ECONOMICS FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
Food Security in India
Dimensions of Food Security
Food is essential for a person to live. Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of
food throughout the lifetime of every person. Food availability means food production within the country,
food imports and the stocks of previous years stored in government granaries. Accessibility means food is
within the reach of every person. Affordability means that a person has enough sources to buy sufficient,
safe and nutritious food.
New Dimension to Food Security
According to Amartya Sen, the access to food through what he called entitlement—a combination of what
one can produce and exchange in the market along with state or other socially provided supplies.
Effects of Calamity
During a natural calamity, the total production level
decreases, thereby it creates a shortage of food. 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.
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. For
example, the famine of Bengal in 1943.
Food Security
There are many groups of people with no land—traditional artisans and petty self-employed—who suffer
from food and nutrition insecurity in India. The working group in the urban areas is employed in ill-paid
occupations and a casual labour market.
Reasons for food insecurity: The social composition
o SCs, STs and other OBCs who have either poor land-base or low productivity.
o Because of natural disasters, people migrate to different areas in search of work.
Food insecure people
o A large proportion of pregnant, nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years.
o Backward states, tribal and remote areas, regions prone to natural disasters.
Hunger
The eradication of hunger and reducing the risks of future hunger is required to attain food security.
Hunger has chronic and seasonal dimensions. Chronic hunger is a consequence of inadequate food in
terms of quantity and quality. Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of growing and harvesting food.
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ECONOMICS FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
Indian agriculture adopted a new strategy which resulted in the Green Revolution particularly in the
production of wheat and rice. In July 1968, the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi released a special
stamp titled ‘Wheat Revolution’.
Food Security in India
With the advent of the Green Revolution in the early 1970s, India has become self-sufficient in food
grains. 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.
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.
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.
Because of the high incidence of poverty, three important
programmes were implemented in the mid-1970s. They are
the public distribution system in existence earlier but strengthened thereafter for food grains, Integrated
Child Development Services (ICDS) introduced in 1975 and the Food-for-Work (FFW) programme in
1977–78.
Current Status of the Public Distribution System
In 1992, the Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1700 blocks in the country.
The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the
poor in all areas. In 2000, two special programmes were launched- Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and
the Annapurna Scheme (APS). They focused on the special target groups of the poorest of the poor and
indigent senior citizens, respectively.
AYY: One crore of the poorest among the BPL families are covered under this scheme. Twenty-five
kilograms of food grains were made available to each eligible family at a subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg
for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice. It has been further expanded to two crore families covered under
this scheme.
o Subsidy is a payment which the Government makes to a producer to supplement the market price
of a commodity.
o In July 2002, the stock of wheat and rice with FCI was 63 million tonnes; this was much more than
the minimum buffer norms of 24.3 million tonnes.
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ECONOMICS FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
o The storage of massive food grains is very undesirable and responsible for high-carrying costs.
Freezing the minimum support price (MSP) for few years needs to be considered.
o Rising MSP has raised the maintenance cost of procuring food grains by the Government. Rising
transport and storage costs of the FCI are other contributing factors for the increase in MSP.
o Increase in MSP has induced farmers to divert land from the production of coarse grains to the
production of wheat and rice.
Another major area of concern is the ineffectiveness of PDS which is clear from the fact that the
average consumption of PDS grain at the all-India level is only 1 kg per person per month. As a result,
the poor have to depend on markets rather than ration shops for the need of food.
PDS dealers were involved in malpractices such as diverting food grains to the open market for a
better margin.
Role of Cooperatives in Food Security
Cooperative societies set up shops to sell low-priced goods to poor people. These cooperatives play an
important role in food security in India.
Of all fair price shops running in Tamil Nadu, nearly 94% are being run by cooperatives.
In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making strides in the provision of milk and vegetables to consumers at a
controlled rate decided by the Government.
In milk and milk products, Amul from Gujarat is another cooperative society.
The Academy of Development Science (ADS) has facilitated a network of NGOs for setting up grain
banks in different regions of Maharashtra.
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