Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Food for all' that was published in Newsband

Food for all

The National Food Security Bill shows promise of doing justice to the huge number of Indians who are undernourished or even starving. These unfortunate people might soon enjoy the right to food.

Under the latest Bill, the exchequer would have to bear a heavy expenditure of Rs.1.24 lakh crore. Yet, the government has gone ahead with the Bill. This Bill should cover all classes of vulnerable people, including senior citizens and the disabled, for supply of essentials. It must then embark on the road to universality in providing access to food as an entitlement.

The state as a trustee of the Food stocks of the nation will have to carefully plan and allocate the cost of implementation of the food distribution programmes so that the benefit of the targeted sections of the society can be carried out in the manner which are harmonious to the Objectives and Scheme of the Act.

Food is a right of every "Living Being" - why talk only about human being. No doubt food security bill is an urgent need of malnutrition nation but this scheme should not be misused by influential people of our society.

Generous and kind hearted people universally support “right to food” utopia. Sure, it’s a lovely idea that no one goes hungry. But it is not only the duty of the government to feed the hungry. The solution to the hunger problem is in the private sector too. We need a massive nationally coordinated campaign by private, social and religious organizations and NGOs to eradicate hunger.

If this bill is implemented universally and effectively then the dream of food security would become a reality. One of the provisions of the bill requires identification of priority households in rural areas but it is not easy to identify the people who come under the ambit of priority households. One of the ways of identifying priority households would be based on their annual incomes. As aadhar card project is already in progress, they can be used in identifying the deserving poor people as well as in preventing the misuse of the grains.

Enactment of the bill is just a beginning of the journey; it has miles to go before it becomes a successful flagship programme. What we need is commitment and dedication on the part of government and cooperation from the people.

It appears that Gandhiji's dream of a hunger free India is getting materialized now. Hunger is the shame and worst form of discrimination and depravity. The current Government deserves all the gratitude of a nation for making food as a right.

Right to food should be followed by availability of food, access to food and absorption of food. Clean drinking water availability is a pre-requisite to food absorption. Monsoon should bless India and there should be better storage facilities to keep the grains from damage and there should also be more employment opportunities for people to purchase nutritious food. The architects of the food bill deserve to be saluted.