Food security means ensuring that all people have access to sufficient, affordable and nutritious food at all times. Food security is achieved when a country has enough available food, people can afford to buy food, and there are no barriers to accessing food. Food insecurity is caused by factors like poverty, natural disasters, and widespread crop failures from drought. Drought reduces total food production and can lead to food shortages, starvation, and in severe cases, famine. Several groups in India are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, including the poor, landless, homeless, and certain lower castes. While India has implemented programs like the Public Distribution System and food security schemes to improve access to food, problems still exist like hunger in

2. Food security means
Food Security
availability accessibility
affordability of
food to all people
at all times

3. 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
and
There is no barrier on access to food.

4. Need for Food
Security
For the poor sections of the society
Natural disasters or calamity like
earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami,
Widespread crop failure due to drought

5. How drought affects food security
Prices
Some people
cannot afford to buy food = Food
Insecurity
Drought takes place
Total
production of food grains
Shortage of food in the
affected areas

6. Starvation
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.

7. Famine
A massive starvation might take a turn of famine.
A Famine is characterized by
• widespread deaths
• epidemics

8. Famines and Starvation Deaths in India
The Bengal Famine
The worst famine that was occur in India before the freedom of
INDIA. It was occured in 1943. It nearly killed 1.5 million to 3
million.
The Bihar famine
It was the second most worst famine that occured 1966-1967. It was
found that nearly 2500 deaths occured due to starvation.
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.

9. Food Insecure Groups
landless people
traditional artisans
Homeless, beggars etc.
petty self-employed workers
traditional services providers
Families employed in ill-paid occupations
casual labourers (seasonal activities+ very low
wages)
SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs (lower
castes among them) –having poor land-base or
very low land productivity
Migrants ( as a result of natural disasters )
Women and children

10. States facing problem of food insecurity
 Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts)
 Bihar
 Jharkhand
 Orissa
 West Bengal
 Chhattisgarh
 Parts of Madhya Pradesh
 Maharashtra

11. Hunger, another aspect
of Food Insecurity
Inadequate diet
for a long time
Poor people
suffer from
chronic hunger
Chronic
Hunger Due agricultural
activities-rural
regions & urban
areas- casual
labour
When a person is
unable to get
work for the
entire year
Seasonal
Hunger

12. India’s attempts at
attaining Food Security
Highest
Growth
Punjab and
Haryana
Tamil Nadu
and Andhra
Pradesh
Low
Growth
Maharashtra,
Madhya
Pradesh
Bihar, Orissa
and the N-E
states
Green Revolution: Food grainProduction

13. India’s Food Security
System
Buffer
Stock
Public
Distribution
System
Food Security
System of India

14. How the Public Distribution System works
Farmers or
Producers
States
Fair Price
Shops
F.C.I
(maintains
Buffer
Stocks)
Grains MSP
Allocates Grains
Central Issue Price
C.I.P Distributes
Grains

15. Government schemes
0 PDS (Iinitial Public Distribution System scheme)
0 RPDS (Revamped Public Distribution System)
0 TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System)
Special Schemes
0 AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana)
0 APS (Annapurna Scheme)

16. Food Security Schemes in
INDIA

17. 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

18. Problems faced by PDS
 Problem of Hunger still exists in many areas of India
 Food stock in granaries often above specified levels
 Deterioration in quality of stored food grains if kept for longer time
 High storage costs
 Increase in MSP has led to shift from coarse grain to rice and wheat
production among the farmers
 Cultivation of rice has also led to environmental degradation and fall in the
water level
 Average consumption of PDS grain at the all-India level is very low
 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
 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