Vol. 3, Issue 4, Part J (2017)

India is a welfare State and as a welfare state it has the obligation towards the health and nutrition of its people. The framers of Constitution bestow the obligation of public health upon the State under Article 47 of the Constitution of India. Article 47 states that the State has the duty to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living and improve the public health. It is the primary obligation of the State to improve the health and nutrition of the citizens. Although, Article 47 is placed in Part IV of the Constitution as Directive Principle of State Policy and it cannot be enforceable as Fundamental Right, it is fundamental in the governance of the country. Based on that directive India has passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013 which aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.25 billion populations. The introduction of this Act in 2013, marks a major paradigm shift from a welfare based to a rights based approach to address food insecurity. This article attempts to understand the effect of NFSA on food security outcomes in India and the ground reality in implementation of this Act.