National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013
Notified on: 10th September, 2013.
Objective: To provide for food and nutritional security in the human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to a adequate quantities of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity.
Provisions:
5 Kgs of foodgrains per person per month at Rs. 3/2/1 per Kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains.
The existing AAY household will continue to receive 35 Kgs of foodgrains per household per month.
Meal and maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000 to pregnant women and lactating mothers during pregnancy and six months after the child birth.
Meals for children upto 14 years of age.
Food security allowance to beneficiaries in case of non-supply of entitled foodgrains or meals.
Setting up of grievance redressal mechanisms at the district and state level.
There was anxiety about ensuring food security through the Public Distribution System (PDS) due to its poor performance, evidenced by a 41.7% leakage rate in 2011-12, according to National Sample Survey (NSS) data.
Despite the poor record, some states that reformed their PDS systems showed significant improvements between 2004-05 and 2011-12. Examples include:
Bihar: Leakages reduced from 91% to 24%.
Chhattisgarh: Leakages dropped from 52% to 9%.
Odisha: Leakages decreased from 76% to 25%.
The NFSA 2013 mandated similar PDS reforms, raising hopes that other states would also see reductions in leakages.
Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) data indicated a decline in PDS leakages to 22% in 2022-23, supporting the hypothesis that PDS reforms are working.
Leakages are the proportion of PDS rice and wheat that do not reach consumers, as estimated by comparing household PDS purchases with offtake data from the Food Ministry’s Monthly Food Grain Bulletin.
PDS ration card holders received NFSA grain, with additional Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) grain until December 2022 (COVID-19 relief).
States like Chhattisgarh have expanded their PDS to provide grain to non-NFSA beneficiaries through state resources.
Incorporating these contributions increases the leakage estimate to 22%.
NFSA Impact on PDS Coverage:
One key NFSA reform was expanding PDS coverage, aimed at reducing exclusion errors and indirectly reducing leakages.
In 2011-12, before the NFSA, less than 50% of households had ration cards, with only 40% receiving PDS benefits.
By 2022-23, the proportion of households accessing PDS increased to 70%, largely due to NFSA reforms.
Despite improvements, the Centre has not reached the NFSA's coverage target (50% of rural and 75% of urban populations).
Only 59%-66% of households access PDS as NFSA beneficiaries.
States like Chhattisgarh and Odisha adopted reforms such as reducing PDS prices, doorstep delivery, digitisation of records, and deprivatising PDS outlet management.
These reforms were later incorporated into the NFSA 2013.
While many attribute PDS improvements to Aadhaar-based biometric authentication (ABBA), studies indicate that leakages were already low before its introduction, and there is little evidence of ABBA reducing leakages further.
Challenges and Innovations in PDS:
Inconsistent Improvements: Some states where the PDS worked better previously have seen an increase in leakages (e.g., Tamil Nadu, from 12% in 2011-12 to 25% in 2022-23).
The PDS remains crucial for food security, especially during crises like the COVID-19 lockdowns.
However, it is vulnerable to "innovations" like cash transfer experiments, doorstep delivery systems, and Aadhaar-based authentication, which can disrupt its functioning.
Way Forward
Rather than focus on measures like the ongoing eKYC drive for PDS, government capacity should be directed towards addressing exclusion errors by expediting the delayed Census, which could correct the exclusion of over 100 million people.
Demands to include more nutritious items in the PDS (e.g., pulses, edible oil) remain important.
COMMENTS