Kohima, July 20 (MExN): An awareness programme on National Food Security Act and Lokayukta was held at St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama with Kezhokhoto Savi, Advocate and NVCO President as the main speaker on July 19. The programme, organized by the Alumni Association St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama, was attended by more than 3400 college students, according to a press release from the organizers .
Kezhokhoto Savi said the main features of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) are: statutory acknowledgement of hunger and malnutrition and making the right to food a legal entitlement; almost doubling the people covered under PDS scheme from 38% to 67% of the population; strengthening and expansion of the Public Distribution System, from a situation of it being dismantled to the fair price shop and the ration system being there to stay; although not universal, it is the first step towards moving away from the poverty line based divisions of APL & BPL; the maternal entitlements will now be universal.
The NFSA 2013 is to provide food and nutritional security by ensuring access to adequate quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity, the main speaker said. All the states, he said, are bound to implement the Act within 365 days, i.e., by July 5, 2014, however after a delay of nearly three years, Nagaland on June 27, 2016 launched the much awaited Act. The Act will cover 78.83% of the rural populace and 61.98% of the urban populace in the state. The beneficiaries of AAY and Priority Household (PHH) will be provided 35kg and 5kg per head respectively of subsidized food grains at Rs.3/- per kg for rice and Rs.2/- for wheat in the ration of 4:1.
Together with 2,12,034 Antyodaya Anna Yojana(AAY) beneficiaries, the department will cover 14,04,956 beneficiaries. In case of short supply of food grains, the centre will provide cash to the states, which will be passed on to the beneficiaries, Savi added. The implementation of the Act makes India the first country to recognize that ensuring food security to its citizen is not only moral or ethical, but also legally imperative, he added.
Meanwhile, Savi said that the present legislators in Nagaland State Assembly simply avoid Lokayukta as it will check them and some may even be punished. He pointed out that the recent NLA session simply asked the Governor to give another tenure to present the committee report on Lokayukta which was constituted last year. Lokayukta, an anti-corruption ombudsman organization in the Indian states, is to be established in Nagaland to punish the corrupt public servants, including politicians, and those amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income, he stated.
The programme was chaired by the Alumni Association St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama president, Meyiesul Thapru and the closing remark was presented by the college vice-principal, Fr. Anthony.
