1. FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

2. "For now I ask no more than the justice of eating."
Pablo Neruda, Chilean Poet, Noble Prize Winner
Hunger remains the No.1 cause of death in the world. Aids, Cancer etc. follow.
42% of world’s under-nourished children live in India.
-Global Hunger Index,2010
Over 200 million Indians will sleep hungry tonight.
Over 7000 Indians die of hunger every day.
Sources :
-UN World Food Programme
-UN World Health Organization: Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition, 2006
-UN Food and Agriculture Organization: SOFI 2006 Report
-National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (India)
-National Family Health Survey 2005 – 06 (NFHS-3) (India)
-Centre for Environment and Food Security (India)

3. Alarming situation

4. India has the largest food schemes in the World.
Entitlement Feeding Programmes
ICDS (All Children under six, Pregnant and lactating mother)
MDMS (All Primary School children)
Food Subsidy Programme
Targeted Public Distribution System (35 kgs/ month of subsidised food grains
Annapurna (10 kgs of free food grain for destitute poor)
Antyodaya Anna Yojana
Employment Programmes
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (100 days of employment at minimum wages)
Social Safety Net Programmes
National Old Age Pension Scheme (Monthly pension to BPL)
National Family Benefit Scheme (Compensation in case of death of bread winner to BPL families)
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission

5. Are we really food short? INDIAN AGRI-BUSINESS:FACTS AND FIGURES
2nd largest arable land(184 million hectares) in the world.
Largest irrigated land(55 million hectares) in the world.
Largest producer of :
Wheat(15% of global production)
Pulses(21% of global production)
Milk(90 million tones).
Largest producer and exporter of spices.
2nd largest producer of rice(22% of global rice production) and the largest producer of world’s best BASMATI RICE.
Largest livestock population.
2nd largest producer of fruits and vegetables.
source: FICCI, Ministry of Agriculture(2008)

6. So why are we food insecure??
MAPLECROFT : Food Security Risk Index
India – 25/148
China – 107/148
GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX: a world wide survey carried out by International Food Policy Research Institute (USA)
India – 67/84
Pakistan – 52/84
China- 19/84
Source:

7. Absorption of food in the body
Sustainable food security
The three dimensions of this problem need concurrent attention:
Availability of food
Access to food
Absorption of food in the body

8. Production
Storage
Distribution

9. Production Current Status : Self sufficient.
Disturbance in the equilibrium : Natural calamities, fiscal emergencies.
Suggestions:
Reach of modernization to the real farmers in form of seeds, fertilizers & irrigational facilities.
Exploiting the perennial and non-perennial water resources to the optimum level.
Bringing more land under the cultivable area.

10. Procurement MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICE
Applicable on 25 crops, visible only for 2.
Benchmark for other varieties(which might be of inferior quality) of the same crop.
GOVERNMENT CREATED HOARDING
Excessive subsequent stocking.
Scarcity in the open market.
Parliament-clearance issues.

11. Minimum support price for essential commodities
Crops
Fiscal year 2006
Fiscal Year 2010
Fiscal Year 2011
Wheat
650
1100 NA
Rice
570
950
Maize
540
840
880
Arhar
1400
2300
3000
Moong
1520
2760
3170
Urad
2520
2900
Soyabean
900
1350
Sugarcane
79.50
129.84
139.12
Source: Ministry of Agriculture

13. Storage
Lagging storage capacity.

14. Cold chain logistics
India’s cold storage capacity – short by 10 million tones.
30% of the fruits and vegetables gets wasted annually(40 million tones amounting to US$13 billion)
-Maheshwar and Chanakwa(2006)
India expenditure on logistics activities-equivalent to 13% of the GDP(higher than the developed nations)
Key reasons-
higher level of inefficiencies in the system
lower average trucking speeds
higher turnaround times at ports
cost of administrative delays

15. Government’s mammoth task: Food Security Bill
Difference between speech and action of the government.
Tussle between the NAC and the PMO.
NAC recommendations seldom accepted without any “improvement”.
“It is the fate of most advisory committees that the government accepts whatever advice suits its purposes and ignores the rest.”
- Jean Dreze, National Advisory Council

16. Some possible solutions
MSP should be made last resort for the farmer.
The government should provide direct subsidies to the farmers in the form of seeds, fertilizers, irrigation.
Procurement schemes should be widened to other crops and areas.
Procurement schemes should be closed ended.
Government should enable farmers to sell directly on the electronic spot exchanges.

17. Distribution
Inefficient existing methods of identifying and thus, targeting the needy.
Leakages, corruption.
Insufficient awareness and information.
Facts and figures
58% of the distributed food-grains does not reach “the beneficiaries”.
According to a survey,65.9 million people were BPL in the year 2009 and the BPL Cards issued crossed the 100 million mark.

18. A presentation by C.Maheshwar, Fleet Management Training Institute, Mumbai

19. A not so perfect public distribution system
Misuse of the schemes by non-needy.
Loopholes in the existing system.
Need a better targeting mechanism.
Identification of “poor”
Keeping the criteria simple and easy to implement.
motorized vehicle, landline with a bill, electricity connection with a bill, a job in an organized sector, a registered piece of land, etc. are NOT BPL.
Social audits for the remaining families through community councils.
Inspiration from other states where PDS has been successfully experimented with many additional features.

20. Let’s be a part of the solution

21. Individual initiatives vital in this fight against food insecurity.
Conclusion
Production is more or less doing good; always can and have to be bettered though.
The procurement policies, storage facilities and the distribution mechanism need revamping.
Individual initiatives vital in this fight against food insecurity.

22. Formative assessment What is MSP?
What is the main purpose of buffer stock?
In which state of India is Amul Dairy located?
Name 2 types of hunger
When was Food For Work programme launched in India?
Explain the three dimension of poverty.
What are the drawbacks of PDS?
What steps have been taken by the government to tp provide food security to the poor?
Distinguish between TPDS and RPDS.
What are the steps taken by the government to increase food production and supply in India?

23. References http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article75033.ece
Kurukshetra Anaj Mandi – Registrar Office