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8/6/2019 Food Security in India Main

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FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

Preface

World is engulfed with energy shortage, price inflation, climate changes, terrorism whereas foodsecurity has become the most intractable challenge for the development agencies. Despite the good

economic performance, with over200 million people who are food insecure, India is home to thelargest number of hungry people in theworld.Therefore, this is high time to understand the situationand respond prudentially. The relevance of food, as a discipline of study is never diminished. In

times of scarcity it occupies all attention and a position of pre-eminence in day to day administration.

This report highlights some of the contemporary perspectives on food insecurity in India, policiesundertaken by the government and the need for the comprehensive approach to ensure food securityin India.1.INTRODUCTION

With the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopting eight major development

goals on 8 September 2000, the question of reduction in poverty and food insecurity has received

major policy focus in several developing countries all over the world. But India has not exhibitedsimilar policy concern on achieving these goals because of the general sense of comfort from thesuccess in reducing poverty and food insecurity as revealed by estimates of consumption-based

poverty measures2 and surplus stocks of food grains.However, the High Level Committee appointed by the Government of India has challenged this

sense of comfort by attributing the excess stocks of food grains to the decline in cerealconsumption in recent decades than to increases in food production. The Committee has found

that the energy intake level of more than 70 per cent of the population is less than 2100 caloriesand that the bottom 80 per cent of the rural and bottom 40 per cent of the urban households have

a food expenditure share (food expenditure as a share of total expenditure) of over 60 per cent. Inother words, the magnitude of food insecurity by both the energy intake norm and food share

criterion are all consequences of poverty in India which accounts for 26.1% in1999/ 2000.The recent attempt to revamp the Public Distribution System by targeting it with reference to

state wise estimates of poverty by differential pricing across poor and non-poor households hasexcluded large section of genuinely needy persons to avail the subsidized food . Consequently

food insecurity and Price instability has increased. This would call for downward revisions infood security norms. Therefore, this report analyses food insecurity in terms of two factors- (i)

deprivation in economic access (incidence of poverty), and (ii) inadequate physical access tofood grains. The study is organized as follows: the following section would briefly cover the

concept FOOD SECURITY, causes of food insecurity in India, steps undertaken by thegovernment and its failure to meet desired result, recommended suggestions to ensure food

security.


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2.What is food security?From the definition given by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and United States

Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food security can be explained as the availability ofenough

food to all the people at all the times where people have physical and economic access to

sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet the dietary needs and food preferences for survival

and active and healthy life. For ensuring food security three important events have to take place,they are production, distribution and consumption which is known as a food security cycle as

shown in the following chart.

Only when we produce enough food , it can be made available for accessibility or can be distributed

for consumption. The food production involves land, its fertility, irrigation and number of crops for

which water plays a major role. Distribution mainly aims at making food accessible at subsidized

rates to all the genuinely needy persons.This is followed by consumption leading to an active and

healthy life which in turn create greater capable workforce, thus enhancing production. Food

security has following dimensions(a) availability of foodmeans food production within the

country, food imports and the previous years stock stored in government granaries. (b)accessibilitymeans food is within reach of every person. (c) affordabilityimplies that anindividual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet one's dietaryneeds.


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3.WHY FOOD SECURITY? At the global level, the South Asian region is home to morechronically food insecure people than any other region in the world and India ranks 94th in the

Global Hunger Index of 119 countries.

The poorest section of the society might food insecure most of the times while personsabove the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national

disaster/calamity like earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami, widespread failure of cropscausing famine, etc. Due to a natural calamity, say drought, total production of food grainsdecreases. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. Due to shortage of food, theprices go up. At the high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamityhappens in a very wide spread area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may causea situation of starvation. A massive starvation might take a turn of famine. A Famine ischaracterized by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced useofcontaminated water or decaying food andloss of body resistance due to weakeningfrom


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starvation. The most devastating famine that occurred in India was the FAMINE OFBENGAL in 1943. This famine killed thirty lakh people in the province of Bengal.

4.Who are food-insecure?Although a large section of people suffer from food and nutrition insecurity in India-

The worst affected groups are landless people with little or no land to depend upon,traditional artisans, self-employed workers and destitute including beggars.

In the urban areas, the food insecure families are those whose working membersare generally employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labor market. Theseworkers are largely engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages that

just ensure bare survival. Seasonal hunger is due to seasonal nature of agriculturalactivities and in urban areas because of the casual labour, e.g., there is less work forcasual construction labor during the rainy season.

The social composition along with the inability to buy food also plays a role in foodinsecurity. The SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs who have either poor land-base or very low land productivity are prone to food insecurity.

The victims of natural disasters, often migrate to other areas in search of work, arealso among the most food insecure people.

A high incidence of malnutrition among women put even the unborn baby at the riskof malnutrition.According to the National Health andFamily Survey (NHFS) 199899, thenumber of malnourished women and children is approximately 11 crore.

Some of the economicallybackward states with high incidence ofpoverty, tribal andremote areas, regionsmore prone to natural disasters like Uttar Pradesh (easternand south-eastern parts), Bihar,Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal,Chhattisgarh,parts of Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra account for largest numberof foodinsecure people in the country.The attainment of food security therefore involves eliminating current hunger andreducing the risks of future hunger.


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5. HISTORY OF FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

5.1After independence India adopted a new strategy in agriculture,which resulted in the Green Revolution especially in the productionof wheat andrice.The successof wheat production was later replicated in rice. Theincrease in foodgrainswas, however,disproportionate. The highest rate ofgrowth was achieved in Punjab andHaryana, where foodgrain productionjumped from 7.23 million tonnes in196465 to reachan all-time high of30.33 million tonnes in 199596.Production in Maharashtra, MadhyaPradesh, Bihar, Orissa and thenortheastern states continued tostagger. Tamil Nadu and

AndhraPradesh, on the other hand, recordedsignificant increases in rice yield.


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6. Policies undertaken by government and its impactAfter independence, Indian policymakers adopted all measures to achieveself-sufficiency

in food grains. To ensure food security many policies were implemented by the governmentof India during different phases (1947-2010),a few of them failed to approach the largersection of genuinely needy persons while the rest brought a remarkable growth. Theavailability of foodgrains (even in adverse weather conditions or otherwise) at the countrylevel has further been ensured with a carefully designed food security system by thegovernment. This system has two components: (a) buffer stock and (b) public distributionsystem.6.1 Buffer stock


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Buffer Stock is the stock of foodgrains namely wheat and rice procured by the Governmentthrough Food Corporationof India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice from thefarmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announcedprice for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price. The MSP is declared bythe government every year before the sowing season to provide incentives to the farmersfor raising the production of these crops. The purchased foodgrains are stored in granaries.This is done in an attempt to distribute foodgrains in the deficit areas and among the poorerstrata of society at a price lower than the market price also known as Issue Price.6.2 PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM The public distribution system or PDS is a rationing mechanism that entitles households to

specified quantities of selected commodities at subsidized prices. In most parts of thecountry, up to 1997, the PDS was universal and all households, rural and urban, with aregistered residential address were entitled to rations. The commodities are made availablethrough a network of fair-price shops. Shops keep stock of food grains, sugar, andkerosene oil for cooking. In 2006, there were a total of 0.48 million fair-price shops in thecountry. Private agents and co-operatives ran these shops and a few were state-owned. Therewere a total of 222.2 million families with ration cards in the country and.

Public distribution was first started in 1939 as a war-time rationing measure. The Britishgovernment introduced it in Bombay and later extended it to six other cities and a few otherregions. There have been four phases in the history of the PDS in India (Swaminathan,

2000).

(a) The first phase was from its origins to 1960, a period when the system was expanded to

other cities. During the first phase, distribution through the PDS was generally

dependent on imports of food grain.

(b) The second phase, from 1960 to 1978 saw major organizational changes in response to

the food crisis of the mid-1960s. The government of India took a holistic approach to

food security, and set up the Agricultural Prices Commission and the Food Corporation

of India (1964) in order to strengthen domestic procurement and storage.

(c) The third phase, from 1978 to 1991, was marked by large-scale expansion of the PDS,supported by domestic procurement and stocks.

(d) The fourth phase, from 1991 to the present, is one in which the policy of universal PDS

has been replaced by a targeted policy (TDPS) in line with the objectives of economic

liberalization.

6.3 In 1992, Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1,700 blocksin the country. The target was to provide the benefits of PDS to remote and backwsardareas.

6.4 Targeted PDS and its impact

In 1997, the Government of India introduced the Targeted PDS (TPDS) in order to curtail the food

subsidy (GOI, 1997). The policy initiated targeting of households on the basis of an income criterion,

that is, used the income poverty line to demarcate poor and non-poor households. The Targeted

PDS differs from earlier variants of the PDS in certain key respects


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6.4.1 Targeting. The most distinctive feature of the TPDS in relation to previous policy in

India is the introduction of targeting, specifically, the division of the entire population into

below-poverty-line (BPL) and above-poverty-line (APL) categories, based on the poverty line

defined by the Planning Commission. The two groups are treated differently in terms of

quantities and prices. With this, the Government of India initiated a policy of narrow

targeting to households with incomes below the official poverty line.6.4.2 Dual prices. The second distinguishing feature is that the PDS now has dual central issueprices: prices for BPL consumers and prices for APL consumers.

6.3.3 A third price, introduced in 2001, is for beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Scheme (a scheme for the

poorest of the poor, in which food grain is distributed with an additional subsidy). In March 2000, a

major policy change occurred when it was announced in the budget that central issue prices -- that is,

prices at which the Food Corporation of India (FCI) sells grain for the PDS to State governments -- will be

set at half the economic cost incurred by the FCI for BPL households and at the full economic cost for

APL households. In short, there was to be no subsidy for APL households.

6.4.4 Centre-state control. A third important feature of the Targeted PDS is that it has changed

centre-state responsibilities with respect to entitlements and allocations to the PDS. PDS is

designed and managed by State governments. With the TPDS, the size of the BPL population and

the entitlements for the BPL population are decided by the central government. And the allocations

for APL populations or additional allocations for BPL and APL populations are decided somewhat

arbitrarily based on past utilization and demands from States.

6.4.5 Impact of TPDS on society

The PDS has proved to be the most effective instrument of government policy overthe years in stabilising prices and making food available to consumers at affordableprices.

It has been instrumental in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplyingfood from surplus regions ofthe country to the deficit ones

The system, including the minimum support price and procurement has contributedto an increase in food grain production and provided income security to farmers in

certain regions.

According to a Performance Evaluation by the Planning commission (PEO 2005), the transition from

universal PDS to TPDS has neither benefited the poor, nor helped reduce budgetary food subsidies.

The most relevant problems with the Targeted PDS are the following.

First, targeting has led to the large-scale exclusion of genuinely needy persons from the

PDS.

Secondly, targeting has affected the functioning and economic viability of the PDS network

adversely and led to a collapse of the delivery system.

Thirdly, TPDS has failed to achieve the objective of price stabilization through transfer of

cereals from surplus to deficit regions of the country.

Lastly, below poverty line (BPL) households have not been properly covered owing to leakagesthrough widespread corruption, illegal sales, creation of false cards and the use of facilities by better-off households.

6.5 Further, in 2000, two special schemes were launched viz., Antyodaya Anna Yojana(AAY) and the Annapurna Scheme (APS) with special target groups of poorest of the poorand indigent senior citizens, respectively.Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)


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AAY was launched in December 2000. Poor families were identified by the respective staterural development departments through a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey. Thirty fivekilograms of foodgrains were made available to each eligible family at a highly subsidizedrate of Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice with effect from April 2003.Nearly 2crore families have been covered under the AAY.

6.6 Food Stamp ProgrammeFSP proposed that each eligible household should be given documents specifying the number of householdmembers, their age and entitlement, which would determine the number of stamps given to them per month.The target households would then collect stamps each month from prescribed distribution centres and usethem at the retail outlets to buy rice and wheat, and the state government would subsequently reimburse theretailers. But Such a scheme will exclude a large number of needy persons from the food distribution system,erode the value of the subsidy to those who receive benefits from the existing network of fair price shops.

Security in India: Policy challenges and responses3


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6.8Two other major programmes with a food component are the Midday Meal programme, a

scheme for provision of noon meals to children in primary schools and the ICDS or Integrated Child

Development Scheme, which provides supplementary nutrition to young children and pregnant and

nursing mothers. Despite a Supreme Court ruling on 28 November 7, 2010 2001, a number of states haveyet to introduce the MDMS. In some states higher-caste students refuse to eat midday meals cooked by peoplefrom lower castes.

6.9 National Food for Work Programme

National Food for Work centrally controlled Programme


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was launched on November 14, 2004 in 150 most backward districts of the country with theobjective of intensifying the generation of supplementary wage employment.Theprogramme is open to all rural poor who are in need of wage employment and desire to domanual unskilled work.6.10 In 2004 National Employment Guarantee Act provide a legal guarantee for at least 100 days ofemployment, to begin with, on asset creating public works programmes every year at minimum wages for at

least one able bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle class household.6.11 Other programmes implemented by the government are Rural wage employment programme,Employment Guarantee Scheme, Sampurna Grameen Rojgar Yojana.

In July 2002, the stock of wheat and rice with FCI was 63 million tones which was muchmore than the minimum buffer norms of 24.3 million tonnes. The stock eased after 200203due to relief operations undertaken by the government as the year was declared as droughtyear due to failure of monsoon. The decline in stocks continued in the subsequent years.However, these remained consistently higher than the buffer norms. The situation improvedwith the distribution of food grains under different schemes launched by the government.There is a general consensus that high level of buffer stocks of food grains is veryundesirable and can be wasteful. The storage of massive food stocks has been responsiblefor high carrying costs, in addition to wastage and deterioration in grain quality.

7. Suggested recommendations to ensure food security

Futures market and free trade: The present system marked by input subsidies and high Minimal SupportPrice should be phased out. To avoid wide fluctuations in prices and prevent distress selling by small

farmers, futures market can be encouraged. Improved communication systems through the use of

information technology may help farmers get a better deal for their produce. Crop insurance schemes canbe promoted with government meeting a major part of the insurance premium to protect the farmers against

natural calamities. All restrictions on foodgrains regarding inter-State movement, stocking, exports and

institutional credit and trade financing should be renounced

Food-for-education programme: To achieve cent per cent literacy, the food security need can beproductively linked to increased enrolment in schools. With the phasing out of PDS, food coupons may be

issued to poor people depending on their entitlement. The State government will in turn distribute the grants to the village bodies, which can decide on the list of

essential infrastructure work the village needs and allow every needy villager to contribute through his

labour and get paid in food coupons and cash.


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Community grain storage banks: The FCI can be gradually dismantled and procurement decentralisedthrough the creation of foodgrain banks in each block/ village of the district, from which people may get

subsidised foodgrains against food coupons. The food coupons can be numbered serially to avoid frauds.

The grain storage facilities can be created within two years under the existing rural development schemesand the initial lot of grains can come from the existing FCI stocks. If culturally acceptable, the possibility

of relatively cheap coarse grains, like bajara and ragi and nutritional grains like millets and pulses meetingthe nutritional needs of the people can also be explored.

Enhancing agriculture productivity: The government, through investments in vital agricultureinfrastructure, credit linkages and encouraging the use of latest techniques, motivate each district/ block to

achieve local self-sufficiency in foodgrain production. However, instead of concentrating only on rice or

wheat, the food crop with a potential in the area must be encouraged. Creation of necessary infrastructure

like irrigation facilities will also simulate private investments in agriculture

ROLE OF COOPERATIVE

(a) The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people.For example, out of all fair price shops running in Tamil Nadu, around 94 per centare being run by the cooperatives. In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making strides inprovision of milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled rate decided byGovernment of Delhi.

(b) Amul is another success story of cooperatives in milk and milk products from

Gujarat. It has brought about the White Revolution in the country.(c) Similarly, in Maharashtra, Academy of Development Science (ADS) has

facilitated a network of NGOs for setting up grain banks in different regions. ADSorganises training and capacity building programmes on food security for NGOs.Grain Banks are now slowly taking shape in different parts of Maharashtra.

Conclusion

There are strong, direct relationships between agricultural productivity, hunger, andpoverty whichwould reflect in malnourishment. Therefore for food security is adeterminant of improvements in agricultural productivity, maintenance of the area of

cultivable land, encouragement of the farmers to use modern technology and multi-cropcultivation with adequate financial support are the needs of the hour. In addition the

government has to take a bold step to include water as a central subject and link all therivers which should be made as the top priority of any government which comes topower. Above all the government should curb leakages in the system, corruption, social

practices to have greater impact of the implemented policies.

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