Food security- Need for a commitment to universal distribution system

Hunger and nutritional deprivation on a mass scale are key challenges before the country. The policy response from the government and its various arms is slow, grossly inadequate and confused. The imposed food security bill is in the process of being finalized by the National Advisory Committee, NAC recommended that legal entitlement to subsidized food grains should be extended to at least 75% of the country is population. The Rangarajan Committee however did not favour the recommendations of the NAC. It favours mandatory entitlement of food grains for the priority (BPL) category but not for the general category (APL) Further it suggests that the subsidized grains to the poor should be linked to inflation and to consumer price index in the country.