Despite substantial increase in food output, India has yet not been able to solve its food problem reasons and way forward.

1. ECONOMIC ASSIGNMENT
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY IN
INDIA – II
B.A PROGRAMME (ECONOMIC AND
POLITICAL SCIENCE)
YEAR-3 SEMESTER-6
SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:
RAJ KUNWAR JAISWAL KOKILA MEENA MA’AM
ROLL NUMBER- 313
SECTION- C

2. QUESTION- Do you agree with the statement that despite
substantial increase in food output, India has yet not been
able to solve its food problem. Give arguments.
ANSWER-
The production of food within India was insufficient in the years
from 1947 to 1960 as there was a growing population, during
which a famine was also anticipated. Food availability was only
about 417 gram per day per person. Many farmers were in
debt, and they had become landless laborers. Political situations
that prevailed also had a negative impact on the food system.
There was a severe shortage of food crops as well as commercial
crops.
When India became independent in 1947, the agricultural
productivity was very low (about 50 million tonnes). The
agriculture was mainly rainfed and was being done as a
subsistence farming using mainly animate sources of farm
power and traditional tools and equipment’s. More than 80% of
the population living in rural areas was dependent on
agriculture for their livelihood.
After independence when Five Year Development Plans were
prepared in 1950, agriculture was given priority. However, it

3. was only during sixties, when a number of major schemes and
program initiated in the country and investment was done for
farmer’s upliftment. Apart, the research activities in the field of
agricultural picked up and got a boost during this phase. In
Sixties, Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri coined the
popular phrase “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” and successfully
launched the milk cooperatives, which later brought in the
White Revolution in 1970; Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sowed
the seeds of the Green Revolution in 1967. While the
government imported high-yielding seeds of dwarf wheat from
Mexico and made available irrigation along with external inputs
like chemical fertilizer and pesticides, farmers did the rest. In
1967, the first harvest after the Green Revolution technology
was introduced was a record three million tonnes higher. Since
then, the country has not looked back. From an era of food
imports, India graduated toward the food self-sufficiency.
THE GREEN REVOLUTION
To make the country self-sufficient in food grains and reduce
our dependence on imports, high input driven “green
revolution” agriculture was introduced in the late 1960s in the
parts of north-western and coastal peninsular India. The green
revolution package comprised introduction of high yielding

4. varieties (HYV) of seeds, application of chemical fertilizers,
pesticides and expansion of irrigation. The country had just
faced a severe drought in 1967 but was able to achieve self-
sufficiency in food grain production in a period of just five
years. While the self-sufficiency in Indian agriculture was
highlighted by the proponents of green revolution, from 1970s
the concept came under criticism both on socio-economic and
ecological grounds. The main criticism directed against green
revolution successes was that high yields could only be obtained
under certain optimum conditions: decent irrigation, intensive
use of fertilizers, and monoculture and pest control with
chemical pesticides.
INCREASING TRENDS OF FOOD GRAIN IN INDAIA:
Even though India has been primarily an agrarian economy, 85%
of the population (Total population 1951-36.10 crores) lived in
villages and derived their livelihood from agriculture, the country
was not self-sufficient in food-grains (1950-50.8 million
tonnes). The average availability of food was not only deficient in
quantity but also uncertain, as there were regular famines.

5. As the data released by the government shows, India produced
50.82 million tonnes of foodgrains in 1950-51. The production
has increased 6-folds since then.
In 2021-22, India recorded the highest ever foodgrain
production of 314.51 million tonnes.
In addition, per capita availability of edible oils witnessed 6- fold growth
since Independence. 384.98 lakh tonnes of oilseeds were produced during
the year 2021-22.
As per the National Food Security Mission, oilseeds and oil palm have
augmented the availability of vegetable oils and reduced import of edible
oils.

6. WHEAT AND RICE PRODUCTION IN YEAR 2021-22:
Total production of rice during 2021-22is estimated at record 127.93 million tonnes.
It is higher by 11.49 million tonnes than the last five years average production of
116.44 million tonnes.
Production of wheat during 2021-22is estimated at record 111.32 million tonnes. It
is higher by 7.44 million tonnes than the average wheat production of 103.88 million
tonnes.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food
security is achieved when all people, always, have physical, social and economic access
to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life.
India has achieved self-sufficiency in food grains and has ensured there is enough food
available to feed its entire population. It is the world’s largest producer of milk, pulses

7. and millets and the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnuts,
vegetables and fruit.
However, food security for many Indians remains a distant dream. Large sections of
India’s population do not have enough food available to remain healthy nor do they
have sufficiently diverse diets that provide adequate levels of micronutrients. The
Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18 is the first-ever nationally
representative nutrition survey of children and adolescents in India. It found that 35
per cent of children under five were stunted, 22 per cent of school-age children were
stunted while 24 per cent of adolescents were thin for their age.
India also continues to do poorly in world hunger rankings and a study (2016) in
The Lancet found that India leads the world in underweight people. Some 102
million men and 101 million women are underweight, which makes the country
home to over 40 per cent of the global underweight population.
At the same time, however, the country is affected by rising rates of obesity.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), in the past 10 years the
number of obese people has doubled, even though one in five children in the age
group 5-9 years were found to be stunted.

8. The Global Hunger Index 2014 ranks India at 55 out of 76 countries based on three
leading indicators prevalence of under-weight children under five years, under-five
child mortality rate, and the proportion of undernourished in the population.
However, food quantity is not the issues but the quality It’s not as though farmers do
not produce enough food. Hunger and malnutrition result from other factors, including
inadequate food distribution, social and economic policies, inequality and poverty. It is
a case of ‘scarcity’ amid abundance. The country even continues to export food while
millions remain hungry.
According to some surveys in government of India, India is growing food in enough
quantities. But, It has been seen that India is wasting about 67 million tonnes of food
grain per year due to the lack of infrastructure (Buffer Stocks, Cold Storage, Logistics
etc) and facing policy paralysis in distributing.
Conclusion And Way Forward:
Addressing these challenges would require a second green revolution focussed on the
agriculture-water- energy nexus, making agriculture more climate resistant and
environmentally sustainable. The use of biotechnology and breeding will be important
in developing eco-friendly, disease-resistant, climate-resilient, more nutritious and
diversified crop varieties. Better Post-harvest loss-management and a makeover of
co-operative movement through formation of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
▪ PDS is one of the biggest welfare programmes of the government, helping farmers sell
their produce at remunerative prices as well as the poorer sections of society to buy food
grains at affordable rates.
▪ Its effectiveness can be enhanced with technology-based solutions as is evident from some
of the states’ successes towards the same. Shifting towards DBT is another idea, but with
caution.
▪ Strengthening of the existing TPDS system by capacity building and training of the
implementing authorities along with efforts to plug leakages is the best way forward.
▪ To enhance the nutritional level of masses, bio-fortified foods need to be distributed
through the PDS that will make it more relevant in the backdrop of prevalent
malnutrition in India.