An Analysis of National Food Security Act 2013: Theory vs Praxis

The primary focus of the National Food Security Act 2013 (NFSA) being increasing access of unprivileged masses to cheap cereals, the paper has sought rectifications and improvement in the NFSB so that it is able to serve the purpose it was originally intended to. The paper has also discussed the effect of NFSB on population growth, food inflation and has concluded that NFSB needs to promote the income approach to food security through employment generation rather than providing food for free. The paper also thrown light on the solutions provided by Harvey Leibenstein for development of countries in his “Critical Minimum Effort Thesis”. The paper argues that food subsidy can only provide short-term solution, but long-term solution lies in providing gainful employment. The important questions that needs to be answered are: Will the beneficiaries divert the increment in the real income towards factors related to social development, viz. education, skill enhancement and human resource development? or Will Adam Smith's theory of wind fall income stand for itself and lead to degradation in the psychology of the working population?