FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

Ensuring food security continues to be an issue issue of vital importance for the developing countries. The concept of food security has undergone considerable change in the recent year. The millennium development goal provide us with the starting point to access the level of food security and priorities our efforts to achieve it. The first development goal seek to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. It aims to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people 1) Whose income is less than $1 a day 2) Who suffer from hunger?

Until the seventies, the concept of food security focused mainly on avalivelity and stability of food. A broadly accepted definition of food security now goes beyond adequate avalivelity of food. It includes access to adequate food to all people o all times for an active and healthy life. The aim is not merely to supply adequate quantity of food but create condition in which in which people are capable of feeding themselves self reliantly with healthy and culturally acceptable foodstuff- a state of nutritional sovereignty. The multi dimensional concept of food security has the following components: 1) Abalivelity define as the aggregate supply, ensure through sustainable growth in production or through import or both and encompasses both the inter-temporal and spatial stability of supply for every section of the population. 2) Accessibility define in terms entitlement to adequate food, whether through production, labour, trade or transfer based entitlement; 3) Absorption of food a function environmental hygine,nutrition practices and access to primary health care and clean drinking water; 4) Sustainability involving conservation and enhancement of neutral resources. It is generally recognised that avalivelity of food is not as much as problem for the South Asian countries as access and absorption. Such constraints need to be define in terms of economic access that posits the relationship between the endowments and entitlements of a household and explored further with respect to absorption. Identification of such constraints, specific in achieving food security. An assessment of the post efforts, policies and programmes pursued by the state should help in fine-tuning such interventions.

COMMITMENT TO FOOD SECURITY There is a general consensus that this development goal is the primary responsibility of the state toward its citizens. Commitment of the first necessary condition to ensure food security. In India removal of poverty and ensuring food security has been a constituency for the economic planners ever since the beginning of the planned era. Article 47 the Indian constitution, for example, states that states shall rising the level of nutrition and standard of

living of all its people and improvement of public health among its primary duties. Indias commitment to ensure food security does not end with the signing of declaration at various international fora.It has made concerted efforts of transform from a state of chronic food shortage at the time of independence to the situation of surplus and export in more food items. The country today is self sufficient in food grain production with substantial stock to cover deficit of any drought year. Having achieved food security in the macro-since, the focus has now shifted to nutrition security. Household food-security and freedom from hunger to the nutrition security for the family and individual. Untargeted food supplementation to screening of all the persons from the vulnerable groups, identification of those with various gradees of under-nutrition and appropriate management. Lack of focussed intervention on the prevention of over-nutrition to the promotion of appropriate life style and dietary intakes for the prevention and management of over-nutrition and obesity.

The status of food security various across states in India when evaluated with respect to alternative parameter on intake and output. It is necessary to understand the nature of food insecurity in different states. This will enable us to identify characteristics of the food insecurity. It is the mainly income-poor that suffer from hunger and malnutrition. REGIONAL SPREAD OF HUNGER The regional spread of hunger was more uneven in 1983. The incidence of rural hunger exceeded 35% in the eastern Indian states in Bihar, Orissa and West Bangal. These states have made considerable improvement in reducing thr incidence of hunger, yet it exceeds 6.0%. Interestingly, the incidence of hunger exceeds 10% in WestBangal in 19992000.Assam,another northeaster states, reduced the incidence of hunger 16% to 7.0% during the reference period. South Indian states of kerala,Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where the reported incidence of hunger exceeded 15% during 1983 have brought it down to below 3% in 1999-2000. Similar achievement are also reported from central Indian states of Maharastra and Madhya Pradesh. North-western India comprising Gujrat ,Rajasthan ,PUNJAB and Haryana. the incidence of hunger was below 45even in 1983.These states have further reduced it to around 4%. Incidence of hunger is three or four time higher in labour households even during 19992000.Persentage of hunger agricultural labour household in West Babgal,Assam,Orissa and Bihar was 17.5, 14.0, 12.3 and 9.6 respectively.

STATUS OF NUTRITIONThe country has largely succeeded in eliminating hunger except for few pocket. In any case the achievements on eliminating hunger are more then realised as per the millennium goals. The situation however is not as convincing in the case of nutrition adequacy. AVERAGE CONSUMPTIONAverage calorie intake of both rural and the urban areas has during the last two decades. Precipitate average daily consumption in rural India has declined from 2221c in 1983 to 2149c during 1999-2000. The declined is widespread in almost all the states except in Kerala. Decline in calorie intake in the highest in the most prosperous state Punjab during 1983-1999. ON the other hand, in spite of such increase in energy consumption from 1884c in 1983 to 1982c in 1999-2000, Kerala is still amongst the lowest energy consuming states. In comparison, north India states, Jammu &Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himanchal Pradesh, Punjab and U.P. consumer more then 2300c. In view of all significance fall in dietary energy requirement due to a number of factor such as farm mechanisation, and important and water and fuel supply system leading to more sedentary life system in rural area, should not b a major cause of concern. This also come out from the decline in calorie gap index is most states except in the above four states showing large increase in the ratio of person getting below 2700 calories. However the reference calorie point is reduce every 10% due to some of the factor listed above, both the calorie gap and the calorie severity index would decline in most of the state. Ravi (2000) observe a growth rate of 1.19 % in rural per capita total expenditure during 1990-98 at constant 1990-91 price of the bottom 30% expenditure class. The per capita food expenditure declines at the rate of 0.48 % and calorie intake decline in double rate. Similar is the case with the middle 40% expenditure class. Surely the dietary energy requirement (DER) is revealed to have decline during the nineties (Minhas, 1989).

FACILITATING FACTORSAchievement in domestic AgricultureIncrease in FOODGRAIN Production Average annual production of food grain in India has increased from 50 million tones during triennium ending 1952-53 to 206 million tonnes during triennium ending 2001-02, ensuring adequate avalivelity for everybody. The country is self sufficient in food grain production to ensure food security at the macro level. The statement need to be qualified at least on two counts. First is the issue of variability in agricultural production impinging on food security of the vulnerable groups.