NFSA doesn’t absolve states of responsibility to lift people out of poverty: Supreme Court
The Centre told the Supreme Court that provisions of the NFSA Act do not permit revision of the cap fixed for each state
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the food security for the poor under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) should not absolve states of their duty to bring the poor out of the below poverty line as it dealt with a petition that sought an increase on the cap on ration card beneficiaries under the Act, saying it was based on the 2011 census.
Dealing with an application filed by a group of public-spirited citizens in a suo motu petition for remedying issues faced by migrant labourers, the bench refused to accept that the cap needs to be increased as it does not reflect the addition of poor individuals and families between 2011 and 2021 of the census period.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, said the problem was not the cap or the ceiling. “What is troubling us is that we are on the premise that in 2011, suppose 70% were poor, now after so many years, the poor have kept on increasing… Are we still carrying the same tag of poverty? Are we proceeding on the premise that the country has not progressed.”
The Centre represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati said in an affidavit that the NFSA Act does not permit revision of the cap fixed for each state. It said that states are under an obligation to periodically exclude and include beneficiaries based on periodic surveys.
The bench said, “Why do states insist on keeping these persons under the poverty line. Why are they not making efforts to bring them up?”
Advocate Prashant Bhushan who argued the application moved by transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj and others said states have been demanding additional grain and even the Centre concedes there are 13,41,000 potential beneficiaries currently waitlisted for NFSA coverage across states.
Bhushan said by relying on the 2011 census, the government was effectively denying food security coverage to the poor who have increased over the last more than 10 years. “The eligibility of determining the beneficiary of ration cards under NFSA is based on a criteria of poverty. Our concern is, those who fulfill the criteria should not be left out,” Bhushan said.
The bench asked Bhushan, “Why should there not be a uniform benchmark of poverty in all states… you assume that if the population has increased, there is proportional increase in the poor. It is convenient for states to say give more ration cards because they don’t want to be answerable. No doubt, in terms of Article 21, if a person identified as poor comes to us, we will wipe their tears, but let us also consider what is the policy of states to determine poverty. We want states to be happy to announce so many persons have shifted out of the below poverty line.”
Bhati told the court that it was important for fiscal sustainability that the NFSA has a ceiling on the number of beneficiaries to avoid ending up as open-ended. “This ceiling, grounded in the 2011 census, is a fundamental principle of rightful targeting, as set forth in Sections 10 and 24 of the NFSA,” the affidavit of the Centre filed on Tuesday said.
The Centre pointed out that even on the labour ministry’s e-shram portal, out of over 303 million registrants, 255 million (84%) possess ration cards. Of these, over 237 million are covered under NFSA, while the remaining beneficiaries receive support under specific state schemes across the 17 states.
Many states operate ration card schemes, independently covering 140 million beneficiaries outside NFSA’s purview, the affidavit added, while making a point that “states possess both the resources and mechanisms necessary to provide food grain provisions to additional eligible e-Shram registrants through their own state schemes also, without solely relying on NFSA coverage.”
Bhati said that the potential waitlisted individuals under NFSA cannot directly be entitled to get ration cards as they must first be verified. The e-KYC process carried out by states for this purpose has covered 78% of total beneficiaries covered under NFSA till March 31, 2025. But this process only verifies identity but does not ascertain their socio-economic eligibility for receiving ration cards.
“Thus, a comprehensive socio-economic assessment, beyond e-KYC, is essential to maintain the integrity of NFSA beneficiary rightful targeting,” the Centre said.
The arguments remained inconclusive and will continue on Thursday.
