Why Tamil Nadu and Kerala are opposing changes to India's food security law
On July 6, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay urged the Centre to retain the present provision of 35 kg of food grains per household per month under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme, meant for the poorest of the poor, and not to make it a per capita system. The next day, the CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau also voiced its concern and demanded that the proposed amendment to the entitlement criteria be dropped. About 10 days ago, immediately after the Union government made public its plan to amend the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in this regard, Kerala’s Food Minister Anoop Jacob expressed reservations over the move.
On June 24, the Food and Public Distribution (F&PD) department at the Centre published a draft amendment bill to the NFSA. It stated that every person belonging to households covered under AAY would be entitled to seven kg of food grains per month, subject to a maximum of 35 kg per household per month. At present, the entitlement is for the entire household with a ceiling of 35 kg per month. The proposed amendment covers the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act. The public can comment on the amendments till July 13 and send their views by email to suneel.sachdeva@nic.in and saurabhomar.edu@gov.in.
According to the F&PD department, the existing household-based entitlement leads to inequities. Smaller households receive a higher per-capita entitlement, whereas larger households receive a lower per-capita entitlement, which may fall below the entitlement available to priority households. The aim is to remove intra-category inequities, provide for more rational food grain allocation and better align entitlements with nutritional requirements. However, the proposed amendment does not address the issue of inclusion of ineligible persons as beneficiaries, which is being experienced at the State-level.
The opposition from Tamil Nadu and Kerala is rooted in their political history with food policy. Kerala, which has a long history of the public distribution system (PDS) dating back to the princely State of Travancore, introduced informal food distribution mechanisms early on to mitigate food shortage. It was perhaps the first to launch a formal PDS in 1962, three years before the establishment of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Tamil Nadu saw political upsets in 1952 and 1967 due to the incumbent governments' slow handling of rice shortages. Since 1967, successive Chief Ministers have been cautious in decisions regarding rice.
Both states were vocal during the formulation of the NFSA in 2013. Despite the Congress-led UPA regime pushing the legislation, the Kerala government, then under the Congress-led UDF, did not agree to its implementation. The main reservation was that the NFSA would lead to the removal of a “large number of poor families” from the list of beneficiaries. The current opposition reflects similar concerns about the proposed changes.
