CBSE
Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 4 – Food Security in India
Overview
Food security means the availability, accessibility and
affordability of food to all people at all times. Food security depends on the
Public Distribution System (PDS) and government vigilance and action at times
when this security is threatened.
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 years’ 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 to access to food.
Why Food Security?
During natural calamities, such as drought, the production
of food grains decreases, creating a shortage of food in the affected areas.
The prices increase due to a shortage of food. People cannot afford to buy
food, and if such a calamity happens in a very wide spread area or is stretched
over a longer time period, it might cause a situation of starvation. Massive
starvation might take turn into a famine. A Famine is characterised by
widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by the forced use of
contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to
weakening from starvation.
Who Are Food-Insecure?
In India, a large section of people suffers from food and
nutrition insecurity. People having little or no land, traditional artisans,
providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers, and the
destitute, including beggars, are the worst affected groups. In the urban
areas, food-insecure families are those who are generally employed in ill-paid
occupations and the casual labour market. These workers are largely engaged in
seasonal activities and are paid very low wages.
The social composition, along with the inability to buy
food, also plays a role in food insecurity. People of SC, ST and OBC
communities who have either poor land-base or very low land productivity are
prone to food insecurity. People affected by natural disasters, who migrate to
other areas in search of work, are among the most food-insecure people. 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.
Another aspect of food insecurity is hunger, which is not
just an expression of poverty; it brings about poverty. Hunger has chronic and
seasonal dimensions. Chronic hunger is a consequence of diets persistently
inadequate in terms of quantity and/or quality. Seasonal hunger is related to
cycles of food growing and harvesting.
Since Independence, India has been aiming at
self-sufficiency in food grains. After Independence, Indian policymakers
adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. In the field
of agriculture, India adopted a new strategy, which resulted in the ‘Green
Revolution’.
Food Security in India
Since the Green Revolution, the country has avoided famine
even during adverse weather conditions. India has become self-sufficient in
food grains during the last 30 years because of a variety of crops grown all
over the country. The availability of food grains has been ensured with a
carefully designed food security system by the government. This system has two
components: (a) buffer stock and (b) public distribution system.
What Is Buffer Stock?
Buffer stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and
rice, procured by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
The stock of wheat and rice are purchased by the FCI from the farmers where
there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for
their crops, called Minimum Support Price (MSP). Every year, the MSP is
declared by the government before the sowing season to provide incentives to
farmers for raising the production of these crops. Buffer Stock is created to
distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poorer section of
society at a price lower than the market price, also known as Issue Price.
What Is the Public Distribution System?
FCI distributes the food procured from the farmer through
government-regulated ration shops. It is called the Public Distribution System
(PDS). Ration shops, also known as Fair Price Shops, keep stock of foodgrains,
sugar, and kerosene for cooking. Rationing in India was introduced during the
1940s against the backdrop of the Bengal famine. In the 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)
At present, there are several Poverty Alleviation Programmes
(PAPs), mostly in rural areas, which have an explicit food component also.
Employment programmes greatly contribute to food security by increasing the
income of the poor.
Current Status of Public the Distribution System
Public Distribution System (PDS) is the most important step
taken by the Government of India towards ensuring food security. In 1992,
Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in the country. From
June 1997, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt
the principle of targeting the ‘poor in all areas’. In 2000, two special
schemes were launched Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Annapurna Scheme (APS).
Over the year, the PDS proved to be the most effective
instrument of government policy in stabilising prices and making food available
to consumers at affordable prices. However, the Public Distribution System has
faced severe criticism on several grounds. A high level of buffer stocks of
food grains is very undesirable and wasteful. In states such as Punjab,
Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, mainly two crops — wheat
and rice— are grown. The intensive utilisation of water in the cultivation of
rice has also led to environmental degradation and a fall in the water level,
threatening the sustainability of agricultural development in these states.
PDS dealers started malpractice like diverting the grains to
open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops,
irregular opening of the shops, etc. In recent years, there has been another
factor that has led to the decline of the PDS. The three types of cards and the
range of prices that you see today did not exist. Now, with TPDS of three
different prices, any family above the poverty line gets a very little discount
at the ration shop. The price for APL families is almost as high as the open
market price, so there is little incentive for them to buy these items from the
ration shop.
Role of Cooperatives in Food Security
In India, cooperatives also play 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 examples of cooperative societies are Mother Dairy in Delhi, Amul from
Gujarat, and the Academy of Development Science (ADS) in Maharashtra.
