FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

1. Some people say that the Bengal famine happened because there was a shortage of rice. Study
the table and find out whether you agree with the statement.
No, I do not agree that the Bengal famine happened due to a shortage of rice. From
the table, the availability was much higher than in 1941, although lower than 1942.
However, there can be a number of other causes like improper distribution, poor
carryover stocks due to less production in 1941, malnutrition or disease, etc.

2. Which year shows a drastic decline in food availability?

The year showing a drastic decline in food availability is 1941.

3. What do you see in Picture 4.1?

In Picture 4.1 we see the starvation victims of the famine arriving at a relief centre.
Even their bones can be seen below their skin because of malnutrition.

4. Which age group is seen in this picture?

The age group seen in this picture is mostly the elderly, i.e., those who are past the age
when they can work for a living. Probably, they were neglected by their family members due
to the famine.

5. Can you say that the family shown in the Figure 4.2 is a poor family? Why? (Fig 4.2)
Yes, it is a poor family for the following reasons — (i) they look very weak and thin
due to malnutrition. (ii) They are wearing the minimum clothes and also no footwear.
Probably, they could not afford better clothes or any footwear due to poverty. (iii) They
are leaving their village to go to the town where some earning potential may be there.
This also shows that they are not earning enough in the village.

6. Can you imagine the source of livelihood of the people, (shown in the two pictures) before
the occurrence of famine? (In the context of a village)
As these people look like landless labourers, their source of livelihood must have been
agriculture. The famine affected agriculture the maximum.

7. Find out what type of help is given to the victims of a natural calamity at a relief camp.
The kinds of help given to victims of a natural calamity at a relief camp are of the
following kinds (i) Shelter A place to stay like a dormitory or tented arrangement for
shelter from Sun and rain as well as a place to sleep in at night. (ii) Food cooked in a
common kitchen at least two meals in a day. (iii) Medical help in case of injury or
disease. (iv) Clothes and monetary compensation are also given sometimes, depending
on the calamity

8. Gather more information about famines in India.

Details of some famines which occurred in India since 1769 are given below. All these
famines occurred prior to independence.
Major Famines in India:
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Year Name of British Indian Kingdoms/ Mortality
Famine Territory Princely States
1769-70 Great Bengal Bihar, Northern 10 million (about one third of
famine and Central the then population of
Bengal Bengal).
1783-84 Chalisa Delhi, Western Oudh, Severe famine. Large areas
famine Eastern Punjab region were depopulated up to 11
Rajputana and Kashmir million people may have died
during the years 1982-84.

1791-92 Doji bara Hyderabad, Southern One of the most severe

famine or Maratha country Deccan famines known. People died
Skull famine. Gujarat and Marwar in such numbers that they
could not be cremated or
buried. It is thought that 11
million people may have died
during the years 1788-94.
1837-38 Agra famine Central Doab 0.8 Million
of 1837-38 and trans-Jamna
districts
Provinces (later
Agra Province)
including Delhi
and Hissar
1860-61 Upper Doab Upper Doab of Eastern Rajputana 2. Million
famine of Agra, Delhi and
1860-61 Hissar divisions
of the Punjab
1865-67 Orissa famine Orissa (also 1 Million (814,469 in Orissa
of 1866 1867) and 135,676 in Bihar and 10,898
Bihar, Ballary in Ganjam).
and Qujam
district of
Madras
1868-70 Rajputana Ajmer, Western Rajputana 1.5 million (Mostly in the
famine of Agra, Eastern princely states of Rajputana).
1869 Punjab
1873-74 Bihar famine Bihar An extensive relief effort was
of 1873-74 organised by the Bengal
Government. There were
little to none significant
mortalities during the famine.

1876-78 Great famine Madras and Mysore and Hyderarabad 5.5 million In British
of 1876-78 Bombay territory. Mortality unknown
(also for princely states. Total
Southern famine mortality estimates
India famine vary from 6.1 to 10.3 million.
of 1876-78)

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1888-89 (none) Ganjam, Orissa 1,50,000 deaths in Ganjam.
and North Bihar Deaths were due to starvation
as famine relief was not
provided in time.

1896-97 Indian famine Madras, Northern and Eastern 5 million in British territory.
of 1896-1997 Bombay Rajaputana parts of
Deccan, Bengal Central India and
United Hyderabad
Provinces,
Central
Provinces
1899- Indian famine Bombay, Hyderabad Rajputana 1 million (in British
1900 of 1899-1900 Central Central India Baroda territories) Mortality
Provinces, Kathiawar Cutch unknown for princely states.
Berar Ajmer

1905-06 (none) Bombay Bundelkhand 2,35,062 in Bombay (of

which 28,369 attributed to
Cholera) Mortality unknown
for. Bhundelkhand.

1943-44 Bengal Bengal 1.5 million From starvation

famine of 3.5 million including deaths
1943 from epidemics.

9. Why is agriculture a seasonal activity?

Agriculture has a sowing season and a harvesting season which is a very busy period for
farmers. Most of the work is done during these periods. When the plants are growing and
maturing no significant amount of work is there.

10. Why is Ramu unemployed for about 4 months in year?

Agriculture has a sowing and harvesting season which is a very busy period for farmers
and requires extra labour. So casual labourers like Ramu get employment during these
period for about eight months in a year.

11. What does Ramu do when he is unemployed?

Ramu is a casual agricultural labourer and is only seasonally employed during sowing
and harvesting. During that period, he gets employment in brick-laying, or in
construction activities in the village.

12. How is food security ensured in India?

Food security is ensured in India by

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(i) Creation of buffer stock.

(ii) Introduction of the Public Distribution System (PDS).

(iii) Running other special programmes like (a) Food for work programme (b) Mid-day
meal in schools (c) Integrated child development services

13. Which are the people more prone to food insecurity?

A large section of people suffer from food and nutrition insecurity in India . The worst
affected are:

(i) the landless people with little or no land to depend on.

(ii) Traditional artisans.

(iii) Providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers and destitute, including
beggars.

(iv) Urban casual labourers engaged in seasonal activities.

(v) The SCs, STs and some sections of OBCs.

(vi) People affected by natural disasters.

14. Which States are more food insecure in India?

The states of Uttar Pradesh (Eastern and South Eastern parts) Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa,
West Bengal, Chhattisgarh parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra account for the
majority of food insecure areas of the country.

15. Do you believe that Green Revolution has made India self -sufficient in food grain?
How?

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(i) Yes, the Green Revolution has made India self-sufficient in food
grains. (ii) India adopted a new strategy in agriculture in which HYV,
insecticides and pesticides were used which resulted in Green Revolution
or great production of wheat and rice. (iii) The highest rate of growth was
achieved in Punjab and. Haryana where food grain production jumped from
7.23 million tonnes in 1964-65 to an all-time high of 30.33 million tonnes in
1995. (iv) the success of wheat was later replicated in rice production in
the Southern States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra.

16. A section of the people in India is still without food. Explain.

(i) Despite achieving self-sufficiency in food grains as a result of the Green Revolution, a
section of people in India are still without food because of poverty. Thus, landless the
labourers, casual urban workers, SCs and STs who are below the poverty line find it
impossible to get two square meals a day.

(ii) The PDS is not functioning properly because the ration shop owners are diverting the
grains to the open market.

(iii) Low quality grains are available at ration shops which often remain unsold.

(iv) Corruption in the PDS and extreme poverty are the two basic reasons that even
today some people are still without food in India.

17. What happens to the supply of food when there is a disaster or a calamity?

(i) When the country faces a national disaster/calamity like earthquake, drought, flood or
tsunami, there is widespread failure of crops. Standing crops are destroyed, leading to
shortage of food grains which results in price rise and hardship to all.

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(ii) If the crop is not destroyed, sometimes the transport system is affected and
transportation of food grains from the food surplus areas becomes impossible, this leads
to shortage of food grains in other areas.

(iii) If a place where the buffer stock is stored gets affected by the calamity, it
further affects the supply of food

18. Differentiate between seasonal hunger and chronic hunger.

Hunger has seasonal and chronic dimensions.

Seasonal Hunger: Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting.

(i) This is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural
activities and in urban areas because of casual labour.

(ii) This type of hunger exists when a person is unable to get work for the entire year,
e.g., many casual construction labourers during rainy season become
unemployed.

Chronic Hunger:

(i) Chronic hunger is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity

and quality.

(ii) Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low income and in turn
inability to buy food even for survival.

19. What has government done to provide food security to the poor? Discuss any two
schemes launched by the government.

To provide food security to the poor, the government has implemented the
following

(i) Creating a buffer stock of food grains for distribution when and where needed.

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(ii) Public Distribution System for making available food grains to the poor at highly
subsidized rates.

Besides these, a number of schemes have been launched. During the 1970s, the
following schemes were started

(i) Integrated Child Development Services

(ii) Food for Work Programme

In the year 2000, the following schemes were launched

(i)Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) This scheme is for the poorest of the poor. Under this
scheme, 35 kg of food grains per month are made available to a family at ` Rs. 2 per kg
for wheat and `Rs. 3 per kg for rice.

(ii) Annapurna Scheme (APS): This is meant for indigent senior citizens who are not
having any family to support them. Under this scheme, 10 kg of food grains per month
are made available to them free of cost.

20. Why buffer stock is created by the government?

Buffer stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice, procured by the
government through Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice
from the farmers in states where there is surplus production.

(i) The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This is called
the Minimum Support Price.

(ii) The purchased food grains are stored in the granaries and called buffer stock. This is
done to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society
at a price lower than the market price, also known as issue price.

(iii) This also helps to resolve the shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or
during a period of calamity.
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21. Write notes on (a) Minimum Support Price (b) Buffer Stock (c) Issue Price (d) Fair

Price Shops

(a) Minimum Support Price

(i) The Food Corporation of India (FCI) purchases wheat and rice from the
farmers in states where there is surplus production.

(ii) The farmers are paid pre-announced price for their crops. This price is
called Minimum Support Price (MSP).

(iii) The MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season
to provide incentives to the farmers for raising production of these crops.

(b) Buffer Stock

(i) Buffer stock is the stock of food grains namely wheat and rice procured by the
government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).

(ii) The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is
surplus production and stores this grain in the granaries as butter stock.

(iii) This is done to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poor
strata of society when there is shortage of food grains because of crop failure due
to natural calamities.

(c) Issue Price

(i) The FCI purchases food grains from the farmers in states with surplus food
production and stores it in granaries.

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(ii) This is done to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poor
state of society at a price lower than the market price which is also known as
issue price.

(d) Fair Price Shops

(i) The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated
ration shops among the poorer sections of the society. This is called Public
Distribution System (PDS).

(ii) Ration shops are now present in most localities, villages, towns and cities.

(iii) Ration shops are also known as fair price shops.

(iv) These fair price shops keep stocks of food grains, sugar and kerosene oil.
Here these items are sold at a price lower than the market price.

22. What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops?

Problems of the functioning of ration shops:

(i) The PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the
grains to open market for more profit.

(ii) Dealers sell poor quality grains at ration shops.

(iii) Ration shops are opened at irregular time creating problems for the people.

(iv) It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor quality
grains.

(v) With TPDS, of three different prices, the family above poverty line, gets very
little discount at the ration shop. The price for APL family is almost the same as

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open market price, so there is little incentive for them to buy these items from the
ration shops.

23. Write a note on the role of co-operatives in providing food and related items.

(i) The co-operatives are also playing an important role in food security in India,
especially in the Southern and Western parts of the country.

(ii)The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people.

(iii) In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making progress in provision of milk and vegetables to the
consumers at controlled rates decided by the Government of Delhi.

(iv) Amul is another success story of co-operatives in milk and milk products from
Gujarat. It has brought about the white revolution in the country.

(v) These are a few examples of many co-operatives running in different parts of the
country ensuring food security of different sections of society.

24. What are grain Banks?

Grain banks enable people to locally store the food grain produced in the village for
consumption during the lean season.

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