What the food bill does not consider:M S Swaminathan

The Asian Age

The National Food Security Bill, passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, marks an important chapter in our struggle to end hunger through appropriate social protection. It is the world’s largest programme for achieving the goal of zero hunger.

 Food security has several dimensions such as:

a) availability of food in the market, which is a function of production,

b) access to food which is a function of purchasing power and

c) absorption of food in the body which is a function of the availability of clean drinking water, sanitation, toilets, primary healthcare and nutritional literacy.

There are also three types of hunger, viz.

a) under-nutrition resulting from calorie deprivation

b) protein-hunger arising from inadequate consumption of protein-rich foods like pulses, milk, egg etc. and

c) hidden-hunger caused by the deficiency of micronutrients in the diet, such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A and Vitamin B12.

Cash plan flops in Congress bastion

Photo:The Times of India

Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times 

The UPA’s showpiece direct benefits transfer (DBT) plan is struggling.  Poor Aadhaar enrolment clubbed with lack of banking facilities is coming in the way of the anti-poverty programme.

Numbers are telling. Two months after the roll out in Rae Bareli, the constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, only `1,400 has been transferred in Rae Bareli. The district has 6,000 people enlisted for the National Social Security Programme. Only one person has seen cash transferred to his account.

Parliament panel pulls up government for 'outdated' malnutrition data

Photo: Mohd Wasif 

Expressing surprise on the absence of latest official data on malnutrition, a Parliamentary panel has asked the government to come up with a time-bound action plan to reduce under-nutrition and ensure real time flow of information for proper monitoring.

“We are surprised to note that in this modern era of information technology, there is no recent official data on malnutrition.” 

“What is available is seven years old and outdated...National Family Health Survey III data of 2005-2006,” the panel said.

Right to Food Campaign, West Bengal on National Food Security Act

The UPA 2 Government has taken four years after it announced its intention to legislate a right to food to actually pass the National Food Security Act. This Bill has been brought forward at a time when there are 80 million tonnes of grains in the government godowns and increased public action highlighting widespread hunger. This was an opportune time to bring in a comprehensive Food Security Act which addressed issues of expanding production, decentralised procurement and storage and universal distribution along with special measures to reach out to the most vulnerable. However the government has missed this opportunity by passing a minimalistic Bill.

While almost every political party raised issues related to guarantee of income for farmers, assuring Minimum Support Price, universal coverage under the Public Distribution System(PDS), including pulses and oil in PDS, the necessity of 14 kgs of foodgrains, scrapping cash transfers, community kitchens, removal of contractors, the absurdity of the poverty lines, protecting small and marginal farmers during the debate in Parliament, unfortunately none of the amendments related to these got passed. The millions of poor and food insecure in the country who have been waiting for a comprehensive food Bill may get some small consolation from the fact that hunger, malnutrition and state’s obligation towards addressing this was discussed and debated in Parliament for many hours.

Our Assessment of What We Got and What Remains in the National Food Security Bill.

What we got

1.Acknowledgement of hunger and malnutrition and  the question of food becomes a legal entitlement


2.Doubling of the coverage, from 36% to 67% in the PDS


3.Strengthening and expansion of the PDS, from a situation of it being dismantled to the fair price shop and the ration system being there to stay.