What attributes characterize the beneficiary households after three years of implementation of National Food Security Act?

• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Author: Amit Kumar,Damodar Suar,Bimal Kishore Sahoo
• Date: 01 December 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2718

RESEARCH ARTICLE

What attributes characterize the beneficiary households after

three years of implementation of National Food Security Act?

Amit Kumar

1

| Damodar Suar

2

| Bimal Kishore Sahoo

2

1

Department of Social Work, Bhopal School of

Social Sciences, Habibganj, Bhopal, India

2

Department of Humanities and Social

Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology

Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

Correspondence

Amit Kumar, Department of Social Work,

Bhopal School of Social Sciences, Habibganj,

Bhopal, MP 462024, India.

Email: amitmsw08@gmail.com

This study examines the factors associated with food security after three years of

implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013. Fifteen hundred and

fourteen households in three states of India—563 from Bihar, 557 from Uttar

Pradesh, and 394 from Haryana—were surveyed. Data on beneficiary status, calo-

rie consumption, economic status, social status, health status, and women

empowerment were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Findings suggest

that beneficiary had more employment in families, normal and deficit calorie

intake, used cow dung cake as fuel, more children enrolment in primary and sec-

ondary schools, and adoption of family planning measures. These improvements

have occurred after three years of implementation of the Act, and through supply

of food grains to poor families.

KEYWORDS

beneficiary, food security, National Food Security Act (NFSA), non-beneficiary

1|INTRODUCTION

Food security was incorporated into millennium development goals in

2000, followed by Sustainable development goals of United Nation

(UN) in 2016 and recently Government of India (GOI) has incorpo-

rated it into National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013 (GOI, 2013).

India has a population of about 1.36 billion (UNFPA, 2019) and to

feed them is a challenge. Of 117 countries on Global Hunger Index

2019, India occupies 102nd position towards the bottom (GHI, 2019).

Till 1970s, India was dependent on developed countries for food sup-

ply. Since the Green revolution in 1970s, India has been made self-

dependent on food production and subsequent research and aid have

further Ged the food production (Hazel, 2002).

Studies have been carried out on Public distribution system(PDS),

Anganwadi, and mid-day meals (MDM). NFSA, combines these three

programs. NFSAwas implemented on February 1, 2014 in Bihar and on

August 20, 2013 in Haryana, formulating the state legislation before

the implementation of NFSA 2013, and on March 1, 2016 in Uttar

Pradesh, almost three years after enactment of central legislation. The

three states cover one-third of the India's population and the moot

question is: what attributes characterize the beneficiary households

after three years of imp lementation of NFSA in the Indian States?

2|SALIENT FEATURES OF NFSA

NFSA provides five kilograms of food grains per person per month

at the price of Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Rs. 1 for rice, wheat, and coarse

grain respectively to priority households and 35 kgs of food grains

per family per month through Antodaya anna yojna.Itensures

nutrient support to pregnant women, lactating mother, and c hil-

dren from 6 months to 14 years of age or studying up t o eight

class. It also provides monetary benefits of Rs. 6000/to preg-

nant women either in lump sum or in equal installments. It covers

75% of people in rural areas and 50% in urban areas. It keeps cap

over beneficiaries' entitlement. The consumption of food grains

beyond the prescribed quota has to be made from open marke t

(NFSA, 2013). While ensuring food security to the beneficiaries

across the country, the program is expected to bring about socio-

economic transformations (Schmidhuber & Tubiello, 2007). One of

the underlying motives of the Act is to empower women socially

and economically. The fact that the eldest woman member of a

household will be the head for issuance of ration cards is a testi-

mony to that (NFSA, 2013). This Act is likely to create favorable

impacts on nutrition, education, health, and empowerment of

women.

Received: 30 April 2020 Revised: 7 December 2020 Accepted: 26 June 2021

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2718

J Public Affairs. 2022;22(Suppl. 1):e2718. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1of8

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2718