Food Security in India

Chapter 4

Class 9 Social Science : Economics Chapter 4

Dimensions of Food Security

Food is essential for a person to live. Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food throughout the lifetime of every person. Food availability means food production within the country, food imports and the stocks of previous years stored in government granaries. Accessibility means food is within the reach of every person. Affordability means that a person has enough sources to buy sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.

What is food security?

Food security has the following dimensions

(a) availability of food means food production within the country, food imports and the previous year’s stock stored in government granaries.

(b) accessibility means food is within reach of every person.

(c) affordability implies that an individual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet one’s dietary needs.

Food security is ensured in a country only if

(1) enough food is available for all the persons

(2) all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality

(3) there is no barrier on access to food.

New Dimension to Food Security

According to Amartya Sen, the access to food through what he called entitlement—a combination of what one can produce and exchange in the market along with state or other socially provided supplies.

Effects of Calamity

During a natural calamity, the total production level decreases, thereby it creates a shortage of food. This leads to a price increase and people will not be able to buy food. Thus, a situation of starvation may lead to famine in those affected areas.

Famine means widespread deaths occur because of starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance because of weakening from starvation. For example, the famine of Bengal in 1943.

Also Read :- Class 6th Science Notes

Food Security

There are many groups of people with no land—traditional artisans and petty self-employed—who suffer from food and nutrition insecurity in India. The working group in the urban areas is employed in ill-paid occupations and a casual labour market.

Reasons for food insecurity: The social composition
- SCs, STs and other OBCs who have either poor land-base or low productivity.
- Because of natural disasters, people migrate to different areas in search of work.
Food insecure people
- A large proportion of pregnant, nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years.
- Backward states, tribal and remote areas, regions prone to natural disasters.

Hunger

There are two types of hunger. These are as follows

(i) Chronic Hunger

It is a consequence of a diet regularly deficient in quantity and quality this is caused due to lack of income to buy food for survival. Chronic hunger has reduced in rural areas from 2.3% of households in 1983 to 0.7% in 1999 – 2000. In urban areas, it has reduced from 0.8% to 0.3% during the same period.

(ii) Seasonal Hunger

It is related to seasonal cycles of food growing and harvesting. It affects landless* agricultural labourers in rural areas the most. In urban areas, casual construction workers suffer from this during the time when they do not get work. The proportion of households experiencing seasonal hunger in rural areas has reduced significantly from 16.2% in 1983 to 2.6% in 1999-2000. In urban areas, it has reduced from 5.6% to only 0.6% during the reference period.

The eradication of hunger and reducing the risks of future hunger is required to attain food security. Hunger has chronic and seasonal dimensions. Chronic hunger is a consequence of inadequate food in terms of quantity and quality. Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of growing and harvesting food.

Indian agriculture adopted a new strategy which resulted in the Green Revolution particularly in the production of wheat and rice. In July 1968, the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi released a special stamp titled ‘Wheat Revolution’.

Food Security in India

With the advent of the Green Revolution in the early 1970s, India has become self-sufficient in food grains. The Government ensured the availability of food grains in adverse weather and a well-designed food security system such as buffer stock and public distribution system.

Buffer Stock

Buffer stock is the stock of food grains such as wheat and rice procured by the Government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). FCI purchases grains from the farmers in surplus states and they are paid a minimum support price. These grains are distributed among the poor section in the deficit areas at a price (issue price) lower than the market price.

Programmes For Food Security in India

In mid-1970s, National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reported the high incidence of poverty level. Due to this, three important food intervention programmed were introduced.

They are

Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
Food-For Work (FfW) programme.

Public Distribution System (PDS) Through government regulated ration shops, the food procured by the FCI is distributed among the poorer sections of the society. This is called the Public Distribution System (PDS). Ration shops are now present in most localities, villages, towns and cities. There are about 5.5 lakh ration shops all over the country. Ration shops are also known as fair price shops. They keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price. Any family with a ration card can buy. a stipulated amount of these items (e.g. 35 kg of grains, 5 liters of kerosene, 5 kg of sugar, etc) every month from the nearby ration shop. The ration cards are of three kinds, colour-coded for easy recognition

Antyodaya card for the poorest of the poor.
BPL card for families below the poverty line.
APL card for all others.

Public Distribution System

In a public distribution system, food procured by FCI is distributed among the poor people through government- regulated shops. Three kinds of ration cards are distributed among the people to avail food grains, sugar and kerosene oil for cooking at a lower price from these fair price shops. Antyodaya cards are provided to the poorest of the poor, below poverty line (BPL) cards for those below the poverty line and above poverty line (APL) cards for all the others.

Because of the high incidence of poverty, three important programmers were implemented in the mid-1970s. They are

the public distribution system in existence earlier but strengthened thereafter for food grains, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) introduced in 1975 and the Food-for-Work (FFW) programme in 1977–78.

Current Status of the Public Distribution System

In 1992, the Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1700 blocks in the country. The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the poor in all areas. In 2000, two special programmers were launched- Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Annapurna Scheme (APS). They focused on the special target groups of the poorest of the poor and indigent senior citizens, respectively.

AYY: One crore of the poorest among the BPL families are covered under this scheme. Twenty-five kilograms of food grains were made available to each eligible family at a subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice. It has been further expanded to two crore families covered under this scheme.
- Subsidy is a payment which the Government makes to a producer to supplement the market price of a commodity.
- In July 2002, the stock of wheat and rice with FCI was 63 million tonnes; this was much more than the minimum buffer norms of 24.3 million tonnes.
- The storage of massive food grains is very undesirable and responsible for high-carrying costs. Freezing the minimum support price (MSP) for few years needs to be considered.
- Rising MSP has raised the maintenance cost of procuring food grains by the Government. Rising transport and storage costs of the FCI are other contributing factors for the increase in MSP.
- Increase in MSP has induced farmers to divert land from the production of coarse grains to the production of wheat and rice.
Another major area of concern is the ineffectiveness of PDS which is clear from the fact that the average consumption of PDS grain at the all-India level is only 1 kg per person per month. As a result, the poor have to depend on markets rather than ration shops for the need of food.
PDS dealers were involved in malpractices such as diverting food grains to the open market for a better margin.

Role of Cooperatives in Food Security

Cooperative societies set up shops to sell low-priced goods to poor people. These cooperatives play an important role in food security in India.

Of all fair price shops running in Tamil Nadu, nearly 94% are being run by cooperatives.
In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making strides in the provision of milk and vegetables to consumers at a controlled rate decided by the Government.
In milk and milk products, Amul from Gujarat is another cooperative society.
The Academy of Development Science (ADS) has facilitated a network of NGOs for setting up grain banks in different regions of Maharashtra.

In India, the cooperatives are also playing an important role in food security especially in the southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people. Some of the examples of cooperative societies are Mother Dairy in Delhi, Amul from Gujarat, Academy of Development Science (ADS) in Maharashtra.