Food security means ensuring all people have access to sufficient, affordable and nutritious food. Key aspects of food security are availability, affordability and accessibility of food. India established its public food distribution system and buffer stocks after the 1943 Bengal famine to ensure food security, especially for poor and vulnerable groups. The system involves government procurement of food grains from farmers at minimum support prices, storage by the Food Corporation of India, and distribution of grains at subsidized prices through ration shops under public distribution system. However, there are also challenges like overflowing storage while some lack food, illegal diversions of grains, and environmental impacts of certain crop choices.

3. What is food security
Food security means something more
than two square meals a day.
Dimensions of food security
• Availability :means the food production within the
country, food imports and previous year’s stock stored
in government granaries.(everywhere available)
• Affordability: every individual has enough money to
buy sufficient ,safe and nutritious food to meet one’s
dietary needs.(every individual can buy food)
• Accessability: food should be within the reach of every
individual.

4. Why food security?
In India BPL people never used to get food ..so food
security became a proper platform to serve food to the
poor.
Besides ,natural disaster like flood, drought, earthquake
everyone in India should get proper food.
In 1943 Bengal Famine occurred when all crops were
destroyed and people didn’t had anything to eat.30lakh
people died due to hunger.
Every year 3/4districts in our country face natural disaster
and people lack food but due to food security govt
ensures to provide food to those affected districts.

5. Who are food insecure?
• Occupation
• Rural: landless labour, traditional farmers etc.
• Urban: beggar, labour, rickshaw pullers.
• People who earn less and unemployed face
food insecure.
• Social groups:SC,ST and some section of OBC.
• Females, children(under 5years) suffer
malnutrition.

6. Let’s discuss region wise
• Economical backward states like Bihar, Odisha,
Jharkhand, Chattishgarh.
• Remote areas means those areas where due to
geographical reasons food supply becomes
difficult like Sia-Chin,Ladakh,N.E India .
• Regions prone to natural disaster like places
where frequent landslides,flood etc occurs.
• Few people move from one place to another in
search of better living conditions but again it
becomes difficult for the migrants to arrange
food for their family.

7. Hunger is again divided into two parts
• Chronic hunger: There are few groups of
people who cann’t afford food due to money
eg labourers in urban area.
• Seasonal hunger: No food for few months
because they don’t get any work so they are
not paid.eg small farmers.

8. There’s another major factor of hunger
• LESS FOOD MORE PEOPLE: After
Independence, India thought to take care of
the major problem(Hunger).So 1960s -1970s
Green Revolution changed the scenario of
India.
• Due to the advent of Green Revolution the
production of wheat and rice increased.
• 1965 :7 million tonnes of production
• 2010:218 million tonnes of production.

9. Food Security system has two
components.
• Buffer Stock: is the stock of food grains mainly
wheat and rice procured(obtain)by the
government through Food Corporation of
India(FCI).FCI stores huge quantity of wheat and
rice in godowns. This stock which is stored in
godowns(storehouses) are known as BUFFER
STOCK .If anytime our country is affected by
natural disaster and lack of food that time we can
use the stock stored in our godowns to fulfill
hunger.
• Public Distribution System

10. Food Corporation of India
• FCI purchases wheat and rice from farmers in
Minimum Support Price where there is surplus
production of wheat an rice.
• Farmers are paid a pre-announced price for
their crop which is called Minimum Support
Price.
• Every year government announces MSP
before the sowing season so that farmers can
think which crop can be be more profitable.
• FCI buys the foodgrain and stores in granaries

11. • They distribute these stored foodgrains to
those deficit areas and to poor section of the
society @ very low price which is called ISSUE
PRICE
Most of the foodgrains are stored for emergency
like food shortage in adverse weather
conditions.

12. • PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM(PDS)
• The food procured by FCI is distributed through
govt regulated shops among poorer section of
society. This is called Public distribution System.
• Ration Shops We can find in almostin all the
localities .Overall a rough estimate of about 5.5
lakh ration shops are there in India. These Ration
Shops are also known as Fair Price Shop. Usually
we can get pulses,rice,wheat,sugar,oil etc are
available @ very low price.

13. Why storing of food grains became important?
The system of storing foodgrains have started in
1940s after Bengal Famine.But it was seriously
implemented after 1960s because once again there
was shortage of food.
Govt modified this system time to time and
introduced various schemes(Food for work,Mid-day
meals etc) for the people who are always food
insecure.

14. PDS changes
• Till 1992 ,PDS was universal with no
discrimination between rich and poor.
• In 1992 revamped Public Distribution System was
introduced in 1700 blocks….food became more
available and reasonable because these areas
were very backward.
• In 1997 Targeted PDS was distributed to help the
poor in all the areas of the country. Poor people
used to get more help with PDS.
• In 2000 Antodaya Anna Yojana was introduced to
help the poorest of the poor.

15. • In 2000 Annapurna Scheme was introduced to
help indigent(Poor,Needy) senior citizens.
• Ultimately everyone was able to afford foodgrains
@cheaper rate and availability was another
positive factor of PDS.
• RESULTS OF PDS
People could now afford food and had easy access to
it.
Due to availabiity of food less no of people died due
to hunger.
Income of farmers increased.

16. DEFECTS OF PDS
• In India there are plenty of food grain in godowns
(many of them are overflowing)but still there are
many people who sleep empty stomach.
• FCI godowns are overflowing with grains some are
rotting away and some are being eaten by rats.
• In 2012 FCI had 82 million tonnes of grain in Buffer
stock whereas more 33 million tonnes are required to
meet the rising population.
• The storage of high level Buffer stock needs high
carrying and maintainence cost.(It becomes
expensive)
• Due to increased MSP more farmers are now
producing rice and wheat, other crops are grown less.

17. • Wheat and rice plantation requires huge amount of
water ,water-table decreases which again is harmful
to the environment.
DEMERITS OF PDS
PDS dealers sometimes do illegal practices like
• Many times it had been seen that PDS dealers sell
food grains in the open market to get better margin.
• They are in the habit of selling poor quality
sometimes rotten food grains in the ration shops.
• Many times they don’t even open the shop regularly .
(The poor people those who buy their daily needs
from these ration shops face lot of difficulty as the
owners don’t provide them food grains and other
necessities regularly. They are not so rich that they
can buy from open market.)

19. ROLE OF CO-OPERATIVES IN FOOD SECURITY
• 94%of Fair Price Shops in Tamil Nadu are owned
by co-operatives which has performed very well.
• In Delhi Mother diary provides milk and vegetables
@very low price which is controlled by Delhi
Government.
• Amul brought White Revolution in the country by
providing milk and various milk products @cheap
rates.
• In Maharashtra Academy of Development Science
has facilitated NGOs for setting up various grain
banks in different regions of Maharashtra.