Nagaland to launch food law in 2 districts from June 1

Nagaland will roll out the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from June 1 in two districts -- Kohima and Dimapur -- taking the total number of implementing states and Union Territories to 34.
Till now, 33 states and UTs have implemented the law while two states - Kerala and Tamil Nadu - are expected to roll out the law after elections.
The NFSA was passed by Parliament in 2013 and state governments were given one year to implement the scheme. Since then, the deadline has been extended thrice, with the latest one ending September 2015.
"Nagaland government will implement NFSA from June in a phased manner. It will be rolled out in Kohima and Dimapur districts effective from June 1 and rest of the districts will be covered from July 1," Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

Last week, the minister had a detailed discussion on implementation of NFSA with state Chief Minister T R Zeliang.
Noting that the state government has promised to fulfil all pre-conditions for implementation of the law, Paswan said the state is in the process of printing new ration cards and the online allocation of foodgrains will be started immediately.

"The coverage of Aadhaar has also gone up to 65 per cent and soon ration cards will be seeded with Aadhaar to check leakages and improve transparency in the public distribution system," Paswan said.
On pending transport subsidy claims of the hilly state, the minister said the dues are pending for over 20 years and a special task force has been constituted to look into this issue. The committee will submit the report by July 30.

The NFSA aims to provide legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per person per month at Rs 1-3/kg to two-third of the country's population.
At present, the Centre is allocating foodgrains to 33 states/UTs as per the new food law, while the rest are getting foodgrains quota as per earlier PDS norms.
In the Budget 2016, the government has allocated Rs 1.34 lakh crore as food subsidy for 2016-17, which is slightly lower than Rs 1.39 lakh crore this fiscal.