is retained by them. The MIS is implemented in order to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production
Buffer Stocks:
Overview:
1. Central pool with FCI : TPDS, Open market intervention to stabilize prices, to meet emergencies in the case of droughts/crop failures
2. Buffer norms are the minimum food grains the centre should havein the central pool at the beginning of each quarter
3. Need for better Buffer Stock Management :
1. Despite being leading agricultural producer, it is only 10th largest global player (1.6% of the trade);
2. Fill the deficit with Grains : Exporting the surplus grains will bridge CAD and fiscal deficit; Need to act fast since global food prices are on decline; Proposal for creating regional stocks(say South Asia) after global food crisis; can earn $30-40B with predictable trade policy
4. Only for 2 crops : Rice and Wheat
PDS:
Procurement:
Functioning :
* Both central govts and state govts shared the responsibility of regulating PDS.
* Central govt. to procure, Transport, Storage,Bulk allocation to States as per the agreed norms and quantities
* State govt. is responsible for distributing the grains to consumers through the established network of Fair price shops and operational responsibilities(allocation and identification of BPL families, issue of ration cards, supervision and monitoring the functioning of FPS-Fair Price shops). 5 Lakh FPS through out India
* 1997 : Dual Pricing structure was introduced under TPDS : CIP (Central Issue Prices) : prices at which the Food Corporation of India (FCI) sells grain for the PDS to State governments
* Price for APL families = Economic cost (Costs of Procurement, Distribution, Storage)
* for BPL families = 50% of the economic cost (Economic costs - CIP is the subsidy borne by the Central govt.)
* Defects of PDS :
* Large scale Exclusion & Inclusion errors; Unable to accomplish timely revision of Beneficiaries list
* Ration card duplication(removal of Ghost ration cards) and leakages.Unclaimed ration(due to temporary migration) in states like AP is not carried over.
* Leaky nature of APL (Entitlements of APL by its nature is unclear and unstable. They are not entitlements, but adhoc handouts. Most of the APL quota goes straight to the black market). BPL quota is distributed properly to a largest extent even in districts like Korapat(Odisha), Chitrakoot (UP).
* Leakages to the tune of avg. 55% . But recent NSSO data shows that it came down to 30%; The National Sample Survey Ofce data shows that the leakages in PDS reduced from 54% in 2004-05 to 44% in 2007-08 and further down to 35% in 2011-12.
* Items covered under PDS : Rice, Wheat, Sugar, Kerosene constitute 86% of the PDS sale. Pulses less than 0.2% of PDS sale
* PDS not working well in states like Bihar b/c of leakages andlack of revenues to pay out of their pockets, which is different from the case of mineral rich states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.
* Many of the states fail to pick up the allocated food monthly from the central pool and distribute it to the seriously needy
* Economic viability of FPS so that tendency of leakages are reduced by resorting to malpractices.
* Leakages during transportation from Godown to FPS. States are advised to do door step delivery.Food Security Bill Proposes Doorstep Dilevery of Foodgrains and end to end Comupterisation of PDS
* Disparities between states : TN with 31000 fair price shops and Jharkhand with 14000; Justice Wadhwa cmt. suggested that there should be a FPS with-in a 3km radius for everyone.
* Bihar : PDS Rice is smuggled to Nepal for the purpose of manufacturing liquor
* Recent Initiatives: (Initiatives taken by state govts. proved to be more effective)
* To enable the last mile tracking whether the grains reached the beneficiaries some states adopted methods like issuing food coupons . The release of grain to a dealer is linked to the number of coupons he deposits after collecting them from cardholders when they buy their rations. Eg: Rajasthan and Bihar. It has been successful in Rajasthan.
* Smart cards, UID platform, ePOS(Point-of-sale) in pilot stages.
* Reduction in PDS prices : AP, Chattisgarh, TN, Odisha ,KA, Kerala, MP, Jharkhand, RJ
* Expanded coverage : in above mentioned states
* Introduction of pulses : HP, AP,CH, TN
* Edible oil : AP,HP,TN
* Transparency :
* GPS equipped trucks & easy-to-identify yellow trucks for delivery of PDS
* Painting of names of all beneficiaries on public and private walls to prevent "duplicates"
* Grievance redressal mechanisms
* TN and Chattisgarh computerised the database of Ration cards to track purchases.
Food Security Bill:
Overview:
1. Grain procurement is already around 60M tonnes and it has been going up steadily in the last 20 years at about 5% per year
2. Carrying costs of grain is double the cost of their production (costs INR 5 to transfer the worth of benefit INR 1)
3. 1990-2007 : Population growth at 1.9% ; Food grain production at 1.2%; But with recent initiatives, rate of growth in production surpassed the rate of growth in population
Estimates:
1. Grain availability
1. Food Production in India = 200 M tonnes (Last year 236 M tonnes)
2. Marketing surplus after Self-consumption of small farmers = 140 M tonnes
3. Commission of Agricultural costs and prices estimates of Requirements to Food Security Bill = 60 M tonnes (30% of the total production) - Half of the world's trade
4. Available to private market = 80 M tonnes
5. Crisis of Plenty : As per the requirements of the bill, by the end of July Govt stocks need to be 52MT ; But the actual stocks are expected to be around 88MT in which case, 38MT will be sitting as a dead weight; Total economic cost of 38MT is projected as Rs 75,000 Crore ; In a way food inflation is created by government; Year-on-Year inflation : Rice 17% and Wheat 20% (Gross Failure in Food Management); Shows that we are very tolerant of inaction and delays;
2. Subsidy Burden (According to official govt. estimates)
6. Existing burden to cover 45% of the population = 95,000 crore (1,09,000 crores in reality)
7. Extra burden to cover 67% of the population = 35000 crore if it manages a revamped delivery system with minimum leakages.
8. Existing PDS : Major cost component is into storage of the grain; with the roll-out of FSB these costs can be drastically cut.
9. Higher taxes of the states distorting markets Eg: PJ,HR,AP; Punjab taxes as high as 14.5%; Subsidy of 95000 crore in total food security, atleast 8000-10000 crore are taxes in the name of poor;
10. The foodgrains to be allocated to the PDS under the Act will be 54.9 million (mn) tonnes; Further,about 6.5 mn tonnes are now allocated for other welfare schemes
11. Assuming a subsidy of Rs 21.5 per kg, then for 61.4 mn tonnes, this comes to about Rs 1.32 lakh crore a year or about 1.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices
12. Other estimates:
1. Bhalla's estimations : Rs 3 lakh crore or 3% of GDP
2. CACP : 6.8 lakh crore over three years (roughly Rs 2.3 lakh crore a year)
3. Prachi Mishra from the nance ministry :annual incremental cost of the NFSA will be anywhere between Rs 44,411 crore to Rs 76,486 crore in 2013-14
3. Beneficiaries:
13. 35% of the national wide might be excluded (current beneficiaries of Dalits and Backward sections in certain western areas like Punjab, W.UP will be excluded with this criteria)
14. coverage under NFSA has been delinked from poverty estimates and therefore the hitherto followed system of APL and BPL beneficiaries would no more be relevant.
4. Storage: (total Central procurement & Storage (doesn't include PDS))
15. Present Storage capacity(Public Sector) : 82 M tonnes (2009-10 : 55M tonnes); the warehousing capacity available in India in public, cooperative and private sectors is about 109 mt and an additional 35 mt of are housing capacity is estimated to be required during the Twelfth Plan for the storage of major crops.
16. Upgrading our storage structures(wastage of only 0.02%) by involving Private players(72 Lakh tonnes in last 2 years with their help) in big way : April-June, 2013- 1Lakh tonnes of food grains worth INR 236.32 crore were lost in "Transit, Storage and due to theft".Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) schemeto create storage facilities
17. we are also thinking of going beyond traditional Godown structures by introducing 'Silos'
5. Need to stabilise production and distribution systems when you are committing Food supply as a right ; In 2002-03 itself, production fell by 38MT in a single year;
18. Storage and Railway wagons
19. Agricultural Min says that 100,000 crore in agriculture to stabilise production and it has to done in the first 3 years of FSB
20. CACP estimates it as 200,000 crore/year
6. State Coverage :
21. Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand will have coverage of about 85% of the population in rural a reas under the NFSA
22. UP, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh around 80-82%
Beneficiary Identification:
1. based on socio-economic and caste census.
2. Automatic exclusion and Inclusion (some proposed parameters) {It is opinion, not Saxena cmt parameters}
1. Urban : 3 types based on the vulnerabilities
1. Residential : Homeless-obviously poor; Slum-dwellers : High chances of being poor
2. Occupational : Rickshaw pullers, Construction Labour, Domestic help, Beggars
3. Social : households with no able-bodied male aged 18 to 60
2. Rural : some socio-economic categories : Single Women, Disabled people, old people,.
3. Complexities involved in the identification of beneficiaries based on caste survey
4. Exclusion criteria should be state specific; Eg: "pacca house" as an exclusion criteria : It is a sign of wealth in in plain, not necessarily in hills
Features:
1. Upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg foodgrains per month per person at highly subsidized prices of Rs. 3, Rs. 2, Rs. 1 per kg.for rice, wheat, coarse grains respectively . These are national coverage ratios to be adjusted state-wise so that the coverage is higher in poorer states.
2. The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kg foodgrains per household under AAY
3. Eldest Women of the household above 18 years to be head of the household for the purpose of issue of ration cards.
4. special focus on the needs of poorest of the poor, women and children.(Lactating mother will also receive maternity benefit of at least of Rs. 6000/-(INR 1000 for 6 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.)
5. In case of non-supply of foodgrains now people will get Food Security Allowance.
6. States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling of foodgrains
7. Eldest women is recognised as the head of the household
8. Grievance redressal
1. Increased role of PRIs, Women's SHGs
2. District Grievance redressal officers, State Food commission - provides for grievance redressal mechanism(at the district level) and penalty for non compliance by public servant or authority
3. Social audits and vigilance committees
4. PDS related records to be placed in public domain
5. Call centres & Helplines
9. Doorstep delivery of foodgrains to the TPDS outlets;
10. Application of information and communication technology tools including end-to-end computerisation in order to ensure transparent recording of transactions at all levels, and to prevent diversion;
11. Leveraging aadhaar for unique identification, with biometric information of entitled beneficiaries for proper targeting of benefits under this Ordinance.
12. Full transparency of records;
13. Diversification of commodities distributed under the Public Distribution System over a period of time;
14. Support to local public distribution models and grains banks.
15. The Center has proposed a committee of State Food Secretaries under the chairmanship of Union Food Secretaries to sort out issues of sharing expenditure towards intra-State transportation and handling of foodgrains, margins to fair price shop dealers and other implementation issues to ensure speedy implementation of National Food Security Act(NFSA).
Challenges:
1. Can we still uphold the right in the case of weak monsoon and subsequent fall in food production?
2. Need to streamline the PDS system and plugin the leakages and pilferage before making the food supply universal.
3. If the approach still is identification of a beneficiary, how will it be different from current scenario? Rigid targetting may only lead to exclusion of genuine BPL families and vulnerable APL families
4. Already some states are believed to have well developed PDS, this bill may seem retrograde.
5. Direct Benefit transfer - how will it adjust for the price fluctuations and the delay in payments will not be in sync with current inflation scenario.
6. Storage, Transport(planning to bring rail infra into the supply chain); Expansion of decentralised procurement.
7. Danger of over-centralisation of the PDS under the bill, at a time when many state governments are making good progress with reforming the PDS on their own
8. Better existing models:
1. TN already has universal PDS
1. FSB - Targetted coverage ; TN Model - Universal coverage
2. FSB - Rural population(75%), Urban Population(50%); TN - Rice free of cost to 1.8Crore families
3. FSB - Rice(INR 3/kg), Wheat(3/Kg), Millets(3/Kg); TN - Rice entitlements 12kg/month(min) - 20kg/month(max)
4. FSB - AAY beneficiaries to get 35kg/month; TN - AAY to get 35kgs/month
5. FSB - Food security allowance to be provided in case of non-supply; TN - Sugar to rice-drawing holders 500gms to max 2kg, edible oil and pulses at subsidised rates under special PDS
2. TN has 50% of the population in Urban areas => under FSB 25% of TN population will not be eligible for food entitlements.
9. India need to convince WTO that it is not violating AoA(Agreement on Agriculture) by this bill
10. Moving from household based entitlements(25kg/household) to percapita entitlements (5kg/person) . Could be disruptive if it is imposed overnight from the top. Could face resistance from the public.
3. AP and TN already has put in use Per-capita entitlements model
4. Population totals are better defined and better known than household counts and therefore better suited for determining state-wise allocations.
5. only 10% of the rural families have more than 7 members.// But this scheme of per-capita entitlements is done at a lower price than earlier, so it is more equitable
6. Adding a name to the ration card when a child is born tends to be difficult and enrollment is an issue even in the better governed states.
7. Could be disruptive in the states where per-household model works well (Chattisgarh, Odisha, HP,RJ)
8. Opinion:
6. Equity can be ensured without forcing states to adopt per-capita approach; Eg: by considering every nuclear family as a separate household(as in NREGA)
7. Central govt. could allocate grains on the basis of entitled population, and let states decide which approach to use.
11. The percentage of beneficiaries may vary from state to state(This would be based on caste & Socio-economic census) .Southern states' PDS will be affected b/c of this bill, since their existing quota will have to be diverted to other states unless our export of food grains to Europe to feed their cattle are curtailed or we import food grains from Vietnam or Thailand
9. Estimation of 18 states losing and 17 states and UTs gaining the quota (since it is based on population figures) - Losing states : TN, Kerala, Tripura; Gaining States: UP,Bihar, Gujarat
10. Estimated cut of 31.24L tonne to losing states and higher out-go of 110.28L tonnes to gaining states at subsidised rates (CIP)
11. Provision of additional grains at MSP
12. Leakages need to be plugged through (9-point strategy)
12. de-privatisation of ration shops (Community ownership of FPS SHGs )
13. end-to-end computerization - also a proposal of new independent agency manned by professionals to computerize PDS.
14. Aadhar - biometrics (authentication, portability)
15. Social audit
16. Leakages are minimum in AAY category, but high in APL category b/cAPL is not a fixed quota.
13. No clarity on cost-sharing formula b/n Centre and states.
14. Political consensus on these issues:
17. Cash transfers in lieu of food grains
18. Protection of present grain allocations to states
19. Framing of rules and guidelines
20. Ready-to-eat meals and fortified foods('energy dense' foods).
21. Role of Contractors and Manufacturers in ICDS
15. Demands of amendments on these issues
22. Raising the percapita entitlement from 5kg to 7kg
23. Inclusion of Pulses and Edible oil in PDS basket
24. Removing caps on percentage of eligible beneficiaries.
Dimensions:
1. the implementation of the legislation promises economy-wide benefits.
1. the guarantee of subsidised food grains, which constitutes a significant proportion of the consumption basket for most people, will have the immediate effect of increasing their disposable income. This is not trivial, given that the growth of consumption expenditure has doubled between 2009 and 2012
2. the provision can play the role of an economic stabiliser because food prices determine the floor wage level, which is why they are termed a wage good. The guarantee would thus not only help in controlling food prices but also stabilise wages. Indeed, it is perplexing that industry lobbies are attacking the provision of an enhanced social wage, from which they stand to benefit significantly.
3. if the fiscal deficit is run in an imaginative way, even more can be achieved. For instance, coupling the food guarantee to the MGNREGA can help in the construction of a countrywide network of godowns for the Food Corporation of India
2. a cash transfer scheme would negate much of the potential economy-wide benefits that would accrue from the implementation of the food security legislation.
3. Greater dependency of Centre on states to procure on their behalf ; High time centre and states rationalise tax structure (GST ); States monopoly in grain trade; 1972 : Centre tried to take over the grain trade, but political set up didn't allow this to happen;
Direct Benefit Transfer:
Prerequisites:
1. Financial inclusion with each beneficiary to have a bank or post office account
2. each bank and PO in India to have Internet Connectivity
3. to have an Aadhar number
4. each bank/PO account to be seeded with the Aadhar number
Benefits:
1. provides range of options. But vulnerable become more prone to market fluctuations ; So need to link DBT with nutritional outcomes (ie Conditional cash transfers), or food stamps (to buy Veg, Fruits, Micronutrients), or Mixed transfers.
2. Our strategy of DBT is essentially an attempt to streamline PDS. It talks about cash transfer of subsidy, not the total food grain ie When centre issues food grain to states at CIP, it bears food subsidy which is to be transferred to beneficiaries rather than to states directly and states are supplied grains at Economic cost. Beneficiary has to pay For Eg: Rs 3+ subsidy transferred to buy one Kg of Rice. It is qualitatively different from subsidy in cash given in-lieu of food grain. (Analyse its impact in terms of range of real choices(not spurious ones) it offers and transparency )
Case studies:
1. Brazil's "Bolsa familia" (food vouchers + PDS) solved 40% of its hunger problem
by A.Sunil Kumar
References: The Hindu and random articles in google
Food Security Bill Combating Hunger!
A huge percentage of the Indian population lives below the poverty line where getting one square meal a day is a challenge. The food security bill aims to satisfy this basic want and in that sense although it encourages welfare economics, the intention is noble. This is what would need to be weighed against other roadblocks.
Before we comment or discuss the bill, it is indeed very necessary to understand the Food Security Bill.
The Food Security Bill is a bill for consideration before the Government of India. The bill aims to provide subsidized foodgrain to around 67 percent (75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population) of India's 1.2 billion people. As per the provisions of the bill, beneficiaries would get rice at INR 3/kg, wheat at INR 2/kg, and coarse grains at INR 1/kg. These rates would be valid for three years. Every pregnant woman and lactating mother would get free meal during pregnancy till six months after child birth. They will also get a maternity benefit of INR 6,000 in installments. Children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, the Bill 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, up to Class VIII. Children who suffer from malnutrition will be identified through the local anganwadi and meals will be provided to them free of charge through the local anganwadi.
The Bill states that central and state governments shall endeavour to progressively undertake various PDS reforms, including: doorstep delivery of foodgrains; ICT applications and end-to-end computerisation; leveraging aadhaar (UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries; full transparency of records; preference to public institutions or bodies in licensing of fair price shops; management of fair price shops by women or their collectives; diversification of commodities distributed under the PDS; full transparency of records; and introducing schemes such as cash transfer, food coupons or other schemes to the targeted beneficiaries in lieu of their foodgrain entitlements as prescribed by the central government. In case of non-supply of foodgrains, states will have to pay food security allowance to beneficiaries.
The central government has pushed the Food Security Bill with amazing alacrity. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that rules India, has got the Bill passed by an ordinance, not through the usual parliament route. Within six months from the date of promulgation, the government will have to seek the approval of this Bill through parliament to avoid the ordnance falling through.
NSSO surveys show that the proportion of hungry people fell from 15.3% in 1983 to 2% in 2004. By now, it is probably 1%. So, forget the notion that hungry Indians are crying out for cheap grain. No, per-capita consumption of cereals has fallen steadily in all income groups, including the poorest. They are shifting to superior foods: proteins, milk and tea.
Besides, the NDA launched the Antyodaya programme for the very poorest back in 2000, providing wheat at 2 and rice at 3 per kg. The Bill simply repeats the dose - nothing new at all for the poorest.
The main problem for the government is theresources for implementationof the bill. Can we produce such a large amount? Once the cheap food is available, people will consume more and more increasing the burden on supply side. Can we store such large quantities of food supply? India presently has provision only for 30 million tons but this act will need 60 million tons of storage. In order to meet the increased requirement of foodgrain for PDS, export of cereals should be stopped immediately. If basmati rice is to be exported, an equal amount of ordinary rice must be imported. It is highly unethical to export foodgrain when our own people are dying of starvation. And we congratulate ourselves on record foodgrain exports at a time when the per capita food availability at home is declining and we lose money on every tonne that we export.
Secondly,actual distributioncannot begin unless the eligible households are identified. The Bill does not specify criteria for the identification of households eligible forPublic Distribution System (PDS)entitlements. The Central Government is to determine the state-wise coverage of the PDS, in terms of proportion of the rural/urban population. Then numbers of eligible persons will be calculated from Census population figures. The identification of eligible households is left to state governments. The allocation of foodgrains is arbitrary and is neither based on population nor poverty. The final results of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census will not be available for all the states, especially the larger states like UP, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, until the beginning of 2014.
Thirdly, The Bill encourages states toreform the PDS, including doorstep delivery of foodgrain, end-to-end computerisation; and leveraging "Aadhaar" (UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries. The progress is extremely slow, though not in all states. Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan have undertaken state-level reforms by extending coverage, improving delivery and increasing transparency. The best results are seen in Chhattisgarh. Here, private dealers have been replaced by panchayats, commissions have been increased and more than 80 per cent of the families have been covered under the scheme (as opposed to only 40 per cent who are officially recognised as being Below the Poverty Line or BPL under the Central government). A regular monitoring and grievance redressal mechanism leads to swift action if foodgrain does not reach the people. The fear is, unless something miraculous happens to inject life and energy to the PDS, it will get bogged down under the bigger load to serve many more customers. The result will be chaos of catastrophic proportions.
Most importantly, buying such huge quantities of food at higher rates and selling them to consumers at very low rates will needgovernment subsidies. Already the huge food subsidy has weighed down Indias public finances pushing the budget deficit to unmanageable proportions. When the Bills intended provisions are rolled out across India, the food subsidy burden of the government will jump three times. It will run to Rs. 125, 000 crores per year.Even a school boy would say that India simply does not have so much money. How will the government manage to keep the subsidized scheme going?
The BJP condemns the Bill as a pre-election gimmick. But it will surely fail. Many states already provide cereals more cheaply than the Bill. Tamil Nadu provides 20 kg of free rice to poor families. Other southern states provide rice at 1 per kg. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to have state elections, and all three now offer wheat or rice at 1 per kg. So, in several states, the additional subsidy of the Bill will not mean cheaper food for consumers, simply less subsidy at the state level. The Bill may mean cheaper cereals in some states, like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. But the Public Distribution System (PDS) is in terrible shape in these states. To the extent the PDS improves, the chief ministers will get the credit.
So looking at this we understand that the bill may be brought on with a noble cause but need lot of reforms and a very strong planning commission in order for rightful implementation of the bill. Lets hope to watch if Rajya Sabha brings light to this aspects of the bill in its session.
In the ultimate analysis, the constraints to food security and hunger are rooted in bad policies, faulty design, lack of appropriate monitoring and evaluation, poor governance and lack of political will. Action is needed on all the fronts.
Jaymin Patel
Before we comment or discuss the bill, it is indeed very necessary to understand the Food Security Bill.
The Food Security Bill is a bill for consideration before the Government of India. The bill aims to provide subsidized foodgrain to around 67 percent (75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population) of India's 1.2 billion people. As per the provisions of the bill, beneficiaries would get rice at INR 3/kg, wheat at INR 2/kg, and coarse grains at INR 1/kg. These rates would be valid for three years. Every pregnant woman and lactating mother would get free meal during pregnancy till six months after child birth. They will also get a maternity benefit of INR 6,000 in installments. Children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, the Bill 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, up to Class VIII. Children who suffer from malnutrition will be identified through the local anganwadi and meals will be provided to them free of charge through the local anganwadi.
The Bill states that central and state governments shall endeavour to progressively undertake various PDS reforms, including: doorstep delivery of foodgrains; ICT applications and end-to-end computerisation; leveraging aadhaar (UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries; full transparency of records; preference to public institutions or bodies in licensing of fair price shops; management of fair price shops by women or their collectives; diversification of commodities distributed under the PDS; full transparency of records; and introducing schemes such as cash transfer, food coupons or other schemes to the targeted beneficiaries in lieu of their foodgrain entitlements as prescribed by the central government. In case of non-supply of foodgrains, states will have to pay food security allowance to beneficiaries.
The central government has pushed the Food Security Bill with amazing alacrity. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that rules India, has got the Bill passed by an ordinance, not through the usual parliament route. Within six months from the date of promulgation, the government will have to seek the approval of this Bill through parliament to avoid the ordnance falling through.
NSSO surveys show that the proportion of hungry people fell from 15.3% in 1983 to 2% in 2004. By now, it is probably 1%. So, forget the notion that hungry Indians are crying out for cheap grain. No, per-capita consumption of cereals has fallen steadily in all income groups, including the poorest. They are shifting to superior foods: proteins, milk and tea.
Besides, the NDA launched the Antyodaya programme for the very poorest back in 2000, providing wheat at 2 and rice at 3 per kg. The Bill simply repeats the dose - nothing new at all for the poorest.
The main problem for the government is theresources for implementationof the bill. Can we produce such a large amount? Once the cheap food is available, people will consume more and more increasing the burden on supply side. Can we store such large quantities of food supply? India presently has provision only for 30 million tons but this act will need 60 million tons of storage. In order to meet the increased requirement of foodgrain for PDS, export of cereals should be stopped immediately. If basmati rice is to be exported, an equal amount of ordinary rice must be imported. It is highly unethical to export foodgrain when our own people are dying of starvation. And we congratulate ourselves on record foodgrain exports at a time when the per capita food availability at home is declining and we lose money on every tonne that we export.
Secondly,actual distributioncannot begin unless the eligible households are identified. The Bill does not specify criteria for the identification of households eligible forPublic Distribution System (PDS)entitlements. The Central Government is to determine the state-wise coverage of the PDS, in terms of proportion of the rural/urban population. Then numbers of eligible persons will be calculated from Census population figures. The identification of eligible households is left to state governments. The allocation of foodgrains is arbitrary and is neither based on population nor poverty. The final results of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census will not be available for all the states, especially the larger states like UP, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, until the beginning of 2014.
Thirdly, The Bill encourages states toreform the PDS, including doorstep delivery of foodgrain, end-to-end computerisation; and leveraging "Aadhaar" (UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries. The progress is extremely slow, though not in all states. Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan have undertaken state-level reforms by extending coverage, improving delivery and increasing transparency. The best results are seen in Chhattisgarh. Here, private dealers have been replaced by panchayats, commissions have been increased and more than 80 per cent of the families have been covered under the scheme (as opposed to only 40 per cent who are officially recognised as being Below the Poverty Line or BPL under the Central government). A regular monitoring and grievance redressal mechanism leads to swift action if foodgrain does not reach the people. The fear is, unless something miraculous happens to inject life and energy to the PDS, it will get bogged down under the bigger load to serve many more customers. The result will be chaos of catastrophic proportions.
Most importantly, buying such huge quantities of food at higher rates and selling them to consumers at very low rates will needgovernment subsidies. Already the huge food subsidy has weighed down Indias public finances pushing the budget deficit to unmanageable proportions. When the Bills intended provisions are rolled out across India, the food subsidy burden of the government will jump three times. It will run to Rs. 125, 000 crores per year.Even a school boy would say that India simply does not have so much money. How will the government manage to keep the subsidized scheme going?
The BJP condemns the Bill as a pre-election gimmick. But it will surely fail. Many states already provide cereals more cheaply than the Bill. Tamil Nadu provides 20 kg of free rice to poor families. Other southern states provide rice at 1 per kg. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to have state elections, and all three now offer wheat or rice at 1 per kg. So, in several states, the additional subsidy of the Bill will not mean cheaper food for consumers, simply less subsidy at the state level. The Bill may mean cheaper cereals in some states, like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. But the Public Distribution System (PDS) is in terrible shape in these states. To the extent the PDS improves, the chief ministers will get the credit.
So looking at this we understand that the bill may be brought on with a noble cause but need lot of reforms and a very strong planning commission in order for rightful implementation of the bill. Lets hope to watch if Rajya Sabha brings light to this aspects of the bill in its session.
In the ultimate analysis, the constraints to food security and hunger are rooted in bad policies, faulty design, lack of appropriate monitoring and evaluation, poor governance and lack of political will. Action is needed on all the fronts.
Jaymin Patel
Is there a need for Food Security Bill ?
Is there a need for Food Security Bill ?
India is moving ahead with dream of development. But for development people in this country have to be physically & mentally fit. Food is the basic necessity of human being. But unfortunately, some people in our country sleeps everyday with empty stomach. This not at all well from developmental as well as economical approach. The economic role of food and nutrition is something which can be looked down upon and this in turn, becomes a rationale for formulating a public policy. A proper food policy hence becomes the need of the hour. A well targeted nutrition policy can create wonders and also provides a way analogous compared to other policies. In this scenario, the National Food Security Bill can turn into something revolutionary and can leave a huge impact in the economy of the country. This Bill can transform and restructure the lives of people if carefully crafted and implemented.
The recent Food Security Bill proposed by the expert committee, headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan was passed on 26th August,2013 in Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to provide for food & nutritional security in human life cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity & for matters connected with therewith & incidental thereto.
Objective is laudable since, according to a 2010 a World Bank Report,32.7% people in India survive on less than $ 1.25 per day. Also, 47% of children in India suffer from malnutrition & India is home of worlds highest population of underweight children in such scenario there is strong need for legal implementation like this food security bill.
Food Security as a concept has continuously evolved over the last few decades. Originally the focus was on the supply side of the food equation concentrating on adequate availability of food at the national and international level. Food security as defined in the 1974 World Food Summit underlines this: availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices
Features of the food security bill :
Coverage of two thirds population to get highlysubsidisedfood grains-
Upto75% of the rural population andupto50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg food grainsper month at highly subsidized pricesofRs. 3, Rs. 2,Rs. 1 per kg.forrice, wheat, coarse grains respectively .It will entitle about two thirds of our 1.2 billionpopulationtosubsidisedfood grainsunder the Targeted Public Distribution System.
Poorest of the poor continue to get 35 kg per household-
The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kgfoodgrainsper household per month under AntyodayaAnnaYojanaat subsidized prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1. It is also proposed to protect the existing allocation offood grainsto the States or union territories subject to it being restricted to average annualofftakeduring last three years.
Eligible households to be identified by the States -
The work of identification of eligible households is left to the States or Union Territories, which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data, if they so desire.
Special focus on nutritional support to women and children-
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 of Rs. 6000/-. 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.
Food Security Allowance in case of non supply offood grains-
The Central Government will provide funds to States/UTs in case of short supply of food grains from Central pool, In case of non-supply of food grains or meals to entitled persons, the concerned State/UT Governments will be required to provide such food security allowance as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the beneficiaries.
States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling offoodgrains-
In order to address the concern of the States regarding additional financial burden, Central Government will provide assistance to the States towards cost of intra-State transportation, handling offoodgrainsand FPS dealers margin, for which norms will be developed. This will ensure timely transportation and efficient handling offoodgrains.
Reforms for doorstep delivery offood grains-
The Bill also contains provisions for reforms in PDS through doorstep delivery offood grains, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end to endcomputerization, leveraging Aadhaar for unique identification of beneficiaries, diversification of commodities under TPDS etc for effective implementation of the FoodSecurity Act.Some of these reforms are already underway.
Women Empowerment-- Eldest women will be Head of the household-
Eldest woman of eighteen years of age or above will be head of the household for issue of ration card, and if not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.
Grievanceredressalmechanism at district level-
There will be state and district levelredressalmechanism with designated officers.The States will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of newredressalset up.Redressalmechanism may also include call centers, helpline etc.
Social audits and vigilance committees to ensure transparency and accountability-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.
Penalty for non compliance-
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 GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO).
Expenditure-
At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated annualfood grainsrequirement is 612.3lakhtons and corresponding estimated food subsidy for 2013-14 costs isaboutRs.1,24,724crore.
Challenges of the food security bill:-
Financial challenges:
Based on the requirements under NFSB production of wheat & rice need to be enhanced by 25 million tonnes. India has reaped a bumper harvest in 2011-12 and has procured a record 34.9 million tonnes of rice in KMS 2011-12 and 38.1 million tonnes of wheat in RMS 2012-13. But to sustain these levels of procurement, additional agricultural investment to increase production would be required.
The increased level of procurement and distribution of the food grains as result of the Bill will require higher storage and warehousing capacities. The implementation of the Bill will require storage capacity addition between 22- 32 million tonnes (current covered storage capacity is 45 million tonnes). Some rough estimates show that the additional cost of storage infrastructure would be Rs. 2,500 to 8,500 crore depending upon whether the government invests in silos or traditional storage. Indian Railways too would have to invest in procurement of rolling stock. There will be excess burden on whole infrastructure.
Operational challenge:
Given that NFSB commits for legal entitlements of food (especially rice and wheat), India will have to carry a much larger stock of these to avoid any eventuality of large scale imports of rice and wheat in the event of domestic shortfall (as happened in 2002-03 when grain production fell by 38 million tonnes). If this is not done, India will risk high cost of cereal imports in times of need, especially drought years.
If the Bill is being passed in this form, there shall be too much of brokers that will erupt to take the booty for the loot, which is going to happen in real term, the future course of action from the side of the Govt. officials and the distributors, when and where there shall be no sincere monitoring of the entire process of distribution.
Drawbacks of food security bill :
1. The major flaw of such a scheme is that the cheap grains will find its way to the blackmarket where it will be sold at higher prices.
2. Small shops in rural areas will go out of business since they cannot sell grains at these prices.
3. It needs to be recognized that malnutrition is a multi-dimensional problem and needs a multi-pronged strategy. The challenge of improving absorption lies in linking nutrition with health, education and agriculture interventions. Womens education, access to clean drinking water, availability of hygenic sanitation facilities are the prime prerequisites for improved nutrition. To begin with an effective convergence of schemes like Mid-day meals, ICDS, etc can be attempted.
4. The bill dwells on targeting vis--vis universalization, re-invoking the contentious BPL-APL issue (priority and non-priority households). Intended benefits will be provided to people based on these categories. It is a well-known fact that successive governments have failed to identify the poor. As a result, a large part of the countrys population continues to struggle with hunger in various forms. In such a grim scenario, the government should be talking about universalization, which is an integral part of the fundamental right to life.
5. The bill provides for the supply of 7 kg of subsidized food grain per person per month to priority households, whereas a person needs 14 kg a month to fulfill her basic food requirements.
6. The proposed entitlements do not deal with the problem of nutritional insecurity. People in India suffer undernourishment mainly due to protein and fat deficiencies. To cope with this problem, the government should have included pulses (to compensate for protein) and edible oil (to replenish fat). The preamble of the bill says: the Supreme Court of India has recognized the right to food and nutrition as integral to the right to life
7. The bill also fails in diversification of food entitlements by not providing bajra, jowar, ragi and maize. This diversification would not only provide nutritious alternatives, but also encourage farmers to cultivate these grains due to compulsory procurement by the government.
8. one major point of contention is the absence of any immediate timeframe for the execution of the bill, instead the bill talks about a phased implementation which could well take a few years to reach the desired levels.
1. The exact no. of poor is not calculated correctly. Different departments are giving different numbers. And the criteria for measuring poor people percentage is not upto the mark.
1. The cost of this bill Rs.1.24 lakh crore will be a burden for the government, and may lead to fiscal deficit.
2. Small farmers may shift to other crops, as they will get thesubsidized food grains. This will reduce the production of food grains.
3. Farmers have to sell their food grains for procurement prices rather than market prices. It will be loss for farmers.
Suggestions:
1. The state civil supplies organizations should takeover the FPS network to deal with the large scale corruption. However the state food secretaries suggest allotment of FPS to community based organizations like co-operatives/SHGs and measures to improve the viability of the FPS by rationalizing commissions, extending credit and encouraging sale of non PDS items.
2. The maximum diversion occurs in the Above Povery Line category, hence it should be abolished. If this is not possible, he has suggested creation of another category marginally above poverty line.
3. Others alternative to the Public Distribution System like food stamps, food coupons and generic smart cards which can be used both in the FPS and open market. However barring some limited experiments at the state level with food coupons and smart cards tied to a designated FPS, no major scalable alternative to the PDS is currently available.
4. The solution aims to tackle the primary issue of identifying eligible beneficiaries, removal of bogus ration cards provide choice of FPS to the beneficiary to procure food grains. With respect to private sector participation in PDS reforms, Madhya Pradesh has taken a significant step and used private sector to put in place a system to computerize the PDS and register beneficiaries with their Aadhaar number and provide the food coupons to the beneficiaries.
5. What needed to do is to create simple yet effective methods to ensure that most of our produce that just goes waste. There is an argument that it would be better for the government to focus on productivity enhancement rather than on doling out subsidies at the expense of taxpayers. But these two things are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary.
6. There is need to educate our farmers and encourage the well off ones. The leaders of our agrarian society need to take charge and help build storage facilities with the help of state governments. The Non Renewable Energy ministry can be roped in to provide subsidy and practical schemes to help our villages use solar power for longevity of their produce.
7. Local entrepreneurs need to be given that confidence and help to create small manufacturing units. Where the local farmer can sell his produce, and the local businessmen can create packed products like powder, paste, oils, perfumers and cosmetics etc. which gives a longer shelf life to the same goods.
8. Industry needs to be encouraged to be a part of this storage revolution. It has to be an all inclusive package pushed by the Government, where all resources are harnessed in the best manner possible. Farmer gets good rates and full payment of his agricultural produce.The big industry names need to tap these local brands and create their national chain across the country. Industry needs to be convinced that the only way forward is when they walk hand in hand with our farming community.
9. The people need food in their bellies, but it should be done in a sustainable manner. The proposed NFSB may be a noble thought by UPA-II. But its just adding to the many problems being faced by our economy like inflation, taxes and lack of political will to bring a balance between industry and agriculture. Unfortunately, the current dispensation riddled with corruption and credibility issues, seems to think that giving in to the wants of an election year will fulfill the needs of our countrys poor.
10. One of the best ways to ensure distribution of food grains in the country is through Public Distribution System which runs about 1k Fair Price Shops in the country. However, the distribution system must be competent enough to deliver as the basic objective of the bill is to curb hunger and malnutrition. Identification of beneficiaries should be done precisely and the machinery should be programmed perfectly to assure that the schemes reach the needy.
11. Improving environmental sanitation is one of the most preferred tools to reduced malnutrition and that is one measure the central government should adopt.
12. As the government aims to procure large quantities of food grains to meet the targets of the proposed bill, thehousehold budgetsof the non-beneficiaries may be adversely affected as there might be an unprecedented rise in the prices of food grains in the open market.
There is need of food security bill but with proper implementation. Drafting a Food Security Bill and passing it in the parliament with absolute majority will alone not solve the purpose of food and malnutrition, but implementation of proper measures to ensure that the schemes reach the beneficiaries properly will only provide a better solution to solve the food crisis. People should also have to be aware about government policies to have the benefit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name- Nikita Sudhakar Tungare
* Live Mint interviewHigh subsidy, PDS hurdles to food security planwith P.K. Joshi
* Governance Knowledge Centre articleNational Food Security Bill and need for a stronger implementation strategyby P.K. Joshi
* IFPRIs Food Security Portals blog postWill India's National Food Security Bill Help or Hurt?by Sara Gustafson
* IFPRI Research Outputs
* Subject articles in The Economic Times, The hindu
* Pib.nic.in
* News.bbc.co.uk
India is moving ahead with dream of development. But for development people in this country have to be physically & mentally fit. Food is the basic necessity of human being. But unfortunately, some people in our country sleeps everyday with empty stomach. This not at all well from developmental as well as economical approach. The economic role of food and nutrition is something which can be looked down upon and this in turn, becomes a rationale for formulating a public policy. A proper food policy hence becomes the need of the hour. A well targeted nutrition policy can create wonders and also provides a way analogous compared to other policies. In this scenario, the National Food Security Bill can turn into something revolutionary and can leave a huge impact in the economy of the country. This Bill can transform and restructure the lives of people if carefully crafted and implemented.
The recent Food Security Bill proposed by the expert committee, headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan was passed on 26th August,2013 in Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to provide for food & nutritional security in human life cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity & for matters connected with therewith & incidental thereto.
Objective is laudable since, according to a 2010 a World Bank Report,32.7% people in India survive on less than $ 1.25 per day. Also, 47% of children in India suffer from malnutrition & India is home of worlds highest population of underweight children in such scenario there is strong need for legal implementation like this food security bill.
Food Security as a concept has continuously evolved over the last few decades. Originally the focus was on the supply side of the food equation concentrating on adequate availability of food at the national and international level. Food security as defined in the 1974 World Food Summit underlines this: availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices
Features of the food security bill :
Coverage of two thirds population to get highlysubsidisedfood grains-
Upto75% of the rural population andupto50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg food grainsper month at highly subsidized pricesofRs. 3, Rs. 2,Rs. 1 per kg.forrice, wheat, coarse grains respectively .It will entitle about two thirds of our 1.2 billionpopulationtosubsidisedfood grainsunder the Targeted Public Distribution System.
Poorest of the poor continue to get 35 kg per household-
The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kgfoodgrainsper household per month under AntyodayaAnnaYojanaat subsidized prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1. It is also proposed to protect the existing allocation offood grainsto the States or union territories subject to it being restricted to average annualofftakeduring last three years.
Eligible households to be identified by the States -
The work of identification of eligible households is left to the States or Union Territories, which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data, if they so desire.
Special focus on nutritional support to women and children-
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 of Rs. 6000/-. 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.
Food Security Allowance in case of non supply offood grains-
The Central Government will provide funds to States/UTs in case of short supply of food grains from Central pool, In case of non-supply of food grains or meals to entitled persons, the concerned State/UT Governments will be required to provide such food security allowance as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the beneficiaries.
States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling offoodgrains-
In order to address the concern of the States regarding additional financial burden, Central Government will provide assistance to the States towards cost of intra-State transportation, handling offoodgrainsand FPS dealers margin, for which norms will be developed. This will ensure timely transportation and efficient handling offoodgrains.
Reforms for doorstep delivery offood grains-
The Bill also contains provisions for reforms in PDS through doorstep delivery offood grains, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end to endcomputerization, leveraging Aadhaar for unique identification of beneficiaries, diversification of commodities under TPDS etc for effective implementation of the FoodSecurity Act.Some of these reforms are already underway.
Women Empowerment-- Eldest women will be Head of the household-
Eldest woman of eighteen years of age or above will be head of the household for issue of ration card, and if not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.
Grievanceredressalmechanism at district level-
There will be state and district levelredressalmechanism with designated officers.The States will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of newredressalset up.Redressalmechanism may also include call centers, helpline etc.
Social audits and vigilance committees to ensure transparency and accountability-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.
Penalty for non compliance-
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 GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO).
Expenditure-
At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated annualfood grainsrequirement is 612.3lakhtons and corresponding estimated food subsidy for 2013-14 costs isaboutRs.1,24,724crore.
Challenges of the food security bill:-
Financial challenges:
Based on the requirements under NFSB production of wheat & rice need to be enhanced by 25 million tonnes. India has reaped a bumper harvest in 2011-12 and has procured a record 34.9 million tonnes of rice in KMS 2011-12 and 38.1 million tonnes of wheat in RMS 2012-13. But to sustain these levels of procurement, additional agricultural investment to increase production would be required.
The increased level of procurement and distribution of the food grains as result of the Bill will require higher storage and warehousing capacities. The implementation of the Bill will require storage capacity addition between 22- 32 million tonnes (current covered storage capacity is 45 million tonnes). Some rough estimates show that the additional cost of storage infrastructure would be Rs. 2,500 to 8,500 crore depending upon whether the government invests in silos or traditional storage. Indian Railways too would have to invest in procurement of rolling stock. There will be excess burden on whole infrastructure.
Operational challenge:
Given that NFSB commits for legal entitlements of food (especially rice and wheat), India will have to carry a much larger stock of these to avoid any eventuality of large scale imports of rice and wheat in the event of domestic shortfall (as happened in 2002-03 when grain production fell by 38 million tonnes). If this is not done, India will risk high cost of cereal imports in times of need, especially drought years.
If the Bill is being passed in this form, there shall be too much of brokers that will erupt to take the booty for the loot, which is going to happen in real term, the future course of action from the side of the Govt. officials and the distributors, when and where there shall be no sincere monitoring of the entire process of distribution.
Drawbacks of food security bill :
1. The major flaw of such a scheme is that the cheap grains will find its way to the blackmarket where it will be sold at higher prices.
2. Small shops in rural areas will go out of business since they cannot sell grains at these prices.
3. It needs to be recognized that malnutrition is a multi-dimensional problem and needs a multi-pronged strategy. The challenge of improving absorption lies in linking nutrition with health, education and agriculture interventions. Womens education, access to clean drinking water, availability of hygenic sanitation facilities are the prime prerequisites for improved nutrition. To begin with an effective convergence of schemes like Mid-day meals, ICDS, etc can be attempted.
4. The bill dwells on targeting vis--vis universalization, re-invoking the contentious BPL-APL issue (priority and non-priority households). Intended benefits will be provided to people based on these categories. It is a well-known fact that successive governments have failed to identify the poor. As a result, a large part of the countrys population continues to struggle with hunger in various forms. In such a grim scenario, the government should be talking about universalization, which is an integral part of the fundamental right to life.
5. The bill provides for the supply of 7 kg of subsidized food grain per person per month to priority households, whereas a person needs 14 kg a month to fulfill her basic food requirements.
6. The proposed entitlements do not deal with the problem of nutritional insecurity. People in India suffer undernourishment mainly due to protein and fat deficiencies. To cope with this problem, the government should have included pulses (to compensate for protein) and edible oil (to replenish fat). The preamble of the bill says: the Supreme Court of India has recognized the right to food and nutrition as integral to the right to life
7. The bill also fails in diversification of food entitlements by not providing bajra, jowar, ragi and maize. This diversification would not only provide nutritious alternatives, but also encourage farmers to cultivate these grains due to compulsory procurement by the government.
8. one major point of contention is the absence of any immediate timeframe for the execution of the bill, instead the bill talks about a phased implementation which could well take a few years to reach the desired levels.
1. The exact no. of poor is not calculated correctly. Different departments are giving different numbers. And the criteria for measuring poor people percentage is not upto the mark.
1. The cost of this bill Rs.1.24 lakh crore will be a burden for the government, and may lead to fiscal deficit.
2. Small farmers may shift to other crops, as they will get thesubsidized food grains. This will reduce the production of food grains.
3. Farmers have to sell their food grains for procurement prices rather than market prices. It will be loss for farmers.
Suggestions:
1. The state civil supplies organizations should takeover the FPS network to deal with the large scale corruption. However the state food secretaries suggest allotment of FPS to community based organizations like co-operatives/SHGs and measures to improve the viability of the FPS by rationalizing commissions, extending credit and encouraging sale of non PDS items.
2. The maximum diversion occurs in the Above Povery Line category, hence it should be abolished. If this is not possible, he has suggested creation of another category marginally above poverty line.
3. Others alternative to the Public Distribution System like food stamps, food coupons and generic smart cards which can be used both in the FPS and open market. However barring some limited experiments at the state level with food coupons and smart cards tied to a designated FPS, no major scalable alternative to the PDS is currently available.
4. The solution aims to tackle the primary issue of identifying eligible beneficiaries, removal of bogus ration cards provide choice of FPS to the beneficiary to procure food grains. With respect to private sector participation in PDS reforms, Madhya Pradesh has taken a significant step and used private sector to put in place a system to computerize the PDS and register beneficiaries with their Aadhaar number and provide the food coupons to the beneficiaries.
5. What needed to do is to create simple yet effective methods to ensure that most of our produce that just goes waste. There is an argument that it would be better for the government to focus on productivity enhancement rather than on doling out subsidies at the expense of taxpayers. But these two things are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary.
6. There is need to educate our farmers and encourage the well off ones. The leaders of our agrarian society need to take charge and help build storage facilities with the help of state governments. The Non Renewable Energy ministry can be roped in to provide subsidy and practical schemes to help our villages use solar power for longevity of their produce.
7. Local entrepreneurs need to be given that confidence and help to create small manufacturing units. Where the local farmer can sell his produce, and the local businessmen can create packed products like powder, paste, oils, perfumers and cosmetics etc. which gives a longer shelf life to the same goods.
8. Industry needs to be encouraged to be a part of this storage revolution. It has to be an all inclusive package pushed by the Government, where all resources are harnessed in the best manner possible. Farmer gets good rates and full payment of his agricultural produce.The big industry names need to tap these local brands and create their national chain across the country. Industry needs to be convinced that the only way forward is when they walk hand in hand with our farming community.
9. The people need food in their bellies, but it should be done in a sustainable manner. The proposed NFSB may be a noble thought by UPA-II. But its just adding to the many problems being faced by our economy like inflation, taxes and lack of political will to bring a balance between industry and agriculture. Unfortunately, the current dispensation riddled with corruption and credibility issues, seems to think that giving in to the wants of an election year will fulfill the needs of our countrys poor.
10. One of the best ways to ensure distribution of food grains in the country is through Public Distribution System which runs about 1k Fair Price Shops in the country. However, the distribution system must be competent enough to deliver as the basic objective of the bill is to curb hunger and malnutrition. Identification of beneficiaries should be done precisely and the machinery should be programmed perfectly to assure that the schemes reach the needy.
11. Improving environmental sanitation is one of the most preferred tools to reduced malnutrition and that is one measure the central government should adopt.
12. As the government aims to procure large quantities of food grains to meet the targets of the proposed bill, thehousehold budgetsof the non-beneficiaries may be adversely affected as there might be an unprecedented rise in the prices of food grains in the open market.
There is need of food security bill but with proper implementation. Drafting a Food Security Bill and passing it in the parliament with absolute majority will alone not solve the purpose of food and malnutrition, but implementation of proper measures to ensure that the schemes reach the beneficiaries properly will only provide a better solution to solve the food crisis. People should also have to be aware about government policies to have the benefit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name- Nikita Sudhakar Tungare
* Live Mint interviewHigh subsidy, PDS hurdles to food security planwith P.K. Joshi
* Governance Knowledge Centre articleNational Food Security Bill and need for a stronger implementation strategyby P.K. Joshi
* IFPRIs Food Security Portals blog postWill India's National Food Security Bill Help or Hurt?by Sara Gustafson
* IFPRI Research Outputs
* Subject articles in The Economic Times, The hindu
* Pib.nic.in
* News.bbc.co.uk
Is there a need for Food Security Bill ?
Is there a need for Food Security Bill ?
India is moving ahead with dream of development. But for development people in this country have to be physically & mentally fit. Food is the basic necessity of human being. But unfortunately, some people in our country sleeps everyday with empty stomach. This not at all well from developmental as well as economical approach. The economic role of food and nutrition is something which can be looked down upon and this in turn, becomes a rationale for formulating a public policy. A proper food policy hence becomes the need of the hour. A well targeted nutrition policy can create wonders and also provides a way analogous compared to other policies. In this scenario, the National Food Security Bill can turn into something revolutionary and can leave a huge impact in the economy of the country. This Bill can transform and restructure the lives of people if carefully crafted and implemented.
The recent Food Security Bill proposed by the expert committee, headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan was passed on 26th August,2013 in Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to provide for food & nutritional security in human life cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity & for matters connected with therewith & incidental thereto.
Objective is laudable since, according to a 2010 a World Bank Report,32.7% people in India survive on less than $ 1.25 per day. Also, 47% of children in India suffer from malnutrition & India is home of worlds highest population of underweight children in such scenario there is strong need for legal implementation like this food security bill.
Food Security as a concept has continuously evolved over the last few decades. Originally the focus was on the supply side of the food equation concentrating on adequate availability of food at the national and international level. Food security as defined in the 1974 World Food Summit underlines this: availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices
Features of the food security bill :
Coverage of two thirds population to get highlysubsidisedfood grains-
Upto75% of the rural population andupto50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg food grainsper month at highly subsidized pricesofRs. 3, Rs. 2,Rs. 1 per kg.forrice, wheat, coarse grains respectively .It will entitle about two thirds of our 1.2 billionpopulationtosubsidisedfood grainsunder the Targeted Public Distribution System.
Poorest of the poor continue to get 35 kg per household-
The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kgfoodgrainsper household per month under AntyodayaAnnaYojanaat subsidized prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1. It is also proposed to protect the existing allocation offood grainsto the States or union territories subject to it being restricted to average annualofftakeduring last three years.
Eligible households to be identified by the States -
The work of identification of eligible households is left to the States or Union Territories, which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data, if they so desire.
Special focus on nutritional support to women and children-
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 of Rs. 6000/-. 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.
Food Security Allowance in case of non supply offood grains-
The Central Government will provide funds to States/UTs in case of short supply of food grains from Central pool, In case of non-supply of food grains or meals to entitled persons, the concerned State/UT Governments will be required to provide such food security allowance as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the beneficiaries.
States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling offoodgrains-
In order to address the concern of the States regarding additional financial burden, Central Government will provide assistance to the States towards cost of intra-State transportation, handling offoodgrainsand FPS dealers margin, for which norms will be developed. This will ensure timely transportation and efficient handling offoodgrains.
Reforms for doorstep delivery offood grains-
The Bill also contains provisions for reforms in PDS through doorstep delivery offood grains, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end to endcomputerization, leveraging Aadhaar for unique identification of beneficiaries, diversification of commodities under TPDS etc for effective implementation of the FoodSecurity Act.Some of these reforms are already underway.
Women Empowerment-- Eldest women will be Head of the household-
Eldest woman of eighteen years of age or above will be head of the household for issue of ration card, and if not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.
Grievanceredressalmechanism at district level-
There will be state and district levelredressalmechanism with designated officers.The States will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of newredressalset up.Redressalmechanism may also include call centers, helpline etc.
Social audits and vigilance committees to ensure transparency and accountability-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.
Penalty for non compliance-
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 GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO).
Expenditure-
At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated annualfood grainsrequirement is 612.3lakhtons and corresponding estimated food subsidy for 2013-14 costs isaboutRs.1,24,724crore.
Challenges of the food security bill:-
Financial challenges:
Based on the requirements under NFSB production of wheat & rice need to be enhanced by 25 million tonnes. India has reaped a bumper harvest in 2011-12 and has procured a record 34.9 million tonnes of rice in KMS 2011-12 and 38.1 million tonnes of wheat in RMS 2012-13. But to sustain these levels of procurement, additional agricultural investment to increase production would be required.
The increased level of procurement and distribution of the food grains as result of the Bill will require higher storage and warehousing capacities. The implementation of the Bill will require storage capacity addition between 22- 32 million tonnes (current covered storage capacity is 45 million tonnes). Some rough estimates show that the additional cost of storage infrastructure would be Rs. 2,500 to 8,500 crore depending upon whether the government invests in silos or traditional storage. Indian Railways too would have to invest in procurement of rolling stock. There will be excess burden on whole infrastructure.
Operational challenge:
Given that NFSB commits for legal entitlements of food (especially rice and wheat), India will have to carry a much larger stock of these to avoid any eventuality of large scale imports of rice and wheat in the event of domestic shortfall (as happened in 2002-03 when grain production fell by 38 million tonnes). If this is not done, India will risk high cost of cereal imports in times of need, especially drought years.
If the Bill is being passed in this form, there shall be too much of brokers that will erupt to take the booty for the loot, which is going to happen in real term, the future course of action from the side of the Govt. officials and the distributors, when and where there shall be no sincere monitoring of the entire process of distribution.
Drawbacks of food security bill :
1. The major flaw of such a scheme is that the cheap grains will find its way to the blackmarket where it will be sold at higher prices.
2. Small shops in rural areas will go out of business since they cannot sell grains at these prices.
3. It needs to be recognized that malnutrition is a multi-dimensional problem and needs a multi-pronged strategy. The challenge of improving absorption lies in linking nutrition with health, education and agriculture interventions. Womens education, access to clean drinking water, availability of hygenic sanitation facilities are the prime prerequisites for improved nutrition. To begin with an effective convergence of schemes like Mid-day meals, ICDS, etc can be attempted.
4. The bill dwells on targeting vis--vis universalization, re-invoking the contentious BPL-APL issue (priority and non-priority households). Intended benefits will be provided to people based on these categories. It is a well-known fact that successive governments have failed to identify the poor. As a result, a large part of the countrys population continues to struggle with hunger in various forms. In such a grim scenario, the government should be talking about universalization, which is an integral part of the fundamental right to life.
5. The bill provides for the supply of 7 kg of subsidized food grain per person per month to priority households, whereas a person needs 14 kg a month to fulfill her basic food requirements.
6. The proposed entitlements do not deal with the problem of nutritional insecurity. People in India suffer undernourishment mainly due to protein and fat deficiencies. To cope with this problem, the government should have included pulses (to compensate for protein) and edible oil (to replenish fat). The preamble of the bill says: the Supreme Court of India has recognized the right to food and nutrition as integral to the right to life
7. The bill also fails in diversification of food entitlements by not providing bajra, jowar, ragi and maize. This diversification would not only provide nutritious alternatives, but also encourage farmers to cultivate these grains due to compulsory procurement by the government.
8. one major point of contention is the absence of any immediate timeframe for the execution of the bill, instead the bill talks about a phased implementation which could well take a few years to reach the desired levels.
1. The exact no. of poor is not calculated correctly. Different departments are giving different numbers. And the criteria for measuring poor people percentage is not upto the mark.
1. The cost of this bill Rs.1.24 lakh crore will be a burden for the government, and may lead to fiscal deficit.
2. Small farmers may shift to other crops, as they will get thesubsidized food grains. This will reduce the production of food grains.
3. Farmers have to sell their food grains for procurement prices rather than market prices. It will be loss for farmers.
Suggestions:
1. The state civil supplies organizations should takeover the FPS network to deal with the large scale corruption. However the state food secretaries suggest allotment of FPS to community based organizations like co-operatives/SHGs and measures to improve the viability of the FPS by rationalizing commissions, extending credit and encouraging sale of non PDS items.
2. The maximum diversion occurs in the Above Povery Line category, hence it should be abolished. If this is not possible, he has suggested creation of another category marginally above poverty line.
3. Others alternative to the Public Distribution System like food stamps, food coupons and generic smart cards which can be used both in the FPS and open market. However barring some limited experiments at the state level with food coupons and smart cards tied to a designated FPS, no major scalable alternative to the PDS is currently available.
4. The solution aims to tackle the primary issue of identifying eligible beneficiaries, removal of bogus ration cards provide choice of FPS to the beneficiary to procure food grains. With respect to private sector participation in PDS reforms, Madhya Pradesh has taken a significant step and used private sector to put in place a system to computerize the PDS and register beneficiaries with their Aadhaar number and provide the food coupons to the beneficiaries.
5. What needed to do is to create simple yet effective methods to ensure that most of our produce that just goes waste. There is an argument that it would be better for the government to focus on productivity enhancement rather than on doling out subsidies at the expense of taxpayers. But these two things are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary.
6. There is need to educate our farmers and encourage the well off ones. The leaders of our agrarian society need to take charge and help build storage facilities with the help of state governments. The Non Renewable Energy ministry can be roped in to provide subsidy and practical schemes to help our villages use solar power for longevity of their produce.
7. Local entrepreneurs need to be given that confidence and help to create small manufacturing units. Where the local farmer can sell his produce, and the local businessmen can create packed products like powder, paste, oils, perfumers and cosmetics etc. which gives a longer shelf life to the same goods.
8. Industry needs to be encouraged to be a part of this storage revolution. It has to be an all inclusive package pushed by the Government, where all resources are harnessed in the best manner possible. Farmer gets good rates and full payment of his agricultural produce.The big industry names need to tap these local brands and create their national chain across the country. Industry needs to be convinced that the only way forward is when they walk hand in hand with our farming community.
9. The people need food in their bellies, but it should be done in a sustainable manner. The proposed NFSB may be a noble thought by UPA-II. But its just adding to the many problems being faced by our economy like inflation, taxes and lack of political will to bring a balance between industry and agriculture. Unfortunately, the current dispensation riddled with corruption and credibility issues, seems to think that giving in to the wants of an election year will fulfill the needs of our countrys poor.
10. One of the best ways to ensure distribution of food grains in the country is through Public Distribution System which runs about 1k Fair Price Shops in the country. However, the distribution system must be competent enough to deliver as the basic objective of the bill is to curb hunger and malnutrition. Identification of beneficiaries should be done precisely and the machinery should be programmed perfectly to assure that the schemes reach the needy.
11. Improving environmental sanitation is one of the most preferred tools to reduced malnutrition and that is one measure the central government should adopt.
12. As the government aims to procure large quantities of food grains to meet the targets of the proposed bill, thehousehold budgetsof the non-beneficiaries may be adversely affected as there might be an unprecedented rise in the prices of food grains in the open market.
There is need of food security bill but with proper implementation. Drafting a Food Security Bill and passing it in the parliament with absolute majority will alone not solve the purpose of food and malnutrition, but implementation of proper measures to ensure that the schemes reach the beneficiaries properly will only provide a better solution to solve the food crisis. People should also have to be aware about government policies to have the benefit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name- Nikita Sudhakar Tungare
References:
* Live Mint interviewHigh subsidy, PDS hurdles to food security planwith P.K. Joshi
* Governance Knowledge Centre articleNational Food Security Bill and need for a stronger implementation strategyby P.K. Joshi
* IFPRIs Food Security Portals blog postWill India's National Food Security Bill Help or Hurt?by Sara Gustafson
* IFPRI Research Outputs
* Subject articles in The Economic Times, The hindu
* Pib.nic.in
* News.bbc.co.uk
India is moving ahead with dream of development. But for development people in this country have to be physically & mentally fit. Food is the basic necessity of human being. But unfortunately, some people in our country sleeps everyday with empty stomach. This not at all well from developmental as well as economical approach. The economic role of food and nutrition is something which can be looked down upon and this in turn, becomes a rationale for formulating a public policy. A proper food policy hence becomes the need of the hour. A well targeted nutrition policy can create wonders and also provides a way analogous compared to other policies. In this scenario, the National Food Security Bill can turn into something revolutionary and can leave a huge impact in the economy of the country. This Bill can transform and restructure the lives of people if carefully crafted and implemented.
The recent Food Security Bill proposed by the expert committee, headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan was passed on 26th August,2013 in Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to provide for food & nutritional security in human life cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity & for matters connected with therewith & incidental thereto.
Objective is laudable since, according to a 2010 a World Bank Report,32.7% people in India survive on less than $ 1.25 per day. Also, 47% of children in India suffer from malnutrition & India is home of worlds highest population of underweight children in such scenario there is strong need for legal implementation like this food security bill.
Food Security as a concept has continuously evolved over the last few decades. Originally the focus was on the supply side of the food equation concentrating on adequate availability of food at the national and international level. Food security as defined in the 1974 World Food Summit underlines this: availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices
Features of the food security bill :
Coverage of two thirds population to get highlysubsidisedfood grains-
Upto75% of the rural population andupto50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg food grainsper month at highly subsidized pricesofRs. 3, Rs. 2,Rs. 1 per kg.forrice, wheat, coarse grains respectively .It will entitle about two thirds of our 1.2 billionpopulationtosubsidisedfood grainsunder the Targeted Public Distribution System.
Poorest of the poor continue to get 35 kg per household-
The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kgfoodgrainsper household per month under AntyodayaAnnaYojanaat subsidized prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1. It is also proposed to protect the existing allocation offood grainsto the States or union territories subject to it being restricted to average annualofftakeduring last three years.
Eligible households to be identified by the States -
The work of identification of eligible households is left to the States or Union Territories, which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data, if they so desire.
Special focus on nutritional support to women and children-
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 of Rs. 6000/-. 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.
Food Security Allowance in case of non supply offood grains-
The Central Government will provide funds to States/UTs in case of short supply of food grains from Central pool, In case of non-supply of food grains or meals to entitled persons, the concerned State/UT Governments will be required to provide such food security allowance as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the beneficiaries.
States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling offoodgrains-
In order to address the concern of the States regarding additional financial burden, Central Government will provide assistance to the States towards cost of intra-State transportation, handling offoodgrainsand FPS dealers margin, for which norms will be developed. This will ensure timely transportation and efficient handling offoodgrains.
Reforms for doorstep delivery offood grains-
The Bill also contains provisions for reforms in PDS through doorstep delivery offood grains, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end to endcomputerization, leveraging Aadhaar for unique identification of beneficiaries, diversification of commodities under TPDS etc for effective implementation of the FoodSecurity Act.Some of these reforms are already underway.
Women Empowerment-- Eldest women will be Head of the household-
Eldest woman of eighteen years of age or above will be head of the household for issue of ration card, and if not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.
Grievanceredressalmechanism at district level-
There will be state and district levelredressalmechanism with designated officers.The States will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of newredressalset up.Redressalmechanism may also include call centers, helpline etc.
Social audits and vigilance committees to ensure transparency and accountability-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.
Penalty for non compliance-
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 GrievanceRedressalOfficer (DGRO).
Expenditure-
At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated annualfood grainsrequirement is 612.3lakhtons and corresponding estimated food subsidy for 2013-14 costs isaboutRs.1,24,724crore.
Challenges of the food security bill:-
Financial challenges:
Based on the requirements under NFSB production of wheat & rice need to be enhanced by 25 million tonnes. India has reaped a bumper harvest in 2011-12 and has procured a record 34.9 million tonnes of rice in KMS 2011-12 and 38.1 million tonnes of wheat in RMS 2012-13. But to sustain these levels of procurement, additional agricultural investment to increase production would be required.
The increased level of procurement and distribution of the food grains as result of the Bill will require higher storage and warehousing capacities. The implementation of the Bill will require storage capacity addition between 22- 32 million tonnes (current covered storage capacity is 45 million tonnes). Some rough estimates show that the additional cost of storage infrastructure would be Rs. 2,500 to 8,500 crore depending upon whether the government invests in silos or traditional storage. Indian Railways too would have to invest in procurement of rolling stock. There will be excess burden on whole infrastructure.
Operational challenge:
Given that NFSB commits for legal entitlements of food (especially rice and wheat), India will have to carry a much larger stock of these to avoid any eventuality of large scale imports of rice and wheat in the event of domestic shortfall (as happened in 2002-03 when grain production fell by 38 million tonnes). If this is not done, India will risk high cost of cereal imports in times of need, especially drought years.
If the Bill is being passed in this form, there shall be too much of brokers that will erupt to take the booty for the loot, which is going to happen in real term, the future course of action from the side of the Govt. officials and the distributors, when and where there shall be no sincere monitoring of the entire process of distribution.
Drawbacks of food security bill :
1. The major flaw of such a scheme is that the cheap grains will find its way to the blackmarket where it will be sold at higher prices.
2. Small shops in rural areas will go out of business since they cannot sell grains at these prices.
3. It needs to be recognized that malnutrition is a multi-dimensional problem and needs a multi-pronged strategy. The challenge of improving absorption lies in linking nutrition with health, education and agriculture interventions. Womens education, access to clean drinking water, availability of hygenic sanitation facilities are the prime prerequisites for improved nutrition. To begin with an effective convergence of schemes like Mid-day meals, ICDS, etc can be attempted.
4. The bill dwells on targeting vis--vis universalization, re-invoking the contentious BPL-APL issue (priority and non-priority households). Intended benefits will be provided to people based on these categories. It is a well-known fact that successive governments have failed to identify the poor. As a result, a large part of the countrys population continues to struggle with hunger in various forms. In such a grim scenario, the government should be talking about universalization, which is an integral part of the fundamental right to life.
5. The bill provides for the supply of 7 kg of subsidized food grain per person per month to priority households, whereas a person needs 14 kg a month to fulfill her basic food requirements.
6. The proposed entitlements do not deal with the problem of nutritional insecurity. People in India suffer undernourishment mainly due to protein and fat deficiencies. To cope with this problem, the government should have included pulses (to compensate for protein) and edible oil (to replenish fat). The preamble of the bill says: the Supreme Court of India has recognized the right to food and nutrition as integral to the right to life
7. The bill also fails in diversification of food entitlements by not providing bajra, jowar, ragi and maize. This diversification would not only provide nutritious alternatives, but also encourage farmers to cultivate these grains due to compulsory procurement by the government.
8. one major point of contention is the absence of any immediate timeframe for the execution of the bill, instead the bill talks about a phased implementation which could well take a few years to reach the desired levels.
1. The exact no. of poor is not calculated correctly. Different departments are giving different numbers. And the criteria for measuring poor people percentage is not upto the mark.
1. The cost of this bill Rs.1.24 lakh crore will be a burden for the government, and may lead to fiscal deficit.
2. Small farmers may shift to other crops, as they will get thesubsidized food grains. This will reduce the production of food grains.
3. Farmers have to sell their food grains for procurement prices rather than market prices. It will be loss for farmers.
Suggestions:
1. The state civil supplies organizations should takeover the FPS network to deal with the large scale corruption. However the state food secretaries suggest allotment of FPS to community based organizations like co-operatives/SHGs and measures to improve the viability of the FPS by rationalizing commissions, extending credit and encouraging sale of non PDS items.
2. The maximum diversion occurs in the Above Povery Line category, hence it should be abolished. If this is not possible, he has suggested creation of another category marginally above poverty line.
3. Others alternative to the Public Distribution System like food stamps, food coupons and generic smart cards which can be used both in the FPS and open market. However barring some limited experiments at the state level with food coupons and smart cards tied to a designated FPS, no major scalable alternative to the PDS is currently available.
4. The solution aims to tackle the primary issue of identifying eligible beneficiaries, removal of bogus ration cards provide choice of FPS to the beneficiary to procure food grains. With respect to private sector participation in PDS reforms, Madhya Pradesh has taken a significant step and used private sector to put in place a system to computerize the PDS and register beneficiaries with their Aadhaar number and provide the food coupons to the beneficiaries.
5. What needed to do is to create simple yet effective methods to ensure that most of our produce that just goes waste. There is an argument that it would be better for the government to focus on productivity enhancement rather than on doling out subsidies at the expense of taxpayers. But these two things are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary.
6. There is need to educate our farmers and encourage the well off ones. The leaders of our agrarian society need to take charge and help build storage facilities with the help of state governments. The Non Renewable Energy ministry can be roped in to provide subsidy and practical schemes to help our villages use solar power for longevity of their produce.
7. Local entrepreneurs need to be given that confidence and help to create small manufacturing units. Where the local farmer can sell his produce, and the local businessmen can create packed products like powder, paste, oils, perfumers and cosmetics etc. which gives a longer shelf life to the same goods.
8. Industry needs to be encouraged to be a part of this storage revolution. It has to be an all inclusive package pushed by the Government, where all resources are harnessed in the best manner possible. Farmer gets good rates and full payment of his agricultural produce.The big industry names need to tap these local brands and create their national chain across the country. Industry needs to be convinced that the only way forward is when they walk hand in hand with our farming community.
9. The people need food in their bellies, but it should be done in a sustainable manner. The proposed NFSB may be a noble thought by UPA-II. But its just adding to the many problems being faced by our economy like inflation, taxes and lack of political will to bring a balance between industry and agriculture. Unfortunately, the current dispensation riddled with corruption and credibility issues, seems to think that giving in to the wants of an election year will fulfill the needs of our countrys poor.
10. One of the best ways to ensure distribution of food grains in the country is through Public Distribution System which runs about 1k Fair Price Shops in the country. However, the distribution system must be competent enough to deliver as the basic objective of the bill is to curb hunger and malnutrition. Identification of beneficiaries should be done precisely and the machinery should be programmed perfectly to assure that the schemes reach the needy.
11. Improving environmental sanitation is one of the most preferred tools to reduced malnutrition and that is one measure the central government should adopt.
12. As the government aims to procure large quantities of food grains to meet the targets of the proposed bill, thehousehold budgetsof the non-beneficiaries may be adversely affected as there might be an unprecedented rise in the prices of food grains in the open market.
There is need of food security bill but with proper implementation. Drafting a Food Security Bill and passing it in the parliament with absolute majority will alone not solve the purpose of food and malnutrition, but implementation of proper measures to ensure that the schemes reach the beneficiaries properly will only provide a better solution to solve the food crisis. People should also have to be aware about government policies to have the benefit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name- Nikita Sudhakar Tungare
References:
* Live Mint interviewHigh subsidy, PDS hurdles to food security planwith P.K. Joshi
* Governance Knowledge Centre articleNational Food Security Bill and need for a stronger implementation strategyby P.K. Joshi
* IFPRIs Food Security Portals blog postWill India's National Food Security Bill Help or Hurt?by Sara Gustafson
* IFPRI Research Outputs
* Subject articles in The Economic Times, The hindu
* Pib.nic.in
* News.bbc.co.uk
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