Lok Sabha Question No. 3581 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-22
Subject: Implementation of NFSA
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Abdul Majeed Ariff

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3581 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22ND MARCH, 2023

## IMPLEMENTATION OF NFSA

3581. ADV. A.M. ARIFF:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC

- (a) whether the Government has taken any steps to streamline the implementation of the National Food Security Act, if the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government intends to provide financial assistance for the States including Kerala for constructing scientific godowns for safely keeping the foodgrains allotted under the Act at the Taluk levels, if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government has received any representation from the Government of Kerala financial assistance to the tune of Rs.100 crore for the construction of food godowns in 20 Taluks in the first phase, if SO, the action taken thereon; and
- (d) the details of funds earmarked, sanctioned and utilized under NFSA from FY 2019-20 to 2021-222

MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

- (a) The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) is being implemented successfully by all the Statel Union Territories (UTs) covering about 80.11 crore beneficiaries against the intended coverage of 81.35 crore.

(b) & (c): The Department of Food and Public Distribution is implementing a Central Sector Scheme   "Storage & Godowns" for construction of godowns with focus on augmenting storage capacity in the States of North Eastern Region (NER) and a few other States: Under this scheme, funds are released to FCI and the Governments of NER States and Jammu & Kashmir for construction of godowns considering the storage gaps as well as difficult geographical & climatic conditions in these States-

A proposal for financial assistance was received from State Government of Kerala for construction of 83 godowns with a total budget of Rs.498 crores. Accordingly, the matter was examined and a5 there is no scheme to release funds for construction of godowns in Kerala, therefore the proposal received was transferred to Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare for   taking up the matter under the schemes  being implemented by them:

(d): Foodgrains are made available by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to the StatesIUTs free of cost under the NFSA, for which food subsidy is released to Only in the case of States participating in the Decentralized Procurement (DCP), under which State Government take responsibility of procurement of foodgrains and its distribution to the eligible households, that food subsidy is released directly to State Governments. Ministry of Finance allocates scheme-wise fund as a whole: There is no State-wise fund allocation for Food Subsidy-

Central Government also provides Central assistance to States/UTs under NFSA for meeting expenditure on intra-State movement and handling of foodgrains and fair price shop dealers' margin as per provisions of the Food Security (Assistance to State Governments) Rules, 2015 as amended from time to time.

A Statement indicating the fund allocated and released under the NFSA during the financial year 2019-20 to 2021-22 is at Annexure:

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ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN PART (d) OF THE UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3581 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 22.03.2023 IN THE LOK SABHA REGARDING SIMPLEMENTATION OF NFSA" .

Statement indicating the fund released to Food Corporation of India (FCI) and States/ UTs as Food Subsidy and fund released to States/ UTs as central assistance towards intra-State movement & handling of foodgrains and fair price dealers' margin under the National Food Security Act, 2013 shop

(Amount in Crore)

| FY      | Schemes                    |   Budgeted Estimates (BE) |   Revised Estimates (RE) | Subsidy Released (AE)   |
|---------|----------------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|
| 2019-20 | Food Subsidy to FCI        |                 151000    |                 75000    | 75000.00                |
| 2019-20 | Food Subsidy to DCP States |                  33000    |                 33508.3  | 33508.35                |
| 2019-20 | Central Assistance         |                   4102.21 |                  1678.78 | 1678.78                 |
| 2020-21 | Food Subsidy to FCI        |                  77982.5  |                344077    |                         |
| 2020-21 | Food Subsidy to DCP States |                  37337.1  |                 78337.8  | 78337.77                |
| 2020-21 | Central Assistance         |                   3982.54 |                  6482.54 | 6482.54                 |
| 2021-22 | Food Subsidy to FCI        |                 202616    |                210929    | 2,08,929.00             |
| 2021-22 | Food Subsidy to DCP States |                  40000    |                 75290.1  | 79789.54                |
| 2021-22 | Central Assistance         |                   4000    |                  6000    | 6000.00                 |