RAS question
The National Food Security Act was enacted in:
Correct answer: (A) 2013.
The National Food Security Act was enacted as the National Food Security Act, 2013, published for general information on 10 September 2013.
Explanation
The National Food Security Act carries the statutory title National Food Security Act, 2013, with the date 10 September 2013. Its core food-security entitlement explains why the year matters in governance questions: every person in a priority household is entitled to five kilograms of foodgrains per person per month through the Targeted Public Distribution System. The Act also specifies that subsidised entitlements extend up to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population. Schedule I gives the subsidised prices as not exceeding Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg for coarse grains. Therefore, 2013 is the only enactment year consistent with the Act itself.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) 2010 is too early because the statute is the National Food Security Act, 2013 and carries the date 10 September 2013.
- (C) 2011 is not the enactment year; the enacted law is the National Food Security Act, 2013.
- (D) 2015 is too late because the Act had already been published as the National Food Security Act, 2013 on 10 September 2013.
Concept
The enactment year of the National Food Security Act is a core welfare-legislation fact under Indian governance, alongside its statutory foodgrain entitlement. It recurs in RAS because food security links Parliament-made rights, welfare delivery and the Targeted Public Distribution System.