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Food Security in India

The document discusses food security in India, outlining its dimensions of availability, accessibility, and affordability. It highlights the impact of natural calamities on food security, identifies food-insecure populations, and explains government measures like the Public Distribution System (PDS) and buffer stocks to ensure food availability. Additionally, it addresses problems within the PDS and the role of cooperatives in enhancing food security.

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19 views2 pages

Food Security in India

The document discusses food security in India, outlining its dimensions of availability, accessibility, and affordability. It highlights the impact of natural calamities on food security, identifies food-insecure populations, and explains government measures like the Public Distribution System (PDS) and buffer stocks to ensure food availability. Additionally, it addresses problems within the PDS and the role of cooperatives in enhancing food security.

Uploaded by

ishanjain6060
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© © All Rights Reserved
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s DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL

MAHENDRA HILLS
SOCIAL SCIENCE FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA CLASS-IX
1. 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.

2. How the food security is getting affected by a calamity?


a. During a natural calamity, the total production level decreases, thereby it creates a shortage
b. of food.
c. 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.
d. 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.
e. For example, the famine of Bengal in 1943.

3. Who is food insecure?


a. There are many groups of people with no land—traditional artisans and petty self-employed
—who suffer from food and nutrition insecurity in India.
b. The working group in the urban areas is employed in ill-paid occupations and a casual labour
market.
c. SCs, STs and other OBCs who have either poor land-base or low productivity.
d. A large proportion of pregnant, nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years.
e. Backward states, tribal and remote areas, regions prone to natural disasters.

4. How the food security in India is ensured?


a) 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.
b) 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.
c) 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.

5. Current status of PDS in India.


a. Over the years, the policy related to PDS has been revised to make it more efficient and
targeted.
b. In 1992, Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1,700 blocks in the
country to provide the benefits of PDS to remote and backward areas.
c. From June 1997, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt the
principle of targeting the ‘poor in all areas’ with differentiated price policy.
d. In 2000, two special schemes were launched that is Antyodaya Anna Yojana*** (AAY) and
Annapurna Scheme (APS) with special target groups.
Antyodaya Ann Yojana:-
a) AAY was launched in December 2000.
b) Poor families were identified through a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey.
c) Twenty-five kilograms of foodgrains were made available to each eligible family at a
highly subsidised rate of ` 2 per kg for wheat and ` 3 per kg for rice.
d) With the expansion, 2 crore families have been covered under the AAY.

6. Highlight the major problems associated with Public Distribution System.


a) FCI godowns are overflowing with grains, with some rotting away and some being eaten by
rats.
b) There is a general consensus that high level of buffer stocks of foodgrains is very undesirable
and can be wasteful.
c) 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.
d) With TPDS of three different prices, any family above the poverty line gets very little
discount at the ration shop.

7. Are there any roles of cooperatives in establishing food security in India? If yes, then mention
them with examples.
a) The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people.
b) For example, in Tamil Nadu, around 94 per cent are being run by the cooperatives.
c) In Delhi, Mother Dairy and Amul is another success story of cooperatives in milk and milk
products from Gujarat.
d) In Maharashtra, Academy of Development Science (ADS) has facilitated a network of NGOs
for setting up grain banks in different regions.
e) ADS organises training and capacity building programmes on food security for NGOs.

8. What is hunger? Differentiate between its two dimensions.


Hunger is a state in which a person is unable to eat sufficient food for a continuous period and due to
this, he cannot meet basic nutritional needs.
CHRONIC HUNGER SEASONAL HUNGER
Chronic hunger is a consequence of Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of
diets persistently inadequate in terms of food growing and harvesting. This is
quantity and quality. Poor people suffer prevalent in rural areas & urban areas.
from chronic hunger. This type of hunger exists when a
person is unable to get work for the
entire year.

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