Economic Survey: National Food Security Act Coverages should be reduced

The Economic Survey was tabled by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the Parliament on January 31, 2019. The Survey says that the subsidies under National Food Security Act (NFSA) should be sharply reduced

Highlights

The Survey suggests that the coverage of the act should be reduced to 20% of the population. On the other hand, these funds should be diverted towards incentivizing environmentally sustainable production. Also, more focus should be laid to replenish the food grain economy that has been riddled due to several economic inefficiencies.

Current Scenario of NFSA

At present, around 67% of the Indian households are entitled to 5 kilograms of subsidized wheat and rice per person per month. Over 800 million are benefitted from food subsidy scheme.

Since the NFSA was introduced in 2013, the expense of food subsidy has increased from 1.1 trillion rupees in 2014-15 to 1.7 trillion rupees in 2018-19

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2020