THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-August 9, 2017- Topic 1
Food for action: on food security in India
The National Food Security Act, 2013, has met with prolonged political
indifference, but there is some hope now since the Centre has been asked by the
Supreme Court to ensure that States implement key aspects of the progressive
law. The directives in the Swaraj Abhiyan case underscore the depressing
reality that several State governments have not met key requirements in the
legislation which empower the common person in securing subsidised food.
Sections 14, 15 and 16, which require the setting up of a grievance redress
mechanism and a State Food Commission with responsibility to monitor the
implementation of the law, have been heeded only in name, as in Haryana, or not
at all. Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s claim last November that
the Act covers the entire country is, therefore, not consistent with the
facts. As the court has pointed out, Article 256, which casts a responsibility
on the States and the Union to ensure compliance with laws made by Parliament,
also provides the remedy, as it can be invoked by the Centre to set things
right. Unfortunately, the NFSA, which is vital for social security through the
Public Distribution System and child welfare schemes, has suffered due to a
lack of political will.
As a law with egalitarian goals, the NFSA should have set the floor for
food security through the principle of universal access, though not every
citizen would need it. There is great merit in providing highly subsidised
foodgrains to targeted households chosen by the State governments, with a
ceiling of 75% of the population in rural areas and 50% in urban areas. But the
system should have in-built mechanisms to allow for the entry of new households
that suddenly find themselves in financial distress, while others can exit it
based on changed circumstances. Such arrangements can be made only when there
is a full-fledged, independent machinery in the form of a Food Commission, and
district-level grievance redress, besides social audits. All these are provided
for under the Act, but have been ignored. Modernisation of the PDS, with the
use of information technology, could incorporate such dynamic features to the
supply of subsidised food to those who need it, and eliminate deficiencies and
fraud. Now that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
has been given specific directives by the court to complete the unfinished
tasks this year, it should make up for lost time. As is widely acknowledged,
some States are better at running the PDS than others, and the food security
law is the best tool to raise standards uniformly. Food Ministry data presented
to Parliament show that the present system does not reflect the true scale of
public grievances, with a mere 1,106 complaints received from beneficiaries
nationwide in 2016, including those reported in the media. The court’s
intervention is wholly welcome to make the NFSA meaningful.
Vocabulary
Prolonged: continuing
for a long time or longer than usual; lengthy.
Example: The region suffered a prolonged drought
Grievance: a
real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially
unfair treatment.
Example: Failure to redress genuine grievances
Synonyms: injustice, wrong, injury, ill, unfairness, affront, insult, indignity
Consistent: unchanging in achievement or effect over a period of time.
Example: Manufacturing processes require a consistent approach
Synonyms: constant, regular, uniform, steady, stable, even, unchanging, undeviating
Remedy: a
medicine or treatment for a disease or injury.
Example: Herbal remedies for aches and pains
Synonyms: treatment, cure, medicine, medication, medicament
Invoked: cite
or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support
of an argument.
Example: The antiquated defense of insanity is rarely invoked today
Synonyms: cite, refer to, adduce, instance, resort
to, have recourse to
Egalitarian: believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve
equal rights and opportunities.
Example: A fairer, more egalitarian society
Circumstance: one's state of financial or material welfare.
Example: The artists are living in reduced circumstances
Incorporate: take in or contain (something) as part of a whole; include.
Example: He has incorporated in his proposals a large number of measures
Synonyms: absorb, include, subsume, assimilate, integrate, take
in
Grievance: a
real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially
unfair treatment.
Example: Failure to redress genuine grievances
Synonyms: injustice, wrong, injury, ill, unfairness, affront, insult, indignity
Intervention: the action or process of intervening.
Example: They are plants that grow naturally without human intervention
