FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
Food security refers to 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 time to time action, when this security is threatened.
What is Food Security? In the 1970s, food security was understood as the “availability at all times of adequate supply of basic foodstuffs”(UN, 1975). Amartya Sen added a new dimension to food security and emphasized the “access” to food through ‘entitlements’ (a combination of what one can produce, exchange in the market along with state or other socially provided supplies).Accordingly, there has been a substantial shift in the understanding of food security. The 1995 World Food Summit declared, “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” (FAO, 1996). The declaration further recognizes that “poverty eradication is essential to improve access to food”. Food security has the following dimensions: Availability of Food It means food production within the country, food imports and the previous years stock stored in government granaries. Accessibility of Food It means food is within reach of every person. Affordability of Food It implies that an individual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet one’s dietary needs. Thus, food security is ensured in a country only if Enough food is available for all the persons. All persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality. There is no barrier on access to food.
Need for Food Security : Food security is needed in a country to ensure food at all times. It is needed to ensure that no person in a country dies of hunger. Effect of Natural Calamity on Food Security : Most of the time, the poorest section of society might be food insecure. But persons above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national disaster/calamity like earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami, widespread failure of crops causing famine. The total production of food grains decreases due to a natural calamity. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. The price of the food products goes up due to this shortage. At high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity happens in a very wide area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a situation of starvation. Massive starvation might take a turn of famine. Thus, natural calamity affects food security adversely. Famine and starvation: A famine is characterized by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation. The most devastating famine that occurred in India was the FAMINE OF BENGAL in 1943. This famine killed thirty lakh people in the province of Bengal. The agricultural labourers, fishermen, transport workers and other casual labourers were affected the most by the dramatically increasing price of rice. They were the ones who died in this famine were affected most by the famine.
Who are Food insecure ? The worst affected groups are landless people with little or no land to depend on. Traditional artisans, providers of traditional services, petty self employed workers and destitute including beggars are also such groups. In the urban areas the food insecure families are those whose working members are generally employed in ill paid occupations and casual labour markets. They are largely engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages that ensure bare survival. The SCs and STs and some sections of OBCS, who have either poor land base or very low productivity are prone to food insecurity. People affected by natural disasters, who have to migrate to other areas in search of work are also among the most food insecure people. Further, many pregnant and nursing mothers and also children under the age of 5 years are food insecure people. The second National Health and Family Survey (NHFS) conducted during 1998-99. estimated that approximately 11 crore women and children in India are food insecure. Food insecure regions : Economically backward states with high level of poverty, tribal and remote areas, regions more prone to natural disasters (like Eastern and South-eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh) consist the largest number of food insecure people. Hunger: 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-It is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity and quality. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low income and in turn their inability to buy food even for survival. Seasonal hunger-It is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting. This is prevalent in rural areas because of seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of casual labour e.g., there is less work for casual construction labour during the rainy season.
Aiming at Self-Sufficiency- Since independence, India has been aiming at self-sufficiency in food grains. Aer 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 especially in the production of wheat and rice. The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Haryana, where food grains production jumped from 7.23 million tonnes in 1964-65 to reach an all time high of 30.33 million tonnes in 1995-96. Production in Maharashtra, Bihar, Orissa and north- eastern states continued to stagger. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on the other hand, recorded significant increases in rice yield.
Food Security in India : India has become self sufficient in food grains during the last 30 years because of the variety of crops grown all over the country.
The availability of food grains (even in adverse weather conditions or otherwise) at the country level has further been ensured with a designed food security system by the government. This system has two components; 1. Buffer stock 2.Public distribution system
Buffer Stock : It is the stock of food grains namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI) to be used during shortage of food grains.
The FCI purchases wheat and rice from farmers where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price (MSP). The MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to provide incentives to the farmers for raising the production of these crops. The purchased food grains are stored in granaries. This is done to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of the society at a price lower than the market price, also known as the issue price. This also helps to resolve the problem of shortage of food grains during adverse weather conditions or during the periods of calamity.
Programmes For Food Security In India- In the mid-1970s, National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) reported the high incidence of poverty level. Due to this, three important food intervention programmes were introduced. They are: 1. Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains 2. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) 3. Food-For Work (FfW) programme.
Public Distribution System-The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer sections of society. This is called the Public Distribution System (PDS). Ration shops are also known as fair price shops which keep stocks of food grains, sugar,kerosene, oil etc. These items are sold to people at a price lower than market price. The ration cards are of three kinds, colour-coded for easy recognition: Antyodaya card for the poorest of the poor. BPL card for families below the poverty line. APL card for all others.
Rationing: It is a term given to government controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services. It restricts how much people are allowed to buy or consume at a particular time within a particular period. Rationing in India was introduced in the 1940s against the backdrop of the Bengal famine. Later, it was revived in the wake of an acute food shortage during the 1960s prior to the green revolution.
Current status of PDS- Public Distribution System is the most important step taken by the Government of India(GOI) towards ensuring food security. In the beginning the coverage of PDS was universal with no discrimination between poor and non poor. 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.
From June 1997, in a renewed attempt, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the poor in all areas. It was for the first time that a different price policy was adopted for poor and non poor.
Further in 2000, two special schemes were launched : 1.Antyodaya Anna Yojana . 2. Annapurna Scheme.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) for the ‘poorest of the poor’. AAY was launched in December 2000. Under the scheme, 1 crore of the poorest among the BPL families covered under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) were identified. Poor families were identified by the respective state rural development departments through a Below Poverty, Line (BPL) survey.
Annapurna Scheme (APS) for the ‘indigent senior citizen’. It provides food grains free of cost per month to senior citizens who are not receiving any pension or have any other source of income or having a family to support them, i.e. they are destitute.
The PDS has proved to be the most effective instrument over the years in stabilizing prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices. It has been instrumental in avoiding widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to the deficit ones. The system, along with the minimum support price and procurement has contributed to an increase in food production and provided income security for farmers in certain regions.
However PDS has faced severe criticisms on several grounds: Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries. FCI godowns are overflowing with grains, with some grains rotting away and some being eaten by rats. The storage of massive stocks has been responsible for high carrying costs, in addition to wastage and deterioration in grain quality. PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the grains to the open market for more profit. Dealers sell poor quality grains at ration shops. They open the ration shops at irregular times. The price for APL (Above Poverty Line) families is almost as high as the open market price.
Role of Cooperatives in Food Security: The co-operatives are also playing an important role in food security in India especially in southern and western parts of India. The co-operative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to the poor. In Tamil Nadu, out of all fair price shops around 95% are being run by co-operatives. In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making strides in provisions of milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled rates decided by the Delhi Government. Amul is another success story of co-operatives in milk and milk products in Gujarat. Amul has brought about the White Revolution in the country. Grain banks are slowly taking shape in Maharashtra. The ADS (Academy of Development Science) Grain Bank Programme is acknowledged as a successful and innovative food security intervention.
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