nitish kumar 155081 secb nfsa essay

8/19/2019 Nitish Kumar 155081 SecB NFSA Essay

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Assignment 2

Essay on

National Food Security Act 2013 – Present the current status, views o the !ight o Food

"am#aign and the Economists and Policy $a%ers and #resent your own assessment

A report submitted to

Prof. Jahnvi Andharia

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the courseISPE

By

Nitish Kumar !oll" #$$%&#'

Section B

(n

#%)%*)+%#,



&ntroduction

India is a land -ith a population of around #.* Billion. Every no- and then people aresuccumbin to death because of chronic hun er. /un er is the number one causes of death acrossthe -orld follo-ed by AI0S1 2ancer etc. (ne third of the -orld3s hun ry lives in India. 4he

daily incomes of appro5imately &*% million Indians are less than !s +%. 6ore than +% crores people fall asleep hun ry. 0espite economic ro-th *%%% children and 7%%% Indians died everyday and +$ la8hs Indians die yearly because of chronic hun er. 4he undernourished population of India is +#+ million. 0espite economic ro-ths of & percent and substantial improvement inhealth sectors in recent years 9nder)nutrition remains a chronic problem in India. Almost $%: of 2hildren are under -ei ht and more than 7%: of -omen pre nant and lactatin -omen in

particular' and children have nutritional deficiencies and $,: of married -omen are anemic.Seven million deaths of children had been recorded yearly in India because of malnutrition1 outof -hich nearly + million died before the a e of #./un ry people in India had outnumbered theofficial Belo- Poverty ;ine people.

National Food Security Act 2013

All this has been cryin for some scheme -hich can loo8 after the needs of poor and poorest of poor. So the much a-aited food security act +%#* came in to e5istence. 4he National <oodSecurity Act +%#* received the assent of the president on #% September +%#*.4he ob=ective of the act is to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach1 by ensurinaccess to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life -ithdi nity and for matters connected there-ith or incidental thereto>. Almost t-o thirds of #.+

billion people of India -ill et subsidi?ed food rains -hich include 7$ percent of rural

population and $% percent of urban population from subsidi?ed 4ar eted Public 0istributionSystem P0S'.4he entitlements of food depend upon the types of households1 $ K s of food

rains per person per month are entitled for @Priority households> and *$8 of food rains are for @Antyodaya households>. 4he identifications of theses household rest in the hand of state

overnment only. 4he P0S issue prices that -ill be char ed for coarse rain li8erice -heat millet are * + # !s respectively. But for the children bet-een the a e roup of ,months to , years -ill be iven a free meal throu h An an-adi and up to class ei ht or bet-eenthe of ,)# -ill be iven free midday meal at overnment schools. 9nder this scheme pre nant-omen and lactatin -omen durin pre nancy and after si5 months of pre nancy are alsoentitled for free meal at An an-adi and !s ,%%% maternity benefits. In case of non)supply of food items food security allo-ance -ill be iven to beneficiaries also. 4he bill also has t-o)tier

rievances redressal machinery i.e. 0istrict Crievance !edressal (fficer 0C!(' and State <ood2ommission. It contains three schedules -hich prescribed issues price for P0S1 Nutritionalstandards for mid)day meal1 ta8e home rations and related entitlements1 revitali?in of a riculture1 procurement and stora e of food rains etc. 4he N<SA also inte rated many -elfareschemes li8e 4P0S'1 inte rated child development services I20S' -heat)based nutrition

pro ram and mid)day meal 606' schemes



"urrent Status o National Food Security Act 2013

Since September +%#* -hen National <ood Security Act +%#* had been enacted +$ states andunion territories had so far rolled out the la-. (nly ## states and 9nion 4erritories are on the listthat had so far not implemented the food act 4amil Nadu1 9ttar Pradesh1 6e halaya1 Jammu D

Kashmir1 Andaman D Nicobar1 Cu=arat1 Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh'. 4he 9nion <ood6inister !am ilas Pas-an had e5tended the roll out deadline to further si5 months -hich is inaddition to previously t-o e5tended deadlines. 4his time e5tension had come up -ith a covenantthat if the states -ould not implement the la- -ithin stipulated time then supply of subsidi?edfood rains to Above Poverty ;ine AP;' -ill be stopped. But hurried implementation -ithoutall requisite preparation in some state had created some ma=or problems. 9ttra8hand had to roll

bac8 the implementation Bihar had to face -ith distribution problems. 9nder the N<SA over ##crore households -ith a total beneficiaries of $* crore had till no- bein allocated hi hlysubsidi?ed food rains at !s + per 8 -heat and !s * per 8 rice. 9se of information technolo yli8e computeri?ation and use of technolo ical device li8e dispenser at public distribution shopsor ration shops to validate beneficiaries had helped to brin up ,#. * la8h bo us1 duplicate or ineli ible ration cards in last t-o years1 thus containin the lea8a e1 appropriation and misuse of food rains in the P0S system resultin in savin of !s 1 +%% crore. 4he offta8e of food rains inthe#7 states 94s under ne- act has increased compared to previous P0S.

4he di iti?ation of beneficiary database had been completed in ** states 94s. So far1 F+: of therecords of been di iti?ed. 4his information of beneficiary is also available in the public domain.(nline platform has also been developed in #7 states 94s that has been used to allocate food

rains and entire supply chain has also been computeri?ed in F states 94s. Crievance redressalsystems -ere also set up in all states. Pilot pro=ect of 0irect Benefit 4ransfer 0B4' -as alsoimplemented in 2handi arh and Puducherry .It helps in lea8a e free distribution of food rainsalso food subsidy is directly transferred to the beneficiary account.

Point of sale P(S' 8ios8 -as also installed in the P0S. 4hat captures the data of beneficiary andauthenticates it -hile also store the data of quantum of food rains iven to the beneficiaryfamily. In total $F1$%% shops has been operational -ith P(S devices. Aadhar 2ard lin8inmechanism is also in pro ress in many of the states. So far #&: beneficiaries have been seeded-ith the Aadhaar number.

'he !ight o Food "am#aign

4he ri ht of food campai n has started in mid)+%%# to brin up the issues of instead of unprecedented stoc8s of food rains in India drou ht prone areas does not et adequate relief.Article +# of constitution tal8s about ri ht to life and overnment is morally duty to protect thelife of people so food is the ri ht of every citi?en. ;ater the charter of demands of campai nincludes #' National Employment Cuarantee Act1 +' 9niversal 6id)0ay meals in primary



schools1 *' universali?ation of the Inte rated 2hild 0evelopment Services I20S' for childrenunder the a e of si51 ' effective implementation of all nutrition)related schemes1 $' revival anduniversali?ation of the public distribution system1 ,' social security arran ements for those -hoare not able to -or8. Althou h al the demands have not been met yet but some of the demandshad been materiali?ed. ;i8e 6N!ECA has been passed unanimously by parliament in +%%$-hich uarantees #%% days -a e employment for rural households -hich are of uns8illed type.In April +%% coo8ed follo-in the Supreme 2ourt order mid)day meal have been introduced inall primary schools.

It helps in brin in do-n the barriers of accessibility of food to the poor -hich in spite of entitled to et food can3t receive because of social discriminations and corruption. It3s acampai n a ainst hun er and malnutrition by hi hli htin the -ea8 lin8s in machineries lea8a eand corruption. Althou h P0S is put in place to distribute food rains and most of these centersare held by private players -hich loo8 after their interests. 4hey siphon a-ay rains and alsosocially stron people also entrenched most of the food rains. Althou h strict accountin

practices -ere follo-ed in P0S but this all seems to be on paper only and small chun8 of rainset in hands of poor. It also does social audits1 death due to hun er and small scale local surveys

to raise the issues before overnment. Because of !<2 children are able to et at least one timefoods in primary school -hich also helps them to et enrolled in school. /ence increasin theliteracy level of the people. 6N!ECA also helped them out to et employment. All this issomeho- related to the campai n so campai n plays out an important role in turnin around thefaith of poor people. It acts as a media for the poor people. !aisin the concern issues andresolvin the issues has made the campai n most effective. 4he role that should be played bystates has been -ell dischar e by !<2. It also pointed out that nutritional security and local

procurement should be done in order to ta8e the interest of farmersEconomist (iews on NFSA 2013

4he food security act ensures that rice -heat millet -ill be sold at price of * + # !s respectively.It -ill led to a total cost of around Rs 125,000 crore annually whereas current expenditure isaround Rs ,71*#% crore only. That will be used to procure 62 millions of aforementionedfood grain to distribute among 6 ! of the population . Addition burden -ill add up by

providin at least !s ,%%% to pre nant and lactatin -omen. It -ill costs around #.#: of C0P. It-ill add up to fiscal deficit -hich -as runnin at .&: at that point of time. !ise in fiscal deficit-ill devalue the Indian currency -hich -ill increase in the import bill of essential commoditiesli8e petroleum1 electronics and coal prices1 causin inflation in the country. 4here -ill also beincreased in disposable income of people because poor spends $%),%: of their money on fooditems -hich they -ill save. It -ill increase demand for some other items causin further rise in

prices of oods and services -hich may lead to inflations in lon er run. 2ontrary to that anadditional *%crore people -ill et cheaper food so consumption of other items -ill increase-hich -ill ive boost to slu ish economy. 4he farmers -ill also et hi her price for food rains

because demand for food rain -ill increase substantially leadin to increase in supply



eventually to equilibrium price .4herefore act also accrues benefit to farmer also in an indirect-ays. 4herefore economic policies that -ill be rolled out by !BI have to follo- some astutemeasures. 4he inventory holdin cost for storin food rains in -arehouses -ill come do-n

because of the distribution of ma=or amount of rains. Althou h it -ill ma8e easily accessibilityof food rains but problem of income eneration for their livelihood -ill still be a recurrent

problem.

Policy $a%ers (iews on NFSA 2013

Policy ma8ers said that it is one of the lar est -elfare schemes in the -orld. It has inte ratedmany of the scatter schemes li8e mid)day meal scheme so that inclusiveness of all the needy

people can be done. It -ill do a-ay -ith the inefficacies in old P0S .4he BP; families -hichhas been left behind in the old P0S system -ill be brin in -hich -ill increase additional *%crores people. 4he problem of hun er and malnutrition -ill be -ell ta8en care by this scheme.Crains that -ere diverted in the open mar8et in old system -ill be stopped because of N<SA.

Personal views on NFSA 2013

India is ran8ed $$ th in +%# in Clobal /un er Inde5 ri ht behind Nepal *F' and Sri ;an8a'.Even thou h India is economically sound then these nei hbor countries but our country is

still pla ued -ith malnutrition and chronic hun er. So -hat are the benefits of &)F : C0P -hen+%: of the people are sleepin hun ryG 6ay be food security act -on3t be subscribe by manyleaders and business tycoons and it may be considered as populist measures -hich -ill add onfinancial burden to India. But in my opinion -hether India needs it or not but Indians desperatelyneed it and there is no second opinion on this .4a8in the co ni?ance of the citi?ens -here *%%%

children died and around +% crores people sleep hun ry every day. So it is a national shame uponus .People residin in India that are mired in this very endemic diseases this act seems to bee5ceedin ly important to et our Indians out of it. Because of hun riness3 economic -ill affectedvery much

)ungry reduces Productivity and e iciency* If people are not fed properly they -ill beundernourished and they -on3t be able to perform the desired outcome .It -ill lead to decrease inefficiency hence C0P of our country -ill also et reduced because output is directly proportionalto C0P.

)ungry e ects mental health and education* Nation <amily /ealth Survey%f +%% )$ hadcome up a fi ure that %: of the children belo- si5 years are under -ei ht. 2o nitive ability1rationality1 lo ical intelli ence is all as a function of healthy mind and healthy minds come fromhealthy food itself but if children are malnutrition these reduces these attributes. All the -ay our

prime minister is tal8in about to ma8e India the s8ill capital of -orld but if this situation persists over a lon er hori?on the dreams -ill be shattered in the upcomin years. So feedin the people -ith quality food is need of the hour because it -ill also lead to the strate ic developmentof nation as -ell. It3s been ,& years of independence if this -ould have been eradicated on its



o-n then it -on3t be a ma=or problem no-. But this needs the overnment intervention to rootout the problems. So act itself is very rational.

)ungry give im#etus to crime " 4here is innumerable number of instances -here people hadcommitted crime only for the bread. Even <rench revolution had started on the bac8drop of

scarcity of food. Even if hun ry ma8es the people -ea8 but it also ma8es people vulnerable tocommit crime. So in order to fill up their stomach people do crime. So any ho- sooner or later itshould be curtailed. Althou h -e had -asted lots of time in comin up -ith the act but it3s never too late for anythin .

)ungry may lead to social insta+ility* As mentioned earlier <rench revolution because of foodonly1 Ben al famine of #F * is also an e5ample of non)supply of rice leadin to appro5imately *million people. 4herefore country li8e India1 +%: of people is vulnerable and not ettin proper food. 4here can be a situation -here people -ill lose it consciences and temperament and -ill-a e a -ar a ainst its o-n overnment. All this can be conducive to instability.

(n the other hand it -ill ma8e people lethar ic also. People -ill 8eep themselves a-ay from-or8 as they are ettin food rains at a very lo- price.

But the ma=or problem here is the channeli?in of food rains to the needy. Hith rampantcorruption in the overnment machinery it seems to be a formidable tas8 at hand. But -ithlaunch of scheme li8e Pradhna 6antri Jan 0han o=na P6J0 '10irect Benefits 4ransfer 0B4'and 0i ital India. India has reinforced the act -ith iron rods and pillars. No- the corruption at

bro8er level -ill et miti ated and benefits -ill tric8le do-n to poor people. So implementationis not an issue no-. Also lots of food rains et -asted durin stora e in <2I -arehouse silos

and India havin a surplus food rains also -ith advent of scientific farmin technolo y production yield -ill increase in the near future so it3s ood to have an act no-. He are also aro-in economy -ith C0P of around &: so affordability -on3t be a problem and fiscal deficit

has been decreasin over the past years from .$: to *.$ :.All -e need to focus upon toincrease the productivity of our -or8in force -hich are the ma=or asset of India and this can bedone throu h proper access of food at affordable price.

"onclusion

4he N<SB -ill be a radical path brea8er in the history of India if overnment -ill be able tochanneli?e the distribution1 curtailed the corruption and reduce lea8a e throu h proper puttin up

proper machineries in place. 4he overnment should put in proper chec8 and balances to loo8 after the quality and nutritional level of food. 4ransparency and accountability should also beta8en up by local bodies. 4here must also be yardstic8 to measure the effectiveness andimplementation of the scheme so that ri ht strate y can be formed. Statistical data should also be

put in place for future references

Hord 2ount +7%F'



!eferences"

nitish kumar 155081 secb nfsa essay

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