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One of the most positive changes in the 75 years of Indian independence has been its food security. Old timers can recall the days of PL480 of 1960s when India had to beg and borrow food from the outside world. Today things are very different. There were many who at the beginning of the pandemic had predicted ‘starvation’ in India.  But it did not happen. India, as the rest of the world, suffered (and is still suffering) because of the different waves of the pandemic, but there was no starvation. The Government of India’s report on “Food Security Response during Covid 19” is an eye-opener in this respect.

The report says “The Government of India provides food security through one of the world’s largest food-based safety nets, with nearly 67% of its population relying on the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) for availing their monthly entitlement of food grains at highly subsidised prices. Under the ambit of the National Food Security Act 2013 (NFSA), the TPDS provides subsidised rice and wheat to nearly 80 crore beneficiaries each month. This gave India a massive advantage in its fight against hunger and food insecurity, especially in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.”

This network – and the corresponding government schemes – did not come in a day. We do remember that after the PL480 humiliation, government’s steps towards ‘green revolution’ – the use of high yielding seeds – met with fierce opposition. The man behind it – MS Swaminathan – is still, to some, a ‘villain’. But it changed India’s agricultural practices and made the country self-reliant in food.

But sufficient food production is only half the solution. Proper distribution was the other major factor which (that is, the public distribution system) has been for long under criticism. India during the British period had suffered famines and, as some historians say, not so much for availability of food but for ‘deliberate’ plugging of the distribution system. Even after independence, we have seen occasional shortage of food supplies because of bad distribution. We have seen reports of food rotting at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns.

While we all suffered under Covid 19, we also saw the transformation of the India’s PDS system. The virus killed thousands, but the newly transformed food distribution system of India saved millions. Says the Secretary of the Union Food Department, “India’s Public Distribution System has reformed and evolved as a transparent and robust food grain delivery mechanism that played a vital role in the successful management of food security during Covid-19 in the country, and today, it stands out as potential technology platform for targeting migrant beneficiaries by multiple ddepartments of the Government of India.”

 The Government India report says “Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme, nearly 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries covered under both Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) categories were provided with an additional quota of free food grains (Rice\Wheat) at a scale of 5 Kg per person per month by Department of Food & Public Distribution. The additional free food grains were provided to all AAY & PHH beneficiaries every month, in addition to their regular monthly entitlement under NFSA i.e. 35 Kg per month per family for AAY beneficiaries and 5 Kg per month per person for PHH beneficiaries. For PMGKAY and Atma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme (ANBS), the Government of India incurred an additional total expenditure of `1.5 lakh crore.”

We need to remember that all these ‘monthly entitlements’ of the people came after the implementation of the National Food Security Act of 2013. It wasn’t an easy movement then, and the Supreme Court had to intervene. Food is still not ‘directly’ a Fundamental Right; but the National Food and Security Act of 2013 (NFSA2013) now provides subsidised food grains to 75% of India's rural population and 50% of its urban population. NFSA 2013 includes almost two-thirds of the Indian population in its entirety.