the un world food programme by the un world food programme (wfp) and the m. s. swaminathan research...

The UN World Food Programme

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Food Security AtlasRural JharkhandOf

Institute for Human Development (IHD)NIDM Building, IIPA Campus

New Delhi 110002www.ihdindia.org

UN World Food Programme (WFP)2 Poorvi Marg, Vasant Vihar

New Delhi 110057www.wfp.org

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RESEARCH TEAM

Institute for Human Development

Dev Nathan

Preet Rustagi

Harishwar Dayal

Sandip Sarkar

Sunil Kumar Mishra

Payel Dutta Majumder

UN World Food Programme

Nisha Srivastava

Bal Paritosh Dash

Animesh Kumar

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TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP

ChairpersonProf. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission

Members

Dr. Indu Agnihotri, Centre for Womens’ Development Studies, New Delhi

Dr. V. Athreya, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

Prof. Ramesh Chand, National Professor, National Centre for Agricultural Policy,New Delhi

Ms. Anita Chaudhuri, Joint Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution

Prof. R. S. Deshpande, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

Prof. Mahendra Dev, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad

Dr. Amaresh Dubey, National Council for Applied Economic Research

Mr. N. D. George, Director, Planning Commission

Prof. S. R. Hashim, Director, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development,New Delhi

Dr. P. K Joshi, Director, National Centre for Agricultural Policy, New Delhi

Prof. K. P. Kannan, National Commission for Enterprises in the UnorganisedSector

Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Dr. Minnie Mathew, World Food Programme

Mr. A. K. Mathur, Director, National Sample Survey Organisation

Prof. Aasha Kapur Mehta, Chronic Poverty Research Centre, Indian Institutefor Public Administration, New Delhi

Prof. T. S. Papola, Delhi Government Chair in Human Development, Institutefor Human Development

Prof. R.Radhakrishna, Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research,Mumbai

Dr. D. Narsimha Reddy, Former Professor, University of Hyderabad

Dr. Rukmini, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

Prof. Vidya Sagar, Institute for Development Studies, Jaipur

Dr. Abusaleh Shariff, National Council for Applied Economic Research

Prof. A.K.Singh, Giri Institute for Development Studies, Lucknow

Prof. R. S. Srivastava, National Commission for Enterprises in the UnorganisedSector

Prof. Prem Vashishtha, Institute for Human Development

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F O R E W O R D

Food Security has now taken centre stage in policy discussions around the world. Alongwith issues of food production there are also clearly issues of access of the poor to food.In India, despite high GDP growth rates over the past decade or so, the record in reducinghunger is not so impressive. This brings to the fore the question of inclusive growth,particularly the inclusion of the most deprived sections of our society and regions of ourcountry into benefiting from the growth process. Increased access to food comes forwardas a basic component of inclusive growth.

It is apt that at such a time the Institute for Human Development (IHD) and the UN’s WorldFood Programme (WFP) have produced this set of Rural Food Security Atlases for 8 Statesof India.

Constructing a Food Security Index (FSI) the authors have tried to identify the districts thatfare particularly badly and the factors behind the poor performance of these districts ineach of the States. The identification of regions and social groups that are most foodinsecure should help to draw attention to the regions and social groups that require mostattention in order to reduce food insecurity. At the same time, analysis of factors behindpoor food security should help direct district-level interventions towards dealing with thefactors that seem to be behind poor food security in these districts.

The authors argue while paying attention to increasing food supply, it is critical to payattention to improving the access of the poor to adequate food. They identify improvementsin infrastructure and in the position of women as central to improving food security.

I hope the Atlases will stimulate discussion among policy makers and social analysts onways of designing district-level interventions that would enable India to reduce hunger aspart of inclusive growth.

[ABHIJIT SEN]

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vii

All countries, including India, have committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals. Theelimination of hunger and poverty tops the list of goals. In a vast country with continental dimensionssuch as India, the progress in achieving these objectives is very uneven. Vast disparities persist acrossregions and population groups. Who are the hungry poor? Where do they live? How can they beenabled to come out of their poverty? These questions are critical to an understanding of food insecurity.To address these issues, the Food Insecurity Atlas of Rural India was prepared as a collaborativeendeavour by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation(MSSRF) in 2001. This was followed by the Food Insecurity Atlas of Urban India in 2002 and the Atlasof Sustainability of Food Security in India in 2004. These atlases not only helped in identifying themost food insecure states of the country, but also contributed to mainstreaming the issue of foodsecurity. The Institute for Human Development (IHD), on its part, has contributed to numerous analysesof food security both at national and regional levels, and has organized many consultations on relatedissues.

A key challenge however remained. The MSSRF-WFP atlases did not look at the sub-state picture.Differences across states are a cause of concern, but in addition, there exist stark imbalances withinstates. Bridging divides is the leitmotif of the 11th Plan that strongly advocates reducing of disparitiesamong states and among districts within a state. Regions of high poverty, low human developmentand poor governance are not only an affront to humanity, but also slow down the development of thecountry. Such pockets also reflect the failure of policies and programmes in reaching the poor. It isincreasingly being recognized that effective developmental interventions whether at the planning,implementation, or monitoring stages, have to be rooted at the district level. This view has beenformally mandated by the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments.

The unmet challenge in food security analysis is therefore to profile and analyse the multiple dimensionsof food security at the sub-state level and to suggest policies and strategies appropriate to localcontexts. Having steadfastly supported the Government of India in its efforts to ensure food securityfor over four decades, WFP and IHD took up this challenge and have prepared rural food securityatlases for some of the most food insecure states in the country. These atlases for the first timeconceptualise and understand the multiple dimensions of food security at the sub state level.

This Atlas for Jharkhand is a fruit of this labour. It first profiles the situation in Jharkhand in relation toother states in the country and then analyses the disparities within the state. Any intra-state analysisis hampered by the lack of adequate and appropriate data at the district level. This atlas too has beenconstrained by dearth of data and the challenge has been to employ proxy indicators for the analysis.This document is therefore also a plea for a policy that ensures more availability of data and informationat the district level.

This atlas has followed a very participatory process right from inception. A technical advisory group(TAG), Chaired by Prof. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, was constituted to provide direction

Preface

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and technical inputs to the atlas. The TAG meetings were attended by senior officials in the government,eminent academics, and a galaxy of experts. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to ProfSen for his encouragement and deep involvement in this project. Our thanks also to all the membersof the TAG who provided critical inputs and gave so much of their time.

We would also like to thank Dr Dev Nathan, Professor, and Dr Preet Rustagi, Senior Fellow, whocoordinated the study from IHD; Dr Harishwar Dayal, Director, Eastern Regional Centre, IHD, Ranchi,who was the resource person for Jharkhand; and other colleagues at IHD, Dr. Sandip Sarkar, whoprovided the technical advise, especially the construction of the indices; Dr. Sunil Mishra and Ms.Payel Dutta Majumder who executed the work of calculation of indices and analyzing the data. Ourthanks also to Dr Nisha Srivastava, Head of the Vulnerability Analysis Unit, who led the project in WFPand to Mr. Balparitosh Dash and Mr. Animesh Kumar from the VAM unit in WFP, who provided criticalinputs.

For the vision of food security for all to be translated to reality requires the commitment, effort andinvolvement of all sections of society, including the beneficiaries of the schemes – the marginalizedand poorest sections who are to benefit from the schemes. We hope the implications of this report willbe studied at all levels in the state and lead to a synergy of public action, political will and professionalinvolvement. This first effort is a small step in understanding the food security profile in Jharkhand.We hope it will stimulate further analysis, action and advocacy.

Dominique Frankefort Alakh N. SharmaCountry Director a.i, WFP Director, IHD

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The preparation of food security atlases for eight states would not have been possible without thejoint efforts of various organizations, individuals and government officials. The primary input forconstruction of indices as well as formulation of appropriate indicators is reliable disaggregated sub-state level data, which was collected, collated and mined from secondary sources as well as basedon information made available by various state departments and ministries. We wish to thank all ofthem for their support and assistance. We are grateful to DFID for funding the project through theGlobal Institutional Support Grant to WFP.

The Chairperson of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Prof. Abhijit Sen, Member, PlanningCommission and other members of the TAG deserve a special mention for all the deliberations in themeetings held and their expert advice to the research team from time to time. Many of them were alsoavailable at short notice to help us resolve problems, provide solutions and show the way forward.We wish to thank them all for their cooperation and support.

The Jharkhand state report was prepared with the inputs of numerous resource persons and regionalinstitutions, who also helped in the organization of state consultations. We acknowledge the IHDEastern Regional Centre, Ranchi and its Director Dr. Harishwar Dayal as a resource person for thepreparation of this report as well as the organization of the state consultation.

A preparatory workshop was organized on 12th May, 2007 in Ranchi. This was chaired by Shri MahavirPrasad, Secretary, Irrigation, Government of Jharkhand and was attended by experts from the stategovernment, academia, and civil society organizations.

The insights and active participation of a few experts deserves special mention - Dr. Jean Dreze, Dr.P.P.Ghosh (ADRI), Dr. Ramesh Saran, Ranchi University; Dr. Anant, XISS; Dr. Vijay Baraik, JharkhandSpace Research Centre; and Ms Purnima Mukherjee (WFP) among many others.

We would like to thank Mr. Basant K. Bal, WFP’s State Director for Jharkhand for his facilitation andactive participation during the state level consultation and also for providing constructive commentsto enrich the quality of the reports. The enthusiasm for the project that was evident at the stateconsultation have been a source of inspiration for us. We are grateful to all those who gave theirvaluable inputs and contributed to the shaping of the report.

We would like to thank Mr. Michael Sheinkman, WFP Senior Regional Programme Adviser forVulnerability Analysis and Mapping in WFP’s Regional Bureau at Bangkok for his presentation andparticipation at some of the state consultations.

The smooth execution of this project would not have been feasible without constant support andinspiration from Prof. Alakh N. Sharma, Director, IHD. We wish to thank him for his cooperation, ideas

Acknowledgements

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and discussions held during the entire period of the project.

We would like to thank Mr. Dominique Frankefort, Country Director a.i. and Mr. GianPietro Bordignon,former Representative and Country Director, for their encouragement at every stage.

We wish to also acknowledge the research and data support received from many individuals in thecourse of the project period. Specific mention of Ms. Piyali Das who undertook the literature reviewduring the initial phase of the project; additional research inputs were provided by Mr. Pinaki Joddarand Mr. Balwant Singh Mehta, who very ably mined large data sets of the NSSO for extracting relevantinformation; the collection of information from State offices was cheerfully undertaken by Dr. RamashraySingh and Mr. Ashwani Kumar; all of whom we wish to thank.

The support received from IHD administration needs to be acknowledged, especially Mr. Prem Chandra,Ms. Jyoti Girish, Ms. Madhavi Chauhan, Ms. Nidhi Sharma, Mr. Sanjay Kumar and Mr. Phalguni Singh.Mr. S.P.Sharma undertook the typing, pagesetting and formatting work and Ms. Shashikala Menondid the copyediting. We wish to thank all of them. We thank Mr. Yatinder Bisht for formatting, and S PPrintech for printing support.

- IHD and WFP research team

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Foreword ...................................................................................................

Preface ...................................................................................................

Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................

List of Tables, Figures, Maps and Boxes .......................................................................................

List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................

1.1 What Is Food Security? ............................................................................................

2. A Profile of the State of Jharkhand ..................................................................................

2.1 Agro-climatic Regions ..............................................................................................

2.2 Poverty

2.3 Economic Growth ...................................................................................................

2.4 Health and Nutritional Status ...................................................................................

3. Analysis of Food Security .................................................................................................

3.1 Measuring Food Security Status ..............................................................................

3.2 Explaining Food Security .........................................................................................

3.2.1 Food Availability Indicators

3.2.2 Food Access Indicators

3.2.3 Food Absorption Indicators

3.3 The Food Security Index (FSI) ..................................................................................

4. Food Availability ...................................................................................................

5. Access to Food ...................................................................................................

6. Food Absorption ...................................................................................................

7. Addressing Food Insecurity in Jharkhand ......................................................................

7.1 Food Security Index (FSI) .........................................................................................

7.2 Identifying Priority Districts ......................................................................................

7.3 Strategies for Promoting Food Security ..................................................................

7.3.1 Enhancing Availability ................................................................

7.3.2 Enhancing Access .....................................................................

7.3.3 Enhancing Absorption ...............................................................

7.4 Improving Performance ............................................................................................

8. Conclusion: Towards A Food Secure Jharkhand .......................................................8.1 Linking Food Programmes and Development .........................................................

References ...................................................................................................

Appendix 1: Right to Food ...................................................................................................

Appendix 2: Food Security Index (FSI): A Methodological Note .................................................

ContentsContents

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Table 2.1 Agro Climatic Division with Broad CharacteristicsTable 2.2 Net State Domestic Product and Poverty StatusTable 2.3 Head Count Ratio of Poverty in Rural JharkhandTable 2.4 Poverty Rates (%) by Social Group for Rural Jharkhand (2004-05)Table 2.5 Percentage Share of Poor and All Households by Household Type for Rural Jharkhand (2004-05)Table 2.6 Percentage Share of Poor and All Households by Land Cultivation Categories for Rural Jharkhand (2004-05)Table 2.7 Sectoral Composition of NSDP (TE 2004-05)Table 2.8 Percentage Share of GSDP by Sector in Jharkhand at 1993-94 PricesTable 2.9 Percentage Distribution of Workers and GSDP by Sector in Jharkhand, 2004-05Table 2.10 Mortality and Nutritional Status of Children and WomenTable 2.11 Early Childhood Mortality Rate, 2005-06Table 2.12 Status of ConsumptionTable 2.13 Nutritional Status of Children under Three Years (NFHS II and III)Table 2.14 Anaemia Status by Haemoglobin Level among ChildrenTable 3.1 Correlation between Micronutrient Intake and Under Nutrition and Mortality StatusTable 3.2 Food Security Outcome (FSO) Status:Table 3.3 Indicators used to Compute Food Security Outcome (FSO) Index:Table 3.4 Jharkhand ––– Indicators Used to Analyze Food SecurityTable 4.1 Growth of Agricultural GDP and GSDP across StatesTable 4.2 Level of Agricultural DevelopmentTable 4.3 Annual Growth Rate in Area, Production and Yield of Principal CropsTable 4.4 Proportion of Crops in Total Production in Jharkhand and India 1999-2000Table 4.5 Per Capita Agricultural OutputTable 4.6 Extent of IrrigationTable 4.7 Environmental Limitations to Agricultural DevelopmentTable 4.8 Share of Forest AreaTable 4.9 Rural ConnectivityTable 4.10 Indicators Used to Compute Availability IndexTable 4.11 Status of Districts in Availability IndexTable 5.1 Wage Rate of Casual Workers by StateTable 5.2 Rural Wage RateTable 5.3 Monthly Per Capita Expenditure on FoodTable 5.4 Monthly Per Capita ExpenditureTable 5.5 Proportion of Agricultural Labourers in Workforce by StateTable 5.6 Proportion of Agricultural Labourers in Workforce by DistrictTable 5.7 Proportion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in the Rural Population by StateTable 5.8 Proportion of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe PopulationTable 5.9 Ratio of Working Age Population by StateTable 5.10 Ratio of Working Population by DistrictsTable 5.11 Rural Female Literacy by StateTable 5.12 Rural Female Literacy by DistrictsTable 5.13 Level of Urbanization in Major StatesTable 5.14 Level of Urbanization by DistrictsTable 5.15 Indicators used to Compute Index of AccessibilityTable 5.16 Status of Districts in Access IndexTable 6.1 Factors Determining Status of AbsorptionTable 6.2 Access to Safe Drinking Water by Districts (in per cent of households)Table 6.3 Access to PHCsTable 6.4 Indicators Used to Compute Absorption Index

List of Tables, Figures, Maps and Boxes

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Table 6.5 Status of Districts in Absorption IndexTable 7.1 Ranks of Districts on Composite Food Security Index and ComponentsTable 7.2 Status of Districts in Food Security IndexTable 7.3 Priority Districts for Food Security InterventionTable 7.4 Satus of the Districts in Outcome and Overall IndicesTable 7.5 Status of Food Insecure Districts in terms of Availability IndicatorsTable 7.5 Percentage Share of Poor and Nearly Poor Households who have Ration Card or benefited from various

Schemes in Rural Jharkhand, 2004-05Table 7.6 NREGS Performance, April 2008Table 7.7 NREGA Statistics of JharkhandTable 8.1 Priority Districts for Intervention

List of Figures

Fig 2.1 Growth Rate of GSDP of JharkhandFig 4.1 Returns to Cultivation, 2002-03Fig 7.1 Allocation Proposed under NFSM

List of Maps

Map 2.1 Jharkhand: Administrative DivisionsMap 2.2 Agro-climatic Regions in Jharkhand by DistrictMap 3.1 Food Security Outcome MapMap 4.1 Status of Agricultural ProductionMap 4.2 Share of Irrigated AreaMap 4.3 Share of Forest AreaMap 4.4 Status of Rural ConnectivityMap 4.5 Food Availability Map of Rural JharkhandMap 5.1 Wage Rates of Rural Population in JharkhandMap 5.2 Status of Consumption ExpenditureMap 5.3 Share of Agricultural Labourers in Total Working PopulationMap 5.4 Proportion of Population other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled TribesMap 5.5 Share of Rural Working Age PopulationMap 5.6 Status of Female LiteracyMap 5.7 Women’s Workforce Participation Rate in Rural JharkhandMap 5.8 Level of Urbanization in JharkhandMap 5.9 Food Access Map of Rural JharkhandMap 6.1 Access to Safe Drinking Water in Rural JharkhandMap 6.2 Access to Health Services in Rural JharkhandMap 6.3 Food Absorption map of Rural JharkhandMap 7.1 Food Security Map of Rural JharkhandMap 7.2 Status of Public Interventions in Jharkhand

List of Boxes

Box 3.1 Towards MDG - 4Box 3.2 Agricultural Production and Food SecurityBox 4.1 Agricultural Production and Food SecurityBox 5.1 Scheduled Areas in Jharkhand

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Box 5.2 Inter-Tribe Differences in Female LiteracyBox 7.1 Indebtedness among Farmers in JharkhandBox 7.2 The Forest Rights ActBox 7.3 Improved Targeting in the Public Distribution SystemBox 7.4 A Study on NREGA PerformanceBox 7.5 Female Literacy: The Pivot for Reducing Food Insecurity and Child MortalityBox 7.6 Innovative Food Security Initiatives: The Food for Work Programme in Tribal Development ProjectsBox 7.7 Innovative Schemes for Ensuring Nutritional SecurityBox 7.8 Meeting the Nutritional Needs of Vulnerable Groups

List of Abbreviation

ADAPT Area Development Approach for PovertyTermination

AIDIS All- India Debt and Investment SurveyAPL Above Poverty LineARWSP Accelerated Rural Water Supply

ProgrammeBMI Body Mass IndexBPL Below Poverty LineCMR Child Mortality RateCSO Central Statistical OrganisationDLHS District level Household SurveyDPAP Drought Prone Area ProgrammeFAO Food and Agriculture OrganizationFCI Food Corporation of IndiaFFS Farmers’ Field SchoolFSI Food Security IndexFSO Food Security OutcomeFSOI Food Security Outcome IndexGSDP Gross State Domestic ProductHYV High Yielding VarietyICDS Integrated Child Development ServicesICT Information and Communication

TechnologyIFAD International Fund for Agricultural

DevelopmentIHD Institute for Human DevelopmentIIPS International Institute for Population

SciencesIMR Infant Mortality RateKBK Korapur, Balangir, KalahandiLTAP Long Term Action PlanMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMDM Mid-Day MealMMS Mid-Day Meal Scheme

MPCE Monthly Per Capita ExpenditureMSSRF M S Swaminathan Research FoundationNCEUS National Commission for Enterprises in

the Unorganized SectorNCRL National Commission on Rural LabourNFHS National Family Health SurveyNFSM National Food Security MissionNREGA National Rural Employment Guarantee

ActNREGS National Rural Employment Guarantee

SchemeNSDP Net State Domestic ProductNSS National Sample SurveyNTFP Non Timber Forest ProductOBC Other Backward ClassPDS Public Distribution SystemPESA The Panchayats (Extension To Scheduled

Areas) ActPHC Primary Health CentrePMGSY Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak YojanaRLTAP Revised Long Term Action PlanRTI Right to Information ActSC Scheduled CasteSCA Special Central AssistanceSCP Special Component PlanSHG Self Help GroupST Scheduled TribeTE Triennium EndingTSP Tribal Sub PlanUNICEF United Nations’ Children FundWFP World Food ProgrammeWFS World Food SummitWHO World Health Organisation

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Executive SummaryExecutive Summary

Food security is not just a matter of the availability of food, but even more of the access of householdsand individuals to sufficient nutritious food. The absorption of food as nutrition in the body is furthermediated by access to safe drinking water, and hygienic sanitation facilities. Consequently, foodsecurity is analyzed along the axis of availability, access and absorption. The importance of entitlementsin food security is further underlined by the Supreme Court’s judgments validating the Right to Food.As a signatory to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Government of India and allstate governments have an obligation to reduce by half the proportion of people suffering from hungerby 2015.

To contribute to reaching the above goals, the Institute for Human Development (IHD) and the UnitedNations World Food Programme (WFP) have together undertaken an analysis of the dimensions offood security at the sub-state, or district level, for 8 states of India – Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The purpose of this exercise isto:• Identify the regions and social groups most affected by food insecurity; and

• Suggest policy interventions appropriate to improving food security for those regions andsocial groups.

Jharkhand was created as an independent state on November 15, 2000. Abundantly endowed withmineral resources, forests, rainfall, and land, the state has the wherewithal to launch it on the trajectoryof sustained growth. Nevertheless, Jharkhand compares very unfavourably with other states on almostall indicators of socio-economic development. With 46 percent people below the poverty line (2004-05), Jharkhand has the second highest rural poverty ratio among Indian states. Under- five mortality isvery high, at 93 deaths per 1000 live births. After Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand has the highest proportionof children who are underweight. More than two thirds of all children are anaemic. Agricultural productionhas grown impressively in recent years, and at 4 percent the growth has been higher than the all-Indiaaverage of 2.2 percent. However, the state has a long way to go before it can meet the food securityneeds of its people.

Recognizing that reduction of acute poverty is the key to reducing hunger, the analysis in this atlasbegan by choosing the likely variables that affect food security along the three axes of availability,access and absorption. The composite index is based on 12 identified indicators which reflect thesethree dimensions. The availability related variables considered here are agricultural production in percapita value terms, proportion of forest area, extent of irrigation and rural connectivity in terms ofvillages with access to paved roads. The six variables considered for the access to food dimensioninclude proportion of agricultural labourers, proportion of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes(SC), ratio of working age population, monthly per capita consumption expenditure, casual wage rateof rural persons and female literacy rate. Access to safe drinking water and primary health servicesare the two variables considered for the absorption index.

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The values of districts on each of these 12 variables were indexed to develop a composite FoodSecurity Index (FSI), on the basis of which each district was ranked.. A Food Security Outcome Index(FSOI) was also developed based on two indicators – under-five mortality and proportion of underweightchildren. Districts were also ranked on the basis of this index. The FSO can allow us to rank districtson the basis of nutrition performance with the caveat that, on the whole, nutritional status in India ispoor, and, therefore, the variation between districts may not be very much. The FSI, on the otherhand, also allows us to judge the relative importance of variables in determining the food securitystatus of districts. Thus, the FSI can be understood to be an explanatory index computed to explainthe outcomes of food security, as suggested by the FSOI.

This food security atlas recommends the following districts as requiring urgent attention for foodsecurity interventions in Jharkhand:

In general, the districts of Jharkhand fare poorly on nutritional outcomes, with only the moreurbanized and industrialized districts doing better. Thus, ensuring food security and improving thenutritional status is a challenge for the state of Jharkhand as a whole. The identification of certaindistricts for priority action does not mean that either resources or efforts to bring up all districts canslacken; but only draws attention to the need for prioritization in inclusive growth efforts and thespecial efforts needed to bridge the divides between different regions and districts of the state.

Access to roads and irrigation are two areas in which the state lags considerably behind the country.Low per capita agricultural productivity is the feature of the state’s rain-fed agriculture.

Rural connectivity and small-scale irrigation (e.g. check dams) and watershed management in amanner appropriate to hill and plateau regions, should form the core of efforts to reduce extremepoverty, and thus hunger, in Jharkhand.

District FSOI Rank FSI RankWestern PlateauChatra 13 18Garhwa 18 14Giridih 12 16Gumla 16 15Palamu 14 11Lohardaga 8 13South-eastern PlateauPaschimi Singhbhum 15 12Central North-eastern PlateauSahebgunj 17 7

Priority Districts for Intervention

FOOD SECURITY ATLAS OF RURAL JHARKHAND

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Along with this, special efforts are needed for development of livelihoods of forest-basedpopulations. This itself comprises a number of measures, including:• Implementation of the Forest Rights Protection Act so as to provide security of tenure• Investment to enable a shift to production of high value crops• Shortening the chain of intermediaries and promoting value-added processing in Non-Timber

Forest Products (NTFP)

The changes in production that would reduce food insecurity require not just improved access, butalso enhanced capabilities, through extension and technological development, building on localcapacities and knowledge.

Measures to increase household and individual incomes need to be supplemented by CommunityForest Management (CFM), which can enable communities to balance production and localenvironmental concerns

Complementary steps need to be taken to enhance women’s agency in the household and community,through• Improvements in literacy and education

• Securing women’s land rights (both ownership and user rights).

Micro-finance, through Self Help Groups (SHGs) supported by NGOs, could help• Reduce the incidence of inter-linked transactions, which result in very low net income

• Improve the food security situation by enabling borrowing for critical needs, and

• Improve the share of household income under the control of women.

In Jharkhand there are three issues of land reform that need to be tackled in order to improve foodsecurity:• Restoration of illegally-acquired tribal lands

• Distribution of land to the landless, largely Scheduled Castes

• Security of tenure of Scheduled Tribes in forest areas

Jharkhand has a specific requirement – to design policies for industrialization that do not increasethe number of the displaced refugees, but enable them to secure improved livelihoods in the courseof industrialization. This is a matter of intense debate, even confrontation. One way of achieving this,could be by combining mineral-based industries with labour-intensive industrialization (e.g. textiles

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

4

and garments) that can absorb the poorly educated labour that is likely to be displaced by mineral-based industrialization.

Income-access programmes (e.g. NREGA schemes) can themselves be planned to improveinfrastructure to provide needed public goods (roads), or quasi-public goods (irrigation) for the area.

One of the problems in Jharkhand is the poor reach of the educational and health services, and PDS,NREGS and all other food access schemes. In recent years, there have been some improvements,but Jharkhand still lags behind most other states in the reach of its programmes. Whether or not thegoal of improved food security in Jharkhand is met depends to a great extent on improving thefunctioning and implementation of various schemes and interventions.

Improvement in the implementation of these schemes depends, at one level, on improvement inadministration and governance systems. But more important is the role of the people who are tobenefit from the schemes – whether organized through community-based organisations (CBOs), NGOsor traditional tribal bodies – in both demanding and monitoring implementation of the numerousschemes.

Enhancing capabilities, through rights, access to resources and training, will open the road for buildingthe capacity to aspire; the aspirations for a better life exist, but the means or capacity to realize thoseaspirations need to be collectively built.

*****


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1. Introduction

Headlines across the globe today are echoing the same shrill message: the threat of looming foodinsecurity. Hunger tops the global agenda. Food riots and protests have spilled onto the streets inseveral countries. Food stocks are at an historic low while food prices have been aggressively increasingto historic highs. India is not immune from these developments across the world, and rising foodprices and low buffer stocks are causing alarm. Not so long ago, however, the scene was different.There was almost an “embarrassment of riches” as food stocks piled up to unprecedented levels.However, even then, very insufficient access to food stalked millions of poor households. Complacencycost dearly and within a few years we were importing wheat at steep prices. Substantial dependenceon large imports of food is not an option for a country like India, particularly in the context of imperfectfood markets and possible political conditions attached to imports.

These vicissitudes bring home the stark truth that food security is a critical and continuing challengeand there is no place for complacency on this front. In 1996, the World Food Summit (WFS) andsubsequently the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the UN recognize the importanceof achieving food security or, putting it in a more traditional way, eliminating hunger as a goal of theinternational system. Not quite eliminating hunger, but at least reducing its incidence by half by theyear 2015.

A 2002 assessment by the follow-up to the WFS, “World Food Summit ––– Five Years Later”, as it wascalled, pointed out that, using the incidence of malnutrition as the measure of the incidence of hunger,there has been a decrease in hunger at the rate of 8 million people per year across the world. But inorder to even achieve the goal of reducing world hunger by half by 2015, it is necessary to reduce theincidence of malnutrition by 15 million per year. What this shows is that continuing to implement theeconomic, political and social policies now in place will not enable the world to reach the goal by2015. A mid-course correction in economic, political and social policies is needed in order to achievethe stated goals.

Despite India’s recent record of high rates of economic growth, there is a major concern with thefailure of that growth to translate into a somewhat proportionate reduction in poverty and malnutrition.The problem of large-scale famine-related starvation deaths seems to have been largely resolved,due to a combination of a vigilant civil society and press. Nonetheless, there are periodic reports ofmalnutrition and starvation from different parts of the country, particularly affected are the politicallymarginal social groups, the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes. Besides this problem ofhunger among the STs, there is the pervasive incidence of malnutrition, particularly of children andwomen. Even sustained increases in income have not resulted in commensurate improvements innutritional status.

The persistence of malnutrition and the reported occurrence of starvation deaths together define thenature of the current problem of food insecurity within a situation of overall adequate availability offoodgrains. The fact that they occur within a situation of adequate foodgrain availability (domestic

1. Introduction

6

foodgrain production plus amounts released from government stocks plus imports made possible byIndia’s burgeoning foreign exchange reserves), serves to underline the importance of framing adequatepolicies and interventions to secure food security, or access to food, for not just households, but alsoindividuals. It also provides the rationale for this report, prepared by the Institute for Human Development(IHD), in collaboration with United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP).

The UN World Food Programme and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) earliercollaborated in analyzing the food insecurity situation in different States in the country. Using chosenindicators to map the relative standing of States with regard to food security, MSSRF and WFP preparedthe Food Insecurity Atlas of Rural India in 2001. This was followed by the Food Insecurity Atlas ofUrban India in 2002. The third in the series, the Atlas of Sustainability of Food Security was launchedin 2004. The atlases raised the bar in the analysis and understanding of food security across States.At the same time, the Atlases posed fresh challenges. They brought into focus the need for analysis atthe sub-State level. States in India are typically large and diverse. Intra-State disparities in socio-economic development impact on the food security status of households. For effective policy andfocused intervention, identifying and mapping the worst off areas is important. Following the path-breaking national-level atlases, it was decided to extend the analysis to the district level, the level atwhich food security interventions are implemented.

The need for such disaggregated analysis is only matched by the dearth of data at such levels. Totake only one example, we do not have estimates of an important indicator like poverty for a district.Strengthening planning and performance requires that more data is available at the district level. Inthis regard, the District Level Household Surveys (DLHS) show welcome progress. These surveysprovide valuable demographic data and information relating to reproductive and child health.

The main objectives of this report are to analyze the nature and dynamics of the food security situationat the sub-State level and suggest disaggregated strategies. It is hoped that this Atlas will stimulateaction and further analysis. Food security must be brought to the forefront of the development andpolitical agenda not only at the Centre but, in a vibrant federal structure like India’s, in the States aswell.

1.1 What Is Food Security?

What constitutes food security has gone through two phases of understanding or definition. In the1970s, food security was understood as the ‘availability at all times of adequate world food supply ofbasic foodstuffs…’ (UN,1975). But the 1981 publication of Amartya Sen’s Poverty and Famines: AnEssay on Entitlement and Deprivation brought forward a new understanding of the problem of hungeror food security. Rather than just the ‘availability’ of food, Sen emphasized ‘access’ to food throughwhat he called ‘entitlements’ – a combination of what one can produce, exchange in the market plusstate or other socially provided supplies.


7

What Sen posited is that availability or supply of food does not itself create entitlements for food. In asense, Sen’s emphasis on entitlements is similar to Keynes’ notion of ‘effective demand’. Bothentitlement and effective demand are quite different from need. Since Keynes was dealing with a fullycapitalist market economy, with only two classes, employers and workers, all effective demand wasrelated to monetary income. But Sen is dealing with a ‘mixed economy’ with at least three classes,employers, workers and peasants or other own-account producers. For those who produce food,part, if not all, of their entitlement is due to their own production. This portion of the consumption offood is not mediated by the market. Consequently, this is not captured by the market-based notion ofeffective demand.

What an individual or household can consume or access depends on the individual’s or household’sentitlements. Entitlements draw attention to the conditions under which people access food, whetherfrom direct production (or exchange with nature), market exchange (income from either goods producedor wage labour) and social security measures. Entitlements also draw attention to the rules that governintra-household allocation, as a result of which women and girls may face hunger or deprivation eventhough they are part of households whose general entitlements are sufficient.

Food, of course, is not an end in itself. Food is consumed for nutrition. Instead of focusing attention onthe commodity, one can look at the objective for which food is consumed, that is providing nutritionfor the body. The purpose of nutrition itself is not just to survive, but to lead a healthy and meaningfullife – to be in the state one wants (well-being) and to do various things one wants to do.

At one level, some health questions, like the prevalence of intestinal parasites, affect the very abilityof the human body to absorb nutrients. Thus, health concerns, focused on the availability of cleanwater and access to health facilities, are very much part of the very concept of food security itself. Atanother level, some health questions, like AIDS most dramatically but also endemic malaria, affectthe ability of the individual/household to engage in those livelihood activities that could ensure foodsecurity. Consequently, in order to deal with food security, it is not sufficient to pay attention to foodalone, but also access to, at least, clean water and sanitation, which affect the ability to absorb food,or turn consumption of food into nutrition. It may thus be seen that all these factors affect food securityin one way or the other. Hence they can be used as components of elementary well-being needed tolead a healthy and meaningful life.

Entitlements point to the fact that hunger is situated within poverty, rather associated with extremepoverty, as a result of which households and individuals do not have adequate entitlements to food.Thus, the elimination of hunger is the first landmark in reducing poverty.

Capabilities are a combination of two factors – states of well-being (like being well nourished, beinghealthy, and so on) and activities (achieving self-respect, or being socially integrated). Self-respectand social integration are in themselves goals of a meaningful life. But they are also instrumentally

INTRODUCTION

8

important, in that those without self-respect or the socially marginalized may not be able to achievefood security. Consequently, achieving self-respect or playing a meaningful part in social life mayboth be necessary to achieve food security. This leads to the proposition that food security is not justa matter of some external organization, whether of the state or society, providing food, but of theenhancement of the agency of the hungry or poor. Thus, some level of complex capabilities, likeagency, become necessary to reach adequate levels of primary well-being.

Given women’s general responsibility for food security in rural areas of developing countries, andgiven the pervasive gender bias in these societies, enhancement of the agency of the poor translatesparticularly into the enhancement of the agency of poor women. Consequently, food securityapproaches increasingly pay attention to the elimination of gender inequality and women’sempowerment as important preconditions for food security.

Agency of poor women, or of the poor as a whole, is not only a matter of individual agency (whichitself might be dependent on collective mobilization) but also of the poor putting their stamp oneconomic policies. This is necessary in order to bring about the much-needed political will that isoften referred to as missing, in order to bring about adequate attention to food security policies.Without adequate political pressure for reform, proper food security policies are unlikely to be adopted.There can be no question that the political mobilization of the poor is required for such a food securitypolicy to be implemented.

All of the above changes in understanding and context meant that 20 years after the 1975 World FoodSummit there was a substantial shift in understanding the meaning of food security. From the 1975emphasis on adequate food supply, the 1995 World Food Summit declared “… food security, at theindividual, household, national, regional and global levels … exists when all people, at all times, havephysical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs andfood preferences for an active and healthy life.” (FAO, 1996, 3, emphasis added). The declarationfurther recognizes that “poverty eradication is essential to improve access to food.”

The international discourse on food security has further developed along the lines of the right to food.This right to food (as discussed in greater detail in the Appendix on Right to Food) derives from the1948 UN Declaration on Universal Human Rights. Through subsequent instruments, the meaning ofthe right to food has been spelt out. In particular, the 1999 International Covenant on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights clarified the obligations of states in the context of the realization of the rightto food. As put forward in General Comment 12, the right to food identifies three kinds of obligationsof states: not to adopt measures that would prevent access to food; to adopt measures to ensure thatno individuals are deprived of access to adequate food; and to proactively engage in activities thatstrengthen people’s access to food, including means to ensure their livelihood and food security.There is also an obligation of states to fulfil that right directly, when people cannot obtain adequatefood through the means at their disposal (or, normal entitlements) (Charlotte McClain Nhalpo, 2004.)


9

In India, following the case filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the Supreme Courthas passed a number of judgements and orders on realizing the right to food (see Appendix on Rightto Food for details). These include orders to implement the Mid-Day Meals Scheme (MMS) in primaryschools in all States, the provision of work, etc. Consequently, it is in the context of the internationaland national obligations, following the acceptance of the right to food, that this Report looks at theways to realize food security.

Overview of the Report

This report is an effort to provide a district level profile of food security in Jharkhand. As the countrymoves towards greater devolution and decentralization, data at disaggregated levels remains astumbling block. District level data is notoriously inadequate and this report urges that greater attentionbe paid to data collection and dissemination at sub-state levels. The next chapter – Chapter 2 –provides an overview of the state and places it in the context of other states in the country. In line withthe current – and correct – approach that emphasises outcomes rather than inputs, Chapter 3 derivesa composite index of food security outcomes and provides a brief methodological note. It draws adistinction between the Food Security Outcome Index (FSOI) that is based on outcome measures onthe one hand, and the Food Security Index (FSI) that is a composite index of the factors that arecritical to food security on the other hand. Chapters 4 to 6 analyse the food security situation alongthe dimensions of availability, access and absorption. The most food insecure districts both in termsof outcomes and in terms of the factors that contribute to it are given in Chapter 7. This chapter alsodiscusses strategies for action that emerge from our analysis, in the context of the broader state andnational strategic interventions already in place. This is most significant from the perspective of policy.Chapter 8 wraps up with the final conclusions.

*****

INTRODUCTION

10

2. A Profile of the State of Jharkhand2. A Profile of the State of Jharkhand

An overview of the socio-economic profile of the state and the important changes that have takenplace in its economy are important to understand and map the multiple dimensions of food security inJharkhand. This chapter highlights the geographical features of the state, and discusses its relativeposition in key areas of the economy.

2.1 Agro Climatic Regions

Jharkhand at present has twenty-four districts1 , and 32,620 villages. The total population of the stateis 26.9 million, a sizable proportion of which is tribal2 . As a result, 112 of its 211 blocks are in the fifthschedule, which have been clubbed into 14 Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP) commonlyknown as meso projects.

The state is divided into three agro-climatic sub zones: The Central North Eastern Plateau ischaracterized by humid and sub-humid tropical monsoon, the Western Plateau by humid to sub-tropical and South Eastern Plateau by humid to sub-tropical monsoon (See Map 2.2).

1. Central North Eastern Plateau

The region constitutes around 44 percent of the total geographical area. It is highly urbanised and themost densely populated part of Jharkhand. The percentage of urban to total population is around 22percent and the density of population is 433 persons per sq. km.

2. Western Plateau

The region constitutes around 39 percent of the total geographical area. It is the least urbanised andthe least densely populated part of Jharkhand. The percentage of urban to total population is around17 percent and the density of population is 246 persons per sq. km.

3. South Eastern Plateau

The region constitutes around 17 percent of the total geographical area. It is the most urbanised partof Jharkhand but the density of population is much less than in the Central North Eastern Plateau. Thepercentage of urban to total population is around 35 percent and the density of population is 299persons per sq. km.

1. At the formation of the state and also during collection of data for 2001 Census, there were eighteen districts (See Map 2.1).

2. According to the 2001 census 26.3 percent of its population was tribal. The Tribals constitute more than forty percent of thepopulation of six of its eighteen districts namely Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, West Singhbhum, Dumka and Pakur.

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi

Paschimi Singbhum Purbi Singbhum

Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Map 2.1 Jharkhand: Administrative Divisions

Map 2.2 Agro-Climatic Regions in Jharkhand by District

Agro-Climatic Region

Central North Eastern

Western

South Eastern

11

Table 2.1: Agro Climatic Division with Broad Characteristics

Source: Economic Survey 2007-08. Government of Jharkhand.

Agro-ClimaticRegions

CentralNorthEasternPlateau

WesternPlateau

SouthEasternPlateau

Districts

Chatra, Koderma,Hazaribag,Bokaro,Dhanbad,, Giridih,Deoghar, Dumka,Pakur, Godda,Sahebjunj.

Garhwa, Palamau,Lohardaga,Gumla andRanchi

Purbi Singhbhumand PaschimiSinghbhum

Croppedarea (oooheactares)

1042.0

771.8

389.1

%Irrigatedarea

6.58

9.65

4.54

Characteristics

Erratic and uneven distribution ofrainfall Coarse textured soils. Crustformation on the soil surfaceLow water retention capacity of the soilLack of safe disposal runoff and dryingof the tanks

Erratic and uneven distribution ofrainfallLow water retention capacity of the soil

Uneven distribution of rainfallLow water holding capacity, erodedsoilsShallow soil depth Poor soil fertility

Zones

Zon

es -

III

Zon

es -

IIZ

ones

- I

All the sub-zones of the state (Table 2.1) are characterized by undulating terrain, non-existence ofperennial rivers, erratic rainfall, low water retentive capacity of soils, low ground water level, high soilerosion, and lack of soil and water conservation practices. As a result, all the sub-zones have insufficientagricultural dairy and fishery activities, singlecropping, low agricultural productivity and pocketswhich experience chronic drought conditions. High seasonal unemployment in agriculture and acutepoverty are rampant in all the three sub-zones.

2.2 Poverty

Jharkhand which is one of the richest in mineral reserves3 is, at the same time, one of the pooreststates of the country. The per capita income of this state (Rs. 7200) is less than half of the per capitaincome of Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana or Gujarat (Table 2.2). The poverty ratio in this state issecond (46 percent) only to Orissa (47 percent). States with almost the same level of per capitaincome have a much lower incidence of poverty than Jharkhand. The incidence of poverty is higherthan in Bihar (42 percent), whose per capita income is around half that of Jharkhand’s (Rs. 3600). Thisshows that the riches of the state have not percolated down to a large section of its population.

3 The state accounts for 40 percent of the total mineral reserves of India(Economic Survey Report 2007-08, Government of Jharkhand)

A PROFILE OF THE STATE OF JHARKHAND

12

Poverty is not only very high in Jharkhand but hasalso declined at a very slow rate, at less than onepercentage point per year in rural areas(See Table2.3). It declined at a higher rate between 1999-2000and 2004-05 than in the ten years preceding 1999-2000. In India as a whole, on the contrary, povertydeclined at a much sharper rate between 1987-88than between 1999-2000 and 2004-05.

Because of the variation in livelihood conditions, wide inter-district disparity in the incidence of povertyis observed in Jharkhand. Poverty is generally low in urban-industrial-mining zones which offer avariety of economic opportunities to a large section of its population, and high in those districts whichdo not have as many economic activities. This is the reason why the incidence of poverty is low inDhanbad, which is known for its coal mines and coal-based industries, and high in Santhal Pargana –the north eastern part of the state which is devoid of such activities. Poverty is also very high inPalamau-Garhwa area which is not only drought-prone but also has a long history of feudal exploitation

Year Rural Jharkhand Rural India

1987-1988 52.70 39.4

1999-2000 49.90 26.8

2004-2005 46.20 28.3

Table 2.3: Head Count Ratio of Poverty in RuralJharkhand

Source: Calculated from NSS, various rounds

State NSDP Per Capita Income Poverty Ratio(TE 2004-05) (TE 2004-05) (2004-05)

Table 2.2: Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) and Rural Poverty Status

Source: NSDP and Per capita Income – Computed from CSO, Various years; Poverty Ratio – Planning Commission Poverty Estimates, Computed fromNSS 61st Round, 2004-05

(‘000 Million Rs.) Rank Rs.) Rank Rank

Andhra Pradesh 911 5 11080 8 11.2 2

Assam 181 17 6281 15 22.3 8

Bihar 320 14 3609 17 42.1 15

Chhttisgarh 309 15 7678 12 40.8 14

Gujarat 835 7 14850 4 19.1 6

Haryana 349 13 14897 3 13.6 4

Jharkhand 218 16 7273 14 46.3 16

Karnataka 703 11 12563 6 20.8 7

Kerala 811 9 11565 7 13.2 3

Madhya Pradesh 835 7 7666 13 36.9 13

Maharashtra 2,951 1 15567 2 29.6 11

Orissa 461 12 5985 16 46.8 17

Punjab 723 10 15611 1 9.1 1

Rajasthan 888 6 8788 11 18.7 5

Tamil Nadu 1,511 4 12719 5 22.8 9

Uttar Pradesh 1,876 2 8809 10 33.4 12

W. Bengal 1,705 3 10992 9 28.6 10


13

and bonded labour. These practices have no doubt reduced but their impact on the labour marketand distribution of assets has not totally vanished.


Table 2.4: Poverty Rates (%) by Social Group for RuralJharkhand (2004-05)

Source: Sch 1.0, NSS 61st Round, 2004-05.Note:* includes not reported cases.

ST SC OBC Others All*

Jharkhand 54.1 57.5 40.0 36.9 46.2

All-India 44.7 37.1 25.8 17.5 28.1

Poverty in Jharkhand, like in thecountry as a whole, is concentratedamong the Scheduled Castes (SC)and Scheduled Tribes (ST) (See Table2.4). More than half of them live belowthe poverty line (around 57 percent ofthe SCs and 54 percent of the STs inJharkhand are below the poverty line).A larger percentage of SCs and STs in Jharkhand are poor than at the all India level (the all-Indiafigures are around 37 and 45 percent respectively for the SCs and STs). At the all-India level, theincidence of poverty among the STs is much higher than among the SCs, but in Jharkhand, it isslightly less than that among SCs. The difference in the extent of poverty among the SCs of India andSCs of Jharkhand is much more than that of the STs of both. In the former case, the difference is tothe extent of around 20 percentage points, while in the latter it is of around 10 percentage points only.This is because at the all-India level, the poverty among the SCs has declined at a much sharper ratethan that among the STs (Sarkar, Mishra, Dayal, Nathan, 2006). Growth in political assertion of theSCs (Dalits), which is an important cause for decline in poverty among them elsewhere in the country,seems to have not taken place in Jharkhand. Just like India as a whole, in Jharkhand also the incidenceof poverty among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is less than among the STs and SCs but morethan Others.

The difference in the incidence of poverty among different social groups, however, is less in Jharkhandthan at the all-India level. The incidence of poverty among STs in India is more than two and half timesthat among others (around 45 percent among the STs as against 17 percent for the others), while thedifference is only around forty percent in Jharkhand (around 54 percent among the STs against 37percent among others).

The incidence of poverty differs also on basis of occupation of the households(See Table 2.5). It ishigh among the labouring class and low among the proprietary class or among others which includesthe regular salaried class. But this difference is less pronounced in Jharkhand than at the all-Indialevel. At the all-India level, around 26 percent of the households are agricultural labourers while around41 percent of the poor households belong to this category. In Jharkhand, only 11 percent of thehouseholds and around 16 percent of the poor households belong to agricultural labourer class. Onthe other hand the incidence of poverty among the self-employed in agriculture is higher in Jharkhandthan at the all-India level. In Jharkhand 46 percent of the households and around 44 percent of thepoor households are self-employed in agriculture while at all India level around 35 percent of the

14

households are self-employed in agriculture but only around 26 percent of the poor households belongto this occupational category.

Table 2.5: Percentage Share of Poor and All Households by Household Typefor Rural Jharkhand (2004-05)

Source: Sch 1.0, NSS 61st Round, 2004-05.

Poor HouseholdsSelf-employed Agricultural Other Self Others Total

Region in non- labour labour -employedagriculture in

agriculture

Jharkhand 14.6 16.7 21.5 43.9 3.4 100.0

India 12.8 41.5 12.1 26.5 7.1 100.0

All Households

Jharkhand 15.9 11.0 16.9 46.0 10.2 100.0

India 15.6 26.7 10.7 35.5 11.4 100.0

The main reasons for high incidence of poverty among the self-employed in agriculture in Jharkhandare the low productivity of agriculture and small size of holding of the farmers. Though in comparisonto all-India level a smaller percentage of households in this state is landless (around 21 percent against42 percent in India), very few of them have more than one hectare of land. While around 21 percent ofthe households in India have more than one hectare of land and around 3 percent have more than 4hectares; only around 12 percent of the households in Jharkhand own more than one hectare of landand only around half percent own more than 4 hectares. (Table 2.6).

As in India, in Jharkhand too, the literacy rate of the poor is less than that of all the persons, and theliteracy rate of females is less than that of males in all categories. But the literacy rate in Jharkhand,both among the poor and all persons, is much less than that at the all-India level. While around 65

Table 2.6: Percentage Share of Poor and All Households by Land Cultivation Categories forRural Jharkhand (2004-05)

Source: Sch 1.0, NSS 61st Round, 2004-05.

Poor Households

Region 0.000~0.004 0.005~0.40 0.41~1.00 1.01~2.00 2.01~4.00 4.01 Total& above

Jharkhand 20.6 35.7 34.5 7.4 1.6 0.2 100.0India 46.1 23.7 16.9 8.6 3.8 0.9 100.0

All Households

Jharkhand 20.8 32.3 34.3 10.1 1.9 0.6 100.0

India 41.7 19.4 17.7 11.6 6.7 2.9 100.0


15

percent of all persons and 54 percent of the poor in India are literate, The literacy rate in Jharkhand isaround 57 percent among all persons and 49 percent among the poor. Literacy in Jharkhand is alsoless than the all-India level for both the males and the females.

2.3 Economic Growth

Jharkhand not only ranks among the poorest states of the country, but the average rate of growth ofits economy is also among the worst. Between 1993-94 and 2004-05, the state economy has grownat a meagre rate of 4.28 percent per annum. This is much less than that of the developed states of thecountry: for instance, Gujarat grew at an average rate exceeding 7 percent while Karnataka grew at6.9 percent per annum in this period.

The sectoral composition of the economy is a good indicator of the level of economic development ofthe state. (See Table 2.7). While the tertiary sector is the most important sector for India and most ofits states, contributing more than half of their NSDP, it contributes slightly more than one fourth ofNSDP of Jharkhand. The primary and secondary sectors are the most important sectors of its economycontributing around two fifths and one third of its NSDP respectively. Around half of the contributionmade by the primary sector is due to mining and quarrying. They contributed around 15 percent to theNSDP in 2004-05.

While the inter-state analysis of the sectoral composition has been done using a triennium average ofNSDP, we have used single-year NSDP figure for the detailed analysis for Jharkhand. Manufacturing(especially registered manufacturing) and mining and quarrying make significant contributions to theGSDP of this state; they contribute around 25 and 15 percent respectively. While the share ofmanufacturing increased in the period from 1993-94 to 2004-05, that of mining and quarrying hasdeclined. Agriculture contributes only around twenty percent to the GSDP of Jharkhand. Though thecontribution of the primary sector on the whole has declined by around five percentage points, thecontribution of agriculture has remained almost constant. The decline in the contribution of the primarysector is mainly because of a fall in the contribution of all other sub-sectors (other than agriculture).The share of the secondary sector has increased and that of the tertiary sector has remained constant.The tertiary sector contributes 28 percent of the GSDP and around 36 percent is contributed by thesecondary sector. The contribution of the secondary sector has increased by around 5 percent pointsmainly because of the increase in the contribution of the registered manufacturing and constructionsectors. The contribution of construction has almost doubled in the period from 1999-00 to 2004-05i.e. within five years of the formation of Jharkhand.


16

Table 2.7: Sectoral Composition of NSDP (TE 2004-05)

NSDP at Factor Cost at 1993-94 pricesSource: Computed from Central Statistical Organization (Various Years)

State Primary Rank Secondary Rank Tertiary RankIndia 23.33 23.61 53.06 Andhra Pradesh 28.31 11 20.3 11 51.39 6Assam 39.27 3 12.57 16 48.16 7Bihar 43.19 1 9.55 17 47.26 8Chhattisgarh 35.37 7 24.97 8 39.66 15Gujarat 20.45 14 34.15 1 45.41 12Haryana 28.96 10 25.04 7 46.01 10Jharkhand 39.67 2 32.26 2 28.07 17Karnataka 21.11 13 25.56 4 53.33 5Kerala 17.55 15 19.44 13 63.01 1Madhya Pradesh 34.23 8 23.25 9 42.52 14Maharashtra 14.27 17 25.31 6 60.42 2Orissa 38.8 5 14.01 15 47.19 9Punjab 39.01 4 21.5 10 39.49 16Rajasthan 29.11 9 25.4 5 45.49 11Tamil Nadu 14.85 16 28.64 3 56.51 3Uttar Pradesh 36.86 6 19.56 12 43.59 13West Bengal 25.36 12 19.09 14 55.55 4

Sr. No. Sector 1993-94 1999-00 2004-05

1 Agriculture 19.55 19.66 19.94

2 Forestry & Logging 1.93 1.01 1.38

3 Fishing 1.22 1.05 0.26

4 Mining & quarrying 17.55 15.42 14.29

a Sub Total of Primary 40.25 37.15 35.86

5 Manufacturing 23.93 29.97 27.23

6 Construction 4.84 3.88 7.18

7 Electricity, Gas and Water Supply 2.76 1.85 1.72

b Sub Total of Secondary 31.53 35.70 36.13

c. Sub Total of Tertiary 28.22 27.15 28.00

14 State Domestic product 100.00 100.00 100.00

Table 2.8 : Percentage Share of GSDP by Sector in Jharkhand at 1993-94 Prices

Source: Directorate of Statistics and Evaluation, Jharkhand, cited in World Bank, 2007.


17

The change in the share of different sectors of the economy is because of their differential growthrate. (See Table 2.8 and Fig 2.1). Agriculture grew at a rate similar to that of the GSDP on the whole(agriculture grew at 4.25 percent per annum while GSDP grew at 4.28 percent between 1993-94 and2003-04, at 1993-94 prices), but the rate of growth of the primary sector remained one percent pointless than that of the GDSP. This is because of the poor performance of the other sub-sectors. Miningand quarrying also grew at less than three percent per year in this period. Though the tertiary sectoron the whole grew at a rate similar to that of the GSDP, banking and insurance, storage, real estate,communication, and public administration made appreciable progress in this period. The formationof the state, pay revision of the employees of government, public sector and other enterprises, thecommunication revolution brought about by the technological revolution and deregulation of this sector,all played a significant role in the development of these sub-sectors of the tertiary sector. The secondarysector also grew at faster rate than the GSDP. Within this sector, registered manufacturing andconstruction made remarkable progress in this period. A rate of growth of 8.60 percent in theconstruction sector is mainly because of a spurt in construction activities after the formation ofJharkhand and explains improvement in the contribution of this sector to the GSDP.

Most of the workers in this state, like elsewhere in the country, are engaged in the agriculture sector.Like in the rest of India, in Jharkhand too the productivity of labour is the least in the agriculture sector.Around sixty percent of the workers are engaged in the agriculture sector but they contribute onlyaround 20 percent to the GSDP. (See Table 2.9). On the other hand, only around two percent of theworkers are engaged in mining and quarrying but contribute 14 percent to the GSDP and ten percentof the workers are engaged in manufacturing but contribute 27 percent to the GSDP.

Fig 2.1 : Growth Rate of GS DP of Jharkhand (1994-2005)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Agriculture

Primary

Sub Total of Secondary

Sub Total of Tertiary

State domestic product

Gr ow th Rate (%)

Note: Refers to compound growth rate of average sub-sectoral GSDP from 1993-94 to 1995-96 and 2002-03 to 2004-05Source: CSO, various years; Secondary source: World Bank, 2007.


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Sector Workers GSDP Usual Principal Usual Principal and

Status (UPS) Subsidiary Status GSDP(UPSS)

Agriculture, etc. 59.35 62.37 21.57

Mining & Quarrying 2.17 1.98 14.29

Primary 61.52 64.35 35.86

Manufacturing 9.80 9.09 27.23

Construction 10.94 10.09 7.18

Secondary 20.96 19.37 36.13

Finance, Business, Real Estate, etc 1.05 0.96 7.40

Public Admn., Health, education, etc. 5.19 4.89 7.11Tertiary 17.52 16.27 28.00

GSDP 100.00 100.00 100.00Source: Workers: NSS 61st Round and GSDP: CSO

Table 2.9: Percentage Distribution of Workers and GSDP by Sector in Jharkhand, 2004-05

2.4 Health and Nutritional Status

The significance of the health and nutritional status of an individual as well as a community can hardlybe exaggerated. The health status is expected to be proportional to the economic status of an individual.However, given the fact that a healthy person has a higher propensity to work, the former (healthstatus) also has a direct bearing on the latter (economic status). The health and nutritional status canbe measured through a variety of indicators.

While mortality under age one ‘infant mortality’ is an indicator of poor reproductive health facilitiesand antenatal care, mortality under age five is closely linked with immunization and overall povertylevels. The latter is also useful for assessing both social practices and public policy and can be takenas a comprehensive indicator for the overall quality of life.

The following table (Table 2.10) shows the comparative mortality as well as nutritional status of childrenfor the states. While UP shows the highest figure (96) for under-five mortality, Jharkhand is not farbehind with 93, after only MP (at 94). For all the nutritional indicators, the figures for Jharkhand remainconsistently poor, though it is not the worst performing state in any of the indicators; it is close to theworst performing states in all of them.


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4 Only those states that have under-five mortality higher than 80 per thousand live births are selected. Under -five mortality and infant mortality rates have beenexpressed in terms of per 1000 live births, all other anthropometric and nutritional indicators are in percentages.

Under five Infant Underweight Wasted Stunted Anaemic Thin Women mortality Mortality Children Children Children Children

India 74.3 57 42.5 19.8 48.0 69.5 35.6

Uttar Pradesh 96.4 72.7 42.4 14.8 56.8 73.9 36.0

Madhya Pradesh 94.2 69.5 60.0 35.0 50.0 74.1 41.7

Jharkhand 93.0 68.7 56.5 32.3 49.8 70.3 43.0

Orissa 90.6 64.7 40.7 19.5 45.0 65.0 41.4

Chhattisgarh 90.3 70.8 47.1 19.5 52.9 71.2 43.4

Rajasthan 85.4 65.3 39.9 20.4 43.7 69.7 36.7

Assam 85.0 66.1 36.4 13.7 46.5 69.6 36.5

Bihar 84.8 61.7 55.9 27.1 55.6 78.0 45.1

Best State 16.3 1 5.3 22.9 9.2 24.5 44.5 18.0(Kerala) (Kerala) (Kerala) (Punjab) (Kerala) (Kerala) (Kerala)

Worst State 96.4 (UP) 72.7 (UP) 60 (MP) 35.0 (MP) 56.8 (UP) 78.0 (Bihar) 45.1 (Bihar)

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2005-06

Table 2.10: Mortality and Nutritional Status of Children and Women1

Early childhood mortality in Jharkhand is very high, much higher than the all-India average (See Table2.11). Mortality among children under five years old in this state is 93 per thousand while it is 74.3 atthe all-India level. The incidence of neonatal, post neo natal, infant and child mortality in Jharkhand isalso higher than the all-India level.

Source: NFHS III

State Neonatal Post-neonatal Infant Child Under-fivemortality mortality1 mortality mortality mortality

(NN) (PNN) (1q0) (4q1) (5q0)

Jharkhand 48.6 20.2 68.7 26.1 93

All-India 39 18 57 18.4 74.3

Table 2.11: Early Childhood Mortality Rate, 2005-06

While infant mortality can be reduced with improvements in access to health care, the presence oftrained birth attendants, etc, reduction in child mortality is more related to improvements in foodsecurity and nutritional status. Social and economic factors in the access to food, food entitlements,safe drinking water, and so on, all come into play. Consequently for an analysis of food security, childmortality is a more relevant indicator than infant mortality.


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High malnutrition levels, coupled with high mortality among children also point towards poor feedingpractices. Poor access to food emanating from grave economic conditions, as already seen earlier, isthe prime reason for such a situation.

Per capita Per capita % given % given % receivedper day per day Vitamin A iron foodintake of intake of supplements supplements supplementscalorie protein in last 6 month in last 7 days under ICDS(kcal) (gm) (Children < 5yrs) (Children < 5yrs) Programme

India 2047 57.0 18.2 4.7 26.3Uttar Pradesh 2200 65.9 6.1 1.5 14.7Madhya Pradesh 1929 58.8 14.1 3.5 36.4Jharkhand 1961 51.2 20.1 3.5 36.5Orissa 2023 48.3 21.9 5.2 52.5Chhattisgarh 1942 47.4 9.1 3.1 58.4Rajasthan 2180 69.6 10.0 1.0 17.3Assam 2067 52.7 12.9 0.8 28.0Bihar 2049 57.8 26.4 2.9 4.2Best State 2240 (Punjab) 69.6(Haryana) 38.5 (TN) 12.5 (Karnataka) 58.4 (Chhattisgarh)

Worst State 1842 (TN) 44.9 (TN) 6.1 (UP) 0.8 (Assam) 4.2 (Bihar)Source: Calorie and Protein intake from NSSO, 61st Round (2004-05); Rest: National Family Health Survey, 2005-06

Table 2.12: Status of Consumption

A brief look at the same states in terms of consumption levels gives an interesting picture for Jharkhand(Table 2.12) It lies ahead of the national average in providing Vitamin A supplements. Public interventionfor mitigating under nutrition among children, in terms of food supplements under the IntegratedChild Development Services (ICDS) programme, is seen to be much higher in the state as comparedto most other states. Jharkhand is only marginally behind the national average in calorie and proteinintake. Yet, in food security outcomes, child mortality in particular, it lies well above the nationalaverage.

The disjunction between an average level of calorie and protein consumption and a much below-average outcome in child mortality could be explained by a high level of inequality of consumption inthe state. As seen earlier, there is a high proportion of ST population in the state and the ST-dominateddistricts are also those with the poorest nutrition outcomes. Further, there are also a higher proportionof agricultural labourers and petty farmers in the rural population who have a poor nutrition outcomebecause of single-cropping and low agricultural wages. This points to the importance of paying attentionto the condition of the STs and of agricultural labourers and petty farmers, many of whom would havepoor nutritional outcomes, in dealing with ways to improve food /nutrition outcomes in Jharkhand.

This needs to be combined with attention to gender relations in order to strengthen women’s agencyin dealing with food security. Taking women’s literacy rate as an indicator of gender relations, it is


21

much less than that of men in Jharkhand. Rural women’s literacy rate, as we will see later, hides highregional differences within the state.

The nutritional status of children in Jharkhand (Table 2.13) is not only poor but, by and large, has alsodeteriorated from NFHS-II (1998-99). On the positive side, the percentage of stunted children hasdeclined from 49 percent in NFHS-II to 41 percent in NFHS-III, but the percentage of wasted andunderweight children has increased by around six and five percentage points respectively. Thenutritional status of children in Jharkhand is in fact worse than the all-India average. As a result, thepoint gap between the status of children of the state and India is mostly negative. Except for thepercentage of stunted children in the urban areas of the state, the percentage of nutritional deficiencyhere is much higher than the all-India average.

5 The NFHS-3 final report does not give comparative figures (for anthropometric figures for children under five years of age) forprevious NFHS rounds for states. Hence, to analyse the trends here the provisional figures from the fact sheets giving figures forchildren under three years of age have been used.

Table 2.13: Nutritional Status of Children under three Years 5 (NFHS II and III)

Variable NFHS III NFHS IITotal Urban Rural Total

Children under 3 years who are

Stunted (%) 41 28.1 44.2 49

Wasted (%) 31.1 23.7 32.9 25.4

Underweight (%) 59.2 43.3 63.1 54.3

Stunted (%) 38.4 31.1 40.7 45.5

Wasted (%) 19.1 16.9 19.8 15.5

Underweight (%) 45.9 36.4 49 47

Stunted (%) -2.6 3 -3.5 -3.5

Wasted (%) -12 -6.8 -13.1 -9.9

Underweight (%) -13.3 -6.9 -14.1 -7.3Source: Source: National Family health Survey III

The incidence of anaemia among children in Jharkhand (Table 2.14), however, is almost equal to theall-India average; in fact the incidence of moderate and severe anaemia is less among its childrenthan the all-India average. The incidence of anaemia among adolescent girls and pregnant women ismuch higher as compared to that in children. While the incidence of mild anaemia is higher amongpregnant women than adolescent girls, moderate and severe anaemia are higher among adolescentgirls than pregnant women.


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Source: NFHS III

Status Jharkhand India

Mild (10.0-10.9 g/dl) 29.3 26.3

Moderate (7.0-9.9 g/dl) 39.1 40.2

Severe (<7.0 g/dl) 1.9 2.9

Any Anaemia (<11.0 g/dl) 70.3 69.5

Table 2.14: Anaemia Status by Haemoglobin Level among Children

Summing Up

Jharkhand is characterized by undulating terrain and lack of soil and water conservation practices.As a result, the whole of Jharkhand has insufficient agricultural, dairy and fishery activities, singlecropping, low agricultural productivity and pockets which experience chronic drought conditions.High seasonal unemployment in agriculture and acute poverty are rampant almost all over Jharkhand.However, the districts which have industries, mines or developed cities or those without a feudal past,have low incidence of poverty.

The per-capita income of the state is much less than that of the developed states of the country, butother states with almost the same level of per-capita income have a much lower incidence of povertythan Jharkhand. The nutritional status of the children of this state is also worse than that in most of thestates of the country.

*****


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Food security is the condition of sufficient nutrition, which is due to a combination of food access ofthe household and the individual, and of the ability of the body to absorb nutrients. In more detail,food security of an individual is the result of:

1. Food access (or effective demand for food) of the household, which results from own productionof food retained for household consumption, plus food purchased from the market through sale ofother commodities, whether labour time or products, and any non-production based entitlementsto food. .

2. The food accessed by the household is distributed among household members on the basis ofvarious social norms and/or bargaining positions/gender relations of various members.

3. The food consumed by an individual is translated into nutrition on the basis of access to safewater, the absence of parasitic diseases, and the overall health status, all of which would affectthe body’s capacity to absorb consumed food.

3.1 Measuring Food Security Status

Given this definition of food security, how can its attainment be measured? Food security is acombination of access to food and its absorption by the body, which depends on a number of non-food factors such as sanitation, access to clean drinking water, access to health facilities, and so on.The outcome of food security can be taken to be the nutritional status of the individual, with theunderstanding that food intake is the basic, though not the only factor that affects nutritional status.

In developing countries, the rural population, particularly children, is vulnerable to malnutrition becauseof low dietary intake, lack of appropriate care and inequitable distribution of food within the household.The measurement of the nutritional status of children is done through anthropometric methods; theseinclude weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height. Each of these indices provides somewhatdifferent information about the nutritional status of children. The height-for-age index measures lineargrowth retardation. Children who are more than two standard deviations below the median of thereference population in terms of height-for-age are considered short for their age or ‘stunted’. Theproportion in this category indicates the prevalence of ‘chronic undernutrition’, which often resultsfrom a failure to receive adequate nutrition over a long period of time or from chronic or recurrentdiarrhoea (NFHS, 2007).

The weight-for-height index examines body mass in relation to body length. Children who are morethan two standard deviations below the median of the reference population for the same index areconsidered too thin or ‘wasted’ and this indicates prevalence of acute undernutrition. Wasting isassociated with the failure to receive adequate nutrition in the period immediately before the surveyand may be the result of seasonal variations in food supply or recent episodes of illness (NFHS, op cit).

Children who are more than two standard deviations below the reference median on the index ofweight-for-age are considered to be ‘underweight’. We have opted for the proportion of underweight

3. Analysis of Food Security3. Analysis of Food Security

24 FOOD SECURITY ATLAS OF RURAL JHARKHAND

children as the indicator for capturing malnutrition among children. The primary reason being thatweight-for-age is a composite measure that takes into account both chronic and acute undernutrition.Secondly, while information on stunting and wasting are available at the State-level from the NFHS,the same is not available at the district-level. The Reproductive and Child Health Survey through itsDistrict Level Household Survey (DLHS) does give information at the district level but only for theindex on weight-for-age. Therefore, we have selected this index as one of the two indicators formeasuring food insecurity status.

Malnutrition in children weakens their immune system, making them more susceptible to disease andless able to fight off infection. It has been estimated that a child is almost ten times more likely to diefrom key diseases if they are severely underweight, and two and a half times more likely to die if theyare moderately underweight, as compared to an average weight child (Black et al., 2008). Given thefact that more than 3.5 million children die globally on account of undernutrition, it emerges as amajor factor leading to child deaths.

Therefore, child mortality has been taken as the second indicator for measuring food insecurity. Theunder-five mortality rate indicates the probability of dying between birth and five years of age, expressedper thousand live births. There are a number of advantages of using the child mortality ratio as anindicator of food insecurity. Child mortality is known to be the ‘outcome’ of the development processrather than an ‘input’, such as per capita calorie or protein consumption or access to medical facilities,which are means to an end. Child mortality is known to be the outcome of a wide variety of factors, forinstance, nutritional status of the child and its mother, food availability in the family, level of immunization,availability of maternal and child health services, economic status, availability of safe drinking water,basic sanitation, and so on (UNICEF, 2005). Thus, child mortality encompasses a number of facets,most of which have been used as explanatory indicators, as already enumerated and as discussedlater.

The significance of the child mortality as an indicator lies in the fact that it is less susceptible to thefallacy of averages than, for instance, per capita income. This is because the natural scale does notallow children of the rich to be 1000 times as likely to survive, even if the human-made scale doespermit them to have 1000 times as much income. To put it simply, it is much more difficult for awealthy minority to affect a region’s child mortality ratio, and therefore it puts forward a more accuratepicture of the health and nutritional status of the children of that region (UNICEF, 2007).

The UN explicitly mentions reduction of child mortality (children under five) by two-thirds by 2015 asone of its primary MDGs (MDG–4). The interrelation between nutritional status and child mortality canbe gauged from the fact that undernutrition contributes up to 50 percent of all child deaths (WHO andUNICEF, 2006). Improving nutrition and achieving MDG–1 (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger)would substantially help avert child deaths from diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria, HIV, or measles.Thus, improving nutritional status is a prerequisite for achieving MDG–4 (UNICEF, 2008).

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Towards MDG - 4India accounts for 2.1 million (21 percent) of a total of 9.7 million children dying globally before they reach the age of five. Thisis despite the fact that child mortality has declined by 34 percent between 1990 and 2006. A study conducted by Save theChildren, which compares child mortality in a country to its per capita income, shows that India lags far behind its poorerneighbours like Bangladesh and Nepal, when it comes to reducing child deaths. A new Wealth and Survival Index, which is partof the study, has ranked 41 countries on the criterion of how well they use their resources to boost child survival rates. WhileBangladesh and Nepal are listed in the top ten performers, India stands at a low 16th in the index.This can be elucidated by comparing India and Bangladesh. While India’s per capita income (GNI) increased by 82 percentfrom 2000 to 2006, its child mortality rate declined from 94 to 76 per 1000 live births. As against that, over the same period,Bangladesh saw a much smaller increase in per capita income – only 23 percent – but its child mortality dropped from 92 to 69.As per the estimates of the Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, only seven of the 60 priority countries with highchild mortality can be considered to be on track to achieve the MDG-4 (Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepaland the Philippines). Thus, the global progress made so far has been found to be insufficient to achieve the goal. To actuallyachieve the goal, most of the remaining countries have to progress at an average annual rate of reduction of at least 10 percenttill 2015. Given the fact that the global rate so far (1990-2006) has just been a little over 1.5 percent, the achievement of this goalseems to be unrealistic.The State of the World’s Children-2008 suggests early and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, appropriatecomplementary feeding from six months to two years, skilled care at birth and special care for low-birth weight babies as keypreventive measures to reduce child mortality. Thus, adequate food security of the child is necessary for their survival beyondthe age of five.

Ref: UNICEF (2007b), Save the Children (2008)

As many as 60 countries across the globe have been prioritized for urgent action, based on twocriteria: countries with more than 50,000 deaths of children under five and countries with an annualchild mortality of at least 90 per 1000 live births. In 2005, these 60 countries accounted for 93 percentof all deaths of children under five. India figures prominently among these countries and shares placealong with four other South Asian countries. Regrettably, India doesn’t appear to be on track to achievethe MDG–4 (UNICEF, 2006) (See Box 3.1).

A statistical analysis of the NFHS–3 data across states reveals a significant negative correlation betweenmicro-nutrient intake and proportion of underweight children and under-five mortality, implying therebythat an increased intake of micronutrient, i.e. high food security, significantly reduces the risk ofundernutrition, which in turn, as discussed, contributes to reduction in child mortality (Table 3.1).

** Correlation significant at 0.01 level * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level

Table 3.1: Correlation between Micronutrient Intake andUnder nutrition and Mortality Status

Under 5 Underweight Vitamin Iron IntakeMortality Children Intake

Under 5 Mortality 1.00 0.714** - 0.501** - 0.523**Underweight Children 1.00 - 0.227 - 0.450*Vitamin Intake 1.00 0.555**Iron Intake 1.00

As it emanates from the precedingdiscussions, child undernutritionstatus and mortality appear to bean overall outcome of nutritionaland food insecurity. It, therefore,makes sense in forming acombined index of these twoindicators to compute anindicative index of food security

ANALYSIS OF FOOD SECURITY

26

District Value Rank Value Rank Value RankBokaro 66.1 1 45.4 2 0.684 1Chatra 113 14 54.5 13 0.458 13Deoghar 84.2 3 48.4 5 0.601 5Dhanbad 69.1 2 50.6 10 0.634 2Dumka 85.8 4 62 16 0.491 10Garhwa 156.5 18 50.5 9 0.344 18Giridih 87 7 62.9 18 0.480 12Godda 99.5 10 50.4 8 0.534 7Gumla 130 17 50.3 7 0.434 1Hazaribag 88.3 9 49.9 6 0.576 6Koderma 86.7 6 61.6 15 0.491 10Lohardaga 105.8 11 48 4 0.532 8 Pakur 107.7 12 50.7 11 0.505 9Palamu 121.8 16 50.7 11 0.458 13Paschimi Singhbhum 113 14 55.6 14 0.449 15Purbi Singhbhum 88 8 44.4 1 0.619 3Ranchi 86.4 5 45.9 3 0.613 4Sahibganj 108.3 13 62.7 17 0.411 17

Child Mortality Rate Underweight Children FSO Index

Table 3.3: Indicators used to Compute Food Security Outcome (FSO) Index:

Source: Underweight Children - RCH-DLHS (2002-04): Under Five Mortality – Computed from Census (1991 and 2001) by F.Ram, Usha Ram and ChanderShekhar for ‘Strengthening State Plans for Human Development’ (IIPS).

The industrial mining and urbanised areas in the state appear to have a better status in food securityoutcome than the other districts. As discussed in the inter-state comparison, Jharkhand has a veryhigh incidence of undernutrition of children and women. It is indicated by a very high incidence ofunderweight children and high child mortality. There is high inter-district disparity in under-five mortalitybut the disparity is not so high in the incidence of underweight children. While around 63 percent ofthe children are underweight in Giridih and Sahebgunj, the worst districts in this respect, it is as highas around 45 percent even in the best performing districts like Purbi Singhbhum, Bokaro or Ranchi.

Table 3.2 Food Security Outcome (FSO) Status:

Secure Moderately Insecure Very ExtremelySecure Insecure Insecure

Bokaro Ranchi Godda Chatra SahibganjDhanbad Deoghar Lohardaga Palamu GarhwaPurbi Hazaribagh Pakaur PashchimiSinghbhum Singhbhum

Kodarma GumlaDumka

outcome in Jharkhand (see Table3.3). Districts have been dividedinto five groups on the basis of thisindex – secure, moderately secure,insecure, very insecure, andextremely insecure – each categoryrepresenting the relative severity ofthe outcome of food insecurity(Table 3.2 and Map 3.1).


Map 3.1 Food Security Outcome Map

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Outcome Index

Secure [0.6162-0.6840]

Moderately Secure [0.5481-0.6162]

Very Insecure [0.4118-0.4799]

Insecure [0.4799-0.5481]

Extremely Insecure [0.3437-0.4118]

27

Unlike the incidence of underweight children, there is high disparity among the districts in terms ofunder-five mortality wherein it is low in urbanised districts and high where the level of urbanisation islow. While it is as high as around 156 per 1000 live births in Garhwa, in Bokaro and Dhanbad it is lessthan 70 per 1000 live births. The current level of under five-mortality of Jharkhand and most of itsdistricts however is quite high, much higher than the average of developing countries (79) and ofSouth Asian countries (83) (UNICEF, 2007). There are as many as nine districts (including Godda)where the number of children dying before the age of five is 100 or more per 1000 live births. Thiscompares poorly with the national average of 76 child deaths as only two districts – Bokaro andDhanbad – lie below this figure. Some of the districts like Gumla and Garhwa particularly have extremelyhigh mortality figures, 130 and 156 respectively, which can even be compared to under-five mortalityin Sub Saharan African (160).

3.2 Explaining Food Security

Taking the child mortality and child malnutrition rates as the outcomes of food security, one couldrank districts on the basis of this index, as done above. If the objective of the exercise were merely todecide on the districts in which to concentrate food security interventions, then such a ranking wouldbe sufficient. But this would say nothing about the types of interventions that should be undertaken inorder to improve food security, which is one of the key objectives of the study.

However, food security indicators can draw attention to the factors that distinguish the food securefrom the food insecure districts. These indicators can point out the specific areas in which the foodinsecure districts differ the most from food secure districts. Of course, such association betweenindicators in an index cannot tell us what is the causal relation between them and food security. Forinstance, if we find that adult female literacy is consistently higher in food secure districts andconsistently lower in food insecure districts, that only shows a correlation between adult female literacyand food security. Why such a relation holds is something that is a matter for analysis. Whether it isdue to an enhanced women’s agency contributing to a better utilization of household income, orthrough literate women having a better knowledge of improved nutritional practices, or some otherrelation, it is for analysis to bring out these relations. But the indicators can draw attention to theissues for which significant differences exist. It would even be possible to rank these variables, a rankthat would point to the extent to which these variables are different between districts. Such an analysiscould also point to variations between food insecure districts – the same variables may not contributethe most to the low index in all districts, or some of them may even move in opposite directions.

Food security is the ability of a household to command food (its food entitlements), generally acquiredthrough the net result of its livelihood activities (plus any other non-livelihood-based entitlements),that is crucial in determining food security of the household. These livelihood activities, from the pointof view of food security, are valued not only for the food they might directly produce, if at all theyproduce food, but also from the point of the command over food that they give to the household. It is


28

at this level of effective demand for food (both consumed out of self-production and purchased) thatmarket failures take place, requiring public intervention of different kinds. Food production, oragricultural production more broadly, then enters as a part, even the main part, of rural livelihoodactivities that provide command over food.

Within a household, it is known that there are gender differences in entitlements. Consequently, it isnecessary to deal with not just factors influencing household entitlements, but also those influencingindividual entitlements within the household. Factors of gender differentiation and discrimination comeinto the picture in influencing individual entitlements of women and men, girls and boys. Further, therecould be a substantial imbalance between the use of energy and its replacement through food. Giventhat women generally work longer hours than men and that women also get less nutrition than men,this imbalance could itself be a factor in nutritional shortfalls for women.

Entitlements are not only based onan individual’s or household’s owneconomic attainments. There arealso government- or community-based entitlements. Government-organized entitlements have beengaining in importance, whilecommunity-based entitlementshave been in decline, even amongadivasis. The operation of variousschemes, such as the Mid-DayMeal Scheme in schools, do havesome, even substantial, impact onthe access of children, girls andboys, to food. The performance ofthese schemes depends verysubstantially on demand frombelow for provision of theseservices, and also on theinvolvement of women in localgovernance. But, the entitlementsthat come through specialinterventions have been separatedin our analysis from those thatprovide the ‘normal’ entitlementsto food. Of course, we also try to see whether there is a connection, as there ought to be, between thefood security status of a district and the public interventions in that district.

Box 3.2 Agricultural Production and Food SecurityIt is commonly believed that agricultural production directly affects food security.However, there is more to it than a mere direct link. Rising agricultural productivityincreases rural incomes and lowers food prices, making food more accessibleto the poor. Improving irrigational facilities and growing drought-tolerant cropsreduce income variability by mitigating the impact of drought. Productivityenhancements are key to greater food security for households with limitedaccess to food markets. Nutritionally enriched crops give access to better diets,particularly through biofortification that substantially improves the nutrientcontent of the crop.Thus investments in agriculture are important to ensure food security. However,there is an increasing concern about global food security in future, largelyconsequent upon growing resource scarcity and climate change. In the presentworld, many countries have diversified their export base, and trade at largestabilizes food availability. However, food availability is still a concern in manyagriculture-based countries. Many countries have declining per capita productionof food staples. Further, staple crop production in most of these countries israin-fed and experiences large fluctuations caused by climatic variability.The increase or even sustenance of the present level of production is limited bya number of factors – land constraints, water scarcity, high energy prices –along with the uncertain effects of climate change, which has been consideredto be one of the areas of greatest uncertainties for agriculture. The combinedeffects of higher average temperatures, greater variability of temperature andprecipitation, more frequent and intense droughts and floods and reducedavailability of water for irrigation can be devastating for agriculture, particularlyin the tropical regions. It has been predicted that agricultural GDP in Sub-SaharanAfrica could contract by anywhere from 2 to 9 percent.

Source: World Development Report, 2008


29

It therefore emerges that there are a number of indicators that influence food insecurity in one way orthe other. We have combined these indicators into a set of three broad food security indices:

1. Production factors (at the district level) influencing availability;2. Household and individual access to food; and3. Ability to absorb food.

3.2.1 Food Availability

The concern for food availability stems from production and related aspects that sustain a desiredlevel of food production. Foodgrains are considered to be of paramount significance for householdfood and nutritional security, the reason being that cereals and pulses are staple foods and there areno perfect substitutes for them (Chand, 2007). Foodgrains are also the cheapest source of energycompared to other foods and are indispensable for the food security of low income classes (Chandand Kumar, 2006).

In our analysis, the following indicators have been chosen to determine a broad picture of foodavailability:

1. Per Capita Value of Agricultural Production: Agricultural output is an indicator reflecting availabilityof food. Since agriculture is dependent on climate, therefore it is advisable to take an average ofthree to five years’ data of agricultural production to take into account the variability of production.Food and non-food production both would be included since non-food production would contributeto the income of households and therefore have an impact on food security. To account for variationsin population across districts, the per capita value of agricultural production has been used.

2. Proportion of Forests: Forests are a form of common property resource. Availability of forestarea can affect food security as access to forest products provides income and supports nutrition,depending on the type and magnitude of the produce. But there are both legal and geographicalrestrictions on developing production in forest areas. Thus, it can be assumed that forest area isnegatively associated with food security, since it limits the extension of agricultural production.

3. Irrigation Extent: Irrigation has a key role in both stabilizing agricultural production and, throughan increase in cropping intensity and an associated increase in productivity, improving a district’sfood security position. It would also provide a better prospect in terms of rural employment.

4. Rural Connectivity: Access to paved roads has a big role in development. It reduces transportcosts and can reduce transaction costs, with possible positive results on the prices realized byfarmers. By improving communication, roads can increase the options available to rural producers,connecting them with larger national, regional and even international markets. Studies of ruralroads have shown that they raise the productivity and value of land for poor farmers (Jacoby2000). It has been found that government spending on rural infrastructure, besides agriculturalresearch and development, irrigation and rural development programmes targeted to the rural


30

poor, have all contributed to reductions in rural poverty and increases in agricultural productivity.Marginal government expenditure on roads, in particular, has been found to have the largest positiveimpact on productivity growth (Fan et al., 1999).

3.2.2 Food Access

Access to food or food distribution has been regarded to be the most important factor determiningfood security. A household’s access to food depends on its own production of food and the food it canacquire through sale of labour power or commodities produced by it. These are linked to what AmartyaSen calls endowment and exchange entitlements: ‘A person starves either because he does not havethe ability to command enough food, or because he does not use this ability to avoid starvation. Theentitlement approach concentrates on the former, ignoring the latter possibility’ (Sen, 1981).

The following indicators have been considered in order to take into account the aspect of foodaccessability.

1. Proportion of Agricultural Labourers: The total number of agricultural workers in the countryhas been estimated at 259 million as of 2004–05. Of these, more than one-third are wage workersand almost all of these are casual labourers. Agricultural labourers are characterized by extremelypoor physical and human capital and also the highest poverty levels (NCEUS 2007). Thus, it isexpected that the proportion of agricultural labourers will be negatively related to food security,i.e., the more the agricultural labourers in a district, the worse will be the food security situation.

2. Proportion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes: The ST and SC households are knownto be generally more food insecure, largely on account of their economic and social deprivation –the former on account of geographical marginalization and the latter due to historical deprivationand exclusion from mainstream – all resulting in political marginalization. The proportion of STand SC population in a district has been taken as an indicator of this marginalization. Theassumption is that the greater the ST and SC population in a district the less it will be associatedwith food security.

3. Proportion of Working Age Population: The ratio between the productive section of the populationto the economically dependent part is a valid demographic indicator at the household level. Aratio higher than unity represents a positive scenario, with more productive population comparedto the dependent population6 . This ‘demographic dividend’, if effectively harnessed, leads toprosperity and hence food security (Chandrasekhar et al. 2006).

6 One of the traits of any developed economy is a lower fertility rate, which leads to a ‘bulge’ in the working agegroup, thus improving the dependency ratio (reverse of working age group ratio), making it less than unity.


31

4. Per Capita Consumption Expenditure: The NSS estimates of per capita consumption expenditure,adjusted for inequality, is a proxy for per capita income reflecting a significant dimension of accessto food. This variable acounts for all sources of income, including those which are depicted throughavailability of food as measured in terms of value of agricultural output. For instance, a districtwith low value of agricultural output along with a high value of consumption would mean that non-agricultural income, including remittances from migrants, play a role in enabling consumption tobe higher than agricultural production. This is the only way in which we can indirectly bring migration,which is such a crucial component of households’ food security strategies, into the picture.

5. Wage Rate of Rural Persons: Casual wage workers constitute about one-fifth of workers in theunorganized non-agricultural sector while almost all agricultural labourers are casual workers(NCEUS 2007). Casual workers tend to be the least protected and have the lowest level of earnings.The understanding is that agricultural labour, without the backing of self-produced food, isparticularly vulnerable to food insecurity. There, there is a particular concern with the earnings ofagricultural labour.

6. Rural Female Literacy: It is well-known that there are gender-based inequalities in foodconsumption within a household. Consequently, mere household consumption data or per capitahousehold consumption data would not tell us the story of intra-household distribution of foodand related facilities, such as access to medical services, which would affect the nutritional statusof females, women and girls. That such gender-based inequalities in household consumptionexist is attested to by numerous case studies (see those reviewed in Bina Agarwal, 1994). Further,the very high incidence of anaemia among women and girls shows that females are nutritionallydeficient even in households that are not otherwise poor or nutritionally deficient. We have usedthe rural female literacy rate as the variable to represent gender-based inequality in householdconsumption. The argument is that a higher literacy rate for women is more likely to enable womento enhance their roles in family decision-making and increase their share of household consumption.At the same time, higher women’s literacy is also likely to lead to better knowledge of nutritionalsystems and improved health practices in the household.

3.2.3 Food Absorption

The ability of the body to translate food intake into nutritional status is mediated by a number offactors, some genetic and others related to hygiene and morbidity.

The following indicators have been chosen to determine a broad picture of food absorption:

1. Access to Safe drinking Water: Reduction of the proportion of people without access to safedrinking water by half has been mentioned as part of the seventh Millennium Development Goal.Polluted and contaminated water undermines the safety and the nutritional well-being of individuals.


32

Studies have shown that water and sanitation accounts for a substantial portion of the differencein infant and child mortality rates experienced by the rich and the poor (Leipziger et al. 2003).Clean and safe water supply is an essential element for achieving food security and good nutrition.

Though India has taken huge strides in terms of provision of safe drinking water since Independence,the fact remains that more people in India lack this basic minimum necessity now than 50 yearsago. This is besides the fact that more people are vulnerable to water-borne diseases (Gujja &Shaik 2005). Empirical studies have shown that water quality is a big problem in rural areas(Krishnan et al. 2003). Almost two million children die each year because of lack of clean waterand lack of sanitation (UNICEF 2007c). The availability and quality of potable water is a big factorthat affects food insecurity. As there is no direct method for calculating access to safe drinkingwater, we have considered access to tubewell, tap and handpump as three ways of acquiring safedrinking water.

2. Access to Primary Health Services: Public health services, which reduce a population’s exposureto disease through such measures as sanitation and vector control, are an essential part of acountry’s development infrastructure. The health infrastructure prevents the local inhabitants fromexposure to diseases, for instance, through assuring food safety, vector control and health educationto improve personal health behaviour (Gupta 2005). In rural areas, all the health services are pivotedaround the PHCs, hence we have taken access to them as an indicator determining food absorption.

3.3 Food Security Index (FSI)

The FSI is a composite index covering three dimensions, i.e., Availability, Access, and Absorptionfactors. Districts/having higher index value/ and considered relatively more food secure compared todistricts with lower index values. All variables included in the index are for rural areas, unless otherwisespecified.

Besides these three groups of factors, an additional component, i.e. public entitlement, has beenused to explain how this influences food security. But the public entitlement factor is not included inthe index of food security. The reason is that public entitlements enters to make up for deficiencies innormal, private entitlements. The lower the level of food security, the greater should be publicentitlement. We are the data to check whether this is or so not.

For each of the dimensions, as discussed earlier, some relevant variables have been chosen. Allindicators used to calculate the composite index should be positively related to the index. In order todo that, some of the variables have been reversed. Table 3.4 gives the indicators, source of informationand the reference year. (See Appendix 2 Table 2.1 for a description of the variables).


33

Name of Indicator Sources Ref. Year

(a) Availability1. Proportion of net irrigated area to net Birsa Kisan Diary, 2006 Directorate 2005-06

sown area of Agriculture, Jharkhand, KrishiBhawan, Ranchi

2. Per capita value of agricultural output Birsa Kisan Diary, 2006 Directorate of 2003-04 toAgriculture, Jharkhand, Krishi Bhawan, 2005-06Ranchi

3. Percentage of inhabited villages Census of India, 2001 2001having access to paved roads.

4. Percentage of forest area to total Ministry of Forest and Environment,geographical area Government of Jharkhand downloaded

on 1st September 2007 http://jharkhand.nic.in/governance/ forest.htm

(b) Access1. Percentage of agricultural labour to Census of India, 2001 2001

total workers*2. Proportion of ST and SC population to Census of India, 2001 2001

total population*3. Ratio of working population Census of India, 2001 2001

4. Per capita monthly consumptionexpenditure (inequality adjusted) 61st NSS round 2004-05

5. Rural casual wage rate 61st NSS round 2004-056. Women’s literacy rate (7+) Census of India, 2001 2001

(c) Utilization1. Percentage of households having access Census of India, 2001 2001

to safe drinking water.2. Percentage of inhabited villages having Census of India, 2001 2001

access to PHC (PHC facility within thevillage or within 5 km from the village)

(d) Public Entitlement1. Percentage of midday meal beneficiaries Directorate of Primary Education, 2006-07

out of total children Department of HRD,Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi

2. Percentage of ICDS beneficiaries to Department of Women and Child 2006total project population Development, Government of

Jharkhand, Ranchi

*The direction of these variables has been reversed to have a positive association with food security.

Table 3.4: Jharkhand ––– Indicators Used to Analyze Food Security


34

The concern for food availability stems from production and related aspects that sustain a desiredlevel of food production. Where production is largely for subsistence and is the main source of ahousehold’s food entitlement, foodgrain production is of paramount significance for household foodand nutritional security. Foodgrains are also the cheapest source of energy and proteins compared toother foods, and are indispensable for the food security of the lower income groups (Chand andKumar, 2006).

In the context of stagnant yields of foodgrain production, use of food crops for biofuel production,diversion of crop land to biofuel cultivaiton, falling carrying capacity of land, environmental andsustainability issues and global warming directly affecting agricultural production, all of this manifestedin rising international prices of food, increasing availability of food is a matter of urgent global concern.Global climate change, in particular could have a critical impact on agricultural production. Empiricalevidence shows that an increase in temperature affects crop production both directly and indirectly. Ithas been estimated that cereal yields in tropical regions, such as India, are going to decline for evena marginal increase (1-2 C) in temperatures (IPCC, 2007). A great deal of research is needed tounderstand this impact in different states of the country.

This chapter analyses food availability across a number of component dimensions. Broadly, thesedimensions are production and productivity, extent of irrigation, proportion of forests, and roadconnectivity. The effort is to compare the overall situation in Jharkhand vis-à-vis other States, andthen analyse and map the inter-district disparities. The chapter also shows the position of each districtwith respect to the selected indicators and the composite index and map of availability.

Though Jharkhand is primarily an agrarian state, the agricultural economy in the state is at a very lowlevel of development. The soil is mostly acidic and productivity is very low. Soil of about 49 percent ofthe total geographical area is extremely to strongly acidic with PH value less than 5.5, and anotherabout 36 percent is moderately to slightly acidic with a PH value lying between 5.6 to 6.5. Around 28.3percent of the workers are cultivators but most of them are small and marginal farmers comprising 17percent and 63 percent of total farmers respectively. However, these groups own only 17 percent and21 percent of the cultivated area respectively, which speaks of the inequality of landownership in thestate. The average size of holding in the State is only 1.58 hectares (Primary source: Bihar AgriculturalCensus 1990-91, cited in Mishra and Jairam, 2006).

Road density which helps in transporting food from surplus to deficit areas, thus making food availablein such areas, is also very poor in this state. Road access in rural Jharkhand is much less than the all-India average. Only 36 percent of the villages in the state have immediate access to all-weather roadscompared to the all-India average of 57 percent. The corresponding figures for village level access tometal roads are 25 percent and 45 percent (See Table 4.1).

4. Food Availability4. Food Availability

35

4.1 Agricultural Growth

In comparison to India on the whole or its major states, Jharkhand, however, experienced an impressivegrowth in agricultural GSDP during the decade 1993-94 to 2003-04. While states like Kerala and TamilNadu experienced a negative growth and Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, a very low rate of growth,Jharkhand witnessed a growth rate above four percent.

State 1983-84 to 1993-94 1993-94 to 2003-04(at 1980-81 Prices) (at 1993-94 Prices)

Agricultural GSDP Agricultural GSDP GSDP

Andhra Pradesh 3.05 4.58 2.80 5.63Assam 2.12 3.51 0.51 2.93

Bihar -0.45 *** 2.69 2.50 5.34

Gujarat 0.84 *** 5.00 1.13 *** 6.19Haryana 4.86 6.18 1.77 5.96

Himachal Pradesh 3.08 5.89 1.30 6.53

Jharkhand 4.25 4.28

Karnataka 3.54 5.86 3.12 7.10

Kerala 4.40 5.33 -2.00 * 4.85

Madhya Pradesh 2.82 * 5.21 0.23 *** 4.14

Maharashtra 5.39 * 7.42 1.27 4.92

Orissa -0.57 *** 3.39 0.17 *** 3.96

Punjab 4.62 5.13 2.15 4.13

Rajasthan 3.93 6.19 1.21 *** 5.32

Tamil Nadu 4.43 7.45 -0.60 *** 5.08

Uttar Pradesh 2.8 4.66 2.18 3.76

West Bengal 4.45 4.73 3.45 7.03

India 3.05 5.32 2.19 6.01

CV for States 58.72 25.43 102.88 22.75

Table 4.1: Growth of Agricultural GDP and GSDP across States

Note: Growth is Compound Annual Growth Rate. GSDP denotes Gross State Domestic Product. All growth rates are significant at 5 per cent, but for *which is significant at 10 per cent and ** which is insignificant even at 20 per cent. CV denotes coefficient of variation.Source: CSO, Gross State Domestic Product, Various Years.

4.1.1 Production

Despite high agricultural growth, agriculture in Jharkhand is in a very poor state. A comparison withthe major agricultural states of the country7 sheds light on this poor state of agriculture in Jharkhand.The average yield of food grains (1265 kg/ha) is very low, around 450 kg per hectare less than the all-

7 States contributing to at least one percent to aggregate national production have beenconsidered. All the states with population above 20 m, except Kerala, are included.

FOOD AVAILABILITY

36

India average and less than half of those of high performing states like Punjab and Haryana. Theextent of irrigation is found to be very low - less than 10 percent which is more than 25 percent pointsbelow the national average. Even this small figure is concentrated in a few pockets of the state. Thishas resulted in a low cropping intensity in the state. The state is by and large single-cropped. Again,though the state has an average rainfall (more than 140 cm), which is above the national average (110cm), the rainfall is quite erratic and unevenly distributed leading to crop failures, which in the absenceof adequate state intervention, result in frequent famine or famine-like situations. This, along with lowirrigation coverage, has resulted in a highly unstable growth of food grain production in the state overthe last one and a half decades. The other main rain-fed states such as West Bengal, Bihar andAssam have much lower instability than Jharkhand. It is next only to Rajasthan in terms of instabilityin agricultural production. As a result of low agricultural productivity, low agricultural extent and lowcropping intensity, the state’s agriculture makes a very small contribution to aggregate nationalproduction – 1.8 percent – which in turn is the lowest among all major states (See Table 4.2).

8 Instability in production = standard deviation of growth rates of total food grain production (1991-2005)9 Cropping Intensity = Gross Area Sown / Net Area Sown (expressed as percentage)10 Irrigation Extent = Net Area Irrigated / Net Area Sown (expressed as percentage)

State % of National Foodgrain Instability in Cropping IrrigationFoodgrain Yield Foodgrain Intensity9 Extent10

Production (TE 2005-06) Production8

(TE Rank kg / ha Rank (1991- Rank (%) Rank (%) Rank2005-06) 2005)

India 100 1714 9.4 134.4 39.6Andhra Pradesh 7.1 4 2155 4 18.9 7 121.7 11 38.1 7Assam 1.8 15 1437 9 6.2 2 143.1 6 6.2 16Bihar 4.5 9 1498 8 17.1 6 138.8 7 60.6 4Chhattisgarh 2.8 14 1107 14 66.6 14 116.9 13 23.1 12Gujarat 2.9 12 1554 7 43.6 13 113.8 16 31.6 10Haryana 6.3 7 3087 2 6.5 3 177.5 2 84.0 2Jharkhand 1.8 16 1265 12 122.4 15 120.3 12 9.3 15Karnataka 3.6 10 1275 11 28.7 11 116.6 14 24.9 11Madhya Pradesh 7.1 5 1184 13 23.9 9 128.4 8 33.5 8Maharashtra 5.4 8 909 16 25 10 127.2 9 16.9 14Orissa 3.4 11 1334 10 38.5 12 146 5 22.9 13Punjab 12.2 2 3996 1 5.8 1 185.9 1 95.4 1Rajasthan 6.6 6 1053 15 229.6 16 123.8 10 33.4 9Tamil Nadu 2.9 13 1806 6 20.8 8 115.8 15 50.2 6Uttar Pradesh 19.7 1 2119 5 9 5 153.4 4 73.7 3West Bengal 7.8 3 2464 3 6.6 4 176.5 3 54.5 5

Table 4.2: Level of Agricultural Development

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India (Various Years)


37

Food grain output in Jharkhand grew at a rate of 3.14 percent over the period 1993-94 to 2003-04.This was higher than a meagre 0.71 percent for the period 1983-84 to 1993-94 (See Table 4.3). Between1983-84 and 1993-94 the yield per hectare increased by 2.24 percent but the area under food grainsproduction declined by around one and half percent. Conversely, between 1993-94 and 2003-04 theproductivity improved by less than two percent but the area under food grains production increasedby 1.27 percent.

Table 4.3: Annual Growth Rate in Area, Production and Yield of Principal Crops

1983/84 to 1993/94 1993/94 to 2003/04Crops Area Production Yield Area Production YieldRice -1.29 0.76 2.08 0.13 3.85 3.71Wheat -1.29 0.34 1.65 1.44 2.86 1.40Maize -2.38 2.14 4.63 4.19 0.08 1.19Food Grains -1.49 0.71 2.24 1.27 3.14 1.85Sugar Cane -6.70 -4.46 2.40 7.18 2.92 -3.97Arhar -2.72 0.00 2.80 12.90 7.68 -4.62Ground Nuts -2.11 -2.84 -0.74 3.38 5.96 2.50Linseed o.54 1.53 0.98 7.92 0.62 -6.76Niger Seed 4.27 6.46 2.10 -13.16 -23.31 -11.69

Source: Agriculture 2005, CMIE report

4.1.2 Diversification of Production

Beside low productivity growth, there has been littlediversification of crops in Jharkhand, away from foodgrains towards possibly higher value, non-food graincrops. Jharkhand has no noticeable production ofcommercial crops (except for vegetables). Cerealsaccount for around 80 percent of the total value ofagricultural production in Jharkhand (See Table 4.4.

Rice is the most important crop in Jharkhand contributingaround 69 percent to total agricultural production, butthe average yield in 2003-04 was quite low at 1601 kg/ha. Rice in Jharkhand is mainly of non-irrigated varieties.With poor irrigation and low use of fertilizers, yields arelow. Low yields mean that income per capita from rice islow, whether the rice is self-consumed or sold in themarket.

Crop Jharkhand India

Rice 68.65 23.93

Maize 5.71 3.43

Wheat 2.77 14.62

Total Cereals 80.01 54.16

Oilseed 2.85 14.13

Pulses 6.99 11.61

Total Cash Crop 2.96 15.77

Fruits 1.56 1.77

Vegetables 6.99 2.56

Total value of production 100.00 100.00

Table 4.4: Proportion of Crops in TotalProduction in Jharkhand

and India 1999-2000

Source: Government sources cited in Mishra, 2004.

FOOD AVAILABILITY

38

It is likely that a large part of Jharkhand’s rice production is not commercial, i.e. it is mainly meant forself-consumption in subsistence production. This might explain the high per capita consumption ofcereals (meaning rice in this case) in Jharkhand compared to other states with higher per capitaincomes and higher per capita production of cereals. It also means that there is less diversification offood consumption in Jharkhand compared to other states.

As the above table shows, there is little diversification of agricultural output. There is very little cultivationof oilseeds, pulses and other cash crops. But vegetables make a significant contribution to thestate’s total value of agricultural production as well as to the income of farmers.

4.1.3 Per Capita Agricultural Output

There is wide inter-district variation in the per capita value of agricultural production in Jharkhand(See Map 4.1). It varies from around Rs. 792 in Lohardaga to around Rs. 152 in Bokaro (See Table 4.5.The districts with low agricultural land (because of forest, wastelands, mines, industries or urbanexpansion) or low agricultural productivity have generally low per capita value of agricultural output.

Table 4.5: Per Capita Agricultural Output

Districts Value (Rs) Rank Districts Value (Rs) Rank

Bokaro 152 18 Hazaribagh 214 15

Chatra 225 14 Koderma 227 13

Deoghar 240 12 Lohardaga 792 1

Dhanbad 170 17 Pakur 352 9

Dumka 641 3 Palamu 300 10

Garhwa 272 11 Paschimi Singhbhum 461 5

Giridih 191 16 Purbi Singhbhum 422 6

Godda 604 4 Ranchi 410 7

Gumla 745 2 Sahibganj 395 8Source: As stated in table 3.4, variable a.2.

4.2 Extent of Irrigation

The extent of irrigation, represented by the percentage of the net area irrigated to the net area sown,is very low in Jharkhand – around 9 percent. This is more than 30 percentage points below the nationalaverage of around 40 percent. Irrigation has been grossly neglected in the state. In Jharkhand, irrigationis concentrated in small pockets of the state and there is also wide inter-district variation in irrigationcoverage. It varies from less than one percent in Dhanbad to around 37 percent in Garhwa (SeeTable 4.6). The extent of irrigation in the North-west is much more than that in the Central orSouth-west part of the state (See Map 4.2). However, the bottom line remains that in all the districtsincluding Garwah, the best performing district in irrigation, the irrigation coverage is lower than thenational average.


Per capita Value of AgriculturalOutput (in Rs.)

High [665 - 792]

Moderate [537 - 664]

Very Low [281 - 408]

Low [409 - 536]

Extremely Low [152 - 280]

Proportion of Net Irrigated Areato Net Sown Area (%)

High [30.0 - 36.8]

Moderate [22.0 - 30.0]

Very Low [8.0 - 15.0]

Low [15.0 - 22.0]

Extremely Low [0.9 - 8.0]

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Map 4.1 Status of Agricultural Production

Map 4.2 Share of Irrigated Area

Source: Same as Table 4.5

Source: Same as table 4.6

39

Table 4.6: Extent of Irrigation

Districts Value (%) Rank Districts Value (%) RankBokaro 24.07 14 Hazaribagh 12.88 10Chatra 21.66 13 Koderma 27.31 16Deoghar 14.96 11 Lohardaga 6.52 4Dhanbad 0.91 1 Pakur 6.55 5Dumka 17.7 12 Palamu 28.96 17Garhwa 36.8 18 Paschimi Singhbhum 5.01 3Giridih 6.79 6 Purbi Singhbhum 11.59 8Godda 24.69 15 Ranchi 11.7 9Gumla 3.87 2 Sahibganj 10.07 7

Source: As stated in Table 3.4 for variable a.1.

4.2.1 Returns to Cultivation

An examination of profitability of cultivation in terms of returns to cultivation reveals the poor status ofJharkhand. The return to cultivation measured in terms of return to area as well as household is foundto be at a very low level as compared to Punjab, Kerala or Assam (See Figure 4.1). While return tofarming households in most of the states is higher than the return to area, in Jharkhand, the return toarea is more than return to households. Despite low productivity, the return to area is higher than inmost states because of a very low monetary cost of cultivation in Jharkhand. The farmers here cultivatetheir land with family or madait (exchange) labour with little dependence on market purchased inputs.The cost of hired labour is also very low because of the low agricultural wage rate in most areas. Thereturn per farming household is low because of the small size of land holding.

Figure 4.1: Returns to Cultivation

Source: Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers, National Sample Survey, 59th Round, Computed in Mishra (2007)

Punj

ab

Kera

la

Assa

m

Jhar

khan

d

Wes

tBen

gal

Har

yana

Biha

r

Utta

rPra

desh

Tam

ilN

adu

Guj

arat

Andh

raPr

ades

h

Karn

atak

a

Mah

aras

htra

Raj

asth

an

Mad

hya

Prad

esh

Cha

ttisg

arh

Oris

sa

Indi

a

35

30

25

20

15

10

0

Returns to Cultivation, 2002-03

Returns per farmer HH (Rs.)Gross returns per Ha (Rs)

FOOD AVAILABILITY

40

4.3 Forest

The state has a high coverage of forest; forests cover more than one fourth of its area. Only Kerala (40percent), Chhattisgarh (41 percent), Assam (36 percent) and Orissa (31 percent) have a higherpercentage of area under forests than Jharkhand (See Table 4.7). It is much more than the nationalaverage (in the country about 22 percent of total area is under forests). However, in Jharkhand, a largeproportion of the forests are degraded. Wastelands cover 14 percent of the total geographical area ofthe state. Very few states of the country have such a high percentage of their geographical area aswastelands. As a result, the net area cultivated is only 22 percent of the total reported area of thestate, which is much below the national average of 45 percent. This is definitely a constraint on theincrease of cultivation. It also points to the necessity of development of wastelands and switchingfrom extensive to intensive methods of cultivation.

2003 Rank TE 2004-05 Rank 2003 Rank TE 2001-04 RankAndhra Pradesh 16.46 14 -8.3 11 16.2 9 36.62 13Assam 17.89 15 6.7 1 35.5 15 35.34 14Bihar 5.78 5 3.0 3 5.9 5 60.90 5Chhattisgarh 5.61 4 -1.0 4 41.4 17 34.69 15Gujarat 10.4 9 -4.3 7 7.6 6 50.83 9Haryana 7.39 8 -6.0 9 3.4 2 80.48 2Jharkhand 14.01 12 -5.7 8 28.5 13 22.20 17Karnataka 7.06 7 -16.0 14 19.0 11 52.00 8Kerala 4.6 2 -18.0 15 40.1 16 56.37 7Madhya Pradesh 18.53 16 -8.3 11 24.8 12 33.31 16Maharashtra 16.01 13 -13.7 13 15.3 8 57.04 6Orissa 12.17 10 -3.0 6 31.1 14 37.08 11Punjab 2.33 1 -24.3 16 3.1 1 84.38 1Rajasthan 29.64 17 -27.0 17 4.6 3 43.74 10Tamil Nadu 13.3 11 -2.0 5 17.4 10 37.05 12Uttar Pradesh 7.05 6 -8.0 10 5.9 4 68.97 3West Bengal 4.95 3 6.0 2 13.9 7 62.50 4Total 17.45 -7.7 20.6 45.30

% of Rainfall Forest Area AgriculturalWastelands to Deviation (%) Extent* (%)

total area from Norm

Table 4.7: Environmental Limitations to Agricultural Development

Source: Wasteland – Wasteland Atlas, 2003; Forest – State of Forest Report, 2003; Rainfall and NAS – Ministry of Agriculture* Agricultural Extent = Net area sown / Total Reporting Area x 100


41

The area under forests varies greatly within the state. In the districts located in the north- west andnorth central part of the state, more than forty percent of the area is under forests (See Table 4.8 andalso Map 4.3). A major part of this area was famous for feudal extraction, rack renting and excesses.Clearance of forests for arable expansion remained very low because of the high rents charged by thefeudal lords (Mahapatra, 1991). In areas where feudal forces were not very strong or where mining,industrial or urban expansion took place, the forest coverage is very low.

Table 4.8: Share of Forest Area

Districts Value (%) Rank Districts Value (%) RankBokaro 25.00 10 Hazaribagh 42.45 15Chatra 60.40 18 Koderma 42.42 14Deoghar 13.96 5 Lohardaga 28.88 11Dhanbad 9.27 1 Pakur 11.44 2Dumka 13.06 3 Palamu 43.23 16Garhwa 44.58 17 Paschimi Singhbhum 22.06 9Giridih 32.12 12 Purbi Singhbhum 40.44 13Godda 13.51 4 Ranchi 20.99 7Gumla 15.05 6 Sahibganj 21.18 8

Source: As stated in Table 3.4, variable a.4.

4.4 Connectivity

Roads in rural areas act as feeder roads serving such areas where agriculture is the predominantoccupation, providing them with outlets to urban market centres. These roads also play a significantrole in opening up backward areas and accelerating socio-economic development. Most of the districtsof the state have poor rural connectivity. Only Dhanbad has good rural connectivity, around 44 percentof its villages having access to paved roads (See Table 4.9). In other districts, less than 30 percent ofthe villages have such access. In six of the eighteen districts, even less than 20 percent of the villagesare connected by roads. In Chatra and Deoghar, only around 13 percent of the villages have access topaved roads.

Table 4.9: Rural Connectivity

Districts Value Rank Districts Value RankBokaro 25.74 4 Hazaribagh 28.78 2Chatra 13.37 17 Koderma 23.22 8Deoghar 13.25 18 Lohardaga 28.29 3Dhanbad 44.1 1 Pakur 17.81 15Dumka 18.94 14 Palamu 24.15 7Garhwa 21.39 11 Paschimi Singhbhum 22.8 9Giridih 19.44 13 Purbi Singhbhum 16.88 16Godda 21.51 10 Ranchi 24.7 6Gumla 20.68 12 Sahibganj 24.77 5

Source: Census of India, 2001

FOOD AVAILABILITY

42

4.5 Availability

As mentioned above, the agricultural economy in Jharkhand is at a very low level of development. Asa result, the entire state has been considered a food deficit state but there are inter-district variationsin the availability of food. The districts of the northern parts of the Eastern and Western Plateauappear to be far ahead of the rest of the state in terms of food availability, while those of the SouthEastern Plateau lag behind. In the northern extreme of the Western Plateau, Garhwa and Palamauhave a large area under irrigation and Lohardaga has a very high per capita value of agriculturaloutput. In the Eastern Plateau, Godda has a high percentage of area not covered by forests and amoderate level of per capita value of agricultural output and irrigation coverage.

The extent of irrigation has not in all cases been translated into per capita value of agricultural output.Garhwa and Palamau, despite having high irrigation coverage, have a modest level of per capitavalue of agricultural output, while Dumka and Lohardaga, despite having low irrigation coverage,have a very high value of agricultural output. The same is the case with Gumla, less than 4 percent ofits net sown area is irrigated but the value of its per capita agricultural output is Rs. 745, second onlyto Lohardaga in this respect (See Table 4.10). Irrigation has helped more in stabilising agriculturalproduction than in increasing it.

Table 4.10: Indicators Used to Compute Availability Index

Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank1 Bokaro 152 18 75.0 10 24.07 14 25.74 4 0.2212 Chatra 225 14 39.6 18 21.66 13 13.37 17 0.1663 Deoghar 240 12 86.04 5 14.96 11 13.25 18 0.1324 Dhanbad 170 17 90.73 1 0.91 1 44.1 1 0.1845 Dumka 641 3 86.94 3 17.7 12 18.94 14 0.2706 Garhwa 272 11 55.42 17 36.8 18 21.39 11 0.3007 Giridih 191 16 67.88 12 6.79 6 19.44 13 0.1048 Godda 604 4 86.49 4 24.69 15 21.51 10 0.3129 Gumla 745 2 84.95 6 3.87 2 20.68 12 0.22610 Hazaribagh 214 15 57.55 15 12.88 10 28.78 2 0.18811 Koderma 227 13 57.58 14 27.31 16 23.22 8 0.24512 Lohardaga 792 1 71.12 11 6.52 4 28.29 3 0.28813 Pakur 352 9 88.56 2 6.55 5 17.81 15 0.13414 Palamu 300 10 56.77 16 28.96 17 24.15 7 0.27615 Paschimi Singhbhum 461 5 77.94 9 5.01 3 22.8 9 0.17516 Purbi Singhbhum 422 6 59.56 13 11.59 8 16.88 16 0.17417 Ranchi 410 7 79.01 7 11.7 9 24.7 6 0.20918 Sahibganj 395 8 78.82 8 10.07 7 24.77 5 0.196

Per Capita Share of non Irrigation Rural Availa-Districts Agricultural -Forest Area Extent Connectivity bility

Output Index


Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Map 4.3 Share of Forest Area

Map 4.4 Status of Rural Connectivity

Proportion of Area under Forests [%]

9.3 19.5

19.5 29.7

39.9 50.2

29.7 39.9

50.2 60.4

High [37.0 - 44.1]

Very Low [19.0 - 25.0]

Low [25.0 - 31.0]


Proportion of Villages havingAccess to Paved Roads (%)



Map 4.5 Food Availability Map of Rural Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Availability Index

Secure[0.2704 - 0.3120]

Moderately Secure [0.2289 - 0.2704]

Very Insecure[0.1458 - 0.1873]

Insecure[0.1873 - 0.2289]

Severely Secure [0.1040 - 0.1458]

43

Secure Moderately Moderately Severely ExtremelySecure Insecure Insecure Insecure

Godda Dumka Gumla Dhanbad Pakur

Garhwa Koderma Ranchi Paschimi Singhbhum Deoghar

Lohardaga Bokaro Purbi Singhbhum Giridih

Palamau Hazaribag Chatra

Sahebgunj

Table 4.11: Status of Districts in Availability Index

Except Godda and Dumka, the whole of the North Eastern part of Jharkhand is severely to extremelyfood insecure with regard to food availability (See Table 4.11). The southern part of the state comprisingof the districts of Purbi and Paschimi Singhbhum are also severely food insecure (See Map 4.5).

The availability of food, however, depends not only on its production expressed in terms of per capitavalue of agricultural output but also on the factors which help in the growth of the food market throughgrowth of non-agricultural income and resultant transport of food from surplus producing areas todeficit areas, and linking habitations to the market. For highly urbanized districts, such as Ranchi,Purbi Singhbhum, Dhanbad and Bokaro, being insecure in food availability does not mean that theyare insecure in food areas. Access in urbanized districts depends mainly on wages rather on foodproduction.

*****

FOOD AVAILABILITY

44

5. Access To Food

The critical significance of access to food has been famously imprinted on the public mind by Sen’sdescription of the Bengal famine, where people went hungry and starved, not because food was notavailable, but because they could not afford it (Sen, 1981). He linked the issue of access to a person’s‘entitlements’. Broadly, entitlements refer to the bundle of goods and services a person can acquire,based on his or her endowments such as wealth and assets, skills, knowledge, status and so on.Thus, availability of food is important to food security but it is not enough; it should also be affordableand people should be able to access it. Access is tied up with people’s capacity to buy, their earnings,livelihoods and other socio-economic factors.

Access of those who may individually to secure enough food lack the ability is often bolstered throughunions, community groups and self help groups. Thus, the ability to form and take action in groups isalso a part of one’s entitlements.

Historic injustice and discrimination faced by the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and by women andother marginalized groups are well documented. This discrimination permeates all aspects of lifeincluding their livelihoods, education, health, participation in political life and access to food and thebenefits of government programmes. Access to food thus depends both on the availability of economicopportunities and the social inclusion of the population in availing those opportunities.

The indicators that have been taken to reveal food access in this report, monthly consumption

5. Access To Food

expenditure per person, wages, nature of work, socialgroups, and proportion of working age population arediscussed in this chapter. The overall status ofJharkhand in relation to other states is presented firstand thereafter we discuss the disparities acrossdistricts. Finally, we present the overall index of foodaccess across districts and map food access.

5.1. Rural wagesCasual workers tend to be the least protected andhave the lowest level of earnings. The NSS definesthe casual wage worker as one who was casuallyengaged in others’ farm or non-farm enterprises (bothhousehold and non- household) and, in return,received wages according to the terms of the dailyor periodic work contract.The wage rate inJharkhand (Rs 48) is almost equal to the nationalaverage but the best performing state of Kerala (Rs.120) has a wage rate two and half times that ofJharkhand (See Table 5.1).

Table 5.1: Wage Rate of Casual Workers byState

Source: NSS, 2004-05

Average Casual RuralWage

Value (Rs.) Rank India 48.89 - Andhra Pradesh 42.13 12 Assam 60.18 5 Bihar 43.95 11 Chhattisgarh 34.07 17 Gujarat 49.72 8 Haryana 72.2 3 Jharkhand 48.07 10 Karnataka 41.32 13 Kerala 119.51 1 Madhya Pradesh 35.76 16 Maharashtra 38.58 14 Orissa 38.45 15 Punjab 73.12 2 Rajasthan 62.12 4 Tamil Nadu 56.48 6 Uttar Pradesh 51.25 7 West Bengal 48.38 9

45

The casual wage rate depends on the availability of economic opportunities in the state. Therefore,the districts with developed urban centres, mines and industries like Dhanbad, Bokaro, or Ranchihave high wage rates, higher than the state or national average. The wage rate is also high in thedistricts where the extremist (Naxal) groups have forcefully increased it. The districts of Garhwa (Rs54), Palamau (Rs. 54), Chatra (Rs. 53), Hazaribag (Rs. 55) and Giridih (Rs. 55) too have high wagerates. On the other hand, for eight districts the wage rates are lower than the state average. Theseare Deoghar (Rs. 44.92), Dumka (Rs. 45.26), Godda (Rs. 45.26), Gumla (Rs. 40.85), Lohardaga (Rs.40.85), Paschimi Singhbhum (Rs. 39.55), Purbi Singhbhum (Rs. 39.55), and Pakur (Rs. 47.77) (SeeTable 5.2 and Map 5.1).

Table 5.2: Rural Wage Rate

Districts Value (Rs) Rank District Value ( Rs) RankBokaro 52.42 8 Hazaribagh 55.17 3Chatra 52.94 6 Koderma 52.94 7Deoghar 44.92 14 Lohardaga 40.85 16Dhanbad 59.08 1 Pakur 47.77 11Dumka 45.26 12 Palamu 53.94 5Garhwa 54.43 4 Paschimi Singhbhum 39.55 17Giridih 55.33 2 Purbi Singhbhum 39.55 18Godda 45.26 13 Ranchi 50.21 9Gumla 40.85 15 Sahibganj 49.85 10

Source: Calculated from Unit Level NSS Data, 2004-05

5.2. Monthly Per Capita ExpenditureLow wage levels directly affect consumption patterns. Per capita consumption expenditure is agood indicator of food security in rural areas. Jharkhand compares very unfavourably with otherstates in terms of consumption expenditure (See Table 5.3). The value of monthly per capita expenditure(Rs. 263) is substantially lower than the national average (Rs. 307) and only slightly more than half ofthat of Kerala (Rs. 455). Only states like Madhya Pradesh (Rs.232), Chhattisgarh (Rs. 239) andOrissa (Rs. 245) lie below it. Even Bihar, of which it was a part a few years back, is slightly better off.

FOOD AVAILABILITYACCESS TO FOOD

46

Though the state as a whole has very low consumption levels, there are also stark disparities inconsumption levels within the state. This can be adjudged from the fact that while the averagemonthly consumption expenditure of Dhanbad is almost comparable to that of Kerala, Haryana orPunjab, that of Gumla, Lohardaga, Pakur and Purbi Singhbhum is very low (See Table 5.4 and Map5.2). The high per capita expenditure in Dhanbad conceals vast inequalities within it.

Table 5.4: Monthly Per Capita Expenditure

Districts Value (Rs) Rank District Value ( Rs) RankBokaro 312 11 Hazaribagh 387 3Chatra 331 7 Koderma 331 8Deoghar 308 13 Lohardaga 269 18Dhanbad 417 1 Pakur 296 15Dumka 296 14 Palamu 313 9Garhwa 341 6 Paschimi Singhbhum 313 10Giridih 371 4 Purbi Singhbhum 288 16Godda 346 5 Ranchi 399 2Gumla 269 17 Sahibganj 310 12

Source: Calculated from Unit Level NSS Data, 2004-05

Source: NSS 2004-05

Table 5.3: Monthly Per Capita Expenditure on Food

Value (Rs.) Rank India 307.60 - Andhra Pradesh 323.15 9 Assam 358.44 4 Bihar 270.26 13 Chhattisgarh 239.08 16 Gujarat 345.46 6 Haryana 419.34 2 Jharkhand 263.22 14 Karnataka 283.04 12 Kerala 455.64 1 Madhya Pradesh 232.17 17 Maharashtra 293.29 11 Orissa 245.58 15 Punjab 416.45 3 Rajasthan 323.97 8 Tamil Nadu 315.49 10 Uttar Pradesh 345.88 5 West Bengal 329.93 7


Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Rural Casual Wage Rate(in Rs.)

High [55.5 - 59.08]

Moderate [51.0 - 55.5]

Very Low [44.0 - 47.0]

Low [47.0 - 51.0]


Monthly Per Capita ConsumptionExpenditure (Rs.)

High [388 - 417]

Moderate [359 - 387]

Very Low [300 - 328]

Low [329 - 358]

Extremely Low [269 - 299]



Map 5.1 Wage Rates of Rural Population in Jharkhand

Map 5.2 Status of Consumption Expenditure

47

5.3. Agricultural Labourers

The proportion of agricultural labourers in Jharkhand is almost equal to the national average. Stateslike Kerala, Haryana, Punjab, Assam or Rajasthan have a much lower percentage of agriculturallabourers in the total workforce (See Table 5.5).


Area Name Value (%) RankIndia 33 -Andhra Pradesh 47.5 16Assam 14.9 2Bihar 51 17Chhattisgarh 36.1 12Gujarat 33.2 9Haryana 19 3Jharkhand 32.8 7Karnataka 34.5 11Kerala 19.6 4Madhya Pradesh 34.1 10Maharashtra 37.8 13Orissa 39.1 14Punjab 21.9 5Rajasthan 12.3 1Tamil Nadu 42.9 15Uttar Pradesh 28.9 6West Bengal 33.1 8

Table 5.5: Proportion of Agricultural Labourers inWorkforce by State

The proportion of agricultural labour in therural workforce is not uniformly highthroughout the state. The districts with apresence of industries and mines have agenerally low proportion of agricultural labour.In Dhanbad, less than one fifth of the workersare agricultural labourers (See Table 5.6). Aslandlessness is very low among theScheduled Tribes (partly because of therestriction on transfer of tribal land), districtswith a high concentration of tribal populationalso have a low proportion of agriculturallabourers. Gumla (17 per cent) andLohardaga (24 per cent) as a result have avery low proportion of agricultural labourers.Some districts, like Purbi and PaschimiSinghbhum have both a high proportion ofagriculture laboual (48 and 35 per centrespectively), and a low agricultural wage rate.

Table 5.6: Proportion of Agricultural Labour in Workforce by District

Districts Value (Rs) Rank District Value ( Rs) RankBokaro 32.26 7 Hazaribagh 18.69 3Chatra 40.58 14 Koderma 22.49 4Deoghar 33.48 9 Lohardaga 24.4 6Dhanbad 16.76 1 Pakur 32.39 8Dumka 35.9 13 Palamu 44.98 15Garhwa 49.1 18 Paschimi Singhbhum 34.63 12Giridih 33.67 10 Purbi Singhbhum 47.54 16Godda 48.52 17 Ranchi 23.89 5Gumla 16.84 2 Sahibganj 34.04 11


ACCESS TO FOOD

48


5.4 Proportion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes

Almost 27 percent of the total population in Jharkhand is tribal. Since most of the tribals live in ruralareas, in rural Jharkhand the proportion of tribal population is as high as 31 percent. The figure isalmost thrice that at the national level, and apart from the states of North East, it is second only to theother tribal state of Chhattisgarh (38 percent) (See Table 5.7). There are 31 tribal communities including9 primitive tribal groups in Jharkhand. These are mostly concentrated in the southern and centralparts of the state.

Scheduled Castes form the other marginalized community, particularly in rural areas. While theScheduled Tribes get marginalized mostly on account of their location, the Scheduled Castes havefaced historical discrimination which accounts for their marginalization and their vulnerable status.Scheduled Castes constitute around 12 percent of the rural population in Jharkhand. Thus, theScheduled Castes and Tribes together form more than 42 percent of the rural population in the state.This proportion is second only to Chhattisgarh among the major states.

State Proportion of Rural Proportion of Rural Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Table 5.7: Proportion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in the Rural Population by State

Value Rank Value Rank

India 17.9 - 10.4 -Andhra Pradesh 18.4 11 8.4 8Assam 6.7 1 13.6 11Bihar 16.4 8 1.0 4Chhattisgarh 11.4 5 37.6 17Gujarat 6.9 2 21.6 13Haryana 21.4 13 0 1Jharkhand 12.4 6 31.0 16Karnataka 18.4 11 8.4 8Kerala 10.8 3 1.5 5Madhya Pradesh 15.6 7 25.8 15Maharashtra 10.9 4 13.4 10Orissa 17.2 9 24.6 14Punjab 33.0 17 0 1Rajasthan 17.9 10 15.5 12Tamil Nadu 23.8 15 1.6 6Uttar Pradesh 23.4 14 0.1 3West Bengal 26.9 16 7.2 7



49

Within the state, there are wide differences across districts in the composition of population bysocial groups (See Table 5.8 and Map 5.4). The southern part of the state extending from the southwest to the extreme south is marked by an extremely high proportion of tribal population. The districtslike Gumla, Lohardaga and Paschimi Singhbhum are the most tribal-dominated districts of the country,with the tribal population together with the Scheduled Caste population constituting more than 60percent of the total rural population. The districts in the north of the state bordering the state of Biharhave a high proportion of SCs and low proportion of STs in their population.

Table 5.8: Proportion of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Population

District Value (%) Rank District Value (%) RankBokaro 31.53 6 Hazaribagh 28.12 4Chatra 37.08 8 Koderma 16.06 1Deoghar 27.17 3 Lohardaga 63.79 16Dhanbad 29.8 5 Pakur 49.78 13Dumka 49.35 12 Palamu 46.23 11Garhwa 40.11 10 Paschimi Singhbhum 64.5 17Giridih 23.69 2 Purbi Singhbhum 53.59 14Godda 32.99 7 Ranchi 58.35 15Gumla 75.2 18 Sahibganj 37.73 9


Out of 211 blocks 112 blocks are Scheduled Areas where the tribals constitute around 46 percent ofthe total population. Eight of the eighteen districts of Jharkhand are Scheduled Areas, and two of theblocks of Godda and one of Garhwa are also Scheduled Areas.

Box 5.1Scheduled Areas in Jharkhand*Ranchi districtGumla districtLohardaga districtEast SinghbhumWest SinghbhuDumkaSahebgunjLateharSunder Pahari and Boarijor Blocks of Godda.Bhandaria Block of Garhwa* A Scheduled Area in the State of Jharkhand was originally specified by the Scheduled Areas (Part A States) Order, 1950(Constitution Order, 9) dated 23.1.1950 and the Scheduled Areas (Part B States) Order, 1950, (Constitution Order, 26) dated7.12.1950 and has been specified as above by the Scheduled Areas (States of Bihar Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa)Order, 1977, (Constitution Order, 109) dated 31.12.1977 after rescinding the Orders cited earlier in so far as they related to theState of Bihar which included Jharkhand.

Source: Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI

ACCESS TO FOOD

50

5.5. Ratio of Working Age Population

The proportion of working age population has varied implications for the food security situation in aregion. The working age ratio is the ratio between the working age population (15-59 years) and thedependent population (less than 15 years and more than 59 years of age). With development, fertilityrates decline and the proportion of population in the working age group increases resulting in a‘bulge’ in the working age group. This leads to the hypothesis that the ‘demographic dividend’ derivedfrom this gain would accelerate economic growth with a more productive population (Chandrasekhar,20061).

The situation in Jharkhand in terms of the ratio of population in the productive age is found to beworse than in many other states as well as the national average (See Table 5.9). The southern statesin general have a better working age ratio than the northern states. Though it is not the worstperforming state, only four of the major states of the country have a ratio of working age populationless than Jharkhand (1.11). The best performing state – Kerala (1.70) – is way ahead of it while theworst performing state UP (1.02) – is only marginally worse than it. A low working age ratio impliesa greater dependence on the existing productive population, and may also be related to high out-migration.

11 Chandrasekhar and others have shown through employment figures that the absorption of the Indian youth into the labour force is not as high as one wouldexpect. This is perhaps due to the poor employability of the workforce, which is severely affected by a deficit in educational attainment and health.


Table 5.9: Ratio of Working Age Population by State

Value (Rs.) Rank India 1.22 -Andhra Pradesh 1.44 3Assam 1.24 10Bihar 1.03 16Chhattisgarh 1.19 12Gujarat 1.38 5Haryana 1.21 11Jharkhand 1.11 13Karnataka 1.41 4Kerala 1.70 1Madhya Pradesh 1.10 14Maharashtra 1.26 9Orissa 1.35 7Punjab 1.37 6Rajasthan 1.06 15Tamil Nadu 1.67 2Uttar Pradesh 1.02 17West Bengal 1.34 8


Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Proportion of AgriculturalLabourers Main & Marginal (%)

16.7 23.2

23.2 29.7

36.2 42.6

29.7 36.2

42.6 49.1

Proportion of Rural Population other than ST/SC [%]

High [72.0 - 83.94]

Moderate [60.0 - 72.0]

Very Low [36.5 - 50.0]

Low [50.0 - 60.0]




Map 5.3 Share of Agricultural Labourers in Total Working Population

Map 5.4 Proportion of Population other than Scheduled Castesand Scheduled Tribes

Map 5.5 Share of Rural Working Age Population

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Ratio of Rural Population in AgeGroup 15-59 to Rural Population in 0-49 & 59+ Groups

High [1.30 - 1.39]

Moderate [1.21 - 1.30]

Very Low [1.04 - 1.13]

Low [1.13 - 1.21]

Extremely Low [0.95 - 1.04]Same as table 5.10

51

A district-wise analysis in the state of Jharkhand shows high disparity between the developed andbackward areas. Though in none of the districts is the ratio of working age population close to thebest performing states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, it is high in districts developed inindustrial and mining activities like Purbi Singhbhum (1.39), Dhanbad (1.24), Bokaro (1.19) or inagriculture like Dumka (1.22) (See Table 5.10). It is less than 1 in Chatra, Garwha and Lohardaga.

Table 5.10: Ratio of Working Population by Districts

District Value Rank District Value RankBokaro 1.19 4 Hazaribagh 1.05 12Chatra 0.99 16 Koderma 1.00 15Deoghar 1.07 11 Lohardaga 0.99 17Dhanbad 1.24 2 Pakur 1.13 9Dumka 1.22 3 Palamu 1.01 14Garhwa 0.95 18 Paschimi Singhbhum 1.18 5Giridih 1.01 13 Purbi Singhbhum 1.39 1Godda 1.13 7 Ranchi 1.16 6Gumla 1.13 8 Sahibganj 1.08 10


The differential ratio between the developed and backward regions can probably be explained byout-migration from the latter to the former. The change in working age population is highly influencedby the movement of the population in this age group. In a developing region, young people move outin search of employment. As a result, the developing districts of the state have a lower proportion ofworking age population. On the other hand, movement of the working age population to theindustrialized and urbanised districts seems to have caused a high ratio of working age to dependentage population in districts like Purbi Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Bokaro or Ranchi (As seen in Map 5.5).

These people who migrate due to lack of employment opportunities are stuck between the devil andthe deep sea. The have little food security in their villages but are just as vulnerable in the destinationareas. Several studies have shown the situation of migrant workers within and outside the state to bequite deplorable (Jha, 2005). The in-migrants in the destination area suffer from exploitation of differentkinds at the hands of their employers who rarely provide anything apart from wages, and the labourershave to fend for themselves to meet their basic requirements (Srivastava & Sasikumar, 2003).

5.6 Rural Female Literacy

Enhancing female literacy has been recognized as the single most important factor contributing toincrease in food security and decline in malnutrition and mortality levels (Save the Children, 2008).Jharkhand and the former parent state Bihar are the worst performing states in rural female literacy.Jharkhand is around 20 percentage point less than the national average and almost one third of thebest performing state of Kerala (See Table 5.11).

ACCESS TO FOOD

52

There are large disparities in literacy rates, as also in female literacy rates across the state. Ruralfemale literacy is generally very low in Santhal Pargana (the north eastern part of the state) andPalamau region (the north western part of the state); in Pakur district of Santhal Pargana it is evenless than 20 percent (See Table 5.12). It is high in Dhanbad (40 %) a district developed in industrialand mining activities and urbanized Ranchi (39 %), but even then it is not close to the nationalaverage (46.1%).


Table 5.11: Rural Female Literacy by State

Value RankIndia 46.1 -Andhra Pradesh 43.5 12Assam 50.7 6Bihar 29.6 17Chhattisgarh 47.0 10Gujarat 47.8 9Haryana 49.3 7Jharkhand 29.9 16Karnataka 48.0 8Kerala 86.7 1Madhya Pradesh 42.8 13Maharashtra 58.4 2Orissa 46.7 11Punjab 57.7 3Rajasthan 37.3 14Tamil Nadu 55.3 4Uttar Pradesh 36.9 15West Bengal 53.2 5

Table 5.12: Rural Female Literacy by Districts

District Value (%) Rank District Value ( %) RankBokaro 28.79 8 Hazaribagh 35.17 5Chatra 28.06 9 Koderma 27.87 10Deoghar 25.18 14 Lohardaga 34.09 6Dhanbad 40.08 1 Pakur 18.14 18Dumka 29.6 7 Palamu 27.28 12Garhwa 21.18 17 Paschimi Singhbhum 27.49 11Giridih 23.53 15 Purbi Singhbhum 36.08 4Godda 25.65 13 Ranchi 38.9 2Gumla 37.77 3 Sahibganj 22.35 16

Source: Census of India 2001


53

Though female literacy is low among tribals, all tribal districts do not have low female literacy rates.Gumla for example has a very high concentration of tribal population, (as per the 2001 census,tribals constitute 68.4 percent of its population) but has a high female literacy (See Map 5.6). Theinter-tribe differentiation in female literacy is one of the main reasons behind it. Gumla is mainlyinhabited by Oraon and Kharia tribes who have higher female literacy rates than the rest of the tribalcommunities in Jharkhand (See Table 5.12 and Box 5.2).

Box 5.2 Inter-Tribe Differences in Female Literacy

There is wide inter-tribe difference in female literacy. While more than 40 percent of the females of Oraon and Kharia are literate,only less than 20 percent of those of the Santhals and Kharwars enjoy this distinction. In the Kharwar tribe, only 13.9 percent ofthe females are literate. As a result, the districts where the former category of tribals live have a higher female literacy rate thanthose inhabited by the latter category. Santhals are concentrated in Santhal Pargana and Purbi Singhbhum and Kharwars inPalamau.Female Literacy Rate among Some of the Major tribes of Jharkhand

All STs Oraon Kharia Munda Bhumij Ho Lohra Santhal Kharwar

27.2 40.8 42.2 34.9 24.0 23.9 25.0 19.5 13.9

Census 2001.

5.7 Women’s Workforce ParticipationWomen’s workforce participation improves the household’s access to food, and is also likely toimprove the woman’s own access to food – following Amartya Sen’s argument that women’sindependent income would increase their bargaining power within the household. At the same time,women’s participation in the rural workforce is likely to be negatively related to a household’s foodsecurity situation. It would be highest among agricultural labourers and go down as one moves upland cultivating categories. Women’s workforce participation is also likely to be related to caste andethnicity – it is higher among STs and lower as one goes up the caste ladder. Thus, one can expecta negative relation between women’s workforce participation and the household’s food security in arural situation. It is in urban households that the relationship between food security and women’sworkforce participation may go both ways. For rural food security, we can continue to use women’sworkforce participation as being negatively related to the food security situation, with high participationbeing associated with a poor food security situation. In Jharkhand, the female workforce participationis usually high both in less food secure districts and in those where the proportion of tribal populationis very high (See Map 5.7).

Women’s workforce participation is also intrinsically related to migration. The nature of migrationlargely reflects household subsistence strategies in the face of social, cultural, demographic andother constraints. It is generally males who predominate in the streams of labour migration, but in thecase of tribals and lower economic strata, both men and women migrate together for work. This isbecause, as already stated, in these populations the constraints on women’s participation in non-

ACCESS TO FOOD

54

Most of the districts in Jharkhand have a verylow level of urbanization. Only four of the districtsof this state are highly or moderately urbanised.Purbi Singhbhum (55 per cent), Dhanbad (52per cent), Bokaro (45 per cent) and Ranchi (35per cent) are the districts with more than one-fourth population inhabiting urban areas (SeeTable 5.14). However, a comparison acrossdistricts throws a startling revelation – the levelof urbanization in the highly urbanized districtsis comparable to the most urbanized states,while the least urbanized are comparable to theleast urbanized states of the country.

Urbanization offers opportunities for a variety oflivelihood options. Migration is also influencedby the extent of urbanization. Households whichhave temporary or seasonal access to work innearby towns have higher incomes than those

12 It has been estimated from NSS 55th round by the World Bank (2007) that migrantworkers’ average monthly expenditure is 17 percent higher than that of non-migrants.

household activities are fewer. In some sectors, like construction, brick kilns, sowing, transplantingand harvesting of wheat and paddy and sugarcane cutting, family migration is common as it is moreeconomical for employers (Srivastava & Sasikumar, 2003).

In a more general sense, what can be said is that women’s empowerment is directly related toimproved food security. One key factor in empowerment can be the acquiring of land rights.

5.8 Urbanization

Because of the industrial and mining activities, Jharkhand is more urbanized than many of the majorstates. Even then the level of its urbanization is less than the national average and almost half that ofthe most urbanized states – Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra (See Table 5.13).


Table 5.13: Level of Urbanization in Major States

Value RankIndia 27.8 -Andhra Pradesh 27.3 8Assam 12.9 16Bihar 10.5 17Chhattisgarh 20.1 14Gujarat 37.4 3Haryana 28.9 6Jharkhand 22.2 12Karnataka 34.0 4Kerala 26.0 10Madhya Pradesh 26.5 9Maharashtra 42.4 2Orissa 15.0 15Punjab 33.9 5Rajasthan 23.4 11Tamil Nadu 44.0 1Uttar Pradesh 20.8 13West Bengal 28.0 7

which lack that access (World Bank, 2007)12. Unfortunately not only is the level of urbanization in thestate low but the pace of urbanization is also very slow. Annual urban population growth was 2.9percent between 1991 and 2001 in Jharkhand compared to 3.1 percent at all India level.


Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi

Paschimi SingbhumPurbi Singbhum

Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Proportion of Female Literates(7+ Age Group) (in %)

High [36.0 - 40.08]

Moderate [30.0 - 36.0]

Very Low [23.0 - 26.0]

Low [26.0 - 30.0]



Map 5.6 Status of Female Literacy

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Proportion of Rural Working Women(15+ age) to Total Rural Women (%)

High [36.0 - 40.08]

Moderate [30.0 - 36.0]

Very Low [23.0 - 26.0]

Low [26.0 - 30.0]



Map 5.7 Women Workforce Participation Rate in Rural Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Proportion of UrbanPopulation (%)

High [45.0 - 55.0]

Moderate [35.0 - 45.0]

Very Low [15.0 - 25.0]



Map 5.8 Level of Urbanization in Jharkhand

Map 5.9 Food Access Map of Rural Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Source: Census 2001

Access Index

High [0.4785 - 0.5201]

Moderate [0.4368 - 0.4785]

Very Low [0.3536 - 0.3952]

Low [0.3952 - 0.4368]

Extremely Low [0.3120 - 0.3536]

Ranchi

55

Table 5.14: Level of Urbanization by Districts


District UrbanBokaro 45.26Chatra 5.31Deoghar 13.72Dhanbad 52.37Dumka 6.53Garhwa 4.12Giridih 6.43Godda 3.53Gumla 5.48Hazaribagh 23.23sKoderma 17.37Lohardaga 12.67 Pakur 5.13Palamu 5.96Paschimi Singhbhum 16.85Purbi Singhbhum 55.03Ranchi 35.11Sahibganj 10.58

Table 5.15: Indicators used to Compute Index of Accessibility

Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank1 Bokaro 312 11 67.74 7 52.42 8 68.47 6 1.19 4 28.79 82 Chatra 331 7 59.42 14 52.94 6 62.92 8 0.99 16 28.06 93 Deoghar 308 13 66.52 9 44.92 14 72.83 3 1.07 11 25.18 144 Dhanbad 417 1 83.24 1 59.08 1 70.2 5 1.24 2 40.08 15 Dumka 296 14 64.1 13 45.26 12 50.65 12 1.22 3 29.6 76 Garhwa 341 6 50.9 18 54.43 4 59.89 10 0.95 18 21.18 177 Giridih 371 4 66.33 10 55.33 2 76.31 2 1.01 13 23.53 158 Godda 346 5 51.48 17 45.26 13 67.01 7 1.13 7 25.65 139 Gumla 269 17 83.16 2 40.85 15 24.8 18 1.13 8 37.77 310 Hazaribagh 387 3 81.31 3 55.17 3 71.88 4 1.05 12 35.17 511 Koderma 331 8 77.51 4 52.94 7 83.94 1 1 15 27.87 1012 Lohardaga 269 18 75.6 6 40.85 16 36.21 16 0.99 17 34.09 613 Pakur 296 15 67.61 8 47.77 11 50.22 13 1.13 9 18.14 1814 Palamu 313 9 55.02 15 53.94 5 53.77 11 1.01 14 27.28 1215 Paschimi Singhbhum 313 10 65.37 12 39.55 17 35.5 17 1.18 5 27.49 1116 Purbi Singhbhum 288 16 52.46 16 39.55 18 46.41 14 1.39 1 36.08 417 Ranchi 399 2 76.11 5 50.21 9 41.65 15 1.16 6 38.9 218 Sahibganj 310 12 65.96 11 49.85 10 62.27 9 1.08 10 22.35 16

Average Agricultural Rural Wage Proportion of Ratio of RuralPer capita Labourers Rate Non-SC Working Female

Expenditure and ST Population Literacy

ACCESS TO FOOD

56

At the same time urban centres in Jharkhand include a large proportion of persons, largely from theSTs, displaced by mines, etc. from their traditional livelihoods. Lacking education and related skillsthey often exist as contract and casual workers.

Summing Up: Access

Dhanbad, which is severely insecure in food availability, is the only district in Jharkhand, which isfood secure in terms of access to food. Dhanbad is a highly urbanized district marked by a high levelof mining and industrial activities. A very small proportion of its geographical area is under agriculturaloperation and a very small part of the net sown area is irrigated. As a result, the per capita value ofagricultural output is very low, which in turn has made it insecure in terms of food availability. But themining, industrial and economic activities associated with urban areas offer employment and incomeopportunities to large number of its population as a result of which the per capita consumptionexpenditure, rural wage rate and proportion of non-agricultural workers are very high in this district(See Table 5.15). They, along with some other associated indicators like high female literacy, havemade it secure in terms of access to food (See Table 5.16).

The districts of the North- west, North-east and Southern plateau regions (especially the Palamau,Santhal Pargana and Singhbhum regions) are extremely or severely insecure in access to food,though barring a few, most of these district are secure in availability of food. Because the productionand productivity of the agricultural sector of this state is very low, districts, which are more dependenton agricultural activities generally have low per capita consumption expenditure, low agriculturalwages and low proportion of non-agricultural labourers. So, though such districts are secure inavailability of food, they are insecure in access to food.

Pakur and Deoghar in Santhal Pargana and Purbi Singhbhum and Paschimi Singhbhum in Kolhanregion (the southern part of the state is known as Kolhan region) are food insecure both in availabilityof and access to food. Purbi Singhbhum is a highly urbanized district and has a high concentration

Secure Moderately Moderately Severely ExtremelySecure Insecure Insecure Insecure

Dhanbad Hazaribag Ranchi Deoghar DumkaKoderma Giridih Chatra Godda

Bokaro Sahibgunj LohardagaGumla Pakur

PalamauPurbi SinghbhumGarhwaPaschimi Singhbhum

Table 5.16: Status of Districts in Access Index


57

of industrial and mining activities. But these activities have failed to open up opportunities for a largesection of its population, only around half of the labourers are engaged in non-agricultural occupationsand the agricultural wage is also very low. As a result, the district like the other such districts is notonly food insecure in terms of availability of food but unlike them, is also insecure in terms of accessto food.

It has generally been observed that the tribals have low access to food. The tribal-dominated districtstherefore are moderately to severely insecure in access to food (See Map 5.9).

*****

ACCESS TO FOOD

58

6. Food Absoption6. Food Absoption

It has been estimated that in developing countries, one out of five people do not use safe water, androughly half are without adequate sanitation (WHO, 2007). Primary health services in the country asa whole are utterly inadequate, particularly in rural areas. There are persistent gaps in humanresources and infrastructure, disproportionately affecting the less developed rural areas. A significantproportion of hospitals do not have adequate personnel, diagnostic and therapeutic services anddrugs. In a state like Jharkhand, with a high burden of communicable and non-communicable diseasesbecause of persisting poverty, primary health infrastructure at the village level assumes hugesignificance. However, a good number of villages in the state are not adequately covered by aPrimary Health Centre (PHC), the most critical health facility in rural areas. Only one PHC has beenprovided for as many as 58 villages, which hardly serves the purpose in the light of the high pressureon limited resources. This compares poorly to a state like Kerala that has excellent health infrastructurein the rural areas (one PHC for every one and half villages). Lack of primary public health facilitiesforces the vulnerable populations to depend on private health services, often leading to indebtednessin rural areas.

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is another indicator of the health status of a population.Provision of safe drinking water (calculated in terms of availability of tube well, hand pump or tap)reduces the existence of a number of diseases, and at the same time, ensures effective absorption

Table 3.3: Indicators used to Compute Food Security Outcome (FSO) Index:

Source: Census of India, 2001 and Health Information of India, 2005

Value (%) Rank Value (no.) Rank Value RankIndia 78 - 27.6 - 21.9 -Andhra Pradesh 80.1 9 18.9 6 18.1 9Assam 58.8 15 43.1 15 59.6 2Bihar 86.6 4 27.4 10 13.9 13Chhattisgarh 70.5 11 39.4 13 5.2 17Gujarat 84.1 8 17.3 4 21.7 6Haryana 86 5 17.0 3 28.7 4Jharkhand 42.7 16 58.1 17 6.6 16Karnataka 84.6 7 17.5 5 17.4 10Kerala 23.4 17 1.5 1 81.3 1Madhya Pradesh 68.4 12 46.4 16 8.9 14Maharashtra 79.8 10 24.6 7 18.2 8Orissa 64.2 14 40.1 14 7.7 15Punjab 97.6 1 26.2 9 40.9 3Rajasthan 68.3 13 24.7 8 14.6 11Tamilnadu 85.5 6 11.8 2 14.4 12Uttar Pradesh 87.8 3 29.5 11 19.2 7West Bengal 88.5 2 34.8 12 26.9 5

Households Having No. of Villages Households HavingSafe Drinking Water per PHC Toilet Facility

59FOOD ABSOPTION

of food, ultimately leading to improved nutrition. In Jharkhand, only around two-fifths of the householdsin rural areas have access to safe drinking water (See Table 6.1). However, mere availability ofphysical infrastructure in the form of a tube well, hand pump or tap is not sufficient; but whether ornot they are operational is also important. The quality and quantity of water being used is a matter forfurther examination.

Sanitation status, analysed here in terms of existence of a toilet facility in the house, is again poor inJharkhand. Only around 6 percent of the households in rural areas have a toilet in their house,which is far below the national average. Inadequate integration of public interventions in the area ofdrinking water and sanitation with public health programmes shows a failure to exploit potentialsynergies that reinforce health attainments of people.

6.1 Access to Safe Drinking Water

There is wide district wise variation in access to safe drinking water facilities in Jharkhand (See Map6.1). While around two thirds of the villages of Pakur and above half of the villages of Dumka, PaschimiSinghbhum and Singhbhum have access to safe drinking water, less than twenty percent of thevillages of Hazaribagh, Giridih, Gumla and Koderma have this facility (See Table 6.2).

Table 6.2: Access to Safe Drinking Water by Districts (in per cent of households)

District Value Rank District Value RankBokaro 26.24 14 Hazaribagh 14.04 17Chatra 30.69 11 Koderma 19.99 15Deoghar 35.7 10 Lohardaga 26.45 13Dhanbad 37.21 9 Pakur 66.58 1Dumka 50.73 4 Palamu 41.92 7Garhwa 46.05 5 Paschimi Singhbhum 51.81 3Giridih 11.76 18 Purbi Singhbhum 45.04 6Godda 40.14 8 Ranchi 27.68 12Gumla 15.98 16 Sahibganj 55.52 2

Source: Calculated from Census of India, 2001

6.2 Access to PHCsThe status of Jharkhand is very bad in terms of its health facilities. It is the worst performing state inthis respect. There is one Primary Health Centre (PHC) for every 58 villages in Jharkhand, while inKerala there is one for every one and half villages (See Table 6.1). In Andhra Pradesh, Haryana,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka one PHC serves less than 20 villages.

60

All districts in the state have a very poor status in terms of access to health care (See Map 6.2). Evenin the best performing districts like Dhanbad and Hazaribagh, two-thirds of the villages are still notconnected to the minimal health facility of a PHC (See Table 6.3). Interestingly, some of the mostindustrialized and urbanized districts like Bokaro and Ranchi perform very poorly in rural health care– a pointer towards the inadequacy of growth poles as a development strategy in tribal areas and theneed to tackle the paucity of health intervention in rural areas.

6.3 Status of Districts in Absorption Index

Based on the twin indicators of access to safe drinking water and primary health facilities, it emergesthat Dhanbad and the districts of the Santhal Pargana (Pakur, Dumka, Sahebgunj and Godda),Singhbhum (both Purbi and Paschimi), and Palamu (the districts of Garhwa and Palamau) regionsare secure or moderately secure in terms of absorption of food (See Map 6.3 and Table 6.5). A largeproportion of the population of Santhal Pargana, Singhbhum, and Palamu regions have access tosources of safe drinking water, and of Dhanbad to PHCs. Only in Dhanbad, around one third of thevillages have PHCs within the village or within a five km distance. Otherwise the health facilities inJharkhand are in a very poor state. In twelve of the eighteen districts, less than one fourth of thevillages have PHCs available within the village or within a distance of five kms (See Table 6.4).


Table 6.3 Access to PHCs

District Value Rank District Value RankBokaro 16.23 17 Hazaribagh 31.55 2Chatra 19.1 12 Koderma 28.31 3Deoghar 22.69 7 Lohardaga 17.14 15Dhanbad 35.24 1 Pakur 16.53 16Dumka 22.55 8 Palamu 25.4 6Garhwa 19.68 10 Paschimi Singhbhum 26.33 5Giridih 19.11 11 Purbi Singhbhum 18 14Godda 27.28 4 Ranchi 20.42 9Gumla 15.35 18 Sahibganj 18.34 13

Source: Calculated from Census of India, 2001

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa


Map 6.2 Access to Health Services in Rural Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu


Map 6.1 Access to Safe Drinking Water in Rural Jharkhand

Garhwa

Proportion of Rural Householdshaving Access to Tube-well,Tap or Hand pump (in %)

High [56.0 - 66.6]

Moderate [45.0 - 56.0]

Very Low [22.0 - 33.0]

Low [33.0 - 45.0]


Proportion of Villages having PHCwithin the Village or 5km from the village (%)

High [30.0 - 35.2]

Moderate [27.5 - 30.0]

Very Low [19.5 - 23.0]

Low [23.0 - 27.5]


Map 6.3 Food Absorption Map of Rural Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Absorption Index

High [0.3265 - 0.3820]

Moderate [0.2704 - 0.3265]

Very Low [0.1584 - 0.2144]

Low [0.2144 - 0.2704]

Extremely Low [0.1020 - 0.1584]

61

However, these two sets of data should be analysed cautiously. The very existence of a well, tube-well or a tap does not imply that they are functioning, or if they are, that the quality of water is good.Similarly the availability of a PHC does not mean that the doctors and other staff visit them regularly.High levels of malnutrition and child deaths from these regions coupled with high incidence of vectordiseases are a pointer towards poor drinking water and health facilities in these villages. The secondarydata do not reflect this reality. It therefore calls for further in-depth investigation and a re-definition ofterms.

*****

Table 6.4: Indicators used to Compute Absorption Index

Value Rank Value Rank1 Bokaro 26.24 14 16.23 17 0.1642 Chatra 30.69 11 19.1 12 0.2113 Deoghar 35.7 10 22.69 7 0.2674 Dhanbad 37.21 9 35.24 1 0.3805 Dumka 50.73 4 22.55 8 0.3456 Garhwa 46.05 5 19.68 10 0.2977 Giridih 11.76 18 19.11 11 0.1118 Godda 40.14 8 27.28 4 0.3299 Gumla 15.98 16 15.35 18 0.10210 Hazaribagh 14.04 17 31.55 2 0.22711 Koderma 19.99 15 28.31 3 0.23112 Lohardaga 26.45 13 17.14 15 0.17213 Pakur 66.58 1 16.53 16 0.37914 Palamu 41.92 7 25.4 6 0.32315 Paschimi Singhbhum 51.81 3 26.33 5 0.38216 Purbi Singhbhum 45.04 6 18 14 0.27717 Ranchi 27.68 12 20.42 9 0.20618 Sahibganj 55.52 2 18.34 13 0.335

Access to Safe Access to PHC Absorption IndexDrinking Water

Secure Moderately Insecure Very Insecure ServerelySecure Insecure

Paschimi Singhbhum Palamau Deoghar Chatra Giridih

Dhanbad Garhwa Koderma Ranchi Gumla

Pakur Purbi Singhbhum Hazaribag Lohardaga

Dumka Bokaro

Sahebgunj

Godda

Table 5.16: Status of Districts in Access Index

FOOD ABSOPTION

62

7. Addressing Food Insecurity in Jharkhand7. Addressing Food Insecurity in Jharkhand

Chapter 3 developed an index to show the ranks of districts by outcomes of food insecurity. It is notenough to identify the most food insecure districts. The next step is therefore to look at factors thatcontribute to making these districts so prone to food insecurity. These factors are analyzed in termsof the Availability, Access and Absorption framework in Chapters 4 to 6. In this chapter, all thesefactors taken to explain food security across districts are combined to form a single index, called theFood Security Index (FSI). Map 7.1 gives districts by their rank on the FSI and Table 7.2 gives thecorresponding table. In this chapter we will first try to identify the high priority districts in terms ofboth FSI and FSO, and will try to understand the reasons behind the insecurity among those districts.The critical question is: is there an overlap between the ranks of districts on the Food SecurityOutcome Index (FSOI) and the Food Security Index (FSI) ? That is, do the districts that have pooroutcomes also have low availability, access and absorption? If indeed there is an overlap, and weshow that there is, it means that the factors or indicators that are included in the composite FSI do,indeed, contribute to food insecurity, and any strategy to improve the food security status mustaddress them.

There exist a large number of programmes dealing with food security, along all three components ofAvailability, Access and Absorption. What the analysis in this atlas can do is to help prioritize thegeographical targeting of these programmes and to suggest interventions that could improve foodsecurity by linking short-term access measures with longer-term development measures.

DIST Availability Access Absorption FSI FSOI

Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank Index RankBokaro 0.221 8 0.402 6 0.164 16 0.344 8 0.684 1Chatra 0.166 15 0.357 9 0.211 13 0.282 18 0.458 13Deoghar 0.132 17 0.371 7 0.267 10 0.334 9 0.601 5Dhanbad 0.184 12 0.520 1 0.380 2 0.444 1 0.634 2Dumka 0.270 5 0.350 11 0.345 4 0.371 3 0.491 11Garhwa 0.300 2 0.313 17 0.297 8 0.323 14 0.344 18Giridih 0.104 18 0.404 5 0.111 17 0.300 16 0.480 12Godda 0.312 1 0.337 12 0.329 6 0.372 2 0.534 7Gumla 0.226 7 0.355 10 0.102 18 0.321 15 0.434 16Hazaribagh 0.188 11 0.473 2 0.227 12 0.366 4 0.576 6Koderma 0.245 6 0.442 3 0.231 11 0.365 5 0.491 10Lohardaga 0.288 3 0.332 13 0.172 15 0.323 13 0.532 8 Pakur 0.134 16 0.328 14 0.379 3 0.333 10 0.505 9Palamu 0.276 4 0.327 15 0.323 7 0.330 11 0.458 14Paschimi Singhbhum 0.175 13 0.312 18 0.382 1 0.326 12 0.449 15Purbi Singhbhum 0.174 14 0.327 16 0.277 9 0.299 17 0.619 3Ranchi 0.209 9 0.421 4 0.206 14 0.361 6 0.613 4Sahibganj 0.196 10 0.357 8 0.335 5 0.347 7 0.411 17

Table 7.1 Ranks of Districts on Composite Food Security Index and its Components

Map 7.1 Food Security Map of Rural Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Food Security Index

Secure [0.4118 - 0.4441]

Severely Insecure [0.3148 - 0.3471]

Moderately Insecure [0.3471 - 0.3795]

Extremely Insecure [0.2820 - 0.3148]

63ADDRESSING FOOD ABSOPTION INSECURITY IN JHARKHAND

7.1 Food Security Index (FSI)

In this section we bring together all the indicators chosen to explain food insecurity. The indicatorshitherto clubbed into three sets – Availability, Access and Absorption – have now been individuallyclubbed together into one index, called the Food Security Index (FSI). This index shows the combinedeffect of all the indicators. Further, comparison with the individual sets of indices would reveal theirrelative significance in the overall FSI.

Note: There are no districts is the moderately secure category

Secure Secure Serverely Insecure ExtremelyInsecure

Dhanbad Sahibganj Gumla ChatraRanchi Garhwa Purbi SinghbhumKoderma Lohardaga GiridihHazaribagh Paschimi SinghbhumDumka PalamuGodda Pakur

DeogharBokaro

Table 7.2: Status of Districts in Food Security Index

Ranking districts of Jharkhand on the basis of all twelve indicators (FSI) reveals that Dhanbad is theonly food secure district of the state. None of the districts was found to be moderately secure. Mostof the districts of the state (nine out of eighteen districts) are very insecure and three are severelyinsecure- Chatra, Giridih and Purbi Singhbhum. Giridih and Chatra suffer from all types of foodinsecurity but Purbi Singhbhum has a different story: Purbi Singhbhum, which is a highly urbanizeddistrict is secure in outcome and moderately secure in food absorption indices, but is severelyinsecure in food availability and extremely insecure in access to food indices. Bokaro is anotherhighly urbanized district and like Purbi Singhbhum, is food secure in terms of outcome but is insecurein all other indicators of food insecurity, (moderately insecure in availability and access and severelyinsecure in absorption indices) and severely insecure on the Food Security Index (FSI).

There are two possibilities with regard to the highly urbanized districts. One, it is likely that the FSI wehave constructed is limited in its application to urbanized districts. For instance, food or agriculturalproduction is not relevant to food availability in urbanized districts. The other possibility is that therural areas of such districts do not benefit very much from urbanization. Jobs in steel and engineeringplants and mines do not go to the uneducated or poorly educated rural persons of these districts.These jobs are monopolized by those from outside these districts. If the second possibility is correct,which is likely, then the way to deal with it would be to improve urban-rural linkages in the districts –enabling rural persons to get sufficient numbers of these jobs, which depends substantially on theireducational levels, and fostering local supply of vegetables, etc. for the urban market. This is somewhatdifferent from the strategies relevant to agriculture-dominated districts.

64

As a measure to identify thosedistricts that lie in the most criticalstate, it is imperative to analyse therelative ranking of the districts onboth food insecurity outcome andfood security indices. It is expectedthat districts that have very high childmortality and undernutrition statusand at the same time rank poorly interms of availability, access andabsorption indicators should beidentified as districts requiring thetopmost attention of developmentplanners. This study identifies thefollowing districts that rank extremelylow in both these indices and needurgent action.

Two districts, Sahibganj and Lohardaga, rank low in just one of two indices; they have also beenincluded as priority districts. One district, Purbi Singhbhum, which ranks low (17) in FSI but is high inFSO, has been excluded as it is a highly urbanised district and even faces a shortage of labour. Wenow turn to an analysis of strategies for promoting food security in the poorly urbanized, agriculture-dominated districts of Jharkhand.

7.3 Strategies for Promoting Food SecurityThe districts most beset by hunger and food insecurity have been identified in the earlier section.These are also the districts that call for priority intervention. The analysis of the earlier chapterssuggests the measures and strategies that are needed for enhancing food security. Broadly, measuresto improve availability must include improving irrigation and agricultural productivity. Farm incomescan be improved through better rural connectivity. Access should be improved by policies forenhancing rural wages and thereby spending on food, improving the lot of agricultural labour, land


7.2 Identifying Priority DistrictsThe food insecurity outcome index described earlier provides the option of prioritizing thedevelopmental efforts in the most food insecure districts. The districts with extremely and severefood insecurity status should be prioritized for developmental intervention for enhancing food security.As already discussed, most of the districts in the north-western plateau region fall in the category ofthe most food insecure districts. A few of the districts of the other regions also require specialattention.

North Western Plateau North Eastern Plateau1. Garhwa 1. Sahebgunj

2. Palamau

3. Chatra Southern Plateau

4. Gumla 1. Paschimi Singhbhum

Table 7.3: Priority Districts for Food Security Intervention

Table 7.4: Status of Districts in Outcome and Overall Indices

District FSO Rank FSI RankGarhwa 18 14Gumla 16 15Chatra 13 18Giridih 12 16Paschimi Singhbhum 15 12Palamu 14 11Sahibganj 17 7Lohardaga 8 13

65ADDRESSING FOOD ABSOPTION INSECURITY IN JHARKHAND

re-distribution, and enhancing the status of women. There can be no two opinions on the need toexpand the reach of public interventions.

The central and state governments have launched a number of schemes and programmes that areaimed at enhancing food security in the state. Some of them are recent and it is too early to see theirimpact, while some have been under implementation for some time. This section discusses foodsecurity interventions

7.3.1 Enhancing Availability

The purpose of the current exercise is to inform policy at the below-state level. At the national level,it is necessary to pay attention to the overall availability of food in the national market(s). This isnecessary for food management purposes. It may even be necessary at the state level, if there aresome restrictions on inter-state movement of foodgrains. But at the district or regional levels thereare no such restrictions. If there are reasonably functioning food markets, then any shortage of foodsupply over demand will lead to a rise in prices and a movement of supplies into the deficit areas. Or,if there is a local collapse of some incomes, then despite an adequate production of foodgrains inthe district, there may well be a movement of foodgrains out of these areas into areas where incomeshave not collapsed.

Food insecurity, then, is not explained only by low production of foodgrains. Dhanbad for examplehas very low per capita value of agricultural output but because of other sources of employment andincome, its per capita consumption expenditure is very high. This district as a result is a food securedistrict of Jharkhand both in terms of outcome (FSO) and overall (FSI) indices. Similarly, Kerala ishighly deficient in food production relative to consumption of food. But that says nothing at all aboutfood security in Kerala. The Food Insecurity Atlas of Rural India (WFP/MSSRF 2001, Map No. 2.1)lists Kerala as the only “extreme deficit” state of India in terms of the “Deficit of cereal productionover consumption.” But in the overall food insecurity map (Map no. 5.1) Kerala is listed as “Moderatelysecure”. It is a moot point whether the “extreme deficit” in the cereal production status of Kerala isresponsible for it being only “moderately secure” and not “secure.”

However most of the food insecure districts of Jharkhand have per capita value of agriculturaloutput while food secure districts have high per capita value of agricultural output. In such districts,improving production and productivity of the agriculture sector though and access not the onlyfactor, is an important factor, which can improve food availability in food insecure districts. It willincrease per capita value of agricultural output, agricultural wage and thus the income of agriculturallabourers, income of the cultivators and those involved in agri-business (those involved in sellingagricultural inputs to the farmers and in procurement, distribution and processing of locally producedagricultural products). Through its multiplier effect, it will affect the income of the others as well.Improvement in production and productivity of the agricultural sector thus will improve both the

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The objective of the mission is to increase the production of rice by 10 million tons, wheat by 8 milliontons and pulses by 2 million tons, by the end of the 11th Plan. The targets are to be achieved byrestoring soil fertility and hence productivity, which would be complemented by increasing employmentopportunities.

availability of and access to food. Five out of six food insecure districts (FSO) have low, very low orextremely low per capita value of agricultural output. Consequently, increasing agricultural productivityhas a role to play in improving food security in the insecure districts. Since the food insecure districtshave a higher proportion of cultivators, increases in agricultural productivity will have a direct effecton improving food security.

In the country as a whole, more than a decade of low investment in agriculture including agricultureresearch and infrastructure has resulted in a very low growth in food output. In recent years, increasingfoodgrain production has however acquired importance.

7.3.1.1 National Food Security Mission: Towards the Second Green Revolution

The dismal rate of growth in the agricultural sector has been a cause for concern – the sector grewat a meagre rate of 1.8 percent per annum during the nineties. This has been coupled with risinginternational prices as well wheat imports, bringing into question the food security of the country.With a view to increasing the rate of agricultural growth to 4 percent, the government has launchedthe National Food Security Mission (NFSM) as a centrally sponsored scheme, entirely funded by thecentral government with a total estimated outlay of over Rs. 50,000 million. The programme specificallyaims at increasing the production and productivity of three crops: rice, wheat and pulses. Ongoingrelated schemes like the Integrated Cereal Development Programme (ICDP Rice/Wheat) and theIntegrated Scheme on Pulses, Oilseeds and Maize (ISOPOM Pulse) would cease to operate in theidentified districts once the relevant component of the NFSM comes into execution in the district.

2007-08 2008-09 2019-10 2010-11 2011-12

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

Rice Wheat Pulses

Fig 7.1. Allocation Proposed under NFSM


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The mission would operate at multiple levels from the national level, to state and district levels. At thegrass root level, the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) would have an active role and would beinvolved in the selection of beneficiaries and identification of priority areas and local initiatives.

The mission would be implemented in 133 districts for the rice component, 138 districts for wheatand 168 districts for the pulse component – all in identified districts of different states. In terms oftarget beneficiaries, 16 percent of the total allocation would be earmarked for Scheduled Castesunder the Special Component Plan (SCP) and 8 percent would be earmarked for the ScheduledTribes under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP). At least 33 percent of the fund would be utilized for small,marginal and women farmers. Further, the allocation to the SC/ST farmers would be made in proportionto their population in the district.

The modality of implementation of the mission would be in the form of demonstration of an improvedpackage at farmers’ fields, assistance for production of hybrid rice, nutrient management for all thethree crops, mechanization for sowing and weeding, and assistance for purchase of pump sets andsprinkler sets. Several capacity-building initiatives would also be undertaken which would be in theform of farmers’ training in Farmers’ Field Schools (FFS) and exposure visits to internationalorganizations. For efficient information dissemination, help from print and e-media and other methodswould be taken as required. All these would be followed by rewarding the best performing districtson a set of indicators.

In the state of Jharkhand, 5 districts have been identified to be developed under the NFSM under therice component. They are Simdega, Paschimi Singbhum, Ranchi, Gumla and Hazaribagh

The NFSM, however, concentrates on irrigated foodgrains, wheat and rice, and pulses. Other thanpulses, non-irrigated crops have been ignored. The NFSM is aimed at revitalizing fertility in landswhich have deteriorated, but rainfed crops, such as the various millets that are grown on hills andother drylands or rain-fed rice, do not come under its purview. Agriculture in Jharkhand is mostly ofthe rain-fed variety. The problem of increasing production and income of farmers in Jharkhand thusis not covered by the BFSM. Further, in the context of the plateauing (and even decline) of yields inirrigated crops, it becomes even more important to pay attention to these rainfed crops and toincrease productivity in currently rainfed areas. These are also areas of higher food insecurity. Anincrease in agricultural productivity in rainfed areas will substantially reduce the incidence of hungerin these areas.

National Policy for Farmers, 2007

The National Policy for Farmers is intended to help in rejuvenating the farm sector and bringinglasting improvement in the economic condition of farmers. The Government constituted the NationalCommission on Farmers in 2004 under the chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. Based on the

ADDRESSING FOOD ABSOPTION INSECURITY IN JHARKHAND

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recommendations made by the Commission in its Revised Draft National Policy for Farmers and thecomments/suggestions received from various Central Ministries and Departments and StateGovernments, the “National Policy for Farmers, 2007” has been formulated and approved by theGovernment of India. The policy, among other things, aims to improve the economic viability offarming by substantially improving the net income of farmers in addition to improving productivity,profitability, land, water and support services and providing appropriate price policy, risk managementmeasures.

The broad areas of the coverage of the recommendations include:a. Human Dimension: In addition to production and productivity the economic well being of the

farmers to be given prime importance.

b. Asset Reforms: To ensure that every man and woman, particularly the poor, in villages eitherpossesses or has access to a productive asset.

c. Water Use Efficiency: The concept of maximizing yield and income per unit of water to be adoptedin all crop production programmes, with stress on awareness and efficiency of water use.

d. Use of Technology: New technologies, which can help enhance productivity per unit of land andwater, are needed: Biotechnology, information and communication technology (ICT), renewableenergy technology, space applications and nano-technology to provide opportunities for launchingan “Evergreen Revolution” capable of improving productivity in perpetuity without harming theecology.

e. Inputs and Services: Good quality seeds, disease-free planting material, including in-vitro culturedpropagules and soil health enhancement hold the key to raising small farm productivity. Everyfarm family to be issued with a Soil Health Passbook. Food security basket to be enlarged toinclude nutritious millets mostly grown in dry land farming areas.

f. Credit & Insurance: The financial services to be galvanized for timely, adequate and easy reachto the farmers at reasonable interest rates.

g. Single National Market: To develop a Single National Market by relaxing internal restrictions andcontrols.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee has been set up to operationalize the implementation of the policy.

Agricultural Production on Hill-slopes

Most of Jharkhand consists of hill-slope and plateau with rainfed agriculture. The top soil is thin andwater-retention poor. It is not amenable for agricultural development on the pattern of the Green


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Revolution, which is based on well-irrigated agriculture. Consequently, a different approach toagricultural development is needed for most of Jharkhand. With regard to increasing irrigation, thereis scope for small-scale or minor irrigation projects, such as check-dams in valleys. This can increasethe amount of land that could be used for growing wet rice (paddy). It could also be used for growinghigh-value crops, such as vegetables, as is done on a large-scale in Lohardaga district and otherareas around Ranchi. Second, there is scope for water-harvesting and other water-retention methodson hill slopes. This would increase and stabilize moisture for the rain-fed crop, and could reduce thevariability of such harvests.

On higher hill slopes, where for environmental considerations (reduction of soil erosion) it is preferablenot to have seasonal crops, tree crops with high value products could be considered. For bothenvironmental and insurance (against price fluctuations) reasons it is preferable that a mix ofcommercial crops, horticultural crops (e.g. coffee with pepper vines, along with turmeric and ginger,or pineapple) be considered. Experience (e.g. in Andhra Pradesh, see Nathan et al, 2003) has shownthat such mixtures of tree and bush crops provide higher incomes, protect against the inevitablefluctuations in prices of individual commercial crops, and provide ecological synergies that improvesoil conditions. The considerable home-gardens in Jharkhand can also be sites of increased agriculturalproduction, whether for own consumption or for sale.

Box 7.1 Indebtedness among Farmers in Jharkhand

The decennial All-India Debt and Investment Survey (AIDIS) and the Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers, both conducted bythe NSSO, bring out the situation of farmers’ indebtedness in India. Incidence of indebtedness was found to be higher in stateswith input-intensive or diversified agriculture. Thus, agriculturally developed states had much higher incidences of indebtednessas well as average debt per farmer, as compared to the eastern and central states. Further, the incidence of indebtedness andthe share of institutional finance increased with the increase in size of land holding.

Indebtedness for productive purposes was also found to be higher in states with higher incidences of indebtedness and lowerin states with low incidence of indebtedness.Source: Report of the Expert Group on Agricultural Indebtedness

As per the Rural Jharkhand Baseline Survey data, only 17 percent of the rural households have taken credit from anyinstitutional source during the year preceding the survey (i.e. 2004/05). Institutional sources accounted for only 20 percent of theloan cases, money lenders for 39 percent and the friends and relatives for the rest. Around 81 percent of the loans were takenfor unproductive purposes. Quoted from Jharkhand : Addressing the Challenges of Inclusive Development, World Bank, 2007.

The diversification into high-value or horticultural crops should be in addition to existing rice production.In the uplands there are vast areas that yield very little. Thes areas can be turned into cash cropcultivation areas. The cash from such high-value and horticultural crops can be used to advance theprocess of accumulation (of both physical and human capital). It is important to emphasize thatdiversification need not be undertaken at the expense of existing rice or other foodgrain production.Reducing existing foodgrain production in the hills will worsen the food security of these farmers and


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expose them to forced sales of their commercial crops at minimal prices. A better food productionsituation will enable these farmers to get better prices for their commercial products.

7.3.1.2 Improving Connectivity

The rate of growth of rural incomes and reduction in rural poverty are strongly influenced by theprovision of rural and district road connectivity. There is a close link between rural connectivity andgrowth, be it in the area of trade, employment, education or healthcare. States with poor connectivityare also states that report poor socio-economic indices. Improved connectivity between the growthproduction centres and the collection centres is vital for livelihood enhancements and that is possibleonly through the development of roads in remote areas.

While over the last five decades the length of rural roads has been increasing, there are still morethan 250,000 villages (40 percent) which remain unconnected. Other forms of rural infrastructureare also important as they help in widening the opportunities and choice of alternatives. Researchinto rural road investments suggest that the construction of a new road in a village raised the percapita income of households by 30 percent over a half-decade, after controlling for factors likehousehold size and education (Deolalikar 2001).

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY):

In an impact evaluation the following effects of the PMGSY have been observed (Ministry of RuralDevelopment, Government of India):1. Use of chemical fertilizers and HYV seeds have increased considerably on account of their

decreased transportation cost, that formed a fair portion of their total cost.

2. An increase in the ownership and use of farm implements by the people has been observed.

3. The farmers get a higher price for their products due to better access to the wholesale market.

4. There has been substantial increase in dairy and poultry production in the villages which arelocated in close proximity to the newly constructed roads.

5. There has been substantial increase in employment opportunities both in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in villages located close to the roads constructed under PMGSY.

6. Substantial achievements have also been made on the health front. The frequency of healthworkers visiting the village has increased, as have institutional deliveries, and villagers havebetter access to health facilities.


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7. The enrolment rate has increased due to better accessibility to educational institutions.

8. An increase in land prices has been observed and many petty shops have come up on the roadside.

Bharat Nirman: Rural Roads

Bharat Nirman is a plan for action in rural infrastructure that started in 2005 and will end in 2009.Under the scheme, action is proposed in the areas of irrigation, roads, rural housing, rural watersupply, rural electrification and rural telecommunication connectivity, in partnership with the stategovernments and the PRIs.

As part of the programme, the government intends that by end of financial year 2008-2009, everyvillage of over 1000 population, or over 500 in hilly and tribal areas, has an all-weather road. Toachieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 1,46,185 kms of road length is proposed to be constructed by2009. This will benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in the country. To ensure full farm-to-market connectivity, it is also proposed to upgrade 1,94,132 kms of the existing associated throughroutes.

In summing up availability or production factors, in Jharkhand the key is to increase production andproductivity in conditions of rainfed farming in hill slope and flatean regions. The increase in productionshould also bring about on increase in incomes, thus also improving access to food. Small scaleirrigation, watershed management high value crops and improved cons… all have a role to play.

7.3.2 Enhancing Access

A policy implication emerging from the indicators used for enhancing food security is the need forbetterment of the plight of the vulnerable populations, particularly the Scheduled Tribes and ScheduledCastes. Most of the food insecure districts in Jharkhand are dominated by districts with a higherproportion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes who suffer from geographical and socialmarginality. The STs are vulnerable due to their location specificity and remoteness from mainstreamfacilities and amenities, and the SCs because of social discrimination. Four out of six food insecuredistricts have a high concentration of SC/ST population. Gumla and Paschimi Singhbhum have anextremely high concentration of ST population and Palamau and Garhwa a high concentration of SCpopulation. On the other hand, food secure districts have a low proportion of SC/ST population.Thus, it can be said that the districts dominated by SC/ST population are the ones that are foodinsecure. This points to the political marginalization of the SC/ST population (or, of the poor amongthem) and the necessity of dealing with it.


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Box 7.2 The Forest Rights Act

The Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was promulgated towards theend of 2006 with a view to correcting the injustices done to the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes. The Act recognizes and vestsforest rights and occupation in forest land in forest-dwellers who have been residing in such forests for generations but whoserights could not be recorded. It also provides for recognition of forest rights of other traditional forest-dwellers provided theyhave primarily resided in and have depended on the forest or forest land for bona fide livelihood needs for at least threegenerations (25 years each) prior to 13th December 2005.

The Act has a number of significant provisions in the interest of the tribals and forest-dwellers. For the purpose of recognition offorest rights, the Act provides for a ceiling on occupation of forest land to the area under actual occupation not exceeding an areaof four hectares. Importantly, no member of a forest-dwelling tribe or traditional forest-dweller shall be evicted or removed fromforest land under one’s occupation until the recognition and verification process is completed. Besides, right of ownership-access to minor forest produce, which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries, has been recognized.With implications on Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) issues, the Act recognizes the right to in-situ rehabilitation, includingalternative land in cases where they have been illegally evicted or displaced from forest land of any description without grantingtheir legal entitlement to rehabilitation prior to 13th December 2005.The Gram Sabhas have been designated as the competentauthority for initiating the process of determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights (Government ofIndia, 2007a).

The Act should go a long way in protecting the rights of the forest dwellers, particularly the tribal population and help in buildingup their livelihood, at the same time contributing in terms of conservation of forest resources. However, it has been criticized ona number of grounds. One, the Act requires the target population to live ‘in’ the forests, which could be interpreted in terms ofareas ‘recorded’ as forests. This deems to exclude a vast majority of those forest-dwellers who live in areas recorded asrevenue lands but cultivate forest lands and use forest resources. Secondly, investing Gram Sabhas with the power to decidethe rights and grants permits may open the doors for corruption and abuse of power, as landownership rights are seldomdocumented in such areas. Importantly, the Act does not adequately answer how the vital balance between tribes and forestsystems will be maintained. There are also concerns of the Act’s impact on the Wildlife Protection Act, passed in the same year.

Despite these criticisms, the very fact that the intent is to provide landownership to the original inhabitants means that the equityissue gets addressed to a great extent. It is expected that the ownership would lead to better forest conservation and hencemore environmental sustainability.

It would be observed that like most other states, the tribal population in Jharkhand also has a closeassociation with the forests. These Scheduled Tribes, particularly the primitive tribal groups, havefaced a history of discrimination and due to their locational disadvantage, they have remained deprivedof facilities. The Forest Rights Act seeks to address such groups (see Box 7.2). A proper developmentpolicy for forest-dwellers will improve the food security of such people. The Forest Rights Act, grantingtenurial security, in conjunction with the Panchayats (Extension To The Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA),accepting the role of Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats in managing forest resources, shouldhelp in framing and implementing appropriate development policies in the food insecure forest areasof the state.


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7.3.2.1 Land Reform Issues

Palamau, Garhwa and Chatra have a very high level of agricultural labour. It is high even in WestSinghbhum and Sahibgunj. Distribution of even a small patch of land to the landless agriculturallabourers in those districts where agricultural labourers are in a high proportion, can improve theirfood security position. Since the productivity of the agriculture sector is very low in these districts,the development of non-farm sector/ employment in these districts is also needed to improve theirfood security status. As the state and these districts are rich in natural resources, there is amplescope of development of such employment. Development of tribal art and artefacts, tassar, lac,processing of horticultural products and minor forest products can provide remunerative employmentto many in these districts.Sale of adivasi land to non-adivasis is prohibited by law. But it is well known that are numerous suchcases. Restoration of illegally held adivasi land to the poor would increase their access to food.

The question of the land ownership rights (or even of user rights as, for instance, for widows) ishighly contested in adivasi communities. But there can be no doubt that women’s acquisition of landrights, both ownership and use rights, would help improve the food security situation. Women’scontrol over the lands they cultivate, is likely to have an incentive effect and induce greater productioneffort by women. At the same time, it is well-accepted that empowerment of women has a beneficialeffect in increasing the proportion of income spent on food and related necessities.

7.3.2.2 Access Measures

Access measure in Jharkhand, as in other states of India, have been along the following lines:1. The provision of low-priced foodgrains, as a method of subsidizing the consumption of the poor.

This, done through the Public Distribution System (PDS) has undergone some changes with thecurrent Targeted PDS, where low prices are charged only for Below Poverty Line (BPL)households.

2. Food for Work schemes now carried out under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(NREGA).

3. The mother and infant supplementary feeding programme through the ICDS.

4. The Mid-day Meal Scheme for children in government-run schools.

The latest (2004-05) NSS Round gives information on the extent to which these schemes reach thepoor in Jharkhand, and thus contribute something to food security, though it does not show us howmuch they add to food entitlements.


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In the above table we have also separately included “nearly poor” households, i.e. those whose percapita consumption level is within 10% above the poverty line. Most of the poor and nearly poorhouseholds in Jharkhand have ration cards and their percentage is almost equal to the all- Indiaaverage. However a very small percentage of such households are benefited from other schemesand the gap between the percentage of beneficiaries in Jharkhand and the all-India figure is verywide. The percentage of beneficiaries of most of these schemes in Jharkhand is less than half of thebeneficiaries at the all-India level.

Box 7.3: Improved Targeting in the Public Distribution System

The Targeted Public Distribution System is perhaps the largest food safety net in the world. Yet, as surveys have revealed, itssuccess is tarnished by several shortcomings. A pilot project launched by WFP in collaboration with the state government seeksto address these through the use of new technologies. The project aims to strengthen the identification and verification processand comprehensively plug the loopholes in TPDS. The project is being implemented in Rayagada district of Orissa.The project involves the following: -- Biometric ration cards (Iris and finger print): to ensure that all ghost and duplicate cards are removed from the system.

- Distribution of new ration cards against biometric validation: to remove the problem of shadow ownership at theration card distribution stage.

- Bar-coded coupons: to prevent recording of off-take without the beneficiary’s agreement and also check shadowownership of coupons.

- Smart cards installed with a point of sale device (PoS): to prevent incorrect off-take recording and shadow ownershipof ration cards.

- Strong management information system: to improve governance and enhance effectiveness of monitoring by providingmore relevant and real-time information.

- Web based interface: to track and monitor progress.

The relatively low reach of food-based programmes to the poor, as revealed by the NSSO figures,should be contrasted with the generally high reach shown by official government figures. The reachof the ICDS and mid-day meals in schools is routinely reported by government agencies to be closeto 100 percent.

Table 7.5: Percentage Share of Poor and Nearly Poor Households who haveRation Cards or benefited from various Schemes in Rural Jharkhand, 2004-05

*Those whose per capita consumption level is within 10% above the poverty line.Source: NSS Round, 2004-05

Poor Households

Region Ration Food for Annapoorna ICDS Midday

card work meal

Jharkhand 79.2 1.1 0.0 0.7 14.6

India 80.0 4.2 1.2 8.8 33.2Nearly Poor Households*

Jharkhand 81.2 0.3 0.6 2.1 14.5India 82.9 2.8 1.1 6.7 29.5


Map 7.2 Status of Public Interventions in Jharkhand

Sahibganj

Godda

Pakur

DumkaDeoghar

Giridih

Dhanbad

Bokaro

Kodarma

Hazaribagh

Chatra

Ranchi


Gumla

Lohardaga

Palamu

Garhwa

Index of Public Intervention

High [0.6259 - 0.7000]

Moderate [0.5523 - 0.6259]

Very Low [0.4050 - 0.4787]

Low [0.4787 - 0.5523]

Extremely Low [0.3310 - 0.4050]

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In section 7.4 we will discuss the important issue of how .to improve the performance of variousgovernment schemes. This is particularly important issue in Jharkhand where the reach of variousgovernment schemes is very limited.

7.3.2.3 National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has been devised as a public worksprogramme and has a key role to play in providing assured employment to one person in a householdfor 100 days per year. The major objectives of this scheme are to provide income security throughemployment guarantee; reduce/check distress migration from rural to urban areas; and, in thisprocess, also create durable assets in villages, leading to overall development of the rural economy;and empower rural women through the opportunity to earn income independently and to participatein social groups.NREGS is based on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Act came intoeffect in 200 selected (backward) districts of the country on February 2, 2006 and was extended to130 more districts from April 1, 2007. Now (April 1, 2008) the Government of India has decided toextend NREGA to all rural areas of all districts of the country. The Act provides a legal guarantee of100 days of wage employment in a financial year to one person of every rural household whoseadult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work at the minimum wage rate notified for agriculturallabour prescribed in the State, or, in the event that employment is not provided, to give the person anunemployment allowance.

National Bulletin Households provided employment: 30.8 million Persondays [in millions]: Total: 370.4 SCs: 119.8 [32.36%] STs: 89.1 [24.06%] Women: 148.1 [39.97%] Others: 161.4 [43.58%]

Table 7.6 NREGS Performance, April 2008

Source: NREGA website, 3 April, 2008.

The overall performance of NREGA is quite impressive. Of the 31.1 million job card holders whodemanded work under the scheme, 30.8 million have been provided employment. As per theinformation reported on the government website, the scheme has therefore been able to provideemployment to almost all the people among the job card holders who demanded work. Under thisscheme, people are mainly provided with work related to creating or improving rural connectivity,water conservation, land development, drought proofing, micro-irrigation, renovation of traditionalwater bodies, land development, etc.


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A large number of the beneficiaries under the scheme are women: close to 69 per cent of them ason 3 April, 2008. As pointed out elsewhere in the report, women spend more of their income thanmen on essential consumption needs of the family, education of children and health care requirements,all of which are supportive of improving the nutritional status of their households.

It is worthwhile noting that a large share of the earning received from the NREGS works have beenutilised for food-related expenses. A study undertaken by the IHD has actually documented thisfinding regarding the contributions from the NREGS being expended by the villagers on food relatedconsumption needs (see Box 7.4).

Box 7.4 A Study on NREGA Performance

A recent study done by the Institute for Human Development to evaluate NREGA’s performance in Bihar and Jharkhandindicates that beneficiaries of the scheme are spending a major part of their earnings from NREGS on food-related consumptionitems. In Bihar, 67 per cent of the earnings from NREGA is being spent on food while in Jharkhand , the percentage is 71.However in case of Scheduled Tribes in Jharkhand who are generally more vulnerable to food insecurity because of low andirregular income, the spending on food from earning received for the NREGS work undertaken much less than the state average.One wonders if this is due to women accounting for just 26% of employment as seen in table 7. 7Percentage of Income from NREGA Spent on Food and Related Items

Source: Understanding the Process, Institutions and Mechanism of Implementation and Impact Assessment of NREGA in Biharand Jharkhand, Institute for Human Development, Delhi, March 2008.

Bihar Jharkhand Total

Upper Caste 51.29 89.16 73.31

OBC I 62.62 68.13 63.64

OBC II 72.62 68.69 71.28

SC 68.7 75.68 69.65

ST 84.94 66.24 66.85

Total 67.3 71.31 68.6

Employment demanded by households: 1.5 millionEmployment provided to households: 1.5 millionPersondays [in million]:Total: 64.4SCs: 13.4 [20.84%]STs: 26.9 [41.92%]Women: 16.8 [26.16%]Others: 23.9 [37.24%]Total fund: 11546 millionExpenditure: 8882.2 million

Table 7.7 NREGA Statistics of JHARKHAND

Source: NREGA website, 3 April, 2008.


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The participation of STs in NREGS employment is quite high, infact the proportion is higher than theall-India proportion. But the proportion of women in this employment is much less than at the all-India level. Relaxing this condition and considering each individual and not just each household asrequiring work and income, is likely to increase the proportion of women seeking employment. Butthe large proportion of men seeking NREGS employment here certainly shows that the schememust have had a substantial impact on distress migration (since it is unlikely that women wouldmigrate, leaving men and children behind).

Reports show, as would be expected, that there is corruption in the running of NREGS (CSE, 2008).This could be reduced through organization of the workers in these schemes, use of the Right toInformation (RTI), etc. Such measures would increase the impact of the scheme on incomes andfood security. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that NREGS, by increasing the incomes of thepoorest, is already having a major impact on food security.

7.3.2.4 Women’s Agency and Empowerment

From the analysis of variables affecting overall food security (FSI) foregoing discussions, it emergesthat female literacy in rural areas is the most significant factor determining food security of the ruralpopulation. This can be corroborated by the fact that most of the districts in the most food insecurecategory rank very poorly in terms of rural female literacy. Thus, it is imperative that girls’ literacy beprioritized and all barriers to their access to education be effectively tackled, taking care to see thatgirls from the poorest and most marginalized communities get priority treatment. This should becoupled with the provision of quality education.

Box 7.5 Female Literacy: The Pivot for reducing Food Insecurity and Child Mortality

Recent research findings from 35 demographic and health surveys have brought out that children of mothers with no educationare more than twice as likely to die or to be malnourished compared with children of mothers who have secondary or highereducation. Further, mothers with limited literacy and educational skills are much less likely to receive trained support duringpregnancy and childbirth. In Nigeria, for instance, only 15 percent of births amongst uneducated women are assisted by trainedmedical personnel, compared to 56 percent of births among women with primary education and 88 percent among women withhigher education.

Source: Save the Children, 2006

Another policy implication from the indicators is the need for reducing the dependency ratio in orderto improve food security. All the food insecure district in terms of outcome indicators and ten out ofeleven food insecure districts in terms of overall indicators have high dependency ratio. Improvementin female literacy no doubt will reduce it as both are closely related but a conscious effort to propagatesmall family norm should also be made.

Women’s workforce participation improves the household’s access to food, and is also likely toimprove the woman’s own access to food – following Amartya Sen’s argument that women’sindependent income will increase their bargaining power within the household.


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Women’s workforce participation is also intrinsically related to migration. The nature of migrationlargely reflects household subsistence strategies in the face of social, cultural, demographic andother constraints. It is generally males who predominate in the streams of labour migration, but in thecase of tribals and lower economic strata both men and women migrate together for work. This isbecause, as already stated, in these populations the constraints on women’s participation in non-household activities are fewer. In some sectors, like construction, brick kiln and sugarcane cutting,family migration is common as it is more economical for employers (Srivastava & Sasikumar, 2003).The food insecure are usually thought to be non-bankable, or not credit-worthy. But they do accesscredit – that of the moneylender at what are very high effective rates of interest, above 10 percentper month. They frequently end up in inter-linked market transactions – selling their advance labouror NTFP for much less than market prices, with implicit interest rates for credit far above thoseotherwise on the credit market alone. Such inter-linked market transactions often occur at times ofacute distress – when medical emergencies require immediate credit, or when drastic falls in theability to acquire food lead to a need for credit. In such situations, if credit were available, inter-linkedmarket transactions will not be necessary.

It hardly needs repeating that financial services for the poor, both savings and credit, are required forthe poor, both to enable consumption smoothening and to utilize market opportunities. Whetherthrough the Indian SHG-model or the Bangladesh Grameen Bank model, micro-financial servicesneed to be provided. Through an increased use of educational facilities and of credit to utilize growingmarket opportunities, micro-finance programmes can link increased food security with development.The food security impact of micro-finance is increased by its also contributing to enhancing women’sagency in the household.

In a more general sense, what can be said is that women’s empowerment is directly related toimproved food security. One key factor in empowerment can be the acquiring of land rightssupplemented by access to training for new technologies, crops and finance.

7.3.2.5 Urban Employment

The urbanized districts (of Bokaro, Dhanbad, Koderma) have better nutritional outcomes. Such urbancentres provide employment in large numbers. However, this is often of benefit to migrants cominginto the state. Measures to improve the access of local persons to such employment will definitelyhave spill-over benefits for rural populations, which would benefit from both the reduction of pressureon land and from the likely higher remittances. With the likely prospect of mineral-basedindustrialization in Jharkhand, it is necessary to look at schemes that would increase the employmentof local persons, who would otherwise swell the numbers of displaced refugees. This can be doneby combining labour intensive manufacture, in which large numbers of low-skilled workers could beemployed, with the mineral based schemes.


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Box 7.6 Innovative Food Security Initiatives: The Food for Work Programme in Tribal Development Projects

Blessed with bountiful natural wealth and rich in human resources, the forested and tribal- dominated areas in the country are,nonetheless, among the poorest and severely food insecure areas. They are characterized by degraded natural resources,stark poverty, chronic hunger, high indebtedness and heavy out-migration. For the sustainable development of some of theseregions, Tribal Development Programmes are being implemented in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. Thesewere launched by the state government with the objective of ensuring household food security and improving livelihoodopportunities based on the sustainable and equitable development of natural resources. The programmes are supported bythe International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme. The latter provides food assistancefor a food for work component.

Given the abysmal poverty in the area, it is no surprise that the Food For Work (FFW) activity has become enormously popular.Payment for FFW includes a cash component and 3 kgs of grains (earlier pulses were also included). The programme, basedon the performance of manual labour, is self-targeting towards the poor. It provides 70 days of work in the lean season whenfood insecurity is high.

Participatory Processes And Community Ownership

The point of departure in this programme, compared to other government programmes is the philosophy that the poor shouldbe enabled to overcome their own poverty. This principle is woven intrinsically into all processes. To this end the projectstresses the participation of the poor, community ownership and capacity building. Food is given to the community and theytake the decisions. Inclusion of the most marginalized begins with the planning. All activities are discussed in the Gram Sabha.What activity should be taken up? What are the likely benefits? Who will benefit from the creation of the asset? How many peoplewill get work? All these questions are debated and decided by the community. The project facilitates them in prioritizing, planningand implementing the plans.

The project shows how a simple activity like providing food as wages for work can become a kaleidoscope reflecting all the pulls,pressures, and dynamics of village life. This would not have been the case had it been a top-down programme where peoplehad little or no role in decision-making. That not being the case, and all decisions now being taken in the Gram Sabhas, they havebecome sites of deep contestation. Valuable lessons in collective decision-making, negotiating, handling conflicts and targetingare being learnt.

The most marginalized are for the first time in their lives finding a platform for articulating their views. It is for this reason, that mostcommunity assets created under the programme are located so as to benefit poor hamlets and households and there is asignificant impact on the food security of a desperately poor population living in remote and inaccessible areas.

Food for Work Activities

Tribal communities share a symbiotic relationship with forests that are a major source of food, nutrition and livelihoods. Empoweringthe community to engage in forestry-related activities has led to increase in yields of NTFPs and enhanced food availability.

The list of activities taken up under FFW is very long and, inter alia, includes land development, earth-bunding, stone-bunding,gully-plugging, pond construction and restoration, backyard plantations, plant nurseries, digging wells and building canals,trenches and check dams. These activities have helped to irrigate large areas. For the first time people have been able to geta second crop of wheat apart from the single rain-fed crop of rice that they used to harvest earlier. Many farmers have cultivatedvegetables for the first time in generations. ‘Neither our fathers nor our grandfathers ever cultivated these crops’ they say withobvious pride.

In some villages, as for instance in Semra in Chatisgarh, under the food for work programme, villagers have almost literallymoved mountains: They dug a well that has been lined with massive boulders they hauled from nearby hills. Apart fromproviding work and food for a large number of the poorest, it has helped ease the problem of drinking water for them and theirlivestock.


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Enhanced Production and Productivity

There has been a big boost in production in many villages. In village Sagasai in Jharkhand for instance, paddy production takesplace by the traditional ‘broadcast’ method. However, as a result of new sources of irrigation and water-harvesting, paddyproduction through transplantation has become possible. This has doubled yields, enhanced incomes and ensured foodsecurity.

Demand-driven approaches that give play to people’s initiatives throw up as many diverse ways of doing an activity as theactivities themselves. They draw on people’s intuitive knowledge of local conditions, their creative urges and their innate skillsin a way no top-down programme can. In village Ghangari, in Chhattisgarh, bunding was taken up around fields of the poor. Inaddition, they had the innovative idea of planting arhar (a pulse rich in protein) on the bunding. This not only utilized the landwhich would otherwise have gone waste, but the roots of the plant also strengthened the bunding which often gets washed offin the rains, because the fields are situated on a slope.

Impact on Migration and Indebtedness

Ask anyone what has been the impact of the Food For Work programme, and if the first answer is ‘people do not go hungryanymore’, the second will certainly be, ‘people have stopped migrating for work’. Migration has stopped almost totally,particularly distress migration to far-off areas. In Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand, it is tragic, if common, to see hordes ofadolescent tribal girls standing by the main square, waiting for labour contractors who entice them with promises of employment.In project areas, migration of adolescent girls from the Ho tribe used to be a common phenomenon. This has almost stoppednow. The impact has not been even across the project areas, but there is little doubt that it is one of the most important positiveoutcomes of the programme.

The other significant impact has been on indebtedness. In fact, the main ‘casualty’ of the project has been the moneylender.Self-help groups (SHGs) have mushroomed in the project areas and as their lending operations expand, the business of themoneylender has been shrinking.

Strengthening of Local Institutions

The most intangible, but the most critical impact of the Food For Work programme, and one that holds the promise of sustainability,has been the strengthening of people’s grass root level institutions; particularly the Gram Sabha and SHGs. As one young manin a village in Ranchi said: ‘Earlier our village assembly used to meet only for settling disputes between families, or for religiouspurposes, but never to discuss development issues. Now we regularly meet to discuss what we should do for the progress of thevillage. Very often women outnumber men in the meetings.’

A woman in Kalahandi district of Orissa said, “Initially, few people would come to the project meetings; in fact meetings frequentlyhad to be adjourned for lack of a quorum. Now that people are seeing the benefits of the programme, the attendance hasswelled.’

The lessons learnt by the village community in decision-making, handling, distributing and monitoring the food for work activityhas had visible positive spin-offs on other programmes. The impact on improved functioning of the ICDS and schools, forexample is in evidence in several villages. In a village in Koraput district in Orissa, the women say, ‘the anganwadi worker usedto come to the centre only once a week. Now since the OTELP (Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Project) started, shehas been coming regularly because she knows she is accountable to the Gram Sabha’.

Women’s SHGs have become vibrant vehicles of change. They are empowering women in many remarkable ways. For one,they are helping women to become financially sound through income generating activities. The enhanced availability of water asa result of FFW activities has enabled them to take up diverse income-generating projects. Some women have taken upvegetable cultivation; others are engaged in aquaculture. At the same time, SHGs have helped women develop confidence tochallenge regressive social norms and attitudes.


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7.3.3 Enhancing Absorption

Increasing the nutrient intake of the poor is not the end of the story of food security. It is also necessarythat the body be able to utilize the increased intake of nutrients. This depends closely on complementarymeasures, such as access to safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation. These two inputs wouldsubstantially reduce exposure to water-borne and gastro-intestinal diseases, such as diarrohea andcholera, which often destroy the benefits of food consumed. We discuss below measures to improveaccess to clean drinking water and promote hygiene and sanitation.

The food insecure districts of Jharkhand have low availability of both drinking water and primaryhealth centres. Half of the food insecure districts have low access to safe drinking water andanother half have medium access. All the food insecure districts have low coverage by PHCs, andhalf of them have extremely low coverage. Gumla has extremely low access to both safe drinkingwater and PHCs. Improvement in these two basic needs will definitely improve food security inthese insecure districts.

7.3.3.1 Clean Drinking Water: Rural Water Supply

Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP):

The main objective of ARWSP is to provide potable drinking water by way of installing tube wells,sanitary wells and piped water supply projects in rural areas. For implementation of Rural WaterSupply Schemes, the Government of India provides funds under the ARWSP which is a CentrallySponsored Programme (CSP). It has been proposed to provide Rs. 5.5 million as State share in theState Plan under ARWSP during the Eleventh Plan period. It has been decided to cover all NC (notcovered) and PC (partially covered) habitations, rural schools and quality-affected habitations from2005-06 to 2008-09 in a phased manner, to achieve the goal of Bharat Nirman.

Swajaladhara:

The Rural Drinking Water Supply Programme was launched in the State on 25 December 2002. Thepurpose of this scheme is to ensure community participation and to shift from a supply- driven to ademand-driven approach. The scheme envisages 10% of the capital cost of the project to be borneby the community, along with the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the watersupply projects, and 90% of the capital cost to be borne by the Central Government through theDistrict Water Supply and Sanitation Mission.


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One factor in food absorption, besides the above-mentioned factors of improved water and healthfacilities, is that of nutritional practices. Nutritional practices here refer to those inputs (e.g. proteinsor micro-nutrients) that are both available and accessible, but not consumed in desirable quantities;it also refers to behavioural practices (e.g. breast-feeding) that are not practiced as required. But asthe widespread problem of under-nourishment in India shows, nutritional problems affect not just theabove category of those with severe problems of food security, but also those with reasonable levelsof food security, in terms of their consumption of adequate food and sufficient nutrition. The Indian

Bharat Nirman: Rural Water Supply

Rural water supply is one of the six components of Bharat Nirman. During the Bharat Nirman period,55,067 un-covered habitations and about 331 thousand ‘slipped-back’ habitations are to be covered,and 217 thousand quality-affected habitations are to be addressed. Under Bharat Nirman, for waterquality problems, tackling arsenic and fluoride contamination has been given priority.

The norms for coverage under Rural Drinking Water supply are:

1. 40 litres per capita per day of safe drinking water for human beings.

2. One hand pump or stand post for every 250 persons.

3. The water source should exist within 1.6 kms in the plains and within 100 meters elevation in thehilly areas.

Box 7.7 Innovative Schemes for Ensuring Nutritional Security

The Department of Women and Child Development is the nodal agency for the formulation and execution of programmesdirected towards the holistic development of women and children. The department also aims at implementing different socialwelfare schemes meant for persons with disabilities, the old, infirm and indigent persons. Within the purview of the Department,a number of innovative schemes are being executed under the larger aegis of the Integrated Child Development Servicesprogramme:

1. Kishori Shakti Yojana: The scheme aims at improving the nutritional, health and development status of adolescent girls (11-18 years), promote awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition and family care, link them to opportunities for learning life skills,going back to school, help them gain a better understanding of their social environment and take initiatives to becomeproductive members of the society.

2. Udisha: In technical collaboration with UNICEF, the scheme envisages a spectrum of locally relevant training interventionsfor achieving development goals for women and children - rather than training only ICDS functionaries. It lays newemphasis on decentralized quality improvement processes, through state and district training plans of action, guided byinter-sectoral national/state training task forces.

3. Swayamsiddha: This is an integrated project for the empowerment and development of women based on the formation ofwomen into Self Help Groups (SHGs) with emphasis on converging services, developing access to micro credit andpromoting micro enterprises.


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experience of the last 15 years shows that despite the reduction in the incidence of poverty, theremay not be a corresponding improvement in nutritional indicators of a large section of the population.

It is interesting to note that Vietnam in the period 1992–93 to 1997–98 had a similar experience: asharp fall in poverty without a corresponding reduction in under-nourishment. This, however, changedin the period 1997–98 to 2003–04, when there were sharp declines in both poverty and under-nourishment. This, as argued in Vinod Mishra and Ranjan Ray (2007), was brought about by acombination of policy intervention through information campaigns to promote desired changes indietary patterns, and direct nutrient enhancing programs. All this took place in a situation of increasingliteracy and educational attainment, which would be expected to generally increase nutritionalawareness.

India has programmes of providing nutrition supplements, e.g., through ICDS programs of nutritionalsupplements. But there is clearly need for an improvement in nutritional practices even among thosewho can afford to acquire the right types of food. Adequate diversification of food to include moresuperior calories such as proteins can be promoted through information campaigns, along withproviding supplements in processed foods, such as atta.

Box 7.8 Meeting the Nutritional Needs of Vulnerable Groups

Infants and Young Children

According to the National Family Health Survey 3 (NFHS-3, 2005-06), in India 40.4% and 44.9% of children under 3 years of ageare underweight and stunted, respectively. The prevalence of underweight and stunting continually increases up to the agegroup of 18-23 months. This indicates that there is need for improvement in complementary feeding practices, and in the qualityof complementary foods fed to infants and young children. Besides the high rates of malnutrition, the infant mortality rate is alsoquite high at 57 per 1,000 live births.

During the first two years of life, significant cognitive development and physical growth occurs that requires adequate nutritionas well as good care practices. Damage that may occur at this early age is often irreversible and has lifetime consequences.Therefore, it is of critical importance that children receive proper nutrition in the first few years of life.

In order to address the prevalence of widespread malnutrition and the high infant mortality rate that impede human development,the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is developing a low-cost ‘ready-to-use supplementary food’ (RUSF). Themain ingredients in the ready-to-eat food will be cereal, oil, sugar, pulse, peanut paste and milk powder. In addition, the ready-to-eat food will be fortified with an array of micronutrients and will be packaged in individual hygienic serving sachets.

The food will be rigorously tested in a laboratory to ensure that it is compliant with internationally accepted standards. Next,acceptability trials will be carried out to determine how suitable the product is for the targeted beneficiaries. Finally, pilotdistribution of the RUSF will be through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to infants and young children aged6-24 months living in Nabarangapur District, Orissa. During the pilot distribution, an efficacy study will be conducted to assessthe impact on the growth and micronutrient status of children receiving the RUSF compared to children receiving other foods.


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7.4 Improving Performance

As noted earlier, Jharkhand has a very poor reach and performance of education, health andgovernment schemes in general. The question arises, how to improve the performance of thesegovernment schemes? Chhattisgarh State pioneered village women (called Mitanin or friend) tomonitor development schemes at the local level. Starting with education on health matters, thefunctions of the Mitanin broadened to include monitoring of every government development activity.They took up questions of absentee teachers, pilferage of food meant for Mid-Day Meals and so on.The success of the Mitanin program has encouraged the Health Ministry to consider extending it toother States in the country.

In Rajasthan, the Right-to-Food movement has used the Right to Information Act (RTI) for bringinginto the open information about government programs. In what are called Jan Sunvais (public hearings)with the slogan “Hamara Paisa, Hamara Hisaab” (Our Money, Our Account), details of the schemeshave been brought into the open. This can be useful in building public opinion and mobilizing thecommunity against corruption in government schemes.

There is an important role for political mobilization of the poor in improving implementation of theICDS, MMS, NREGS and other such schemes. Implementation of these schemes has generallybeen decentralized down to the panchayat level. But panchayats can be corrupt and dominated bythe local power-brokers. A pilot social audit held in Bolangir in November 2001 showed substantialand relatively open corruption at panchayat level (de Haan and Dubey 2005, fn. 39, p. 2329) Studiesin other States have shown that when women are in panchayats, or lead panchayats, the panchayatsperform better in administering food-related interventions. In IFAD projects in Andhra Pradesh too, itwas observed that women’s SHGs performed better in undertaking small infrastructure projectsthan those managed by men and saved more money for the community than the latter. However,because Panchyat elections have not taken place in Jharkhand, the people in general and women inparticular have not been actively involved in implementation of these schemes.

The contribution of the PDS in promoting food security is well covered in the extensive literature onthe subject. But a study by Jos Mooij points out that the supply of cheap grain for below BPL householdshas made running a PDS highly profitable, as cheap grain can easily be diverted into the openmarket or sold to APL (above poverty-line) households. More recently, the Central government isreported to have pointed out to the West Bengal government that there has been diversion of cheapPDS grain to the Bangladesh market. Many newspaper reports point out that even in the midst ofstarvation, the Food Corporation of India’s godowns remain full of grains. If there is insufficientpurchasing power with the poor in a district, even the supply of grain at subsidized prices is unlikelyto be accessed by the poor, and there will inevitably be a tendency for this grain to flow to markets,whether within the locality or outside, where prices are higher (Jos Mooij, 2001).


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The problem of diversion of foodgrains increases when there is a partial subsidy, such as with thePDS. Grain is supplied at a lower than market price, but the buyer has to have the money to buy thelower-priced grain. If the person just does not have the required money, or does not have it at thetime the grain is made available, the person cannot benefit from the subsidy.

The above points to two critical points in the functioning of the PDS: First, the dual price system thatit brings about, encouraging diversion of foodgrain from the lower BPL price to the higher openmarket price. Second, the inability of many poor households to utilize their quotas because ofinadequate purchasing power.

The abolition of dual pricing would reduce the usual diversion problems, but there would still be theproblem that now exists of the poor not being able to utilize the subsidy. A direct transfer would makesure that the person/household actually benefited, since it is not conditional on the beneficiary havingto provide some collateral amount.

Another way of enabling the poor to acquire their public entitlement of grain would be provide work,such as through NREGS, which allows the poor to acquire the money needed for purchase of food.A combination of a coupon system with NREGS could improve the functioning of the PDS system.Such a system would have the added benefit of increasing the monetization of the rural economyand improving the functioning of the bank and/or post office systems.

The above-mentioned food-based schemes are meant to meet the needs of shorter-term or eventransient (seasonal) food insecurity. By increasing the quantities of public entitlements to food theycan deal, to an extent, with immediate problems of hunger. If these foods are fortified, or supplementsgiven as in the ICDS schemes, protein and fat deficiencies could also be temporarily tackled. Butany solution to food insecurity requires an increase in the regular access to food in sufficient quantityand quality. This requires an increase in the production and earning capacity of the households andindividuals too, given that there are gender-based discriminations in the distribution of food and alliedhealth-care services within households. It is important, therefore, that food schemes be linked withdevelopment activities.

*****


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There are two ways in which one could go about addressing food insecurity, particularly in thecontext of meeting the MDG goals of reducing by half the incidence of child malnutrition, defined aschildren under five who are underweight. One could target those who are just below the internationalweight norm, and undertake special interventions to bring them up to the norm. In this manner thestate could meet its MDG target of reducing by half the incidence of child malnutrition.

Another approach would be to target the most severely under-nourished populations, both by regionand by social class, including gender characteristics. This would be amply justified on moral grounds– that those who are the most deprived should receive the most attention in any use of public money.It would also be justified on economic grounds – that at the lowest levels of nourishment, the veryability to work of adults, and of children to learn are most adversely affected. An improvement innutritional status would increase the productivity of working adults (or working persons, given thatchildren also work), thus yielding an immediate economic benefit. An improvement in the nutritionalstatus of school-going children would increase their learning capacity and thus be an investment inthe future. Finally, an improvement in the nutritional status of the most undernourished mothers is again not only for them but would also have inter-generational benefits in reducing the incidence oflow-weight births.

The analysis in this report shows that ensuring food security and improving nutritional status is achallenge for Jharkhand as a whole. The identification of certain districts for priority action does notmean that either resources or efforts to bring up all districts can slacken; but only draws attention tothe need for more inclusive growth efforts and the special efforts needed to bridge the dividesbetween different regions and districts of the state. In general, the districts of Jharkhand fare poorlyon nutritional outcomes, with only the more urbanized and industrialized districts doing better.

The analysis of this report has yielded the following districts as requiring special attention for foodsecurity interventions in Jharkhand:

Conclusion: Towards a Food Secure Jharkhand Conclusion: Towards a Food Secure Jharkhand

Table 8.1: Priority Districts for Intervention

District FSO Rank FSI RankWestern PlateauChatra 13 18Garhwa 18 14Giridih 12 16Gumla 16 15Palamu 14 11Lohardaga 8 13South-eastern PlateauPaschimi Singhbhum 15 12Central North-eastern PlateauSahebgunj 17 7

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8.1 Linking Food Programmes and Development

How can food-based schemes be linked with development? In the case of the Mid-Day Meals schemein schools, there is already a link with development. Improved school attendance is of benefit to theindividual and her household in terms of an increase in potential future earnings. A reduction inilliteracy also provides a social benefit to the village or relevant area, as the quality of the workforcegoes up and the health and hygiene behaviour of the villagers improves causing improvement inabsorption of food. Improved school attendance is also beneficial in enabling migration to betterurban livelihoods than would be available to illiterates.

But these and other economic benefits of education are only manifested at higher educational levels.In order to promote high school education, a scheme to provide stipends for high school educationshould be considered. The Government of Jharkhand has provided bicycles to girls attending highschool. It can go one step further and provide stipends for girls (and boys) attending high school.

At very low levels of nutrition, any improvement in nutrition would increase the productivity of theindividual. With regard to mothers there is the substantial future benefit of reducing the incidence oflow birth-weight babies. For those with severe malnutrition, supplementary feeding programmeshave a considerable role in improving production capabilities.

But, as mentioned above, the implementation of such programmes, including issues of reachingthose with severe malnutrition, depends very much on the demand from the affected persons forthese services. In the absence of such demand from the most malnourished, the benefits of suchprogrammes are very likely to be captured by the better-off in the village. Decentralization of theimplementation of programmes has to be combined with enhancing the voice of the malnourished inorder for the benefits to reach the desired persons.

Securing the ‘Right to Food’ is very much a matter of mobilizing of the concerned persons to securetheir rights. The Right to Information (RTI) provides a means that can be used to reveal corruption atdifferent levels. But what is important is the mobilization and organization of the poor or food insecurethemselves. Their voice is necessary to make the ending of hunger a part of the political platform ofvarious political parties and civil society organizations, NGOs and Community-Based Organizations(CBOs), including traditional tribal organizations.

Food-based programmes (e.g. NREGA schemes) can themselves be planned to improve infrastructureto provide needed public goods (roads), or quasi-public goods (irrigation) for the area. As seenearlier, improved access to roads and irrigation are two areas in which the state considerably lagsbehind the country. Jharkhand’s irrigated area is less than 10 percent, far below the potential irrigablearea of 40 percent. Only 35 percent of Jharkhand villages have access to all-weather roads, asagainst the all-India average of 57 percent. And the state ranks a low 22 out of 28 states in an

CONCLUSION

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Aggregate Infrastructure Index (World Bank, 2007). The importance of expanding irrigation and ruralconnectivity can be seen by the fact that in Jharkhand adding a unit of land under irrigation increasesper capita consumption expenditure by 17 percent, while all-weather road access increases percapita consumption expenditure by 18 percent. Direct access to wholesale markets can increaseconsumption by as much as 40 percent. (All figures from World Bank, 2007). What this last pointshows is that access to roads can also shorten the chain of intermediaries and substantially increasethe income of small producers.

NREGA and other food for work schemes can be channelized to improve both of these key areas ofvillage road connectivity and small-scale irrigation. Village approach roads to main roads, and smallirrigation schemes (e.g. check dams in valleys, or moisture retention works on sloping lands) canboth increase economic opportunities and productivity. Improved roads would also provide betteraccess to both health and educational facilities. Improved roads, including the building of culverts,have a clear impact in improving girls’ attendance at school. Post-primary schooling often involvessome travel outside the village, and boys seem to be able to overcome communication problems inattending school; but good roads increase girls’ attendance at school.

The linking of food schemes with infrastructure works for development, however, can be a two-foldprocess. The manner of implementation of standard infrastructure schemes by line departmentscan be changed so that the benefiting communities are involved in the implementation of theseworks. Involving SHGs as contractors of small schemes (minor irrigation, school buildings, approachroads) has been found to result in substantial income benefits for the concerned village. There canalso be an improvement in quality, as the beneficiaries are themselves the implementers of theconstruction works. Construction with local labour through SHGs, will provide substantial incomefrom the implementation of small infrastructure works, besides increasing the knowledge andmanagement capabilities of the communities.

The implementation of infrastructure and related schemes (school feeding) through the communitycould be expected to provide additional income, particularly in lean periods. Some of it could beused to carry out investments on private lands. Investments in higher-value tree crops (e.g. coffeeand pepper, or cashew, pineapples, turmeric, etc.) have been seen to provide substantially higherincomes, in combination with traditional swidden cultivation. But such investment, unlike seasonalswidden crops, is a medium-term investment. Households require security of tenure in order toundertake such investments. The recently-passed Forest Dwellers’ Rights Act could provide somesecurity of tenure for these lands.

Forest-based populations are dependent on sale of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) to supplementagriculture. But the returns form NTFP sale are very low. They could be increased by both shorteningthe chain of intermediaries and by small producers moving up the value chain into forms of processing.The prices of processed materials are both higher and more stable than those of raw materials.


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Such a transition to shortening the chain of intermediaries and into processing, both require forms offacilitation by NGOs and/or CBOS, along with concerned corporations. At the same time, sustainedhigher production of NTFP also needs domestication and cultivation of the plants, which again wouldonly be possible with security of tenure. Security of tenure for agricultural (for cultivation) and forestlands (for gathering of tree products) for individuals and communities needs to be combined withcommunity-based forest management (CBFM) in order to harmonize production with environmentalprotection.

While security of tenure would allow an increase in investments on land and thus higher incomes,complementary steps need to be taken to enhance women’s agency in the household and community.Besides literacy and education, there is also the matter of women’s land rights. Among the foodinsecure, women have high labour force participation rights, but they do not have ownership rightsover the lands on which they work. Women’s ownership of land could have a double effect. It couldlead to greater productivity and investment by women in land improvement by enhancing their standingin the household, it could also pave the way for women to have more of a say in the disposition ofhousehold income – away from wasteful areas (e.g. alcohol and cigarette consumption) towardsmore expenditure on food.

Rural finance in Jharkhand is almost entirely based on money-lending and is very exploitative. Theextension of micro-finance, through SHGs supported by NGOs, could help reduce the incidence ofiner-linked transactions, which result in very low net income. Micro-finance could improve the foodsecurity situation by enabling borrowing for critical needs. It would also be of benefit in improving theshare of household income under the control of women.

Improvements in rural connectivity can improve the terms of access to markets. Security of tenurecreates conditions favourable for investment to enhance production or to take up new forms ofcultivation. But bringing about changes in production systems also requires an enhancement ofcapabilities of both women and men. Enhancing capabilities, through rights, access to resourcesand training, will open the road for building capacity to aspire – the aspirations for a better life exist,but the means or capacity to realize those aspirations is lacking.

Improved communication will also enable rural producers to produce for the wider market, whetherregional, national or global. In a relatively open economy, there need not be sole reliance on agricultureas the engine of rural growth. Non-agricultural production for wider markets is also an option. Butalong with better communications, this also requires a more-educated workforce. A higher level ofeducation would both enable producers to take up opportunities available through connections withthe wider economy and also improve the types of jobs they can try to get on migrating. As we haveseen earlier, consumption in the better-off districts is probably related to income from non-farmdevelopment and to migrants’ remittances. This is not to deny the importance of increasing farmproductivity in the food insecure districts, but to point out that options are not limited to agricultural

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development.In the northern parts of Jharkhand (basically those areas bordering on Bihar) there is a large proportionof Scheduled Castes who are also often landless. Along with the allotment of agricultural land tothese landless, there are also other land-related issues that need to be tackled to improve foodsecurity. One is that of security of tenure in presently government-owned forest land. This, as mentionedabove, is being tackled by the Forest Rights Act. The other question is that of the restitution ofillegally-acquired tribal lands. All of these land reform measures would greatly enhance food accessof the poorest households, without reducing, in fact, even increasing food production in the process.

Given women’s general responsibility for food security in rural areas of developing countries, andgiven the pervasive gender bias in these societies, the enhancement of agency of the poor, translatesparticularly into the enhancement of the agency of poor women. Consequently, food securityapproaches increasingly pay attention to the elimination of gender inequality and women’sempowerment as important preconditions.

Agency of poor women, or of the poor as a whole, is not only a mater of individual agency (whichitself might be dependent on collective mobilization) but also of the poor putting their stamp oneconomic policies. This is necessary in order to bring about the much-needed political will that isoften referred to as the missing element for bringing about adequate attention to food security policies.Without adequate political pressure for reform, proper food security policies are unlikely to be adopted.At a country-level, when there are adequate supplies of food to ensure food security for all, why aresuch policies not implemented? There can be no question that the political mobilization of the poor,through a combination of community-based and civil society organizations, is required for such afood security policy to be adopted and implemented.

Jharkhand with its likelihood of mineral-based industrialization, has a specific requirement: to designpolicies for industrialization that do not increase the number of the displaced refugees, but enablethem to secure improved livelihoods in the course of industrialization. This can be done by linkingmineral-based industrialization with labour-intensive industrialization (e.g. textiles and garments) thatcan absorb the poorly educated labour that is likely to be displaced by mineral-based industrialization.This would reduce the pressure of destitution and improve rural conditions too. There is an inevitableconnection (through reduction in population pressure and increased remittances) between increasedabsorption in industries and mines and the improvement of food security conditions in rural areas.

One of the problems in Jharkhand is the poor reach of the educational and health services, andPDS, NREGS and all other food access schemes. In recent years, there have been someimprovements, but Jharkhand still lags behind most other states in the reach of its programmes.Whether or not the goal of improved food security in Jharkhand is met depends to a great extent onimproving the functioning and implementation of various schemes and interventions. It is throughthese schemes, including the implementation of the Right to Work in the form of NREGA, that the


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Right to Food is currently realized.Improvement in the implementation of these schemes depends, at one level, on improvement inadministration and governance systems. But more important is the role of the people who are tobenefit from the schemes, whether organized through CBOs, NGOs or traditional tribal bodies. Onlythey can insist on the adequate implementation of these schemes and ensure that this is done.Framing adequate policies is only the first step. What is crucial is that people, women and men,assert their democratic political rights in order to secure implementation of the schemes and policies.

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Agarwal, P.K. (2007), ‘Climate Change: Implications of Indian Agriculture’, Jalvigyan Sameeksha (HydrologyReview), Vol. 22.

Black, R et al. (2008), ‘Maternal and Child Undernutrition: Global and Regional Exposures and HealthConsequences’, Paper I, Maternal and Child Undernutrition, Lancet, p. 9.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSS), (2008), “NREGA Martyrs”, in Down to Earth, June 14-30

Chand, Ramesh (2007), ‘Demand for Foodgrains’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42 (52), December 29-January 4.

Chand, Ramesh and P Kumar (2006), ‘Country Case Study: India’, in Harmon Thomas (ed), Trade Reformsand Food Security, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

Chandrasekhar, C.P., Jayati Ghosh & Anamitra Roychowdhury (2006), ‘The Demographic Dividend and YoungIndia’s Economic Future’, Economic and Political Weekly, 41 (49), December 9 – 15.

Chaudhuri, Siladitya and Nvedita Gupta (2007), Divergence in the Level of Living in Indian Districts – A Profile’,Paper Presented at the National Seminar on NSS 61st Round Survey Results, National Sample SurveyOrganization, New Delhi, 29-30th October.

de Haan, Arjan and Amaresh Dubey, (2005), ‘Poverty, Disparities or the Development of Underdevelopment inOrissa’, Economic and Political Weekly, May 28 – June 4.

Deolalikar, Anil B. (2001), The Spatial Distribution of Public Spending on Roads in Vietnam and its Implications,Asian Development Bank, Manila.

Eide, Asbjorn, 1999, ‘The right to adequate food and to be free from hunger,’ Study on the right to foodsubmitted to the ECOSOC, Commission on Human Rights, 28 June, United Nations, New York, www.unhchr.org

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Fan, S., P. Hazell and S. Thorat (1999), Linkages between Government Spending, Growth and Poverty in RuralIndia, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC.

FAO, 1996, Report of the World Food Summit, Rome, www.faro.org

FAO, 2002, World Food Summit: Five Years Later, www.fao.org

Gaiha, Raghav, 2003, ‘Does the Right to Food Matter?’ in Economic and Political Weekly, Oct. 4 – Oct. 10

Government of Jharkhand (2008), Economic Survey Report 2007-2008, Ranchi.

Government of India (2007a), ‘The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition ofForest Rights) Act, 2006’, The Gazette of India, January 2.

——— (2007b), National Food Security Mission: Operational Guidelines, Department of Agriculture andCooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, August.

Gujja, Biksham and Hajara Shaik (2005), ‘A Decade for Action: Water for Life’, Economic and Political Weekly,40 (12), March 19.

Gupta, Monika Das (2005), ‘Public Health in India: Dangerous Neglect’, Economic and Political Weekly, 40(49), December 3.

Gupta, Nivedita and Buddhadeb Ghosh (2007), Horizontal Rift verses Vertical Mobility of People across DifferentExpenditure Classes in Indian States in Recent Period, Paper Presented in the National Seminar on NSS 61st

Round Survey Results, National Sample Survey Organization, 29-30th October.

IHD (Institute for Human Development), 2008, Understanding the Process, Institutions and Mechanism ofImplementation and Impact Assessment of NREGA in Bihar and Jharkhand, IHD, New Delhi.

IPCC (2007) Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Summary for Policymakers’,Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change.

Jacoby, H. (2000), ‘Access to Rural Markets and the Benefits of Rural Roads,’ The Economic Journal, No.110, pp. 713 – 37.Krishnan, Rekha, Suruchi Bhadwal , Akram Javed , Shaleen Singhal , S Sreekesh (2003), ‘Water Stress inIndian Villages’, Economic and Political Weekly, 38 (37), September 13.

Leipziger, D., M. Fay, Q. Wodon and T. Yepes (2003), ‘Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: The Roleof Infrastructure’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3163, World Bank, Washington DC.

Mishra, R. K. (2004), Agricultural Statistics of Jharkhand at a Glance, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi.


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Mishra, R. K. and V. Jairam, 2006, Agricultural Development in Jharkhand At A GlanceThrough Figures, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi.

Mishra, Vinod and Ranjan Ray, 2007, ‘Dietary Diversity, Food Security and Undernourishment: The VietnameseEvidence,’ (manuscript), [email protected]

Mooij, Jos (2001), ‘Food and Power in Bihar and Jharkhand: PDS and its Functioning’, Economic and PoliticalWeekly, August 25.

Mohapatra Prabhu: ‘Class Conflict and Agrarian Regimes in Chotanagpur, 1860-1950’Indian Economic and Social History Review (IESHR), Vol 28(1) 1991.

Nathan, Dev, D. Madhusudan, D. Anasya, V. Krishna Rao, 2003, Adivasi Development in India: Lessons fromIFAD Projects in Andhra Pradesh, IFAD, Rome.

NCEUS (National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector), 2007, Report on Conditions of Workand Promotion of Livelihoods in the Unorganised Sector, NCEUS, New Delhi.

Nhalpo, Charlotte McClain, 2004, Implementing A Human Rights Approach to Food Security, IFPRI,www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/ib29/pdf

Save the Children (2006), State of World’s Mothers 2006: Saving the Lives of Mothers and Newborns, Save theChildren, London.

——— (2008), Saving Children’s Lives: Why Equity Matters, Save the Children, London.

Sen, Amartya, 1981, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, Oxford, ClarendonPress.

Srivastava, Nisha, 2006, ‘Innovative Interventions: The Food for Work Project in the Chhattisgarh TribalDevelopment Programme,’ in Nisha Srivastava and Pravesh Sharma, eds., Protecting the Vulnerable Poor inIndia: The Role of Food Safety Nets, WFP, New Delhi.

Srivastava, Ravi and S. Sasikumar (2003), ‘An Overview of Migration in India, its Impacts and Key Issues’,Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, University of Dhaka and Department of InternationalDevelopment.

UN, 1975, Report of the World Food Conference, 5-16 November, 1975, Rome.

UNICEF & WHO (2006), Pneumonia: The forgotten killer of children, United Nations Children’s Fund and WorldHealth Organization, New York and Geneva.

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Social Council, New York, November 15.

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Zigler, Jean, 2002, ‘Focus on issues, What is the right to food?’ quoted in FAO, World Food Summit – FiveYears Later, www.fao.org

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Appendix I: Right to Food

Along with the change in understanding of the meaning of food security, there has been muchdiscussion on whether there is a right to food. The kind of economic growth that the world has beenundergoing has been seen to not automatically ‘trickle down’ in benefits to all. Even a reasonablyhigh rate of growth, like India’s 6% or so over the period 1995-2004, has been seen to not bringabout a commensurate reduction in the proportion of those who are undernourished. The existenceor acceptance of a right to food would make the exertion of pressure to adopt and implement apolicy that secures this right more likely. But is there a right to food?

The right to food or ‘freedom from hunger’ figures in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948). Subsequently the UN General Assembly adopted two covenants in 1966, one on Civil andPolitical Rights and the other on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Besides these covenants, theConvention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) both considerably strengthened the place of the right tofood and adequate nutrition in international law on human rights.

A two-fold distinction is often made between the civil and political rights, on the one hand, andeconomic, social and cultural rights, on the other (Eide 1996). The first set is said to be ‘absolute’,and ‘immediate’, while the second set is considered something relative and to be realized gradually,over time. In a sense this distinction coincides with the Indian constitution’s distinction between its‘core’ provisions, which are to be realized immediately, and its ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’,which are programmatic and to be realized over time.

It can well be argued that civil and political rights are also something that can only be realized overtime. Merely putting them into the statute books does not result in their being realized. On the otherside, if civil and political rights are held to be the foundation of democracy, one can as well argue thateconomic and social rights are equally important to democracy. Without economic rights, and not justthe right to property, political democracy itself would be a mere shell. The realization of political andeconomic rights is inter-twined and one set does not have any a priori precedence over the other.

A related distinction is between rights that are respected through non-interference and those thatrequire resources to be realized. The first is like the freedom of religion, or of association, while theright to food would require resources to be realized. Jean Zigler, the UN Special Rapporteur on theRight to Food, questioned the whole distinction between those freedoms that require resources tobe realized and those freedoms that do not. The whole machinery of the state, of administration,police, courts, etc. all need to set up, and involve costs, to enable citizens to realize the freedom toreligion, or freedom of association, and associated rights. ‘Even implementing civil and political rightsdoes in fact imply resources. The cost of setting up and training the police force, military and judiciaryto implement international human rights law is not insignificant.” (Jean Zigler, 2002, quoted in FAO,WFS-fyl, Focus on Issues, What is the right to food? www.fao.org)

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Rights require state action with regard to the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil them. Theseobligations require setting up of administrative, police, and judicial structures to enable rights to berealized. Consequently all rights have a cost in their being realized. And the costs of the right to foodmay not be as much as they seem, since it is only in certain circumstances that it involves stateprovision of food (Gaiha, 2003, 4270).

What the acceptance of the right to food does is to focus attention on the necessity of economic andsocial policy paying attention to the poorest and most marginal. It also takes the debate on rightsinside the ‘private sphere’ to raise the question of women’s rights in assuring food to themselves andtheir children and families. ‘The “right to adequate food” may be as much a question of the fullrealization of the rights of women as of ensuring a bundle of nutrients handed over through foodsupplement schemes.’ (Asbjorn Eide, 1999.

Right to Food in India

Earlier, we looked at the status of the right to food and its embodiment in various internationalcovenants. Food policies, however, are critically formulated and implemented at the level of thenational state. It is, perhaps, only in the case of ‘failed states’ that the international covenants canthemselves be the basis for action by international agencies. For the most part, and certainly inIndia, it is through the national state that actions on the right to food are carried out. Of course, thisdoes not mean that some actions cannot be carried out at the international level, as, for instance, bygroups representing women or indigenous peoples taking their case for redressal of grievances totheir respective international forums in the manner that trade unions also take their case to the ILO.

The establishment of a ‘right to food’ in India was substantially carried forward by the April 2001petition of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan, (PUCL vs Union of India andOthers, Writ Petition (Civil) 196 of 2001) and the orders of the Supreme Court of India in response tothis and subsequent petitions. In the context of the then-prevailing drought in Rajasthan, the argumentof the PUCL1 was simple – that Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the ‘right to life’ andimposes on the state the duty to protect this right to life. In elaborating the right to life, the SupremeCourt in past decisions had held that this right also includes the right to live with dignity and all thatgoes to make this up, including the right to food.

The petition argued that in the context of the drought in Rajasthan, the actions or inactions of theGovernments of India and of the State of Rajasthan, constituted a violation of this right to food and,thus, of the right to life. Specifically, the violation of the right to food was seen in two aspects. First,was the failure of the Public Distribution System (PDS), in terms of the exclusion of various Below

1 This account of the PUCL’s petition and related matters is based on Legal Action for the Right to Food: Supreme Court Orders and Related Documents,January 2004, downloaded from www.righttofood.org now replaced by the website www.righttofoodindia.org


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Poverty Line (BPL) households from its scope. Second, was the inadequacy of the quantities deliveredthrough the PDS as the monthly quota could not meet the household’s nutritional standards set bythe Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The PUCL petition also pointed to the inadequacy of government relief works in the Rajasthan droughtcondition. Thus, it linked the right to access relief works in a drought condition as part of the meaningof the right to food. As the Supreme Court pointed out in a later order, while agreeing with the High-Level Committee on Long-Term Grain Policy (Abhijit Sen Committee) that employment generationshould be distinct from food delivery: ‘This should not, however, undermine the importance ofemployment and income generation in eliminating hunger and malnutrition’ (Supreme Court Orderof 2 May 2003).

The different orders of the Supreme Court:

• Established a Constitutional basis for the right to food in terms of the right to life;

• Drew attention to the serious plight of the aged, destitute, etc;

• Stated that where the hungry are not able to buy grain, even at the subsidized price, the relevantgovernments should consider giving them the grain free;

• Pointed out that ‘Plenty of food is available, but distribution of the same amongst the very poorand destitute is scarce and non-existent leading to mal-nourishment, starvation and other relatedproblems’;

• Identified the various schemes to operationalize the right to food;

• Changed the status of those who received food or income through these schemes from‘beneficiaries’ to ‘rights-holders’;

• Made the Government of India and the State Governments responsible for securing the right tofood through these schemes;

• Placed responsibility on specified government officials (Chief Secretary of the State Governments,District Magistrates) as being answerable for the implementation of the schemes that concretizethe right to food, and thus being accountable for failures, like starvation deaths; and

• Established Food Commissioners who would report on and monitor implementation of schemesconstituting the right to food.

At the level of rights, this is a reasonably comprehensive scheme with rights, ways of achievingthem, responsibilities for achieving them, all fairly well specified. Given the fact that there is a clearperpetuation of both endemic starvation and frequent bouts of starvation deaths, it is necessary toturn to the economic structures that hinder or faster of food security. Paying attention to economicstructures is not to treat structures as binding constraints, but to draw attention to the constraintsthat have to be overcome in order to realize the right to food.

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Appendix 2: Food Security Index (FSI): A Methodological Note

At the outset we must state that the Food Security Index is calculated for rural areas only. All variablesconstructed in this section are for rural areas, unless otherwise specified.

Here we have attempted to construct a Food Security Index (FSI) at the sub-State level, that is, thedistrict level. The district having a higher index value is considered as relatively more food secure ascompared to districts with lower index values.

Broadly, we have adopted Max-Min (range equalization method, REM) approach, adopted by UNDP(HDR 2005); and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). One of the objectives of the district FSI is toshow the district’s position in various dimensions of food security.

The FSI is a composite index covering three dimensions, i.e., Availability, Access and Absorption.Besides these three groups of factors, an additional component i.e. public entitlement has beenused to explain how this influences food security. But the public entitlement factor is not included inthe indices of food security. The public entitlement policy is based on various parameters which aresupposed to be directly linked with food insecurity; the lower the level of food security, the greatershould be public intervention. In such a scenario, the direction of public interventions should runcounter to the FSI, though it need not be so.

For each of the dimensions, as discussed earlier, some relevant variables have been chosen.

Appendix 2: Food Security Index (FSI): A Methodological Note

Choice of Indicators, Sources, Reference Year and Calculating Procedure in Jharkhand

Name of Variable and Description Sources Ref. Year

(a) Availability

1. Proportion of Gross irrigated area to gross sown area

2. Per capita value of agricultural outputIn order to takeaccount of the cyclical nature of agricultural productionthe variable uses an average of three to five yearsdepending on the availability of data. The value ofeach food and non-food item is derived by multiplyingthe amount of production with its price obtained fromthe all-India prices of these items at constant 1993-94prices. Adding the value of each and every food andnon-food item gives the overall value of agriculturaloutput for a year. The per capita value of agriculturaloutput is calculated by dividing the average value of

Birsa Kisan Diary, 2006Directorate of Agriculture,Jharkhand, KrishiBhawan, Ranchi

Birsa Kisan Diary, 2006Directorate of Agriculture,Jharkhand, KrishiBhawan, Ranchi

2005-06

2003-04 to2005-06

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agricultural output by the total population in themidpoint year.

3. Percentage of inhabited villages having access topaved road. This is calculated as a share of totalnumber of villages in the district

4. Percentage of forest area to total geographical Area

(b) Access

1. Percentage of agricultural labour to total workers.Agricultural labour comprises both main and marginalworkers*

2. Proportion of ST and SC population to total population*

3. Dependency ratioThis is calculated as rural populationin the age group (15-59) divided by the sum of (0-14)child population and 59+ population. This has beeninversed to get working age population ratio to relatepositively to food security.

4. Per capita monthly consumption expenditure (inequalityadjusted)The formula for inequality adjusted monthlyper capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) is:MPCE*(1-Gini).

5. Rural casual wage rateThis is calculated as averagedaily wage rate for the age group 15-59

6. Women’s literacy rate (7+)Total female literate as aproportion of total female population for the 7 yearsand above.

Census of India, 2001

Ministry of Forest andEnvironment, Governmentof Jharkhand downloadedon 1st September 2007http://jharkhand.nic.in/governance/forest.htm




61st NSS round

61st NSS round


2001

2001

2001

2001

2004-05

2004-05

2001

APPENDIX II

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Max-Min Approach

Using the Max-Min approach an index has been constructed for each variable. This is calculated byapplying the following general Range Equalization Method (REM) formula adopted by the UNDP.

Variable Index = (Xi-min X) (Max X-Min X)

where Xi- Value of the variablemin X- Minimum value of X in the scalingmax X- Maximum value of X in the scaling


(c) Utilization

1. Percentage of households having access to safedrinking water.Here rural households with access tothree sources of drinking water, such as tube well,tap and hand pump have been considered.

2. Percentage of inhabited villages having access to PHC(PHC facility within the village or within 5 kms from thevillage)

(d) Public Entitlement

1. Percentage of midday meal beneficiaries out of totalchildren The data for MDM is for rural and urban areascombined. To find out the value of this variable wehave divided the total MDM beneficiaries by theprojected child population (Rural +Urban) in the agegroup (6-11) and multiplied the ratio by 100

2. Percentage of ICDS beneficiaries to total projectpopulationHere we have taken only the SNP(supplementary nutrition programme) beneficiaries. Tofind out the value of this variable we have divided theSNP beneficiaries (pregnant and lactating women andchildren (0-6) age group) by the total population coveredby the project.



Directorate of PrimaryEducation, Department ofHRD, Government ofJharkhand, Ranchi

Department of Women andChild Development,Government of Jharkhand,Ranchi

2001

2001

2006-07

2006

*The direction of these variables has been reversed to have a positive association with food security.


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In undertaking the scaling procedure, desirable norms have been adopted for each indicator. Insome cases, the scaling of indicators is self-selecting, and for some others there is an element ofvalue judgment.

Construction of Food Security Index

Different indicators included in the three components of the FSI have been scaled and normalized(to make them unidirectional) to take a value on a scale ranging from 0 to 1. The scaled leastachievement corresponds to zero, whereas the best achievement corresponds to 1. For three selectedvariables, viz., percentage of agricultural labour to all labour and proportion of ST and SC populationand percentage of forest area to total geographical area, we have used the reverse figure (percentof non-agricultural labour to total workers; percent of non-ST& SC to total population; and percent ofnon-forest area to total area). Likewise, the variable dependency ratio has also been reversed.

After calculating the index of each variable, we have averaged them to give each of the threedimensions of food security. The composite Food Security Index is again derived by averaging thethree dimensions.

Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

The PCA is a data reduction technique. Sometimes there is a high correlation between variables. Insuch cases, it is useful to transform the original data set into a new set of uncorrelated variablescalled principal components. It is quite likely that the first few components account for most of thevariability in the original data set. The PCA can be applied either to the original values of variables orto the normalized values of the variables. In general, normalization can be done by three methods,i.e., by deviation of the variables from their respective means (i.e., XX − ); by dividing the actualvalues by their respective means (i.e., XX / ) and the deviation of the value of a variable from themean which is then divided by standard deviation {i.e., ( XX − )/s}. We have applied the secondmethod. The basic objective of using PCA is to find the factor loading of each and every variable.Factor loading gives us the amount of total variation explained by a particular variable.

We have used the PCA in the Food Security Index for those States where the indices derived throughthe RE method and PCA method are highly correlated.

Food Security Outcome (FSO)

To crosscheck the validity of the Food Security Index for the three AAA (Availability, Access andAbsorption) components, we have used the Food Security Outcome (FSO) index. The nutritionalstatus of an individual can be considered as the outcome of food security. Though intake of food isnot the only factor that affects nutritional status, it definitely is the prime one. The outcome index

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calculated here is based on two child-related variables: child mortality rate (CMR) and child malnutrition(weight for age -2SD). Child malnutrition -2SD includes children who are below -3SD from theInternational Reference Population median. The district-wise figure relating to the above two variablesare taken from the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) 2002 survey.

The food security outcome (FSO) against which the input variables are considered here as explanatoryindicators should ideally be a composition of morbidity, mortality and under-nutrition among theentire rural population, which includes adults. However, due to inadequacy of data on adults, especiallyat the district-level, we have resorted to using the child-related variables to construct the FSO. Inorder to validate the use of this, we have undertaken a simple correlation exercise at the State levelbetween the Body Mass Index (BMI) for adults and the FSO.

The State-level Body Mass Index for men and women has been used from NFHS III. NFHS calculatesBMI as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters and the resulting value is againdivided by the number of men/women in the 15–49 age group. Here we have taken the number ofmen and women with BMI below 17.0 which tells us the number of men /women moderately andseverely thin. The composite adult BMI has been calculated by aggregation of BMI for men andwomen using the population share of men and women in the sample as weights.

We have calculated the state-level Food Security Outcome index (for 29 states) from DLHS andNFHS child-related variables (the same two variables taken for the district-level FSO). We haveadopted the RE method for finding out state-level FSO. The correlation among the DLHS and NFHSchild-related indicators as well as NFHS-based BMI adult indicators shows a very high correlationacross 29 states, thereby justifying the use of the child FSO as the outcome measure. However, itcan be argued that inter-district variations within different States can be quite dissimilar.

Grouping of Districts

For each variable, component and index, districts have been divided into five classes: Secure toModerately Secure, Moderately Insecure, Severely Insecure and Extremely Insecure. The methodused for making class intervals is the ‘equal intervals’ method, i.e. the difference between all upperand lower class intervals for an indicator is the same. This method takes into account the range ofthe indicator’s values and divides the range into five equal classes. The number of districts in differentclasses can be different.

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The UN World Food Programme (WFP)