With an Act on it, food security for poor in India would be paid proper attention by the Government and civil society. Jai Hind

2. Food security means :
0 availability,
0 accessibility and
0 affordability of food to all people at all times.
2

3. Food Security is ensured in a
country only if
0 Enough food is available for all the persons
0 All persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable
quality and
0 There is no barrier on access to food.
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4. Need for Food Security:
0 For the poor sections of the society
0 Natural disasters or calamity like earthquake,
drought, flood, tsunami,
0 Widespread crop failure due to drought
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5. How drought affects food
security
Drought takes place
Total
production of food
grains
Shortage of food in the
affected areas
Prices
Some people
cannot afford to buy food = Food
Insecurity
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6. Starvation
0 If such calamity happens in a very wide spread area or
is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a
situation of starvation.
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7. Famine
0 A massive starvation might take a turn of famine.
0 A Famine is characterized by
1.
widespread deaths and
2. epidemics
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8. Famines and Starvation Deaths in
India
0 Bengal Famine, 1943
-killed 1.5 million to 3 million
0 The Bihar famine, 1966-7
- 2,353 deaths due to starvation reported
Starvation deaths have also been reported in:
1. Kalahandi and Kashipur in Orissa
2. Baran district of Rajasthan,
3. Palamau district of Jharkhand
and many other remote areas during the recent
years.
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9. Food Insecure Groups
Worst Affected Groups:
0 landless people
0 traditional artisans
0 traditional services providers
0 petty self-employed workers
0 Homeless, beggars etc.
0 Families employed in ill-paid occupations
0 casual labourers (seasonal activities+ very low wages)
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10. 0 SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs (lower castes
among them) –having poor land-base or very low land
productivity
0 Migrants ( as a result of natural disasters )
0 Women and children
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11. States facing problem of food
insecurity
0 Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts),
Bihar,
0 Jharkhand,
0 Orissa,
0 West Bengal,
0 Chattisgarh,
0 parts of Madhya Pradesh and
0 Maharasthra
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12. Hunger, another aspect of
Food Insecurity
Chronic
Hunger
Inadequate
diet for a
long time
Poor people
suffer from
chronic
hunger
Seasonal
Hunger
Due agricultural
activities-rural
regions & urban
areas- casual
labour
When a person
is unable to get
work for the
entire year
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13. India’s attempts at attaining
Food Security
Green Revolution: Foodgrain Production
Highest
Growth
Low
Growth
Punjab and
Haryana
Maharashtra,
Madhya
Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
and Andhra
Pradesh
Bihar, Orissa
and the N-E
states
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14. India’s Food Security System
Buffer
Stock
Public
Distributio
n System
Food
Security
System of
India
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15. How the Public Distribution System works:
Farmers or
Producers
Grains
Fair Price
Shops
MSP
F.C.I
(maintains
Buffer
Stocks)
Distributes
Grains
C.I.P
Allocates Grains
States
Central Issue Price
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16. Government schemes
0 PDS (initial Public Distribution System scheme)
0 RPS (Revamped Public Distribution System)
0 TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System)
Special Schemes:
0 AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana)
0 APS (Annapurna Scheme)
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18. Benefits from the PDS:
0 Stabilizes prices of food grains
0 Makes food available at affordable prices
0 By supplying food from surplus regions of the country
to the deficit ones, it helps in combating hunger and
famine
0 Prices set with poor households in mind
0 Provides income security to farmers in certain regions
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19. Problems faced by PDS:
0 Problem of Hunger still exists in many areas of India
0 Food stock in granaries often above specified levels
0 Deterioration in quality of stored food grains if kept
for longer time
0 High storage costs
0 Increase in MSP has led to shift from coarse grain to
rice and wheat production among the farmers
0 Cultivation of rice has also led to environmental
degradation and fall in the water level
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20. 0 Average consumption of PDS grain at the all-India
level is very low
0 Malpractices on part of PDS dealers:
 Diverting the grains to open market to get better
margin,
 Selling poor quality grains at ration shops,
 Irregular opening of the shops
0 Low Income families earning just above poverty line
have to pay APL rates which are almost equal to open
market rates – lower incentive to buy from Fair Price
Shops
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