Food Security Laws:

Laws and Working

By
Prof. S. P. Srivastava
Head and Dean
Law and Governance
Central University of South Bihar, Gaya
What we are discussing

-Food Security Meaning



-Why do we need food Security Law?

-Pillars of Food Security
- Constitutional Mandates
- Public Distribution System
National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA)
Provisioning of Funds to State Governments for Short Supply of Foodgrains Rules, 2014.
Food Security (Assistance to State Governments) Rules 2015
Food Security Allowance Rules, 2015.
Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rules, 2015
Status of Food Security in the State of Bihar
Meaning of Food Security
• Availability at all times of adequate, nourishing, diverse, balanced and moderate world
food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and
to offset fluctuations in production and prices.
•The first World Food Summit, held in 1996, stated that food security "exists when all
people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious
food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.“
•Food Security includes-
-The ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food and
-an assured ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways.
-It is fundamentally linked to effective access to food , both physically and economically.
Continued:
The basic concept of food security globally is to ensure
that all people, at all times, should get access to the basic
food for their active and healthy life and is characterized
by availability, access, utilization and stability of food.
UNDER NFSA
Pillars of food security
• Availability of Food
•Accessibility of Food
•Utilization of Food
•Affordability of Food
•Stability of Food
Why ?
Paradigm shift in the approach to food security from welfare to
rights based approach.
Economic Rights is condition precedent for the enjoyment of
social rights.
International Mandates –UDHR, FAO
Constitutional Provision:
-Does not have any explicit provision regarding right
to food.
Article 21 of the Constitution Implicitly includes:
- right to live with human dignity
-right to food and other basic necessities
Public Distribution System
It is a part of Government’s policy for management of the food
economy in the country.
PDS is supplemental in nature and is not intended to make available the entire
requirement of any of the commodity.
Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar and
kerosene are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution.
Some States/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through
the PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, etc.
Buffer Stock
Food Corporation of India (FCI) has the prime
responsibility of procuring the food grains at minimum
support price (MSP).
Storing it in warehouses at different locations.
Supply it to the state governments in terms of
requirement.
Salient Features of National Food
Security Act-2013
 - Right
to receive Foodgrains at Subsidized Price by Persons
belonging to eligible households under PDS- S.3
Nutritional Support to pregnant women and lactating women- S.
4
Nutritional Support to children- S.5 & 6
Implementation of Schemes for Realisation of entitlements – S. 7
Food Security Allowance S.8
NFSA – Continued:
NFSA covers 75% of the rural population and 50% of the
urban population under:
Antyodaya Anna Yojana: It constitute the poorest of-the-
poor, are entitled to receive 35 kg of foodgrains per
household per month.
Priority Households (PHH): Households covered under PHH
category are entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains per
person per month.
Continued:
The eldest woman of the household of age 18 years or above is
mandated to be the head of the household for the purpose of
issuing ration cards.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana Beneficiaries

Rural Areas Beneficiaries

•Families getting an annual income up to Rs.15000 are eligible for Antyodaya Anna
Yojana.
•Old age pensioners
•Small and marginal farmers
•Landless agricultural labourers
•Physically handicapped persons
•Destitute widows
•Rural artisans or craftsmen such as potters, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters and
slum dwellers.
Continued:
Urban Areas Beneficiaries
• Family annual income below Rs.15000 will get benefit under this scheme
• People living in slums
• Daily wager such as Rickshaw-pullers are one of the beneficiaries under AAY
• Porters are eligible for AAY scheme
• Fruit and flowers sellers on pavements
• Domestic servants will get benefit of AAY
• Construction workers can apply for this benefits
• Households headed by widows or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more with no
assured means of subsistence or societal support will get benefit of AAY.
• Snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers are also get benefit under this
Documents Required

BPL certificate
Income Certificate
Deletion certificate or Affidavit saying that the applicant does not hold any Ration card
previously.
RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER NFSA

Joint responsibility of the Centre and States/Uts.

Centre is responsible for allocation of required foodgrains to States/UTs,
transportation of foodgrains up to designated depots in each State/UT and
providing central assistance to States/UTs for delivery of foodgrains from
designated FCI godowns to the doorstep of the FPSs,
 States/UTs are responsible for effective implementation of the Act,
which inter-alia includes identification of eligible households, issuing
ration cards to them, distribution of foodgrain entitlements to eligible
households through fair price shops (FPS), issuance of licenses to Fair Price
Shop dealers and their monitoring, setting up effective grievance redressal
mechanism and necessary strengthening of Targeted Public Distribution
System (TPDS)
Reforms Envisaged For TPDS S.12
Doorsteps delivery of the foodgrains to the targeted PDS outlets
Application of ICT Tools
Leveraging aadhar for Unique Identification
Introducing Schemes of Cash Transfer
 Grain Banks
District Grievance Redressal Officer
Appoint or designate DGRO
DGRO shall hear complaints regarding non distribution of Meal
Take necessary action
If not satisfied
Go to state commission
PRICE UNDER NFSA

Foodgrains under NFSA were to be made available at subsidized

prices of Rs.3/2/1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains
respectively for an initial period of three years from the date of
commencement of the Act (July 13, 2013).
Prices were to be fixed by the Central Government from time to time, but not
exceeding MSP.
It has been decided with the approval of Prime Minister’s Office to
continue to existing Central Issue Prices of foodgrains i.e. Rs.
Rs.3/2/1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains respectively under
NFSA until further orders.
TIDE OVER ALLOCATION

The Act provides that in case any State/UT’s allocation under

NFSA is lower than their current allocation, it will be protected upto
the level of average offtake under erstwhile normal TPDS during
2010-11 to 2012-13, at prices to be determined by the Central
Government. Prices for APL households under erstwhile TPDS i.e.
Rs. 6.10 per kg for wheat and Rs 8.30 per kg for rice has been
determined as issue price for the additional allocation under Tide
Over.
DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER (DBT)

In pursuance of enabling provisions under section 12 of NFSA for cash

transfer, Govt. notified ‘Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rule, 2015’ in Aug
2015. The DBT experiment aims to
(i) reduce the need for huge physical movement of foodgrains
(ii) provide greater autonomy to beneficiaries to choose their consumption
basket
(iii) enhance dietary diversity
(iv) reduce leakages
(v) facilitate better targeting
(vi) promote financial inclusion
Challenges in Implementation
Lack of Efficient Management Framework
Deteriorating Soil Health
Faults in Procurement
Wastage of foodgrains
improper accounting and inadequate storage facilities
Supply Chain Disruption
Food Security atlas on Bihar
To look into matter of Food insecurity
12 districts of Bihar in North –Eastern Bihar identified as major hotspots in food security.
13 district categorised as severely insecure
02 districts severely insure
12 special category districts
Status of food security Act in the Bihar
Food Security Act covers 84% (6.90 Crore) of the rural below poverty line people and 74% (70)
Lakh of the urban BPL population.
It is Estimated that 40 Lakh BPL families were left out for food security shall be entitled to
subsidy food grains.
State government has invested Rs. 388 crore to implement door step delivery process
THANK YOU