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By Adv. Niveditha Krishna. A. L*
India is one of the most progressive nations
of the world, making its mark in the field of
science, technology, nuclear energy etc. The
growing face of India indicated by multi- national
corporations and growing industries has changed the
urban life with high standard of living
and increased purchasing power. This is only one
side of the coin. If we examine the other side
we can see “hunger amidst plenty” ie a huge
population is suffering from mass hunger and at
the same time surplus food grains are getting
damaged at the fields itself as well as in the store
houses. They still struggle for its basic
necessities of life like food, drinking water, sanitation and
education. Almost half of the child population is
suffering from malnutrition. Food security is an
ideal assured by the nations at regional as well as
globally to reduce the hunger, which constitute
a worldwide problem.
Food security implies that every citizen of the
country has assurance of adequate quantity of
quality grains all through his life time. It should
aim to ensure the availability of food grains
to the common people at an affordable price and
enable the poor to have access to food. The
majority of the people in the developed countries
has not only enough to eat, but wide choice and
probably eats too much. Where as in developing
world majority of the population do not have
enough to eat, struggling with poverty and
starvation.
The Committee on World Food Security of United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
defines food security as ‘food security means that
food is available at all times, that all persons
have means of access to it, that is nutritionally
adequate in terms of quantity, quality and variety
and that it is acceptable within the given culture.
Only when all these conditions are in place can
a population be considered as ‘food secure’.
National
Food Security Bill 2011- An Analysis
India, in its 62nd year of republic realized the need for food security legislation. Hence it drafted
the National Food Security Bill 2011 to provide for food and nutritional security by ensuring
access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices for the people to live a life with
dignity. Even though the Supreme Court has not included right to food in Article 21, it has issued
directions to the state to ensure that nobody dies of starvation.
It provides for right to receive food grains by
priority household and general household at
subsidized prices through TPDS. But the problem is
that today the public distribution system is
facing the allegation of hoarding, black-marketing
etc. We cannot assess how far the system will
overcome from this allegation and provide for
implementation of the provisions of the Bill.
It provides for nutrient support to pregnant women
and lactating mothers and children. These
steps are to be implemented as per the guidelines
of the Central Government and cost- sharing
between the Central and State Government. But the
Bill does not specify the ratio of cost-sharing
to be followed or the authority to determine this
ratio. Another issue is that a uniform ratio
cannot be adopted for all the States. The economic
growth and financial level of each State vary
and every State cannot contribute uniformly in
cost- sharing procedure.
The Bill states ‘migrants’ as a special group who
are able to claim entitlements of special groups.
This provision may act as a booster for migrants to
remain in India permanently. It is true that
the problems created by migrants in the eastern
border States of our country really threatens the
peaceful atmosphere of the nation.
The Bill provides that the Central Government may, from time to time, prescribe the guidelines
for identifying the priority household, general
household and exclusion criteria. But it does not
clearly state the basic principles or criteria to
be considered in framing the guidelines.
As a measure of women empowerment, it sought to
recognize woman not less than 18 years of
age as the head of household for the purpose of
issue of ration card.
It provides for grievance redress mechanism. But in
the case of appeal provision, it has to be as
per the manner provided by the Central Government.
But the poor and the illiterates may not be
able to comply with such complex procedures, which
may result in denial of justice to them.
The Bill provides for the establishment of State as
well as National Food Security Commission.
It also clearly states the functions of such
bodies. But it fails to indicate the powers as well as the
status of such bodies which defines the strength of
such bodies and its orders.
To provide accountability and transparency, a
provision of social audit is included. It also
states that the Central Government can authorize
independent agencies to conduct social audit.
But it does not mention the qualifications to be
satisfied by such agencies to get sanction for
conducting social audit. This may leads to
favoritism and corruption.
Another provision is the penalty for public servant
or public authority in case of ignoring the
recommendations of the District Grievance Redressal
Officer. The penalty stated is only five
thousand rupees which is too meager when compared
to the value of the basic right to food
security.
The Bill in each provision clearly states the role of Central or the State Government in
implementing the provisions. But finally it denies
the liability for loss, damage or compensation
arising out of failure to supply food grains,
either directly or indirectly to force majeure condition
such as war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone,
earthquake or Act of God. Being a social welfare
legislation, instead of denial of liability, the
Government should take over the responsibility of
providing adequate food grain at this stage and
thereby reflect the concept of democratic and
welfare State.
Hence the draft legislation, to be practically
applicable, should undergo certain basic changes
to suit the Indian scenario. The right to food
being a part of right to life should be viewed with
importance given to a fundamental freedom. Thus the
legislation should be made compatible to
the needs of Indian population.
The Parliament adopted several amendments to the
Bill. First is that instead of
separate entitlements for different categories,
there would be only one category of
beneficiaries with uniform entitlement of 5kg per
person per month. The entitlement of
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which
constitute poorest of the poor, will be
protected at 35 kg per household per month.
It also take care to protect the existing allocation
of food grains to the States/Union Territories,
subject to it being restricted to average annual off-
take during last three years.
Corresponding to coverage of 75% of the rural
population and 50% of urban population at the all
India level, State-wise coverage will be determined
by the Planning Commission. The work of
identification of eligible households is to be left
to the States/UTs, which may frame their own
criteria or use the Social Economic and Caste
Census (SECC) data. The uniform prices of Rs. 3/
2/1 per kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains will be
applicable to all eligible beneficiaries. This price
rate is to be fixed for the first three years of
implementation of the Act, and thereafter link the
same suitably to minimum support price (MSP).
Finally in order to address the concerns of
States/UTs regarding additional financial burden, it is
proposed that Central Government may provide
assistance to States towards cost of intra-State
transportation and handling of food grains, for which
norms will be devised.
The global challenge of enhancing food security all
regions of the world requires a concerted
effort from all the elements of social life. Food
insecurity is longtime struggle and the
introduction of intellectual property protection in
the field of agriculture made significant
changes in the policy framework regarding food
security.
Neglect in dry land farming and cereals other than
rice and wheat led to a steep decrease in the
nutritional level. An IFAD study in the state of
Andhra Pradesh showed that the conversion
of paddy field into land to cultivate export crops
like cotton, flower and aqua culture had
the following impacts: less land available for
growing food crops, reduced amount of food
production for the family and decreased women’s
control over the income and food supply as
women does not market cash crops, increasing level
of alcoholism which reduced the amount of
income available for food and using a proportion of
grains for brewing liquor, due to decreased
family food supply women reduced intake of food and
at the same time worked harder to earn
cash income and more reliance on wage income and
public distribution system for their survival.
Food security is not just a matter of food -
quality of food that ensures nutrition, and healthcare
that protects people from debilitating diseases or
intestinal parasites that leak nutrition are all
part of it. Hence solutions cannot be a single one
but an integrated approach. Investment in rural
and urban development that ensures the livelihood
of people in a measure that enables them
to get exchange entitlements and buildup their
endowments like assets, skill and appropriate
technology are critical, but above all social and
political power matter most. Public expenditure
on safe water, sanitation, health care, and public
assistance for affordable food are all part of
ensuring food security. One cannot invest in one
aspect of poverty. There is need for a balanced
approach, with large projects in education, health,
nutrition and rural infrastructure.
Appreciate the great effort. Well written. All the best.
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