Govt extends implementation of Food Security Act by three months

The government has extended implementation of National Food Security Act by three months and stated that all states of the country will get a time frame of three months to implement the Act. The government has called a meeting of states’ Food Ministers on July 5 to discuss the Act’s rollout and the problems faced by the states. The meeting would also discuss steps that states should take to check hoarding and tackle inflation.

Earlier, states were given time till July 4 to implement the Act but so far only 5 states have implemented the Food Security Act and 6 states have implemented the Act partially. More than 19 states and union territories are yet to implement the provisions of the Act.

Food Security Act is aimed at providing highly-subsidised food grains to 800 million poor people in addition to continuation of the support price for the farmers. Food Security Act to give nation's two-third population the right to get 5 kgs of foodgrains every month per person at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg, costing around Rs 1,25,000 crore annually for the government to supply around 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to identified beneficiaries. The Act is expected to broaden the fiscal deficit of the government in future.