World Food Programme hails India for National Food Security Act

NEW DELHI:  At the end of a two-day visit to India, the UN World Food Programme’s Executive Director Ertharin Cousin has congratulated the Government of India for the National Food Security Act that has made the right to food legally enforceable.

Despite significant economic progress in the past decade, India is home to about 25 percent of the world's undernourished. Although the country grows enough food for its people, pockets of hunger remain. The National Food Security Act is a rights-based act designed to provide staple foods at highly subsidised prices for more than 800 million people across the country, thereby the largest food safety net in the world.

“Given the Government’s commitment towards the most vulnerable, we are confident that with innovative solutions, together we will be able to reach India’s poorest with better nutrition,” Cousin said after meetings with the Minister for Agriculture and Cooperation and the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

WFP can effectively draw from its vast global expertise in food-based social safety nets and stands ready to support the Government of India in their fight against hunger and malnutrition. WFP is strengthening Government capacity to improve the nutritional impact and effectiveness of food based social safety net programmes.

India has the knowledge and expertise to guide other countries dealing with hunger and malnutrition,” Cousin said following her visit to the country.

 “In my meetings with the government, I took the opportunity to thank the Government of India for their support for WFP food assistance worldwide,” she said. “I am enthused by the Government of India’s recent efforts to garner the support of the vibrant private sector in this country in support of development goals in India.