Food security in peril

THE Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent nationwide lockdown have alarmingly raised the spectre of hunger and starvation, ironically at a time when India’s granaries are overflowing on the back of a bumper harvest. A survey conducted by the Health Ministry has indicated gaps in the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) amid the shutdown. Around 44 per cent of the respondents said they had reduced their daily food consumption or were even giving one meal a miss, while barely one-third reported receiving relief in cash or kind. These figures, wherever applicable to the lower strata of society, suggest that the public distribution system — perennially under scrutiny due to allegations of corruption and leakage — has again left a lot to be desired.

A day after the lockdown came into effect on March 25, the Centre had announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore package to help the vulnerable sections tide over the crisis during the ensuing three-month period. Ensuring food security was a key feature of this relief package, which offered free distribution of 5-kg foodgrains per person and 1-kg pulses per household —over and above the subsidised allocation for ration-card holders. With the One Nation One Ration Card scheme yet to be operational across the country, lakhs of migrant workers had little option but to rush back to their native places to avail themselves of the doles.

Despite the Centre’s repeated assurances to the Supreme Court about taking care of the jobless, displaced workers, things have not been progressing smoothly on the ground. Last week, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan had admitted that 39 lakh of the 71 crore people supposed to be covered under the NFSA were not receiving benefits as they did not have ration cards. The Central and state governments must synergise their efforts without delay in order to provide universal access to food — with or without ration cards. Both should ensure that genuine beneficiaries get the help they so desperately and immediately need. Greater lockdown relaxations, subject to compliance with the safety norms, can help bridge the demand-supply gap.