Resource detail

More than three years after Parliament passed the National Food Security Act, all the 36 states and Union Territories have finally rolled out the mega food security legislation. Tamil Nadu, the last state to give its nod for the central Act, on 1 November 2016 commenced implementation of the legislation aimed at providing highly subsidized food grain to at least one-third of the country’s population. With the exception of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, all other states and UTs by the end of June this year had implemented the food security Act. Although the Act was to be implemented within a year after its passage in Parliament in September 2013, many states did not role out the legislation citing time taken for scrutinising the beneficiaries’ list.