This new law enacted by the Parliament became effective from the 5^th of July,2013 with the objective to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people so that they can live a life with dignity.

The Act provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus covering about two-thirds of the total population at the national level.

Government of India has fixed the ceiling on  number of  beneficiaries under NFSA at 82.17% of  rural population and 55.77% of  urban population for Odisha. Accordingly, the ceiling for TPDS beneficiaries  of Odisha has been fixed at 326.41 lakh based on this formula.

• The eligible households will be entitled to receive 5 Kgs of foodgrains per person per month at subsidised prices of Rs. 3/2/1 per Kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains.
• The existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35 Kgs of foodgrains per household per month.

• Targeted Public Distribution System,
• Mid Day Meal (MDM) and
• Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) under ICDS

• The Act gives special focus on the nutritional support to women and children. Besides meal to pregnant women(soon after registration of pregnancy) and lactating mothers (till six months after the child birth), such women will also be entitled to receive maternity benefit of Rs. 6,000 per child for the first 2 deliveries.
• Children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years are entitled to nutritious meals from the AWC. Children in the age group of 6-14 years are entitled to nutritional meals under MDM as per the prescribed nutritional standards.

Pregnant women and lactating mothers are already receiving maternity benefit of  Rs. 5,000 under Mamata scheme and IGMSY since 2011.

Eldest woman of the household of age 18 years or above is the head of the household for the purpose of issuing of Ration Cards.

In case of non-supply of entitled foodgrains or meals, the beneficiaries are entitled to receive food security allowance.

As specified under  Section 10 of the Act, the responsibility of identifying the beneficiaries is with the State Government.

• Inclusion Criteria: Any household without shelter, household with destitute who is living on alms, all households of Primitive Tribal Groups, households having a widow pension holder, if not otherwise ineligible as per the nine exclusion criteria, a person with disabilities of 40% or more and any transgender person.
• Exclusion Criteria: Any household with monthly income of more than Rs. 10,000 in rural areas and in excess of Rs. 15,000 in urban areas, persons having four wheeler or two 3-wheelers, business with TIN, electric consumption of more than 300 units per month, any State government or Central government employee, persons having tractors, power-tillers, fishing boats or other heavy vehicles, persons having entrepreneurship, professional tax payers and households having pucca and fire proof house with 3 or more rooms( excepting Indira Awas/Biju Pucca ghar beneficiaries).

The identification and digitization of beneficiaries has been done in Odisha through a series of elimination of In-eligible Households and finalisation of Priority Households after thorough Desk Review, Field Verification of Suspect Lists, Objection Hearing and Correction of Erroneous Forms meant for identification of in-eligible beneficiaries.The status as on 31^st Aug 2016, is mentioned in the following table:

Central Government will provide assistance to States in meeting the expenditure incurred on transportation of food grains within the State, its handling cost and FPS dealers’ margin as per norms.

Computerisation of beneficiary database and supply chain management are essential to: enable correct identification of beneficiaries, check leakages, diversions and also to introduce transperancy and public accountability. Seeding of Aadhar and Bank account numbers in ration card database for smooth transaction under PDS is included in this process.

AAY is a bold step under  TPDS for reducing hunger among the poorest segments of the population. This section of the population could be called as "hungry”. In order to make TPDS more focused and targeted towards this category of population, the AAY was launched in December, 2000. AAY involved identification of poorest amongst the  BPL families covered under TPDS within the States and providing them food grains at a highly subsidized rate of Rs.2/- per kg. for wheat and Rs.3/- per kg for rice. The States/UTs are required to bear the distribution cost, including margin to dealers and retailers as well as the transportation cost.

The scale of issue is 35 kg of Rice per family per month with effect from 1^st April 2002. The AAY Scheme has been expanded to cover 2.28 crore AAY families as on 31^st March 2016 in India.

The AAY households include all landless agriculture laborers, marginal farmers, rural artisans /craftsmen (potters, tanners, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters), slum dwellers and persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers, fruit and flower sellers, snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers, destitutes and other similar categories in both rural and urban areas. It also includes households headed by widows or terminally ill persons/disabled persons/ persons, single women or single men  aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support. It also includes all primitive tribal group households.

The State Food Commission shall undertake the following functions,namely:-
(i) monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Act;
(ii) either suo motu or on receipt of complaint inquire into violations of entitlements;
(iii) give advice to the State Government on effective implementation of this Act;
(iv) give advice to the State Government, their agencies,autonomous bodies as well as non-governmental organizations involved in delivery of relevant services for the effective implementation of food and nutrition related schemes,to enable individuals to fully access their entitlements specified in this Act;
(v) hear appeals against orders of the District Grievance Redressal Officer;
(vi) prepare annual reports which shall be laid before the State Legislature by the State Government.

The State Food Commission shall hear the appeal of any person aggrieved  by  the decision of any  District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO). At the district level the PD,DRDA has been assigned the responsibility of   DGRO to deal with the grievances under NFSA. Such grievances relate to 3 schemes(TPDS,ICDS and MDM).

For such instances of failure to comply with the provisions under the NFSA, the Commission can take cognizance and impose penalty on the wrong doers.

The Vigilance Committees shall perform the following functions, namely:-

1. regularly supervise the implementation of all schemes under this Act ;
2. inform the D.G.R.O, in writing, of any violation of the provisions of this Act ; and
3. inform the D.G.R.O,in writing,of any malpractice or misappropriation of funds found by it.

ICDS was launched on 2nd October 1975 and currently, ICDS Scheme represents one of the world's largest and most unique programmes for early childhood development. The objective is to:

• Improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group of 0-6 years;
• Lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
• Reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity and malnutrition;
• Achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development;
• Enhance the capability of the mother/care giver to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

The six integrated package of services of ICDS are: –

It is the supplementation of food provided to all pregnant women, lactating mothers and children in  the age group of 6 months to 6 years  to meet their nutritional needs.  The calorie and protein supplementation norm aims to fulfill the gap between the Average Dietary Intake (ADI) in the community and Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA).It has the following two broad components: –

1. Morning Snacks and Hot Cooked Meal are provided to those who can come to the Anganwadi Centers, i.e., Children between 3 to 6 years of age; and
2. For children between 6 months to 3 years of age, Pregnant women, Lactating mothers and Severely malnourished children, Take Home Ration (THR) is provided. Also it has another component to provide eggs twice a week to pregnant women and lactating mothers at AWC.

Odisha State has adopted decentralized procurement and distribution under ICDS feeding programme. The daily menu has been diversified and standardized for the entire State keeping constant the prescribed calorie and protein norms, within the per beneficiary ration cost. The entitlements for children of 3-6 years age group for feeding at AWC are as under as  per the latest guideline: –

The Schedule for Hot Cooked Meal has to be adhered to in all the AWCs. However, the concerned Jaanch Committee may decide to vary only the Morning Snacks with local fruit/ badam ladoo etc to children.

Government has taken an in-principle decision to give Ready to Eat [RTE] i.e. wheat-based Chhatua in the form of THR to all eligible beneficiaries. It is given to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children in the age group of 6 months to 3 years as they do not attend the AWC on a daily basis. The severely malnourished children of 3-6 years are also given THR over and above Hot Cooked Meal. In addition to Chhatua, eggs are also  given to the beneficiaries as THR on a weekly basis, if they do not come to AWC for spot consumption  due to any unforeseen reason. THR(Chhatua) is supplied on the 1st and 15th of every month to the beneficiaries as per the table below -

The ratio of ingredients of THR for children are: – Groundnut: Bengal Gram: Sugar: Wheat – 3:4:5:20. Ratio for pregnant and lactating mothers : - 4:6:5:25

THR is manufactured, packaged and supplied to AWCs. The manufacturing is done through SHG (in a completely decentralized mode) under strict quality parameters. Separate guidelines for monthly e-payment to SHGs based on their submission of expenses, monitoring, quality testing through laboratory and packaging for all categories are also to be met. Community participation is ensured through increased awareness generation, ownership and involvement of Jaanch committee, Mothers Committee and involvement of the PRI.

As per the THR/SNP guideline the quality has to be ensured through :–

1.  Ensuring procurement of best quality Dal, vegetables, eggs, condiments, iodised salt.
2. The concerned Jaanch Committee, Mother's Committee and Supervising Officers should also take up random quality check during their visits.
3. The quality of food must be tasted in a small quantity by the Jaanch Committee member every week.
4. Wheat meant for THR should be lifted from FCI and supplied to the concerned SHG(s). Proper receipts regarding quality and quantity should be taken from the SHG(s).
5. In order to ensure uniformity and quality it is better that a single SHG supplies to the whole Block/Project. If that is not feasible, the Collector can assign maximum two SHGs to prepare Chhatua in a Block/Project.
6. The Collectors should designate a squad of 5-6 persons [by name] who will make random checks during preparation of Chhatua/Ladoo and ensure proper quantity and quality as specified.
7. In Odisha, State Public Halth Laboratory has been given the responsibility to test the quality of SNP samples sent from each THR manufacturing units of the districts.

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) i.e SABLA aims at covering all out-of-school Adolescent Girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years who would assemble at the Anganwadi Centre on Saturdays. Here they receive life skills education, nutrition and health education, awareness about socio-legal issues etc. This aims to motivate the out of school girls to also join school and help the school going to receive the life skills. This scheme mainly aims at reducing the drop out rate of Adolescent Girls by increasing their literacy rate and work participation.

Target Group:

In order to give age appropriate attention for certain components of ARSH & life skill education, the target group is divided into two categories, viz 11-14 years & 15-18 years in 9 selected districts viz. Koraput, Kalahandi, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Puri, Gajapati, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak.

Under the Nutrition Component of the scheme ‘Take Home Ration’ @ Rs 5/- per adolescent girl is provided for 25 days a month.
a)11-14 years: Out of school girls
b)14 -18 years: both out of school and school going girls

With a view to enhance enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. If the Mid-Day Meal is not provided in school on any school day due to any reason, the State Government shall pay food security allowance.

MDM is also served in drought-affected areas during summer vacation also.

Rice is procured from FCI and transported by the contractors engaged by the district  who deliver at  schools. Rice is supplied (@ 100 grams per child per school day at Primary and @ 150 grams per child per school day at Upper Primary level.

Whereas other food items like pulses, condiments, oil, soyabeans, spices, eggs and firewood have to be procured locally through decentralized procurement system by the SHG engaged for MDM by the School Management Committee(SMC).

Relevant details are specified in the table below.

• Hot cooked meal provided to children shall be evaluated and certified by the Government Food Research Laboratory or any laboratory accredited. The meal should meet the specified nutritional standards and quality.
• The Food and Drugs Administration Department of the State may collect samples to ensure the nutritive value and quality of the meals.
• The Department shall collect the samples at least once in a month from randomly selected schools or centralised kitchens and send such samples for testing in the laboratories listed by the Deptt.
• The ‘School Management Committee’ (SMC) shall oversee quality of meals provided to the children, cleanliness at the place of cooking and maintenance of hygiene in implementation of mid day meal scheme.

Residential schools provide MDM along with breakfast and dinner. The total cost of per child per month is Rs 750. The nutritional value of morning and evening meals is yet to be determined. The total monthly ration cost per child and the number of children receiving this is indicated below.