In news–The Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister has recently released the ‘State Ranking Index for NFSA’ 2022 during a conference of State Food Ministers on ‘Food and Nutrition Security of India’.
State Ranking Index for NFSA-
- The states and UTs were ranked for 2022 on the basis of three parameters:
- NFSA coverage, rightful targeting and implementation of all provisions under the Act.
- The delivery platform while considering the allocation of food grains, their movement and last-mile delivery to fair price shops.
- Nutrition initiatives of the department.
- The current version of the Index measures the effectiveness of NFSA implementation majorly through operations and initiatives under TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System).
- The exercise of ranking the States and UTs was commissioned by the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry but carried out by a third party.
- As per the government’s ranking, Odisha is at first position with a score of 0.836, followed by Uttar Pradesh (0.797) and Andhra Pradesh (0.794).
- Gujarat is at fourth place, followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand.
- Among the special category States (the Northeastern States, Himalayan States, and the Island States), Tripura has obtained the first rank. Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim are at the second and third positions.
- It does not cover programs and schemes implemented by other ministries and departments under the NFSA.
- The Index denotes only the efficiency of TPDS operations, it does not reflect the level of hunger, if any or malnutrition, or both, in a particular State or union territory.
- The findings from the exercise revealed that most States and Union Territories have fared well in digitisation, Aadhaar seeding, and ePoS installation, which reiterates the strength and scale of the reforms.
Source: The Hindu
