NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT: AREAS THAT NEED FOCUSED ATTENTION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v5.i1.2017.1936Keywords:
Food Security, Zero Hunger, Food ProductivityAbstract [English]
The National Food Security Act [NFSA],2013 aims at covering overall 67% of population (75%of rural and 50%urban) and promising to give them rice/wheat/coarse cereals at Rs.3/2/1/Kg through Public Distribution System[PDS]. The quantity promised is 35kg/month for Antyodya households and 5kg/per person for priority households. At the current average size of the family of around 5, this will work to 25kg/household per month. The total annual requirement of food grains for beneficiaries of PDS and other welfare schemes is estimated to be 61.2 million tons [MT]. The cost of handling grain by the Government was about Rs.30/kg for rice and Rs.22/kg for wheat in 2014 (including costs of carrying stocks), against an Minimum Support Price [MSP] of rice at about Rs.20/kg (converted from paddy) and Rs.14/kg for wheat. The budgeted food subsidy for FY 2014-15 was Rs.1.15 billion and there were pending arrears of almost Rs.500 billion that need to be cleared on account of food subsidy. Against this background, this development perspective article highlights the current status of hunger in India, aspects of NFSA 2013, current agricultural scenario and specific areas that need focused attention.
Downloads
References
Government of India [2012], Twelfth Five Year Plan 2012-17, Planning Commission, New Delhi
Government of India [2013a], Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi
Government of India [2014] Annual Report, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, New Delhi
Joshi, P.K [2015], Has Indian Agriculture Become Crowded and Risky? Status, Implications and Way Forward: Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, Mumbai 400 063
Government of India [2015], Annual Report, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, New Delhi
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
With the licence CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute, and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author.
It is not necessary to ask for further permission from the author or journal board.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.