Food Security Bill to cover just 66% of India's hungry

With 230 million people under-nourished, the country awaits some comprehensive policy intervention from the government to tackle this haunting crisis. One of the most logical measures would be to provide a fixed amount of foodgrain to all citizens. But wouldn’t the costs be enormous, ask sceptics?

The Center for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), a Delhi-based think tank, crunched all the numbers and came up with the answer. It would take Rs 1.85 lakh crore every year to provide 24 crore households with adequate monthly food grains. This assumes that each household will be sold 23 kg rice at Rs.3 per kg, about 12 kg wheat at Rs.2 per kg and millets at Rs.1 per kg every month.

At present, the monthly food subsidy provided by the government is about Rs. 60,573 crore (as per 2011-12 Budget Estimates). So the government will have to mobilize Rs 1.25 crore in addition to this.

But, here’s the rub: the government has provided for just Rs 79,800 crore in the proposed draft National Food Security Bill. That is about two-thirds of what is actually needed.

CBGA researchers say that what the government is planning is to make available food grain at low prices only to certain ‘targeted’ sections, that is, the below-povertyline population. “Dividing households into “priority” and “general” category and not universalizing the distribution of grains, seems to be a step backwards,” says CBGA.

This is because the poverty line is pegged very low at Rs. 25 per day in rural areas and Rs.32 in urban areas. A large number of people are technically above this line but in reality are very poor. Also, the poverty line surveys are ten years old, and they missed out on thousands of people.

Given the widespread hunger and malnutrition, the government will have to get serious and “take the bull by the horns”, says CBGA.