The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Withdraw Proposed Amendment to National Food Security Act
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the proposed amendment to the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which seeks to change the entitlement criteria under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) from a household-based system to a per capita system.
The proposed change of enhancing food grains to 7 kg per person offers no benefit to larger households, as their entitlement will continue to remain capped at 35 kg per month regardless of family size. At the same time, it will substantially reduce the foodgrain entitlement of smaller households, which are currently guaranteed the full 35 kg under the existing scheme. The amendment will therefore disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society, including elderly couples, widows, persons with disabilities, tribal families, landless agricultural labourers, daily wage workers, persons with chronic illnesses, and small nuclear families whose food security depends on the AAY, irrespective of household size.
The amendment will adversely impact states, particularly the southern states that have successfully implemented family planning programmes and consequently have smaller average household sizes. These states will suffer a significant reduction in their overall foodgrain allocations despite their achievements in population stabilisation.
For years, there has been a legitimate and widely supported demand to revise the beneficiary lists under the NFSA, which continues to be based on the outdated 2011 Census. As a result, millions of eligible people remain excluded from the Act’s benefits. Instead of addressing this long-pending demand by updating the beneficiary database and expanding coverage in line with current population figures, the Modi Government has chosen to introduce an amendment that effectively reduces the food entitlements of the poorest sections of the population.
This anti-poor amendment exposes the Union Government’s attempt to gradually dilute and weaken the National Food Security Act, a landmark legislation enacted as a result of sustained people’s struggles to establish food as a legal right. The CPI(M) demands that the proposed amendment be withdrawn immediately.