Food Security in India Key Notes PDF

Chapter 4- FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA KEY NOTES: Food security means; Availability (food production within the country, food imports and the previous year’s stock stored in government granaries), Accessibility (food is within reach of every person) and Affordability (individual has eno...

Chapter 4- FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA KEY NOTES: Food security means; Availability (food production within the country, food imports and the previous year’s stock stored in government granaries), Accessibility (food is within reach of every person) and Affordability (individual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe and nutritious food) of food to all people at all times. Entitlements: Amartya Sen added a new dimension to food security and emphasised the “access” to food through what he called ‘entitlements. Why food security? The poorest section of the society might be food insecure most of the times. While persons above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national disaster or calamities like flood, famine, tsunami and earthquake etc. Widespread crop failure due to drought. How is food security affected during a calamity? Due to a natural calamity, say drought, total production of food grains decreases. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. Due to shortage of food, the prices go up. At the high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity happens in a very wide spread area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a situation of starvation. A massive starvation might take a turn of famine. Who are food-insecure? Economic Groups – In the rural areas– The worst affected groups are landless people with little or no land to depend upon, traditional artisans, and providers of traditional services, petty self- employed workers and destitute including beggars. In the urban areas– The food insecure families are those whose working members are generally employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labour market. Social Groups – The SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs (lower castes among them) who have either poor land-base or very low land productivity are prone to food insecurity. Disaster-prone areas-The people affected by natural disasters are also among the most food insecure people. Women and children– A large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years constitute an important segment of the food insecure population. Food Insecure regions Economically backward states with high incidence of poverty, Tribal and remote areas, Regions more prone to natural disasters etc. have more food insecure people. In fact, the states of Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts), Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra account for largest number of food insecure people. Hunger is another aspect indicating food insecurity. Hunger has chronic and seasonal dimensions. Chronic hunger is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity and/or quality. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low income and in turn inability to buy food even for survival. 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 the casual labour. This type of hunger exists when a person is unable to getwork for the entire year. Indian measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains A. Green Revolution ‘Green Revolution’ especially in the production of wheat and rice. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India officially recorded the impressive strides of the Green revolution in agriculture by releasing a special stamp entitled ‘Wheat Revolution’ in July 1968. The success of wheat was later replicated in rice. The availability of food grains at the country level has been ensured with a carefully designedfood security system: (i) Buffer Stock (ii) Public Distribution System. B. Buffer Stock Buffer stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price. The MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to provide incentives to the farmers. The purchased food grains are stored in granaries. Advantages of maintaining Buffer Stock Distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society at a price lower than the market price also known as Issue Price. Helps resolve the problem of shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or during the periods of calamity. Maintain stability in the price of food grains. C. Public Distribution System Food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer section of the society. This is called the public distribution system (PDS). There are about 5.5 lakh ration shops all over the country. Ration shops also known as Fair Price Shops keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil forcooking.  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 litres of kerosene, 5 kg of sugar etc.) every month from the nearby ration shop. There are Five kinds of ration cards: Antyodaya cards for the poorest of the poor; BPL cards for those below poverty line; and APL cards for all others. APS cards PHH (Priority Households) Rationing in India dates back to the 1940s against the backdrop of the Bengal famine, was revived in the wake of an acute food shortage during the 1960s, prior to the Green Revolution. Benefits of PDS The most effective instrument of government policy over the years in stabilising prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices. It has been instrumental in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to the deficit ones. In addition, the prices have been under revision in favour of poor households in general. The system, including the minimum support price and procurement has contributed to an increase in food grain production and provided income security to farmers in certain regions. PDS – Limitations Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries. FCI go downs are overflowing with grains, with some rotting away and some being eaten by rats. PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops, etc. It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor-quality grains left. For APL family is almost as high as open market price, so there is little incentive for them to buy these items from the ration shop. Role of Cooperatives in Food Security The cooperatives are playing an important role in food security in India, especially in the southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell goods to the poor people at lower prices. For example, In Tamil Nadu, almost 94 percent of the ‘Fair Price Shops’ is being run by the cooperatives. In Delhi, Mother Dairy is providing milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled prices which are decided by the Delhi Government. Amul is another example in this regard. It has brought about the White Revolution in the country. There are many more cooperatives and NGOs also working intensively towards this direction. Academy of Development Science (ADS), Maharashtra Academy of Development Science (ADS) has facilitated a network of NGOs for setting up grain banks in different regions. Grain banks are now slowly taking shapes in different parts of Maharashtra. ADS organize training and capacity building programmes on food security for NGOs.  ADS efforts to set up Grain Banks is paying rich dividends. The ADS grain programme is acknowledged as a successful and innovative food security intervention programme.