Free Ration for One Year To All NFSA Beneficiaries: Know Everything For UPSC

Free Ration for One Year To All NFSA Beneficiaries: 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. So, the Union Cabinet’s decision to provide Free Ration for One Year To All NFSA Beneficiaries is a welcome move. The Cabinet decision also addresses concerns over a likely dip in India’s grain stocks, particularly of wheat. Today’s Article ”Free Ration for One Year To All NFSA Beneficiaries” covers UPSC CSE Mains’ GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges and GS 3: Food Security

Why in news?

• The Union Cabinet on Friday decided not to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY or free ration scheme) beyond December.
• The government will, however, provide grains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) free-of-cost to the 813 million beneficiaries during the entire 2023.

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Is it a Fiscally Prudent Move?

• The move is a fiscally prudent one, given that the cost of the PMGKAY, under which additional quantities of grains are given to the same sections of people, is much higher than that on making NFSA grains totally free.
• Considering the economic cost of grains, the additional food subsidy expenditure due to Friday’s decision would be around Rs 25,000 crore. In comparison, had PMGKAY been extended for one year, it would have cost the exchequer Rs 1.6-1.7 trillion.

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How NFSA Works Presently?

• Presently, under NFSA, the government provides 5 kilogram of food grains per person per month at highly subsidised rates. Rice is given to the beneficiaries under NFSA at Rs3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg.
• Also, the families covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) get 35 kg of food grains per month.

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How PMGKAY Works?

• The PMGKAY is a free ration scheme which has cost the government about Rs 3.91 trillion since its April 2020 launch in the midst of the first Covid-19 wave.
• Since its launch, the scheme has run continuously with several extensions, except for the period between December 2020 to April 2021.
• The latest extension was for three months to December 31, 2022.
• Under the PMGKAY, 800 million people have been getting 5 kg of food grains free-of-cost every month.

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Know About NFSA 2013

Though the issue of ‘food security’ at the household is continuously being addressed by the Government since long, through the Public Distribution System and the Targeted Public Distribution System, the enactment of the National Food Security Act, (NFSA) 2013 on July 5, 2013 marks a paradigm shift in the approach to food security from welfare to rights based approach. Key Provisions:

• The NFSA Act legally entitles upto 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution(TPD) System.
• About two thirds of the population therefore is covered under the Act to receive highly subsidized foodgrains.
• As a step towards women empowerment, 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 of ration cards under the Act.
• The Act is being implemented in all the States/UTs, and on an all India basis, out of maximum coverage of 81.34 crore persons, around 80 crore persons have been covered under NFSA at present for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains.
• The identification of beneficiaries by States/UTs is a continuous process, which involves exclusion of ineligible/fake/duplicate ration cards and also exclusion on account of death, migration etc. and inclusion on account of birth as also that of genuine left-out households.
• One of the guiding principles of the Act is its life-cycle approach wherein special provisions have been made for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years, by entitling them to receive nutritious meal free of cost through a widespread network of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres, called Anganwadi Centres under ICDS scheme and also through schools under Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme.
• Higher nutritional norms have been prescribed for malnourished children upto 6 years of age.
• Pregnant women and lactating mothers are further entitled to receive cash maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000 to partly compensate for the wage loss during the period of pregnancy and also to supplement nutrition.

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FAQs on Free Ration for One Year To All NFSA Beneficiaries

Q. When was PMGKAY launched?

Ans. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was launched in April 2020 to help the poor people whose livelihoods were shuttered by Covid-19 Pandemic.

Q. What is NFSA Act 2013?

Ans. The NFSA Act 2013 provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus covering about two-thirds of the population.

Q. Do we have Constitutional provision of Right To Food?

Ans. Though the Indian Constitution does not have any explicit provision regarding right to food, the fundamental right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution may be interpreted to include right to live with human dignity, which may include the right to food and other basic necessities.

Q. Do GOI provides free ration under NFSA 2013?

Ans. Not earlier but on December 23, 2022, the Government of India has decided to provide a free ration to 81.35 crore poor people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year i.e. till 23rd December 2023.

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(Recent Editorial Analysis by our team at Adda247)

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