Chapter - 4 Food Security in India

Chapter - 4 Food Security in India

What is Food Security?

• Availability of food – enough food for everyone.
• Accessibility of food – everyone can get it.
• Affordability of food – everyone can buy it.

Food security is important so that no one remains hungry, especially in times of natural calamities (like droughts, floods, or crop failures).

Why is Food Security Necessary?:- Due to a natural calamity, total production of foodgrains decrease. that's why we need food security.

• To prevent hunger and starvation.
• To ensure good health and nutrition.
• To support economic growth – healthy people work better.
• To avoid social unrest due to food shortages.

Famine:- A Famine is characterised by wide spread deaths due to starvation and epidemics. 

Famine of Bengal in 1943 was the most devastating famine occured in India.

Who are Food-Insecure People in India?

• Landless labourers
• Small farmers
• People in rural areas without job security
• Migrants and slum dwellers in cities
• Women, children, and the elderly in poor households

Measures Taken by the Government

Public Distribution System (PDS):

• Food grains (rice, wheat, sugar) are distributed through ration shops.
• Poor families get these at subsidized (cheap) rates.

Buffer Stock:

• Government stores extra food (mainly wheat and rice) in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns.
• Used during shortages or emergencies.

Food Security Act (2013):

• Legal right to food for up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban population.
• Provides 5 kg of food grains per person per month at low prices.

Other Programs:

• Mid-Day Meal Scheme (in schools)
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (for the poorest)
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

Problems with the PDS

• Leakage and black marketing
• Low quality of food grains
• Errors in identifying poor households
• Some people who need it are left out
• Irregular opening of the shops.

Green Revolution:- India adopted a new strategy in agriculture which resulted in 'Green Revolutin' especially in the production of wheat and rice.

Wheat Revolution:- To increase the production of Wheat, It introducd July 1968. After success of wheat was later replicated in rice.

Minimum Support Price:- It is the price at which the government promises to buy crops from farmers, even if market prices fall.

Issue Price:-  is the price at which the government sells food grains (like rice and wheat) to the poor through ration shops (PDS).

Ration shops (Fair Price Shops):- Government authorise shops in these shops sale essential goods in lower price. example:- Rice, wheat, Sugar, etc.

Role of Cooperatives

• Food cooperatives help distribute food in remote areas.
• Example: Amul in Gujarat (dairy), Mother Dairy in Delhi.
• Maharashtra, Scademy of Development Science(ADS):- organise training and capacity building programmes on food security for NGOs.

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