NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA addressing inequalities related to gender, age, disability, income, caste and region. In such a positive policy environment, the Government’s efforts to address malnutrition and food insecurity have the potential to accelerate progress towards reaching their targets under Goal 2 of the SDGs. The Government of India has put in place a massive food and safety programme by enacting the National Food Security Act, 2013 which seeks to ensure food and nutritional security of the people. The National Food Security Act, 2013 seeks to deliver food security to the targeted beneficiaries. It combines and expands the scope of some existing food-based welfare schemes like Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) of ICDS and MDMS and a conditional cash transfer scheme called the Maternity Benefit Programme [erstwhile Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, (IGMSY)]. 7.4 As per SDG 2 of the United Nations there is an aim to end hunger. After decades of steady decline, the number of people who suffer from hunger – as measured by the prevalence of undernourishment– began to slowly increase again in 2015. Today, more than 820 million people regularly go to bed hungry, of which about 135 million suffer from acute hunger largely due to man-made conflicts, climate change and economic downturns. Towards ensuring effective and efficient implementation of SDG targets, a robust system for review and monitoring of the progress towards achieving targets under SDG using a variety of food and nutrition security indicators is required. In order to address these risks, the Food and Agriculture Organization urges countries to: meet the immediate food needs of their vulnerable populations; boost social protection programmes; keep global food trade going; keep the domestic supply chain gears moving, and; support smallholder farmers’ ability to increase food production. 7.5 With a five-fold increase in food grain production from 50 million tonnes in 1950-51 to about 250 million tonnes in 2014-15, India has moved away from dependence on food aid to become a net food exporter. In 2016, the Government launched a number of programmes to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. These seek to remove bottlenecks for greater agricultural productivity, especially in rain-fed areas. They include: the National Food Security Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), the Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil and Maize (ISOPOM), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima, the e-marketplace, as well as a massive irrigation and soil and water harvesting programme to increase the country’s gross irrigated area from 90 million hectares to 103 million hectares by 2017. 7.6 The Government has also taken significant steps to combat under- and malnutrition over the past two decades, such as through the introduction of mid-day meals at schools, anganwadi systems to provide rations to pregnant and lactating mothers, and subsidised grain for those living below the poverty line through a public distribution system. The National Food Security Act, 2013, aims to ensure food and nutrition security for the most vulnerable through its associated schemes and programmes, making access to food a legal right. 7.7 National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is committed in its crusade to ensure nutritious food to citizens of India. The NHRC has constituted its Core Advisory Group on Right to Food and Nutrition which demonstrate issues, challenges and solutions to this field. The Core Advisory Group, on a routine basis, identifies the plight of food and nutrition in our country. ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 109