NFSA now covers entire country: Paswan

The National Food Security Act (NFSA), under which identified beneficiaries are supplied 5 kg of cheap grains, now covers the entire country with Kerala and Tamil Nadu launching the scheme on Tuesday.
 

The scheme, launched during the previous United Progressive Alliance regime, now covers about 813 million people. Kerala and Tamil Nadu were the only two states where the scheme was not operational.
 

Under NFSA, 75% of the population in rural areas and 50% in urban areas  are to be provided rice at Rs 3 per kg, wheat at Rs 2 per kg and coarse cereals at Rs 1 per kg.
 

“From November 1 2016, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have implemented National Food Security Act. Now NFSA has been implemented in the entire country,” Food Minister Ramvilas Paswan tweeted late Wednesday night.
 

The Central government has fixed a food subsidy of around Rs 135,000 crore in the 2016-17 Union Budget.
 

The Food Security Act launched by the previous UPA government initially covered just 11 states and few Union Territories, but it picked up momentum once, Centre started giving deadline to the states for implementation of the Act.