Universalising PDS feasible, badly needed in India: Right to Food Campaign

Says at present only 57% population is covered under PDS, while 67% has legal entitlement to subsidised grains under NFSA

The Right to Food Campaign (RTFC) today said that at a time when India is passing through one of the world’s worst Covid-19 crisis, it needs a universal food security system more than ever.

The campaign said that at present only 57 per cent of the country’s population is covered under the PDS, whereas 67 percent has a legal entitlement to subsidized food grains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Ration card quotas were distributed across states based on population figures from the 2011 Census, and have not been revised to account for the increase in population by more