The National Food Security (Amendment) Bill, 2026 is a draft legislative proposal intended to amend the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The original NFSA, 2013, was enacted to convert food assistance from a policy commitment into a statutory entitlement, covering up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population through the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
The proposed amendment focuses on restructuring the foodgrain entitlement for the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) category, which covers the poorest of the poor. The problem it seeks to solve is the inequity in per-capita allocation, as the existing provision grants a fixed 35 kg of foodgrains per AAY household per month, regardless of family size. This meant smaller households received a disproportionately higher per-person quantity than larger ones.
The Bill proposes to amend the first proviso to Section 3(1) of the NFSA, 2013. The mechanism shifts the AAY entitlement to 7 kg per person per month, while retaining the maximum ceiling of 35 kg per household per month. This change rationalizes the allocation by linking it to the number of members, though only households with five or more members will receive the full 35 kg. The entitlement for Priority Households (PHH), which is 5 kg per person per month, remains unchanged. The amendment connects directly to the NFSA, 2013, and its two main beneficiary categories, AAY and PHH.