226 : India’s Food Security Bill: Grave Digger or Game Changer?
Amitendu Palit
4 September 2013
The much
-
debated National Food Security Bill, 2013, was passed by the
Lok Sabha
and the
Rajya Sabha
–
the Lower and Upper Houses of the Indian Parliament
–
on 26 August 2013
and 2 September 2013 respectively. The Bill is the latest legislation in a series
of measures
(e.g. Right to Information (RTI) Act, Forest Rights Act, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)) aiming to establish rights
-
based economic
governance in India for achieving inclusive growth. The objective of the Bill
is to legally
entitle 75 per
cent of the rural population and 50 per
cent of the urban population to a
minimum supply of foodgrains at subsidised prices. With around 800 million people expected
to receive subsidised food, the programme is arguably one of t
he largest targeted food
security schemes in the world