All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU), All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) have issued the following statement on July 8, 2026:

All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, All India Democratic Women’s Association, All India Kisan Sabha and Centre of Indian Trade Unions have jointly given a call for nationwide protests against the proposed National Food Security Amendment Bill by the Department of Food and Public Distribution to cut down ration quotas from 35 Kg per household to 7 kg per person. 

Already, it has been observed by various medical experts, nutritionists, and academics that the poorest of the poor population requires much more than the current quota for a healthy life. Even the earlier norm of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommended at least 14 kg foodgrains per person for the overall development of their bodies. Yet, the current regime has proposed further reductions showing nothing but their apathy towards the well-being of the poor and the working class people of this country.

The government’s logic behind this move is that there is an inequitable distribution of food grains amongst the smaller and bigger households. In order to correct this inequitable distribution, the government has decided to provide 7 kg foodgrains per person. This argument stands on a single leg when we see that the government instead of providing sufficient foodgrains to all households has decided to cut down the quota for some and after some time it has no leg to stand on when in the same bill, they have capped the total ration at 35 kg per household. The distribution will continue to be inequitable as the households with more than 5 members will receive less per capita foodgrain compared to the 7 kg per person because the ration is still capped at 35 kg per household. The BJP government’s idea of equality is ‘poverty for all,’ if people are poor, they should be equally poor. 

At present, 236.9 lakhs Antyodaya households consisting of 939.4 lakhs people, depend upon the AAY scheme for their survival. These beneficiaries include unorganised, traditional workers, agricultural workers, landless labourers, self-employed, Dalits, Adivasis, elderly persons, widows, persons with disabilities, single women, homeless people and other extremely vulnerable sections. These marginalized sections, owing to the ruling regime, don't have access to proper healthcare, jobs, or social security benefits. This scheme is the only way they may be able to get two square meals and yet the government, in the name of its peculiar idea of equitable distribution, has decided to cut down the existing rations. 

The proposed amendment completely evades the fact that even the existing National Food Security Act, 2013 has a lot of contestable features and millions of poor people are still not receiving its benefits. The quota for subsidised food is based on the Census 2011 data. The quota has not been revised since, but the population of the country has increased significantly. A 2021 estimate by economists Reetika Khera, Jean Dreze and Meghana Mungikar found that over 100 million people are excluded from the Public Distribution System (PDS) under NFSA.

The concepts of hunger, food and poverty itself are not understood by the current ruling regime of BJP and RSS. Their focus on the targeted delivery of schemes to ensure their voter base has severely undermined the necessity to ensure food security for all across the country. As per the data of National Family Health Survey Survey (2019-21), 35.5% children are stunted, 32.1% are underweight, and 67.1% children between 6-59 months are anemic. The requirements of the necessary calories are elusive from the public distribution system. Amidst all this, the government has decided to further reduce the existing ration for no reason other than to cut the food subsidy and siphon off a greater share of the public exchequer for the benefit of the corporates. This will further aggravate the suffering of the poorest of the poor, particularly Dalits, Adivasis, and women in rural India.

AIAWU, AIDWA, AIKS, and CITU condemn the proposed amendment to the NFSA and demands for its roll back. We also demand for the following improvements in the current NFSA: (1) An increase in the foodgrain distribution and include in it the requirements of healthy calories, all essential food items and ensure its universal distribution. (2) Revise NFSA coverage based on the current population; no exclusion of any individual.

AIAWU, AIDWA, AIKS, and CITU call upon their members and the affected people in general to come onto the streets in massive numbers and oppose this anti-people move of the Central Government with full strength.

Signed by: B. Venkat, General Secretary, AIAWU; Kaninika Ghosh, General Secretary, AIDWA; Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary, AIKS; E. Kareem, General Secretary, CITU.