48
S
tate
of
I
ndia
’
s
L
ivelihoods
R
eport
2015
will be able to comply with the new dead-
line. If the government is unable to ensure
implementation across the country soon, it
may have tomove for amendment of the Act
in the Parliament for a realistic timeframe.
The government has been subsidising
food grains supplied through the Public
Distribution System (PDS) over the years.
In 2012–13, the food subsidy expenditure
incurred was
`
897.4 billion and increased to
`
1132.65 billion in 2013–14. The allocation
for 2015–16 is of
`
1199.19 billion. Rough
estimates indicate that if all eligible people
are issued with five kilogram of wheat per
month (where the subsidy is lower than
rice), the allocation of funds may increase
six times from the current year’s level to
`
7500 billion!
10
The Shanta Kumar Committee which
was set up primarily to review the restruc-
turing of Food Corporation of India (FCI)
also considered the implementation and
operationalisation of NFSA. It recom-
mended that (a) GoI should defer the
implementation of NFSA in states that have
not done an end-to-end computerisation,
have not put the list of beneficiaries online
for anyone to verify, have not set up vigi-
lance committees to check pilferage from
PDS, (b) coverage of population should
be brought down to around 40 per cent,
(c) BPL families and some even above that
be given seven kilogram of grains per per-
son and (d) while Antyodaya households
can be given grains at
`
3/2/1 per kilogram
for the time being, pricing for priority
households must be linked to MSP. These
recommendations appear to have been
implicitly accepted as reflected in the sub-
sequent actions of the government.
The civil society makes out a case
that the government is working towards
weakening the provisions of the NFSA by
repeated postponements in the deadline
for implementation of NFSA; acceptance in
stealth of recommendations of the Shanta
Kumar Committee to replace distribution
of food grains with cash through pressure
on state governments to initiate pilots for
DBT in PDS; putting limit on the MSP and
procurement. Further, the cuts in budget
allocations for mid-daymeals and ICDS (cut
by 50 per cent) and non-implementation of
universal maternity entitlements add to the
perception that government is not serious
about implementation of NFSA provisions.
A working paper published by ICRIER
11
finds that NFSA in its existing form may be
unimplementable.
There are wider apprehensions that the Act
will fail to deliver on the promises made.
The bigger operational challenges include-
ensuring the adequate supply of grains every
year, lowering per person entitlement or
population coverage particularly when the
population is expanding, unpreparedness of
the implementing states, slowing down the
natural process of agricultural diversification
by increasing the relevance of rice and wheat
in the system.
Therefore, the authors of the paper sug-
gested that there should be no haste in car-
rying out the NFSA implementation process
without satisfying its pre-conditions in each
state. The challenges in physically moving a
large stock of grains—first during procure-
ment and then during delivery through
the distribution system—are daunting.
Instead of investing in an elaborate system
of procurement and distribution grains, the
target population can be given the financial
means to buy food from the market. This
10
Authors calculations based on data in Evolution
and Critique of Buffer Stocking Policy of India,
Working paper 283, Shweta Saini and Marta Kozicka,
ICRIER 2014. Assumptions: 800 million beneficiaries,
5 kg of wheat per month, Central Issue Price at
`
415
per quintal (BPL price), economic cost of wheat for FCI
`
1994 per quintal; subsidy of
`
15.80 per kg.
11
The National Food Security Act (NFSA)
2013-Challenges, Buffer Stocking and the Way
Forward, Working Paper 297, by Shweta Saini and
Ashok Gulati, ICRIER 2015.
