The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, is an Act of Parliament that fundamentally transformed India’s approach to food assistance by establishing the "right to food" as a legal entitlement. Enacted on September 10, 2013, and effective retroactively from July 5, 2013, the Act was created to address persistent food insecurity and inefficient distribution by shifting from a welfare-based model to a rights-based one. This shift legally obligates the government to provide subsidized food grains, making the entitlement justiciable.
The NFSA covers up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population. Under its mechanism, beneficiaries are categorized into Priority Households (PHH), entitled to 5 kg of food grains per person per month, and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, entitled to 35 kg per household per month. The Act initially mandated highly subsidized prices: Rice at ₹3/kg, Wheat at ₹2/kg, and Coarse Grains at ₹1/kg.
The NFSA converts existing schemes like the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM), and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) into legal entitlements. It also mandates a maternity benefit of not less than ₹6,000 for pregnant women and lactating mothers, delivered through the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). A key provision is the Food Security Allowance, payable if entitled food grains or meals are not supplied.
A significant recent change, announced in late 2022, made the food grains provided under the NFSA completely free for all beneficiaries, with the Union Government bearing the entire cost, effectively replacing the subsidized price structure. This move was connected to the discontinuation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY). The Act is also linked to the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) system, which uses technological interventions like Aadhaar seeding and ePoS devices to improve transparency and reduce leakages.