Understanding Food Security in India
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vedantstmarksUnderstanding Food Security in India
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vedantstmarksFood Security
Food Security
Food means availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times.
a. Availability of food means food production within the country, food imports and previous
years stock stored in government granaries
b. Accessibility means that the food is within the reach of every person
c. Affordability means that an individual has enough money to purchase sufficient, safe and
nutritious food to meet one's dietary needs
Food security is affected by natural calamities:
1. The food production decreases due to the adverse effects of natural calamities
2. Lack of food increases prices
3. Price increase decreases affordability
4. A prolonged calamity over a large area might cause starvation
Famine
A famine is characterized by wide spread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by
forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to
weakening from starvation.
The most devastating famine in India was the Bengal Famine in 1943 that killed thirty lakh
people in the Bengal province.
Food insecure people
1. The worst affected groups are landless people, artisans, providers of traditional services,
petty self employed people and destitutes
2. In urban areas, families whose earning members are employed in casual or menial jobs
or ill-paid occupations are food insecure.
3. The SCs, the STs, and some sections of OBCs who have either poor land-base or very
low land productivity are prone to food insecurity.
4. The people affected by natural calamities who have to migrate to other areas in search
of work are also food insecure.
5. A large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of 5
years are also food insecure.
6. Food insecure people are also disproportionately in economically backward states with
tribal areas, poor and backwater regions being more prone to food insecurity.
Hunger
1. Hunger is another aspect indicating food insecurity.
2. Hunger is not just an expression of poverty it also brings about poverty.
3. The attainment of food security eliminates current hunger and reduces the risk of future
hunger
Aspects of hunger
1. Chronic hunger is a consequence of persistently inadequate diet in terms of quality,
quantity or both. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low
income and in turn inability to buy food even for survival.
2. Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting. This is prevalent in
rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas
because of casual labourers.
Green Revolution
1. India adopted a new strategy in agriculture which resulted in the Green Revolution
especially in the production of wheat and rice.
2. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, officially recorded the achievements of the Green
Revolution in agriculture by releasing a special stamp entitled "Wheat Revolution" in July
1968
3. The production of foodgrains was disproportionate. The highest rate of growth was
achieved in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in wheat ,and West Bengal and Uttar
Pradesh in rice.
State Production of wheat (2015-2016) Production of rice (2015-2016)
Madhya Pradesh 17.69 million tonnes
Uttar Pradesh 26.87 million tonnes 12.51 million tonnes
West Bengal 15.75 million tonnes
Food Security in India
Buffer Stock
1. Buffer stock is the stock of foodgrains procured by the government through the Food
Corporation of India (FCI)
2. The FCI purchases wheat and rice from farmers in states where there is surplus
production
3. The farmers are paid a pre announced price for their crops. This price is known as the
Minimum Support Price (MSP)
4. The MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to provide
incentives to farmers for raising the production of food grains
5. The purchased food grains are stored in government granaries
6. This is done to distribute grains in the deficit areas and among the poor strata of society
at a price lower than the market price known as the Issue Price.
7. This also helps to resolve the shortage of food during natural calamities.
Public Distribution System(PDS)
1. The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops
among the poorer section of society. This is known as the Public Distribution System.
2. Ration shops are now present in most localities, villages, towns and cities.
3. Ration shops are also known as Fair Price Shops. They keep stock of food grains, sugar,
and kerosene.
4. These items are sold to the public at a price lower than the market price.
5. Any family with a ration card can buy a stipulated amount of these items every month
from the nearby ration shop.
Ration cards
1. Antodaya Cards are for the poorest of the poor
2. BPL cards for those below the poverty line
3. APL cards are for all others
National Food Security Act
1. This Act provides for food and nutritional security life at affordable prices and enables
people to a live a life with dignity.
2. Under this act, 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population have been
categorized as eligible households for food security.
Merits of PDS
1. PDS has proven to be the most effective instrument in stabilizing prices and making food
available to consumers at affordable prices.
2. It has also been instrumental in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplying
food from surplus regions of the country to deficit ones.
3. In addition, the prices have been under revision in favor of poor households in general.
4. The system of procurement and minimum support price have also contributed to
increase in the foodgrain production and provided income security to farmers.
Demerits of PDS
1. Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries
2. FCI godowns are overflowing with grains, with some rotting away and some being eaten
by rats.
3. The storage of massive food stocks has led to waste.
4. The procurement of grains like rice and wheat has been concentrated in a few states like
Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal leading to not only
unequal benefits but also environmental degradation.
PDS dealers
1. PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractice like diverting the grains to
open market to get better margins, selling poor quality grains at ration shops and
irregular opening of the shops, etc.
2. It is common to find the ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor quality grains
left.
