Governance
In News: the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) released the State Food Safety Index (SFSI) 2021-22
What is the SFSI?
- The index aims to measure the performance of states and Union Territories on selected “parameters” of food safety.
- The index is aimed at encouraging states and UTs to “improve their performance and work towards establishing a proper food safety ecosystem in their jurisdiction
- The SFSI is released annually for a financial year.
- This is the fourth edition of the SFSI since its inception in 2018-19.
Parameters
The SFSI takes into account the performance of the states on five key parameters, each of which is assigned a different weightage in the assessment.
- Human Resources and Institutional Data
- Weightage: 20%
- Measures the availability of human resources like number of Food Safety Officers, Designated Officers facility of adjudications and appellate tribunals, functioning of State/ District level Steering Committees etc
- Compilance
- Weightage: 30%.
- Measures overall coverage of food businesses in licensing & registration commensurate with size and population of the State/UTs, special drives and camps organized, yearly increase, promptness and effectiveness in issue of state licenses/ registrations
- Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance
- Weightage: 20%
- Measures the availability of adequate testing infrastructure with trained manpower in the States/ UTs for testing food samples
- Training and Capacity Building
- Weightage: 10%.
- It measures states’ performance on training and capacity building of regulatory staff.
- Consumer Empowerment
- Weightage: 20%.
- It evaluates the states and UTs on their performance on various consumer empowering initiatives of FSSAI, such as participation in Food Fortification, Eat Right Campus plus state initiatives
Assessment
- The states and Union Territories are segregated into three categories — large states, small states and UTs— and assessed separately within their respective categories, based on their performance on the selected food safety parameters.
Performance
- In the category of the 20 large states, Tamil Nadu with an overall score of 82 out of 100 has performed the best and been ranked 1st on SFSI 2021-22, while Andhra Pradesh with an overall score of 26 has been ranked at the bottom —17th place
- Following Tamil Nadu in the rankings of the larger states are Gujarat (rank 2nd with a score 77.5), Maharashtra (3rd with 70), Himachal Pradesh (4th with 65.5) and West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh (sharing 5th with a score of 58.5).
- Among the eight small states, Goa with a score of 56 has been ranked at the top, while Arunachal Pradesh (rank 8th and score 21) is at the bottom.
- Among the eight Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir with a score of 68.5 has been ranked 1st and Lakshadweep (score 16) as the bottom. Delhi with a score of 66 has been ranked at 2nd place.
Source: Indian Express
Previous Year Questions
Q.1) Which one of the following issues the ‘Global Economic Prospects’ report periodically? (2015)
- The Asian Development Bank
- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- The US Federal Reserve Bank
- The World Bank
