ABSTRACT
In 2013, the Parliament of India passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) that made the “right to food” a legal entitlement for two-thirds of India’s population. Besides ensuring access to highly subsidized food grain, the NFSA made provisions for near-universal maternity benefits and nutrition for all children aged six months to 14 years. This chapter documents the rollout of the NFSA and discusses important innovations and challenges emerging from the early experiences of its implementation in different states and union territories of India. The NFSA provides an important example of ensuring food security through legal entitlements. The varied experiences of NFSA implementation at the subnational level offer important lessons for other countries facing similar challenges in ensuring food security.
