In September 2013, the Parliament of India passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) that made ‘right to food’ a legal entitlement for approximately three-fourths of the rural population and half of the urban population of India. Besides ensuring access to highly subsidised foodgrain, NFSA also made maternity benefits and nutrition for children aged six months to 14 years a legal entitlement. While it is too early to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of NFSA, this paper attempts to document its rollout and to discuss important innovations and challenges emerging from NFSA’s early experiences in different states and union territories (UTs).
The author would like to thank Dr. Jean Dréze and Dr. Reetika Khera for their feedback on the paper. The author would also like to thank three anonymous referees for their comments and Dr. Bhavani R.V. for her guidance. The paper benefitted immensely from inputs of participants at a workshop on food security at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in August 2016.