The Indian National Congress, Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi has written a letter today to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting measures for ensuring food security to people affected by the lockdown and impact of COVID19.
She has written that lacks of vulnerable people across the country face chronic food insecurity due to the lockdown, while at the same time appreciating the effort of central government for providing free food and additional 5kg grain to the entitlements under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from April-June, 2020.
She has suggested in the letter that the 10kg grains per person to NFSA beneficiaries must be extended for an additional period of 3 months till September, 2020 and it should be extended for additional 6 months to those who are facing food insecurity but not having ration cards.
“I would like to bring your notice that all migrant labour who have been facing acute distress may not be holding NFSA cards. In addition, many deserving people have been excluded from the NFSA lists. The current crisis has pushed many relatively food secure families into food insecurity and poverty. Population increases since 2011 have not been considered for determining each State’s entitlement under NFSA”, She said.
Lastly, She highlighted that the release of food grains to the states will help create storage space with FCI to ramp up rabi season procurement of wheat and rice.