Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging Union govt to reconsider the proposed amendment to the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, saying it would reduce foodgrain allocation to the state’s poorest households and undermine food security for nearly 70 lakh beneficiaries.In his letter, Vijay said the draft National Food Security (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposes to replace the existing entitlement of 35 kg of foodgrains per household per month under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) with 7 kg of foodgrains per person per month, subject to a ceiling of 35 kg per household.“The proposed amendment, if implemented, would diminish the food security of nearly 70 lakh of Tamil Nadu’s most vulnerable citizens,” Vijay said, urging the Centre to retain the existing household-based entitlement.The chief minister said Tamil Nadu has 18.64 lakh AAY ration cards covering 69.27 lakh beneficiaries, most of whom belong to vulnerable sections such as widows, persons with disabilities, senior citizens without regular income, tribal families, landless agricultural labourers and daily wage earners.Vijay argued that the amendment would disproportionately affect Tamil Nadu because the state’s average family size is only 3.54. He said the monthly foodgrain allocation for AAY beneficiaries would drop from 65,261 metric tonnes to about 42,040 metric tonnes under the proposed formula.“Tamil Nadu is predominantly a rice-eating state, with people consuming rice in different forms for all three meals of the day. Any reduction in the quantity supplied would force poor families to spend more from their pockets, driving them towards hunger and malnutrition,” he said.He also pointed out that around 15.75 lakh AAY households in the state have fewer than five members and would be the worst affected. Hence, the govt should retain the existing 35 kg entitlement for every AAY household, irrespective of family size, he said.
