Need a Real Sponsor here August 12, 2013, 2:03 PM IST How Chhattisgarh’s Food Security Law Works ByBiman Mukherji Sruthi Gottipati/Reuters A woman tied a sack filled with subsidized food outside a ration shop in Seoni village, in the state of Chhattisgarh, July 3, 2013. The long-awaited national food security law is expected to be debated in Parliament this week, if passed it would guarantee very cheap food to up to 70% of India’s 1.2 billion people. The food security ordinance, similar to an executive order, was passed by the Congress-led government in early July as a temporary law. Parliament must now pass the legislation on food security in the coming five weeks if it is to become a permanent. If it’s passed, state governments will be responsible for ensuring that the food reaches its destination without leakages and theft which have beset the current system, which funnels about 30 million tons of subsidized food grains annually. Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, already has its own food security law and has been praised for reducing the amount of grain lost to pilferage and through corrupt practices. In an emailed interview with The Wall Street Journal, Raman Singh, chief minister of Chhattisgarh, explained how his state’s food security system works and how they’ve managed to get the grain to the most needy. Edited excerpts: The Wall Street Journal: What percentage of the population in your state have you managed to cover under the state food security law? Raman Singh: Almost 90% population of the state has benefited from cheap food grains under The Chhattisgarh Food and Nutrition Security Act 2012. Entitlements are provided to each household and the eldest woman in the family is regarded as the head of the household. We have covered 55% of households of landless laborers, small marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land, construction workers and those in the urban informal sector. One in four families with particularly vulnerable members, such as those who are terminally ill or physically challenged, have benefited from the law so far. WSJ: Did you take any particular steps to improve delivery of food grains through the public distribution system, which suffers from leakages because of theft in many states? Mr. Singh: Yes. We de-privatized the ration shops by shifting the management of the public distribution system outlets from private licensees to community-based organizations such as gram panchayats (village councils,) female self-help groups and co-operative societies. We organize a Chawal Utsav (Rice Festival) at each ration shop during the first week of every month, which helps to ensure that all food items are adequately stocked in each shop by the last day of the previous month. Food items are delivered direct to the doorstep of ration shops by yellow government and private trucks to help curtail diversion and ensure timely stoking of food items in shops. To make the ration shops financially viable, and reduce the chance of leakage, we increased the commission paid to shop owners and gram panchayats from 8 rupees (13 cents) to 45 rupees for 100 kilograms of food. We provided an interest-free loan of 75,000 rupees to all shops allocated to female self-help groups and gram panchayats. The public distribution system was computerized in 2007 to ensure strict monitoring of movement of stocks and inventory levels at all warehouses and shops in the state. The ration cards have also been computerised and only centrally printed ration cards are distributed to the beneficiaries. The state government started a toll-free public distribution telephone helpline and also took various transparency measures to involve the community in the process of monitoring. WSJ: Will the Chhattisgarh government be able to give more grains to people if the federal food security law is passed by Parliament this session? How would your existing system change in this case? Mr. Singh: The government of Chhattisgarh has made a provision in its Food Security Act, to provide for entitlements in either the state or federal law, whichever is more. Only 33% households in Chhattisgarh were entitled to free grain from the government of India under the national public distribution system. Whereas, the state food security act is providing entitlements to 90% of households. If the national food law is passed then 78% of households will be entitled to cheap grains from the government of India’s public distribution system. However the entitlement will come down to 22.5 kg from 35 kg per household – less than under the state system. Passage of the national food law does not lead to any adverse impact on implementation of the state system. Hence, no major change is required to the existing system. WSJ: Do you plan to expand the scope of the food security law beyond grains to other items such as lentils and edible oils? If so, please describe your plan for expanding the coverage. Mr. Singh: We already provide pulses and iodized salt to vulnerable households and those families of landless laborers and construction workers. The Act also has special entitlements for children, pregnant and lactating mothers, people living with hunger, destitute, homeless, migrants and for persons affected by emergency and disasters. WSJ: Is the state government planning to contribute from its own revenues for expanding the food security law in your state? If so, how much do you plan to spend annually, over and above what the federal government allocates? Mr. Singh: The state government expanded the coverage under public distribution system in 2007 under the Mukhyamantri Khadyanna Sahayata Yojana (meaning the chief minister’s food aid program). Since then, the government has been spending to the tune of 6 billion rupees ($ 99 million) to 8 billion rupees, every year, from its own resources on food security. In light of the provisions of the state food law passed in December, budget provision has been made for 17 billion rupees for the financial year 2013-14. The total annual expenditure from state’s own resources, over and above that provided by the government of India, is estimated to increase to 21 billion rupees as we extend the coverage of the subsidy to 4.2 million households from 3.5 million households. Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 06:49:34 +0000
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