- 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 Bill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Security Bill. Show all posts
Monday, January 13, 2014
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.
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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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