The steps to implement Food Security Act effectively

Government has enacted the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) on 10.09.2013 which has deemed to have come into force on 05.07.2013. Under NFSA, responsibility of Central Government is mainly to allocate foodgrains at subsidized prices to the States/UTs for entitlements under the Act. It is the responsibility of State Governments to take delivery of allocated foodgrains from the designated depots, organize its intra-State allocation for delivery upto door-step of fair price shops and ensure actual delivery of foodgrains to entitled persons, which are also to be identified by State Governments. Accordingly, in order to ensure proper implementation of the Act, States/UTs are impressed upon to ensure proper identification of beneficiaries through a transparent and participative process, delivery of foodgrains by designated State agencies upto the door-steps of fair price shops, availability of adequate scientific storage facilities at various levels, end-to-end computerisation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) operations and setting up of effective grievance redressal mechanism, among others. This information was given by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.