The Central government will provide free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year from January 1, 2023, the Cabinet led by Prime Minister has decided.
Key points
- Under NFSA, subsidized food grains was distributed at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg coarse grains to beneficiaries. The cabinet has decided that the beneficiaries will now receive the food grains free of cost.
- 5 kg food grains per person to Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries and 35 kg per household to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiaries (poorest of the poor) will be provided free of cost for next one year.
- The Centre will spend more than Rs 2 lakh crore in this period as food subsidy under NFSA and other welfare schemes, to remove the financial burden of the poor and the poorest of the poor.
- During COVID period, for 28 months free distribution of food grains was done under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). The PMGKAY, launched during the lock- down in April 2020, was scheduled to end on December 31, 2022.
About National Food Security Act, (NFSA)
- Though the Indian Constitution does not have any explicit provision regarding right to food, the fundamental right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution may be interpreted to include right to live with human dignity, which may include the right to food and other basic necessities.
- The National Food Security Act, (NFSA) 2013 came into force on July 5, 2013.
- As a step towards women empowerment, the eldest woman of the household of age 18 years or above is mandated to be the head of the household for the purpose of issuing of ration cards under the Act.
- The Act is being implemented in all the States/UTs, and on an all India basis, out of maximum coverage of 81.34 crore persons, around 80 crore persons have been covered under NFSA at present for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains.
- The identification of beneficiaries by States/UTs is a continuous process, which involves exclusion of ineligible/fake/duplicate ration cards and also exclusion on account of death, migration etc. and inclusion on account of birth as also that of genuine left-out households.
One of the guiding principles of the Act is its life-cycle approach wherein special provisions have been made for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years, by entitling them to receive nutritious meal free of cost through a widespread network of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres, called Anganwadi Centres under ICDS scheme and also through schools under Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme. Higher nutritional norms have been prescribed for malnourished children upto 6 years of age.
Pregnant women and lactating mothers are further entitled to receive cash maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000 to partly compensate for the wage loss during the period of pregnancy and also to supplement nutrition.
While the Centre is responsible for allocation of required foodgrains to States/UTs, transportation of foodgrains up to designated depots in each State/UT and providing central assistance to States/UTs for delivery of foodgrains from designated FCI godowns to the doorstep of the FPSs, the States/UTs are responsible for effective implementation of the Act, which inter-alia includes identification of eligible households, issuing ration cards to them, distribution of foodgrain entitlements to eligible households through fair price shops (FPS), issuance of licenses to Fair Price Shop dealers and their monitoring, setting up effective grievance redressal mechanism and necessary strengthening of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
In pursuance of enabling provisions under section 12 of NFSA for cash transfer, Govt. notified ‘Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rule, 2015’ in Aug 2015. Direct Cash Transfer in food was started in UTs of Chandigarh and Puducherry from the month of September, 2015 and part of Dadra & Nagar Haveli from March, 2016.
