VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh ranked third in the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) with a score of 0.794 among the general category States.
While Odisha - with a score of 0.836 - bagged the first place, Uttar Pradesh scored 0.797 to claim the second spot. Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal released the first edition of 'State Ranking Index for NFSA-2022' at a conference of food ministers of States and Union Territories held in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Expressing happiness over the State's performance, Civil Supplies Minister Karumuri Nageswara Rao said, "Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has put more focus on the common man, as evident from the effective implementation of the Public Distribution System in the State. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government ensured that food reached the people in time."
On the CM seeking amendments to NFSA, the minister said any such proposal was meant for improving the effectiveness of the Act to benefit the people more.The current version of the Index aimed at measuring the effectiveness of the implementation of NFSA through operations and initiatives under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
Goyal explained that the ranking would ensure a healthy competition among the States and Union Territories.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal explained that under the Act the Centre provided highly subsidised food grains to approximately 80 crore people - five kilogram to a person every month at Rs 1-3 per kg. The Index denoted the efficiency of TPDS operations and did not reflect the level of hunger, if any, or malnutrition, or both.
The ranking was built on three key pillars: the first measured the coverage of national food security act, rightful targeting, and implementation of all provisions of the Act; the second pillar analysed the delivery platform; and the final pillar focused on nutrition initiatives of the department.
The Union minister said India was now 100 per cent connected under One Nation, One Ration Card, allowing the beneficiaries to collect ration from any State or UT in the country.
In future, the system of digitized, Aadhaar-linked Public Distribution would be used to issue Ayushman Bharat cards. Asserting that enough funds were available, the minister clarified that the States/ Union Territories had not provided the relevant data for clearing subsidy claims.