Indian Food Security: Challenges and Solutions

• Food security includes food availability, accessibility, and affordability for everyone at all times
• Poor households are more likely to experience food insecurity when there are issues with the production or distribution of food crops
• Food security relies on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and government intervention during times when security is threatened
• Food security constitutes having more than adequate square meals

Dimensions of Food Security:

• Availability: Food production within a country, food imports, and previous years' stock in government granaries
• Accessibility: Food is within reach of every person
• Affordability: Individuals have sufficient money to buy safe, nutritious food to meet dietary needs
• Food security in a country exists when:
  • Sufficient food is available for all people
  • All people can afford food of acceptable quality
  • There are no barriers to accessing food
• The poorest in society are often food insecure, and people above the poverty line can be food insecure when the country faces economic issues

Historical Understanding

• 1970's understanding of food security: "availability at all times of adequate supply of basic foodstuffs"
• Amartya Sen's contribution: Emphasizing the "access" to food through what he called 'entitlements'
• 'Entitlements' defined: A combination of what one can produce, exchange in the market, along with state or other socially provided supplies
• 1995 World Food Summit Declaration of food security: "Food security at the individual, household, regional, national and global levels exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life"
• Poverty eradication is crucial to improve access to food

Calamities

• Natural disasters/calamities affect food security
• Drought that leads to decreased foodgrain production in affected areas, results in a food shortage
• Food shortages cause prices to increase
• Higher prices make it unaffordable for some people to buy food
• Calamities over a wide area or a long period can cause widespread starvation
• Starvation may escalate into famine
• Famine: Characterized by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by contaminated water, decaying food and weakening from starvation
• The Bengal Famine of 1943 was devastating, killing thirty lakh people

Most affected by Famine

• Agricultural laborers
• Fishermen
• Transport workers
• Other casual laborers
• These were affected most by dramatically rising price and the ones who died in the Bengal famine
• The Bengal famine was not due to shortage of rice

Who are Food-Insecure?

• Landless people with little or no land
• Traditional artisans
• Providers of conventional services
• Petty self-employed workers and destitutes, including beggars
• Urban food-insecure families: Working members in ill-paid occupations and the casual labor market
• These workers engage in mainly seasonal activities and are paid very low wages for mere survival

The Story of Ramu

• Ramu works as a causal agricultural labourer
• Somu, Ramu's eldest son also works to supplement the family income
• Sunhari, Ramu's Wife works to also supplement the family income
• Agriculture is is seasonal activity which is a source of Ramu's income
• Ramu remains unemployed for about 4 months of the year
• Ramu is food insecure for 4 months of the years due to seasonal agricultural work

The Story of Ahmad

• Ahmad is a rickshaw puller from Banglore
• Ahmad does not have a secure income
• Ahmad has a PDS (yellow) card
• With the PDS card Ahmad gets the necessities at half the market price
• Social composition and not being able to afford food contribute to food insecurity
• SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs are all prone to food insecurity
• Those affected by a natural disaster and migrate to other areas contribute to food insecurity
• High malnutrition among can cause a serious risk among even unborn babies
• Approximately 11 crore women and children are food insecure

Regions and Hunger

• Food insecure people disproportionately live in:
  • Economically backward states with high poverty
  • Tribal and remote areas
  • Regions prone to natural disasters
• States with the largest number of food insecure:
  • Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts)
  • Bihar
  • Jharkhand
  • Orissa
  • West Bengal
  • Chattisgarh
  • Parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra
• Hunger indicates food insecurity
• Hunger has chronic and seasonal dimensions
• Chronic hunger: Due to consistently inadequate diets in terms of quantity and/or quality

Seasonal Hunger

• Quality of the poor suffers from chronic hunger because of their low income and unable to buy food
• Seasonal hunger is related to food growing and harvesting cycles
• Seasonal hunger exists in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities; in urban areas because of less work
• Hunger happens when a person is unable to get work for the entire year
• As shown in the table, seasonal and chronic hunger has declined in India

Self Sufficiency

• India is aiming at Self-sufficiency in food grains since independence
• Indian policymakers want to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains
• India adopted a new strategy in agriculture called the "Green Revolution"
• India is aiming at self-sufficiency in food grains
• Green Revolution is most prominent in the production of wheat and rice
• Indira Gandhi recorded the strides of the Green Revolution in agriculture
• She also released a special stamp entitled 'Wheat Revolution' in July 1968
• The success of wheat was replicated in rice
• The highest rate of growth was achieved in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, at 58 and 33 million tonnes in 2020–21
• Total foodgrain production was 310 million tonnes in 2020–21 and has changed to 315 million tonnes in 2021-22
• Since the advent of the Green Revolution, the country has avoided famine even during adverse weather conditions
• India has become self-sufficient in foodgrains

Government

• The government uses a carefully designed food security system
• The parts of the system include:
  • Buffer stock
  • Public distribution system
• Buffer Stock: Stock of foodgrains (wheat and rice) procured by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI)
• FCI purchases wheat and rice from farmers where there is surplus production
• Minimum Support Price (MSP): The government declared price for farmers the sowing reasons to give them incentives
• The purchased foodgrains are stored in granaries
• The purpose of buffer stock: To distribute foodgrains in deficit areas and among poorer society members at a lower price (Issue Price)
• MSP is used to resolve the problem of food shortage during adverse weather conditions
• Public Distribution System (PDS): Food procured by the FCI and distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer sections of society
• Fair Price Shops (FPS): The government regulated ration shops
• The ration shops are present in localities
• There are 5.5 lakh all over the country
• Ration shops keep stock food grains and kerosene for cooking
• Any family with a ration card can buy a stipulated amount of these items every month from nearby ration shop
• There are three types of ration cards:
  • Antyodaya (poorest)
  • BPL (below poverty line)
  • APL (all others)
• Rationing in India dates back to the 1940s against the backdrop of the Bengal famine
• The rationing system was revived in the wake of an acute food shortage during the 1960s, prior to the Green Revolution
• Mid-1970s: Three important food intervention programmes were introduced
• Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
• Food-for-Work (FFW)
• There are several Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs), with an explicit food component.
• Employment programmes greatly contribute to food security

The National Food Security Act, 2013

• Provides food and nutritional security at affordable prices
• Enables people to live with dignity
• 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population are eligible households for food security
• Public Distribution System (PDS) ensures food security in India
• Initially, PDS coverage was universal
• Over the years, PDS has been revised to be more targeted and efficient
• Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1,700 blocks
• It targetted remote and backward areas
• Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) adopted the principle of targeting 'poor in all areas
• A differential price policy was adopted for poor and non-poor
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Annapurna Scheme (APS) with the special scheme launches

Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)

• AAY was launched in December 2000
• One crore of the poorest BPL families were identified using a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey
• 25 kg of foodgrains were made available at Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice
• AAY was expanded twice and in August 2004 2 crore families were covered under the AAY

PDS Features

• PDS acts as an effective instrument of government policy
• It stabilised prices
• Made food available at affordable prices
• Averts widespread hunger
• It does this by supplying foods from surplus regions of the country to the deficit ones
• Prices have been under revision for the poor
• It contributed to an increase in foodgrain production
• It provided income security to farmers
• FCI stocks have rotting grains at food godowns
• The stock and minimum buffer norms are at a difference
• In 2022, there was more wheat and rice due to the minimum buffer norms

Subsidies

• Subsidy: A payment by the government to supplement the market price
• Subsidies keep consumer prices low while helping domestic procedures

Farmer issues

• Concentrated in a few prosperous regions
• Intensive methods has led to environmental damage
• The storage of massive food stocks has been responsible for high carrying costs, in addition to wastage and deterioration in grain quality
• The increased food grain procurement at enhanced MSP has led to produce from states such as Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh

Consumption

• Rural India rice consumption has fallen from 6.38 Kg in 2004-05 to 5.98 Kg in 2011-12
• Urban India rice consumption has also decreased from 4.71 Kg in 2004-05 to 4.49 Kg in 2011-12
• Per capita consumption of PDS rice has doubled in rural India and increased 66% in urban India since 2004-05
• The consumption of PDS wheat has doubled since 2004-05 in both rural and urban India

Problems with PDS

• Malpractice from PDS dealers
• This would include:
  • Diverting grains
  • Selling poor quality grains at ration shops
  • Irregular Opening
• Ration shops are unable to sell a massive quality
• TPDS of three different prices family above gets very little discount
• The APL family the same price

Cooperatives

• Cooperatives play a vital role in Indian food security
• Societies establish shops to sell low-priced goods to poor people
• The cooperatives have running shops
• Mother Dairy makes strides in provision milk to consumers
• Amul has established has led to success in milk products
• Academy of facilitating NGO in Maharashtra
• Grainbanks are developed slowly in different parts of Maharashtra
• This ADS Bank programme is acknowledged for interventions