Food Security Act boon or bane?

Vidyasagar Ramamurthy, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, speaking at the State level Consultation on National Food Security Act 2013 | EPS

Arguments raged over the effectiveness of the Food Security Act in  bringing down malnutrition in country during the State- level Consultation on National Food Security Act 2013 organised in Chennai by TN-Forces on Wednesday.

While some of the speakers alleged that the Act was only a pretext to allow the entry of Genetically Modified Food Producers and for the import of foreign grains into the country, others felt that the Act, in spite of the challenges, will ensure accountability from government.

Speaking at the event, former IAS officer, M G Devasahayam, said that while what was needed was improvement of the existing PDS system, the government had jeopardised it with the Food Security Bill. “There is no thrust on increasing agriculture. Farmers are forced to abandon their farms and come to the cities. The production is going down. Within a few years, this would meant that the Act will facilitate import of grains from abroad and entry of GM food companies,” he said.

He said that decentralisation of agriculture should be the way forward and that the Act was only an attempt to fool the public and garner votes. “Of late, the only bills that are being passed are those facilitating foreign institutions, be it the Nuclear Act, the FDI in retail bill, etc., and this is no different,” he said. 

Professor K Shanmugavelayutham of TN-Forces pointed out that while there were a number of weaknesses in the Act, it had been effective in providing a redressal mechanism. “In spite of the fact that we had systems like the PDS, it was not possible to take the corrupt officials or government to task since there was no act. Now the civil society has the power to make them accountable,” he said.

Vidyasagar Ramamurthy, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF pointed out that availability of the food grains in the society, accessibility, affordability and also absorption must be ensured. ENS