• The Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiaries are provided 35 kg per month per family @ Rs. 3/kg rice, Rs. 2/kg wheat and Rs. 1 per kg coarse grains.
• Priority households are provided 5 kg per person per month @ Rs. 3/kg rice, Rs. 2/kg wheat and Rs. 1 per kg coarse grains.
• Women are provided free meal during pregnancy and up to six months after child birth through Aanganwadi and Rs. 6000 in instalments.
• Children aged 6 months to 6 yrs are provided free meal at local Anganwadi.
• Children aged 6 yrs to 14 yrs are provided mid-day meal scheme at school.
• The eldest woman who is not less than 18 years of age, in every eligible household, are made the head of the household for the purpose of ration cards.
• Food security bill has to a certain extent helped in eliminating hunger but it has not been able to
eliminate malnutrition in India.
This is due to the following reasons:
• The food supplied under the Act is not sufficient to meet the quantity and quality requirements of a family. India has slipped to 101st place out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021, down from 94th place in 2020.
• As per the Act, mostly wheat & rice are supplied which lacks most of the nutrients required to eliminate malnutrition in children.
• Nutrition encompasses more than simple food. It includes factors such as health, water, sanitation, gender perspectives, and social standards, to which the Act does not cater to.
• Hunger & Malnutrition can be dramatically reduced, if not eliminated, within a decade through a massive public health campaign: This would ensure a modern sewerage and sanitation system in every urban, semi-urban and semi-rural area and pure drinking water, septic tanks and lavatories in rural areas.