Food Security in India
**1. Explain the components of food security? (Food Security in India)
Ans:
- Availability of food
- Accessibility of food
- Affordability of food
Ans: (a) In rural areas, the people more prone to food insecurity are:
- (i) Landless farmers
- (ii) Traditional artisans,
- (iii) Petty self-employed workers
- (iv) Destitutes including beggars
- (i) Casual labourers
- (ii) Workers employed in low-paid occupations
- (iii) Workers employed in seasonal activities
(d) The people who are living in economically backward states with high poverty, tribal, remote areas and regions more prone to natural disasters also fall under the food insecure.
** 3. What are the main functions of the Food Corporation of India?
Ans: Answer. The main functions of the Food Corporation of India.
- (I) Purchase of food grains.
- (II) Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers by providing them remunerative prices for their food grains.
- (III) Distribution of food grains throughout the country through the Public Distribution System.
- (IV) Maintaining a satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure National Food Security.
- (V) Intervention in the food grains market when required for price stabilization.
Ans: To make the PDS more effective and transparent, the government could consider implementing measures such as:
- 1. Using technology, such as biometric identification and digital records, to improve transparency and reduce leakages.
- 2. Expanding the coverage of the PDS to reach more vulnerable groups and improving the targeting of subsidies to ensure that they reach those who need them most.
- 3. Improving the quality and variety of goods available through the PDS by increasing the budget for procurement and offering a wider range of goods.
- 4. Involving civil society organizations and community groups in the implementation and monitoring of the PDS to ensure accountability and transparency.
- 5. By making Strict rules and laws.
Ans:
- I) After Independence, many measures were adopted to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains.
- II) India adopted a new strategy in agriculture, which resulted in ‘Green Revolution’ to increase the production of wheat and rice.
- III) Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India officially recorded the success of the Green Revolution by releasing a special stamp entitled Wheat Revolution.
- IV) The success of wheat was later replicated in rice.
- V) The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Haryana where food grains production jumped to an all time high.
Ans: Buffer stock is the stock of food grains procured by the government through FCI. This stock is created by the government to meet out the deficit areas among the poor sections of the society. The objective is to maintain the price stability of the food grains.
***8.What are the problems of functioning of the ration shops ?mention any four points.
Ans.
- Insufficient amount fixed for rationed items.
- Malpractices of PDS dealers.
- Piling of massive stock of food grains.
- Increasing minimum support price.
Ans:
- (i) The poorest section of the society might be food insecure most of the times.
- (ii) People above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national disaster.
- (iii) There can also be a widespread failure of crops causing famines etc.
Ans:
- (i) Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries .
- (ii) The FCI go downs are overflowing with grains where some are rotting away and some are eaten by rats.
- (iii) Shopkeepers of Fair Price Shops always do black marketing.
**11. How is food security ensured in a country?
- (i) Enough food is available for all the persons.
- (ii) All Persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality.
- (iii) There is no barrier on the access of food.
Ans:
- (i) It is the most effective government policy in establishing prices.
- (ii) It helps in averting widespread hunger and famine.
- (iii) The price has been under revision in favour of the poor.
- (iv) Minimum Support Price announcement has increased the food production.
- (v) It helps the surplus food for the regions of the country to the deficit areas.
***11. Explain about the people who are Food insecure in India?
Ans: (a) In rural areas, the people more prone to food insecurity are Landless farmers, Traditional artisans, Petty self-employed workers, Destitutes including beggars.
(b) In urban areas, the people more prone to food insecurity are Casual labourers, Workers employed in low-paid occupations, Workers employed in seasonal activities, Food insecure people also include SCs, STS and some sections of OBCs (lower castes among them).
The people who are living in economically backward states with high poverty, tribal, remote areas and regions more prone to natural disasters also fall under the food insecure.
***12. What is the Public
Distribution System? What are the objectives of PDS?
Ans: The Food Cooperation of India (FCI) procures food at pre announced prices. The government distributes food grains to the poorer strata of the society through ration shops at subsidies prices fixed by the government. This is called Public Distribution System.
Objective:
- To provide essential goods at subsidies prices to the consumers.
- To control prices of essential commodities.
- It helps in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to the deficit areas.
- After Independence, many measures were adopted to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains.
- India adopted a new strategy in agriculture, which resulted in ‘Green Revolution’ to increase the production of wheat and rice.
- Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India officially recorded the success of the Green Revolution by releasing a special stamp entitled Wheat Revolution.
- The success of wheat was later replicated in rice.
- The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Haryana where food grains production jumped to an all time high.
- Purchase of foodgrains.
- Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers by providing them remunerative prices for their food grains.
- Distribution of food grains throughout the country through the Public Distribution System.
- Maintaining a satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure National Food Security.
- Intervention in the food grains market when required for price stabilisation.
Under this scheme one crore of the poorest among the BPL families covered under the targeted public distribution system were identified. Poor families were identified by the respective state rural development departments through a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey. Twenty-five kilograms of foodgrains were made available to each eligible family at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice. This quantity has been enhanced from 25 to 35 kg with effect from April 2002.
The scheme has been further expanded twice by additional 50 lakh BPL families in June 2003 and in August 2004. With this increase, 2 crore families have been covered under the AAY. Subsidy is a payment that a government makes to a producer to supplement the market price of a commodity. Subsidies can keep consumer prices low while maintaining a higher income for domestic producers.
- When did Antyodaya Anna Yojana launched in India?
- Antodaya ration card beneficiary family gets how many kilos of ration per month?
- What is subsidy?
- What is the effect of subsidy on consumer price ?
Answers:
- Antyodaya Anna Yojana was launched in December 2000.
- Antyodaya ration card beneficiary family receives 35 kg of food grain each month.
- Subsidy is a payment that a government makes to a producer to supplement the market price of a commodity.
- Subsidy helps in keeping consumer prices low while maintaining a higher income for domestic producers.
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