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Draft national food security bill: explanatory note

Draft national food security bill: explanatory note

This explanatory note by the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Sonia Gandhi highlights the rationale and major considerations that form basis of the NAC proposals on food security.

The proposed NFSA aims to ensure public provisioning of food and related measures, to enable assured economic and social access to adequate food with dignity, for all persons in the country, at all times, in pursuance of their fundamental right to be free from hunger, malnutrition and other deprivations associated with the lack of food and related matters. Although the right to adequate nutrition connects with a wide range of provisions, the main focus of the NFSA should be on legal food entitlements that underscore the duty of central, state and local governments to provision food to the people, through subsidised grain, direct feeding programmes and related interventions. Other aspects, such as adequate sanitation and water facilities, enhanced food production, and social security pensions should be included mainly as „enabling provisions? that are enjoined upon governments but not legally enforceable in a court of law.This Explanatory Note highlights the rationale and major considerations that form the basis of the NAC proposals on food security. It supplements: the NAC recommendations on food security released on 23 October 2010; and the NAC Framework Note on the Draft National Food Security Bill released on 21 January 2011.

See Also

Report: Expert committee on national food security bill.
Note: Draft national food security bill.
Bill: Draft national security bill, 2010.
Report: Food security - what the government says and what we want.
Report: Proposed national security act - a concept note.
Opinion: Fix what is broken.
Opinion: From where our food will come.
Opinion: Bring farmers to farms.
 

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