PROJECT OF AGRICULTURE RELATED LAWS

TOPIC: - National food security Act, 2013

SUBMITTED BY:- SUBMITTED TO :-

K. DevKaran
B.A LL.B Mr. Shashank Pathak
(HONS)
SEMESTER
IX ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LAW

ENROLLMEN
T NO-:
BAL/044/18
CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................3

CHAPTER- 1…...................................................................................................................4

TITLE OF RESEARCH WORK..........................................................................................4

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................…….4

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES...................................................................................................4

RESEARCH QUESTIONS..................................................................................................4

SCOPE AND LIMITATION................................................................................................4

MODE OF CITATION...............................................................................................4

CHAPTER- 2…...............................................................................................................5-7

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................5

FOOD SECURIITY INN INDIA......................................................................................5-6

FS & CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS..........................................................................7

CHAPTER-3…...............................................................................................................7-11

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT ,2013...................................................................7-9

WORKING OF PUBLIC DISTRIUTION SYSTEM....................................................10-11

ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................................11

CHAPTER-4….............................................................................................................11-13
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................13

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................14

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to our Hon’ble Vice Chancellor
Prof. (Dr.) V. Nagaraj sir and my subject teacher Mr. Shashank Pathak who gave me
the golden opportunity to work on this great and wonderful project of the subject
agriculture related laws on topic National food security act 2013 and its only just
because of this project I got the opportunity to understand how to do the research on
a topic and how to collect the data and how to arrange the data in a research.
Chapter-1

National food security Act, 2013

1. Abstract

The need for achieving food security is felt significantly in the recent years due to
enormous pressure from the ever-increasing population in India. Owing to the change in
preferences in crop production techniques over a period of time, several new challenges
draw attention to food security. This article discusses various challenges to food
security in India. Critical analysis is made on challenges like climate change, mismatch
between water demand and availability and agricultural crop pricing and insurance and
new trends in globalization. The financial implications like domestic subsidy on food,
transparency in procurement and distribution of food, mitigating corruption, reaching the
intended beneficiaries, impact of the Act on inflation and other macroeconomic
indicators etc raises many questions over its successful implementation in India.

2. Research objectives

The researcher has undertaken this topic to analyze the effectiveness of the food
security act 2013 which is required for global survival and progress in the 21st century
and achieve new insights to it. The main objectives of the present study are under as
follows:-

1. To find out the challenges/issues with respect to National food security law 2013.

2. To provide suggestive measures of National food security act 2013.

3. To analyze right to food as a fundamental right in respect to Indian constitution.

3. Research Questions
How is identification of poor and needy in the public distribution system done?

How is food security related to farm bill of 2020?

How schemes like integrated child development services i.e. (ICDS) integrated in the
National food security law 2013?

4. Scope & Limitations

This research paper is about National food security law 2013.So the scope is limited to
domestic laws & under the subject matter of Food security act 2013.

5. Mode of citation

This research project follows Blue Book 20th edition citation style.

Chapter-2

Introduction

Every individual has a basic necessity of having a nutritious meal in order to sustain
himself. Food is the basic physiological need which every individual strives to attain.
Even Maslow's hierarchy states the same. Physiological needs of food, water, shelter
and rest are intrinsic to sustain life. without attaining them, an individual won't be
motivated to attain higher needs. Food Security as a concept emerged in the mid-70s
when there was a global food crisis. The focus was primarily to ensure the availability
of food crops, which then widened in the eighties and entailed the demand and
consumption patterns of food in the 90s, issues such as food safety preferences, food
safety, nutrition and dietary needs were also included in the concept of Food Security
Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times have physical
social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life1.

Food Security in India

1
R. Radhakrishna and K. Venkata Reddy ,Food Security and nutrition: Vision 2020
With India's rank in the Global Hunger Index, from 97th in the year 2016, 100th in
the year 2017, 103rd in the year 2018 and finally 102nd in the year 2019, India deals
with serious evils of hunger and malnourishment which further makes us question the
effectiveness of a number of measures implemented by the State.

Attaining Food Security is a prime task for the Government of India, as it deals with
Individual's Fundamental Rights. India still to a major extent possesses a rural character
and agriculture is the backbone of it. Agricultural and rural development have always
been a priority for the State in policy formulations as both further guarantee a stable
food supply and distribution chain which help the state attain the goal of food security
at household level.

Poverty, undernourishment, hunger and unemployment, both, at the rural and urban level,
have always stood as obstacles in the welfare of the people and attaining food security.
With the introduction of the Green Revolution in the 1960s, India saw a considerable
change in the state of food security. It increased the agricultural production and output
levels manifold and reduced the levels of food insecurity and poverty in the nation. It
also paved way for various programmes and policies to help sustain and improve the
level of food security like Targeted Public Distribution Schemes, Mid-Day Meal
Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services and Schemes, National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act, Annapurna Schemes, Antyodaya Anna Yojana and National
Food Security Act.

Food Security and Constitutional Provisions:

The Indian Constitution guarantees a right to food, both officially and implicitly.
Explicitly, Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy establishes a state duty
to improve public health and raise the level of nutrition and living standards. It
declares that boosting the level of nutrition and standard of life of its citizens, as well
as improving public health, are among the state's primary responsibilities. The right to
food and food security are not explicitly stated in Article 21 of the Constitution. The
Indian Supreme Court, on the other hand, has specifically declared in a number of
judgments that Article 21 of the Constitution should be construed as a right to "live
with human dignity," which includes the right to food and other basic
 necessities2.Furthermore, Article 39 of the Indian Constitution, which is part of the
Directive policy of state policy, states that the state is obligated to establish policies
that ensure an equitable distribution of resources among the people3.

Indian Judiciary and the Right to Food and Security: In various case laws, the
Supreme Court of India has acknowledged the Right to Food and Food Security. In the
case of Francis Coralie v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi4, it was held that
Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life, which includes the right to
live in dignity and with the bare essentials of life, including proper nutrition. In
Chameli Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh5, it was held that in any civilized society, the
right to life entails the right to sustenance as well. The Supreme Court ruled in
Shantistar Builders v. Narayan Khimalal Totame6 that the right to life includes the right
to eat.

Chapter-3

THE NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, 2013

The National Food Security Act, 2013 was enacted in August 2013 with the aim to
provide nutritional and dietary protection to people and to make available the right
quality and quantity of food at cheaper prices, primarily to the suppressed classes
through the method of Public Distribution system.

Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, both the Centre and State have their own
responsibilities. While the Centre is responsible for allocation of required food grains to
States and Union Territories, transportation of food grains up to designated depots in
each State and UT and providing central assistance to States and UTS for delivery of
food grains from designated Food Corporation of India go-downs to the doorstep of the
Fair Price Shops, the States and UTS are responsible for effective implementation of
the Act, which inter-alia includes identification of eligible households, issuing ration
2
Sanjeeve Gowda G. S. “Right to Food in India: A Constitutional Perspective” 3 (2) International Journal
of Law and Legal Jurisprudence Studies 34 (2016).
3
Article 39, Constitution of India
4
AIR 1981 SC 746.
5
(1996) 2 SCC 549.
6
(1990) 1 SCC 520.
 cards to them, distribution of food grain entitlements to eligible households through fair
price shops, issuance of licenses to Fair Price Shop dealers and their monitoring,
setting up effective grievance redressal mechanism and necessary strengthening of
Targeted Public Distribution system7.

Working of the Public Distribution System8

Identification of poor and needy: The central government and states use a systematic
procedure to identify eligible BPL households. The AAY initiative was launched in
December 2000 for the weakest BPL households. Individuals who fall into one of the
following preference categories are eligible for an AAY card: (i) landless agricultural
workers, (ii) marginal farmers, (iii) rural artisans/craftsmen, (iv) slum dwellers, (vi)
destitute, (vii) households headed by widows or terminally ill people, disabled people,
and people aged 60 and up.

Procurement of Food Grains: Farmers are paid a minimum support price (MSP) for
their food grains, which is then offered to states at central declared prices. It is
responsible for transporting grains to the go downs in each province. The states are
responsible for transporting food grains from these godowns to fair price stores (ration
shop). FCI is responsible for (i) procuring grains at MSP from farmers, (ii) maintaining
working and buffer stocks of grains to ensure food security, (iii) allocating grains to
states, (iv) distributing and shipping grains to state depots, and (v) selling grains to
states at the central issue price to be passed on to beneficiaries.9

7
Ms. Eritriya Roy, Food Security and Sustainable Rural Development: The Chhattisgarh Experience,
International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies (IJHSSS), A Peer Reviewed Bi-monthly Bi-
lingual Research Journal ISSN: 2349-6959 (Online), ISSN: 2349-6711 (Print) Volume-III, Issue-II,
September 2016, Page No. 74-79 http://www.ijhsss.com/.
8
https://nfsa.gov.in/public/nfsadashboard/PublicRCDashboard.aspx
9
Vikram Pathania, and Sharad Tandon, The Impacts of Reforms to the Public Distribution System in
India's Chhattisgarh on Food Security, Prasad Krishnamurthy, United States Department of Agriculture
https://www.usda.gov/
Issue of ration cards to poor people: State governments provide exclusive ration cards
to below the poverty line, and Antyodaya families to purchase basic products from fair
price shops, and check and validate ration Cards on a regular basis.

Storage: The food grains procured for the planned public distribution scheme and other
contingencies are stored in the central pool storage. The Food Corporation of India is
the main government agency in charge of the central pool’s food grain preservation.
Allocation of food grains to states: Food grains are allocated to state governments for
sale to BPL, AAY, and APL households from the central pool. The number of
households mentioned is used to determine how much resources goes to BPL and AAY
societies.Transportation of food grains to all Fair price shops: “Food grains and
other goods are usually transported by roads and rail. Food grains are distributed and
spread over short distances by means of roads and by railways over long distances”.

Fair price shop (Ration Shops): Fair Price Shops (FPS) are generally referred to as
ration stores. These centre’s supply consumers with a Ration Card, which helps them to
collect food grains. Ration Shops have been given permission by the state government
to market food grains at a discounted price.

Salient features of the National Food Security Act 2013

 National Food Security Act, 2013 covers up to 75% of the rural population and
50% of the urban population under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority
households. While Antyodaya Anna Yojana households, which constitute the poorest
of the poor are entitled to 35 kg of food grains per family per month, priority
households are entitled to 5 kg per person per month10.
 Pregnant and lactating women (upto 6 months) are entitled free meals and also
maternity relief of Rs. 600011.

10
Aviral Pandey,”Food security in India & states”: key challenges and policy option, Journal of Agricultural
Economics and rural development.
11
Section 4(b), The National food security Act, 2013.
 Children between the age group 6 months to 6 years are provided free meals and
care through Anganwadi (a Government organization) and for children aged between 6-
14 years Mid-Day Meal Scheme provides them with mid-day meals and education too12.
 The Act also provides a two level grievance redressal mechanism at District and
State level respectively that is District Grievance redressal Officer (DGRO) and
State Food Commission13.
 Either the oldest woman of the household or woman of 18 years of above should
be considered the head of the household and would be issued with the ration card.
This step aims of empowering women14.
 Provision for penalty on an authority or public servant to be imposed by the state
food Commission in case of failure of compliance with the relief recommended by
the district grievance redressal officer15.

Analysis of the National food for security act,2013

The national food security act 2013 suffers from varied issues

The Act fundamentally talks about hunger and its eradication, but fails to take into
account the evils of under nutrition and eradication of the same. Though the Act's
primary focus is to resolve hunger through the Public Distribution System, individual's
nutritional well-being form a corollary to it. Malnutrition is a major problem faced in
India which can't be solved merely through establishing a PDS system, besides ensuring
supply of food, measures related to sanitation, healthcare and water form an important
aspect of the spectrum. Thus the Act should strive to include both, Right to Food as
well as Right to Nutrition.

The provision of sufficient nutrition should not only entail children but also pregnant
and lactating women, as nutrition conditions available to mothers affect the nutritional

12
Section 5(1), The National food security Act, 2013.
13
Section 15(1), The National food security Act, 2013.
14
Section 13(1), The National food security Act,2013.
15
Section 33, The National food security Act,2013.
 condition in children. Thus, nutritional security should've been incorporated in the said
Act. Also, the Act should prioritize mothers and children to provide benefits to reduce
the chances of malnutrition at early stages.The benefits of Anganwadis are not yet
reaching many areas and their coverage in many areas are poor. It is a challenge to
see how the benefits of the Act would be reaped without sufficient means.

The Act also faced opposition by the Farmer's Union, contending that the Act would
nationalize agriculture, making the Government buy, sell and hoard the majority of
agricultural production. Further, it would reduce famers bargaining capacity and
minimize the support extended to marginal and small farmers. The infrastructural,
environmental, credit and other needs of marginal farmers is overlooked and the Act
doesn't have a provision for the same.

The Act allows private entities in the supply chain, which allows a room for profit
making and unfair. trade practices. The leakages and corrupt practices in the PDS and
supply chain also stand as an obstacle for efficient functioning of the Act. Thus, PDS
should be decentralized to avoid longer supply chains and increase the efficiency.

While the Indian Council for Medical Research recommends that an adult requires 14kg
of food grains per month and children 7kg; the bill provides entitlements to 5kg per
person per month, thus ensuring only 166g of cereal per person per day. Also, the bill
provides only for cereals with no entitlements to basic food necessities such as pulses
and edible oil required to combat malnutrition.16

Food Security in context of the Farm Bill, 2020

It is feared that as there will be no government regulations and bar on stockpiling, the
market force will manipulate everything including the government procurement. The
three farm bills passed by the Parliament will have an adverse impact on the public
distribution system (PDS) in the long run by ending assured procurement at the
minimum support price (MSP).However, there has been no directive given by the

16
Shweta Saini, Ashok Gulati National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013- Challenges, Buffer Stocking and
the Way Forward, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations .
government to lift procurement policy or the PDS as of now. According to the
Procurement Policy, the Food Corporation of India would continue to operate as before
and buy food grains from the farmers at the MSP. This move is said to increase food
security by eliminating the dangerous middlemen, facilitating better realizations for
farmers, attracting investment, and enhancing technology in the sector.

Suggestions for Ensuring Food Security and the Right to Food: For better
safeguarding the right to food and food security there are a number of proposals
that can be adopted and implemented

 There has to be a stronger focus on understanding and enhancing knowledge transfer

among rural farmers. So that food production does not go to waste, proper storage
facilities should be made available.
 Increasing land productivity through the application of modern technology.
 Improving coordination between different government sectors and other stakeholders
by strengthening the national and institutional framework.
 Efforts by the relevant health agencies and authorities to initiate and monitor the
efficient operation of nutrition-related programmes.
 People's capacity to acquire food of acceptable quality should be increased, and there
should be no impediments to food access.
 The development of the agricultural banking sector and the elimination of the
sector's middlemen.
 Increasing the size of farms and providing security to farmers
 Increased access to education and job possibilities, particularly among rural residents

 Food distribution is made more efficient by assuring the effectiveness of the public
distribution system.
 Food security alone will help to reduce hunger, but it will not eliminate
malnutrition or have a significant impact on nutrition status if other factors such as
adequate drinking water and health care are not included.
 Chapter -4

CONCLUSION

The paper has attempted to analyze the state of food security in India, by analyzing the
available literature on the National Food Security Act, 2013. It attempts to showcase
the features and loopholes of the said Act and has suggested ways to combat them.
The National Food Security Act, 2013 is an important measure to tackle the problem
of food insecurity and hunger in the country but it should not be the only measure. It
needs restructuring and incorporation of new changes at various areas for attainment of
its goal. Effective implementation of the Act depends upon the activities of the States
primarily and then the Centre. Ensuring food quantity should not be the only goal, the
quality of food also matters as it leads to satisfaction of nutritional needs of an
individual. Food and nutrition security is attained, would further ensure economic
progress of the country as it would lead to human resource capital formation. Food
security cannot be achieved merely by Acts and policies of hunger eradication. It can
be achieved only if it works in harmony with the policies of agriculture, poverty,
unemployment, women and child empowerment and social security.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bare Act

 National food security act, 2013.

Websites

 Government of India,Department of food and public distribution, responsibilities

under NFSA, https://dfpd.gov.in/pds-runfsa.htm.
 The State of Food Insecurity, 2001, http://www.fao.org/3/y4671e/y4671e06.htm.

 India's food security bill: an inadequate remedy?;Ravi S.Jha

,https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals
network/2013/jul/15/india-food-security-bil