Health experts ask for nutritious food basket distribution during pandemics

The basket which shall also comprise salt, bread and other nutritional and health-related products, should be distributed to every family, irrespective of socio-economic status, regularly during the pandemic and containment period, M Umanath, assistant professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies here, said.

“The move will also make sure that those in containment zones do not face any difficulty in obtaining the essentials,” he added. Such a mechanism, he said would support the state government’s efforts and that of the civil society in achieving food security.

The Tamil Nadu government had responded to the crisis in March when Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced free ration to all the family cardholders from April onwards. “Apart from announcing a cash dole of Rs 1,000 to cardholders, he made sure the Amma canteens catered to the migrant workers and those stranded due to the announcement of the lockdown,” a senior official in the Agriculture department said. These measures averted a food crisis, he added. Ration card holders were supplied free rice, sugar, pulses and oil since April, thereby ensuring food security through a vibrant PDS.

Terming the Amma canteens “as the lifeline for those who are outside the PDS and other social security programmes besides migrants,” Umanath suggested their scope and scale be enlarged to address incidences of hunger.