Synergy between Food Security Act & NREGA

In its latest election manifesto the Congress pledged to “enact a Right to Food Law that guarantees access to sufficient food for all people, particularly the most vulnerable sectors of society.” It further pledged that “every family below the poverty line either in rural or urban areas will be entitled by law to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kg.” Also promised were subsidised community kitchens in all cities for homeless people and migrants with Central government support. And, “along the lines of NREGA we will enact a National Food Security Act.”



Such an act will meet a goal set by Mahatma Gandhi for independent India: ‘the god of bread’ should bless every home and hut. There is an unacceptable extent of under-nutrition and malnutrition in India, which occupies a shameful position in all indices relating to hunger. A large segment of the chronically undernourished belongs to families of small and marginal farmers and landless labour. The position is serious in the case of women and children. Because of maternal and foetal under-nutrition and malnutrition, nearly every fourth child born is under-weight. Such low birth weight children suffer many handicaps including impaired cognitive ability. Thus, poor children are denied even at birth an opportunity for the full expression of their innate genetic potential for mental and physical development. This is inexcusable.


The successful implementation of the NREGA and the Right to Information Act indicates that the climate is conducive for a far-reaching, rights-based legislation to eliminate hunger and deprivation. Supreme Court rulings reinforce the view that the right to food is basic to achieving the right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. One of the terms of reference the UPA government set in 2004 for the National Commission on Farmers was to “work out a comprehensive medium-term strategy for food and nutrition security in the country in order to move towards the goal of universal food security over time.” The NCF held consultations all over India on the pathways to a nutrition-secure India. Its report was submitted on October 4, 2006.


By definition, food security involves every individual gaining physical, economic, social and environmental access to a balanced diet that includes the necessary macro- and micro-nutrients, safe drinking water, sanitation, environmental hygiene, primary healthcare and education so as to lead a healthy and productive life. The food should originate from efficient and environmentally benign production technologies that conserve and enhance the natural resource base of crops, farm animals, forestry, inland and marine fisheries.


Such a holistic definition requires concurrent attention to the following aspects, too:


Food availability: This is a function of home production or, where absolutely essential, imports.


Food access: This is a function of livelihood opportunities and purchasing power. (As early as in 1859, a Famine Commission appointed by the colonial government said: “Indian famines are not famines of food, but of works; where there is work there is money and where there is money there is food.” This is why Mahatma Gandhi said in 1946 at Noakhali. “To a people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and promise of food as wages.”


Food absorption: The utilisation of food in the body will depend on non-food factors such as safe drinking water, environmental hygiene, primary healthcare and access to toilets. Therefore, while developing legislation for food security, food and non-food factors will have to be considered together on the following lines.


Food availability: The government has initiated programmes to increase food production, such as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the Food Security Mission, and the National Horticulture Mission. Food availability should relate to macro- and micro-nutrients. In addition to protein calorie undernutrition, there is severe micronutrient malnutrition, as for example, of iron, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and zinc, leading to hidden hunger. The National Horticulture Mission provides an opportunity to introduce horticultural remedies to nutritional maladies. All that is needed is mainstreaming the nutritional dimension in designing the horticulture programme in each agro-climatic area.


The other areas which will need attention are: widening the food basket by including local grain varieties like ragi, jowar and millets in the public distribution system; the promotion of community gene, seed, food and water banks in each village, and the establishment of community kitchens modelled on the Indira Gandhi Community Kitchen organised years ago in Pune. These are particularly effective in combating malnutrition in urban areas. The widening of the food basket by including millets, legumes and tubers, which have greater tolerance to adverse conditions, is important in the context of climate change.


Food access: The Congress manifesto has said 25 kg of rice or wheat would be provided each month to economically underprivileged families at Rs. 3 a kg. With the initiation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the minimum purchasing power for food security is being created in families living below the poverty line. By adopting the support price policy recommended by the NCF, that is, C2 (total cost of production) plus 50 per cent as has been done in the case of wheat this year, the purchasing power of small and marginal farmers can be improved. Universalisation of the PDS is an idea whose time has come, since there are adequate grain stocks.


Food absorption: Here, the schemes dealing with drinking water, sanitation, environmental hygiene and so on should be brought together. The Total Sanitation programme and the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission, if implemented with community participation through panchayats and nagarpalikas, will make a difference in promoting effective absorption of food in the body, particularly among children.


With such a holistic approach, chronic, hidden and transient hunger can be addressed in a cost effective and meaningful manner. To provide political oversight and to foster a pan-political approach in matters relating to food security, the NCF recommended the establishment of a National Food Security and Sovereignty Board under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and with members drawn from different political parties, Union Ministers and Chief Ministers. Such a political support and oversight body should become an integral part of the legislation.


NREGA, food security & human development


The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which came into force in February 2006, now covers all of rural India. It has generated over 450 crore person-days of employment, a major share going to women and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families. Over Rs. 35,000 crore has been paid as wages. The priorities of the work to be undertaken include watershed management and water conservation, drought-proofing, flood protection, land development, minor irrigation and rural connectivity. Such work is important to strengthen the ecological foundations of sustainable agriculture. The NREGA is probably the world’s largest ecological security programme. A major weakness has been the absence of effective technical guidance and support from agricultural and rural universities and institutes. The Union Ministry of Rural Development has taken steps to achieve convergence of brain and brawn, by enlisting the support of Ministries and Departments. Such convergence of expertise for sustainable development will help to enhance farm productivity without causing ecological harm.


What is now needed is a convergence for human development at NREGA sites. India occupies the 132nd position among 179 countries in the UNDP’s 2009 Human Development Index. That position may worsen. NREGA workers represent some of the most economically and socially underprivileged sections. Mostly, these workers are undernourished, with poor opportunities for healthcare. Hence, there is need to bring about a convergence of child care, nutrition, health (Rural Health Mission) and education programmes at NREGA sites. Education can be imparted in the evenings, using the joyful learning techniques available in computer-aided literacy programmes. Such a convergence in sustainable development along with convergence in human development will be creditable.


There is also a need to raise the self-esteem of NREGA workers, making them feel proud of the fact that they are engaged in checking eco-destruction. Due recognition could be given to the NREGA groups that have done outstanding work in water harvesting, watershed development and soil healthcare with “Environment Saviour Awards”. This will help spread awareness of the critical role NREGA workers play. To begin with, there could be 10 awards covering distinct agro-climatic zones, each worth Rs. 10 lakh. Since these will be group awards, the money could be divided among the workers, depending on how long they have worked. The NREGA will then help to improve both food security and human development index.


There are uncommon opportunities to erase India’s image as the land of the poor, hungry and illiterate. To utilise them, an import requirement is a change in the mindset from patronage to partnership and from undervaluing the human resource to considering our youthful population as our greatest asset.