Loophole in The National Food Security Bill

The National Food Securiy Bill (NFSB) tabled in the Lok Sabha on 21 December 2011 is deeply flawed. It threatens to undermine the Public Distribution System (PDS) by imposing an ill-devised straightjacket on state governments. Other provisions are also very limited – even compared to the NAC’s modest proposals. Among other major flaws of the Bill are the following:

• The coming into force of the Act is not time-bound.
• The Bill is based on a narrow vision of what is needed to ensure food security, restricted mainly to grain handouts under the Public Distribution System.
• Throughout the Bill, the main concern seems to be to minimize the obligations of the government, restrict people's entitlements, and avoid any accountability.
• "General” households get only token PDS entitlements (3 kg per head per month), so that the PDS effectively remains targeted to “Priority” groups.
• The entitlements of General households are “linked to such reforms in the PDS and from such date as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.
• There is absolutely no clarity as to how Priority and General households are to be identified – however it is done, there are bound to be large exclusion errors.
• The universalization of ICDS, mandatory under Supreme Court orders, is not mentioned; only the “supplementary nutrition” component of ICDS is.
• Maternity benefits (Rs 1,000 per month for 6 months) are meagre, and their real value will go down as prices go up since they are not indexed.
• Key provisions for malnourished children, out-of-school children and community kitchens proposed by the NAC have been omitted.
• The elaborate grievance redressal structure proposed by the NAC, including mandatory penalties and compensation, has been severely weakened.
• The Bill allows the central government to replace food entitlements with cash transfers on its own terms  without any safeguards.
• The Bill gives sweeping powers to the central government, including powers to modify many entitlements and prescribe binding guidelines for all relevant schemes