[Marxistindia] Withdraw Proposed Amendment to National Food Security Act

[news from the cpi(m)]

July 7, 2026

 

Press Statement

 

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:

 

Withdraw Proposed Amendment to National Food Security Act

 

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the proposed amendment to
the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which seeks to change the entitlement
criteria under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) from a household-based system
to a per capita system.

 

The proposed change of enhancing food grains to 7 kg per person offers no
benefit to larger households, as their entitlement will continue to remain
capped at 35 kg per month regardless of family size. At the same time, it
will substantially reduce the foodgrain entitlement of smaller households,
which are currently guaranteed the full 35 kg under the existing scheme. The
amendment will therefore disproportionately affect the poorest and most
vulnerable sections of society, including elderly couples, widows, persons
with disabilities, tribal families, landless agricultural labourers, daily
wage workers, persons with chronic illnesses, and small nuclear families
whose food security depends on the AAY, irrespective of household size.

 

The amendment will adversely impact states, particularly the southern states
that have successfully implemented family planning programmes and
consequently have smaller average household sizes. These states will suffer
a significant reduction in their overall foodgrain allocations despite their
achievements in population stabilisation.

 

For years, there has been a legitimate and widely supported demand to revise
the beneficiary lists under the NFSA, which continues to be based on the
outdated 2011 Census. As a result, millions of eligible people remain
excluded from the Act's benefits. Instead of addressing this long-pending
demand by updating the beneficiary database and expanding coverage in line
with current population figures, the Modi Government has chosen to introduce
an amendment that effectively reduces the food entitlements of the poorest
sections of the population.

 

This anti-poor amendment exposes the Union Government's attempt to gradually
dilute and weaken the National Food Security Act, a landmark legislation
enacted as a result of sustained people's struggles to establish food as a
legal right. The CPI(M) demands that the proposed amendment be withdrawn
immediately.

 

 

(Muralidharan)

For CPI(M) Central Committee Office

 

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