Food Security Bill Combating Hunger!

A huge percentage of the Indian population lives below the poverty line
where getting one square meal a day is a challenge. The food security bill
aims to satisfy this basic want and in that sense although it encourages
welfare economics, the intention is noble. This is what would need to be
weighed against other roadblocks.

Before we comment or discuss the bill, it is indeed very necessary to

understand the Food Security Bill.
The Food Security Bill is a bill for consideration before the Government of
India. The bill aims to provide subsidized foodgrain to around 67 percent (75%
of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population) of India's 1.2
billion people. As per the provisions of the bill, beneficiaries would get rice at
INR 3/kg, wheat at INR 2/kg, and coarse grains at INR 1/kg. These rates
would be valid for three years. Every pregnant woman and lactating mother
would get free meal during pregnancy till six months after child birth. They
will also get a maternity benefit of INR 6,000 in installments. Children in the
age group of 6 months to 6 years, the Bill guarantees an age-appropriate meal,
free of charge, through the local anganwadi. For children aged 6-14 years, one
free mid-day meal shall be provided every day (except on school holidays) in
all schools run by local bodies, government and government aided schools, up
to Class VIII. Children who suffer from malnutrition will be identified through
the local anganwadi and meals will be provided to them free of charge
through the local anganwadi.
The Bill states that central and state governments shall endeavour to
progressively undertake various PDS reforms, including: doorstep delivery of
foodgrains; ICT applications and end-to-end computerisation; leveraging
aadhaar (UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries; full
transparency of records; preference to public institutions or bodies in
licensing of fair price shops; management of fair price shops by women or
their collectives; diversification of commodities distributed under the PDS;
full transparency of records; and introducing schemes such as cash transfer,
food coupons or other schemes to the targeted beneficiaries in lieu of their
foodgrain entitlements as prescribed by the central government. In case of
non-supply of foodgrains, states will have to pay food security allowance to
beneficiaries.
The central government has pushed the Food Security Bill with amazing
alacrity. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that rules India,

has got the Bill passed by an ordinance, not through the usual parliament
route. Within six months from the date of promulgation, the government will
have to seek the approval of this Bill through parliament to avoid the ordnance
falling through.
NSSO surveys show that the proportion of hungry people fell from 15.3% in
1983 to 2% in 2004. By now, it is probably 1%. So, forget the notion that
hungry Indians are crying out for cheap grain. No, per-capita consumption of
cereals has fallen steadily in all income groups, including the poorest. They are
shifting to superior foods: proteins, milk and tea.
Besides, the NDA launched the Antyodaya programme for the very poorest
back in 2000, providing wheat at 2 and rice at 3 per kg. The Bill simply
repeats the dose - nothing new at all for the poorest.
The main problem for the government is the resources for
implementation of the bill. Can we produce such a large amount? Once the
cheap food is available, people will consume more and more increasing the
burden on supply side. Can we store such large quantities of food supply?
India presently has provision only for 30 million tons but this act will need 60
million tons of storage. In order to meet the increased requirement of
foodgrain for PDS, export of cereals should be stopped immediately. If
basmati rice is to be exported, an equal amount of ordinary rice must be
imported. It is highly unethical to export foodgrain when our own people are
dying of starvation. And we congratulate ourselves on record foodgrain
exports at a time when the per capita food availability at home is declining
and we lose money on every tonne that we export.
Secondly, actual distribution cannot begin unless the eligible households
are identified. The Bill does not specify criteria for the identification of
households eligible for Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlements.
The Central Government is to determine the state-wise coverage of the PDS, in
terms of proportion of the rural/urban population. Then numbers of eligible
persons will be calculated from Census population figures. The identification
of eligible households is left to state governments. The allocation of foodgrains
is arbitrary and is neither based on population nor poverty. The final results of
the Socio-Economic and Caste Census will not be available for all the states,
especially the larger states like UP, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, until the beginning
of 2014.
Thirdly, The Bill encourages states to reform the PDS, including doorstep
delivery of foodgrain, end-to-end computerisation; and leveraging "Aadhaar"
(UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries. The progress is
extremely slow, though not in all states. Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Himachal

Pradesh, and Rajasthan have undertaken state-level reforms by extending

coverage, improving delivery and increasing transparency. The best results are
seen in Chhattisgarh. Here, private dealers have been replaced by panchayats,
commissions have been increased and more than 80 per cent of the families
have been covered under the scheme (as opposed to only 40 per cent who are
officially recognised as being Below the Poverty Line or BPL under the Central
government). A regular monitoring and grievance redressal mechanism leads
to swift action if foodgrain does not reach the people. The fear is, unless
something miraculous happens to inject life and energy to the PDS, it will get
bogged down under the bigger load to serve many more customers. The result
will be chaos of catastrophic proportions.
Most importantly, buying such huge quantities of food at higher rates and
selling them to consumers at very low rates will need government
subsidies. Already the huge food subsidy has weighed down Indias public
finances pushing the budget deficit to unmanageable proportions. When the
Bills intended provisions are rolled out across India, the food subsidy burden
of the government will jump three times. It will run to Rs. 125, 000 crores per
year. Even a school boy would say that India simply does not have so much
money. How will the government manage to keep the subsidized scheme
going?
The BJP condemns the Bill as a pre-election gimmick. But it will surely fail.
Many states already provide cereals more cheaply than the Bill. Tamil Nadu
provides 20 kg of free rice to poor families. Other southern states provide rice
at 1 per kg. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to have
state elections, and all three now offer wheat or rice at 1 per kg. So, in several
states, the additional subsidy of the Bill will not mean cheaper food for
consumers, simply less subsidy at the state level. The Bill may mean cheaper
cereals in some states, like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. But the
Public Distribution System (PDS) is in terrible shape in these states. To the
extent the PDS improves, the chief ministers will get the credit.
So looking at this we understand that the bill may be brought on with a noble
cause but need lot of reforms and a very strong planning commission in order
for rightful implementation of the bill. Lets hope to watch if Rajya Sabha
brings light to this aspects of the bill in its session.
In the ultimate analysis, the constraints to food security and hunger are rooted
in bad policies, faulty design, lack of appropriate monitoring and evaluation,
poor governance and lack of political will. Action is needed on all the fronts.
Jaymin Patel