Ahead of the crucial National Advisory Council (NAC) meeting on October 23, public interest groups have sought the intervention of its chairperson Sonia Gandhi to make the proposed National Food Security Act “comprehensive and meaningful”.
The NAC has been debating various scenarios to cover the maximum number of beneficiaries under the proposed law. However, the government agencies have expressed reservations on the proposals citing factors like cost of operations, availability of grains and the count of poor and needy persons.
In a letter to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the civil society groups under the National Food Security Watch highlighted that attaining food security calls for adoption of an integrated approach that comprehensively addresses both food and nutrition security.
The experts felt that the much-awaited legislation should incorporate clauses for giving free food for those with special needs and the PDS should target the most marginalised sections.
To begin with it said pulses, edible oil and iodised salt need to be added to the PDS basket, with emphasis on the supply of nutritious cereals like jowar, ragi and other “minor” millets.
The experts also called for a decentralised procurement, storage and distribution system.
The groups said food and nutrition security should be seen in the context of its capacity to integrated village level delivery of essential commodities for households by linking it with MGNREGA, nutrition-cum-health programmes, social security scheme like free food grains for the destitute and the right to education plan like the MDM.