The ‘Anna Bhagya’ Fiasco and Thinking Beyond Rice

Context:

The ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme was launched by Karnataka government to provide an additional five kilograms of free rice to every member of a Below Poverty Line household. 

Image Source: The Hindu

About National Food Security Act (NFSA):

• The National Food Security Act (NFSA), also known as the Right to Food Act, is an Indian Act of Parliament that guarantees food and nutritional security for all citizens of India. The Act was passed in 2013 and came into force in 2014. 
• The NFSA provides for a number of schemes to ensure food security, including: 
  • The Public Distribution System (PDS): The PDS is a system of fair price shops that sell subsidized food grains to eligible beneficiaries. 
  • The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS): The TPDS is a subset of the PDS that provides subsidized food grains to the poorest and most vulnerable sections of the population. 
  • The Mid-Day Meal Scheme: The Mid-Day Meal Scheme provides a free meal to all children in government schools. 
  • The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS): The ICDS provides a package of services to pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under the age of six, including supplementary nutrition, immunization, and health check-ups. 

Overview of the Scheme:

Few Related Schemes:

Challenges: 

• Inadequate Coverage and Lack of Nutritious Food: Many believe that the coverage of 80 crore people during the pandemic through the Public Distribution System (PDS) is inadequate. 
  • Additionally, the PDS in most states does not provide nutritious food items like pulses and oil, which is a gap that needs to be addressed.
• Ration Card Coverage: Despite the expansion of the PDS under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, many people still do not have ration cards. 
  • The use of outdated population data led to under-coverage, resulting in the exclusion of millions of people from the PDS.
• Discontinuation of the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS): The central government’s decision to discontinue OMSS sales to state governments has created challenges for states like Karnataka that rely on OMSS grain to fulfill their promises, such as the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme. 
  • The reasons provided by the central government, including concerns about price stabilization and grain stocks.
• Lack of Vision for Food Security: The ‘Anna Bhagya’ promise made by the government is criticized for focusing on providing additional rice instead of addressing the exclusion of over one million people from the PDS due to outdated Census figures. 

Way Forward: 

• Updating PDS Coverage: The central government should update PDS coverage by using the projected population for 2023 instead of relying on outdated Census figures. 
• Expansion and Diversification of the PDS: Instead of focusing solely on providing additional rice, the Karnataka government can expand the PDS to include excluded individuals, approximately 1.1 million people.
• Procurement of Millets: As Karnataka is a major producer of millets like ragi, the state government can consider procuring millets at Minimum Support Prices (MSP) to meet the obligations of an expanded PDS. 
  • Millets are locally grown, nutritious alternatives to rice and can support both farmers and consumers.
• Providing Additional Food Items: For existing PDS beneficiaries and new cardholders, the Karnataka government can provide two kilograms of dal and a kilogram/litre of oil for free each month.
• Cost Considerations: The expansion and diversification of the PDS, including the provision of additional food items, would cost the state government roughly the same as the ‘Anna Bhagya’ promise. 

News Source: The Hindu