Food Security Q&A

Ch- 4 Food Security in India

Very Short Answer Questions

1. What does ‘Food Security’ mean?

Answer: Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times. 

2. On what factors does food security depend on?

Answer: Food security depends on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and government vigilance and action at times when this security is threatened.

3. How does the situation of starvation arise?

Answer:   If any calamity happens in a very widespread area or is stretched over a large time period, it may cause a situation of starvation. A massive starvation might take the form of famine.

4. Which was the most devastating famine to have occurred in India?

Answer:  The most devastating famine that had occurred in India was the famine of Bengal in 1943. This famine killed thirty lakh people in the province of Bengal. 

5. What kind of people in rural areas are food insecure?

Answer: The worst affected groups are landless people with little or no land to depend upon, traditional artisans, providers of traditional services, petty self employed workers and destitute including beggars.

6. Which other parts of society are prone to food insecurity?

Answer: The SCs, STs and some sections of OBCs who have either poor land base or very low land productivity are prone to food insecurity. 

7. How people affected by natural disasters are food insecure?

Answer: The people affected by natural disasters, who have to migrate to other areas in search of work, are also among the most food insecure people, since they are not settled in their life. 

8. Does hungers cause food insecurity?

Answer: Hunger is another aspect indicating food insecurity, arising from poverty. 

9. Which states achieved the highest rate of growth in food grain production during Green Revolution?

Answer: Punjab and Haryana achieved the highest rate of growth in the production of wheat. 

10. Which states continued to lag behind in food production despite Green Revolution?

Answer: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and the northeastern states lagged behind in food production, despite Green Revolution. 

11. How did India become self sufficient?

Answer: India has become self sufficient in food grains during the last thirty years because of a variety of crops grown all over the country. 

12. What is buffer stock?

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

13. What are Fair Price Shops?

Answer: Ration Shops, also known as Fair Price Shops, keep stocks of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil, etc. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price.

14. Which families can buy from these Ration Shops?

Answer:  Any family which is below the poverty line gets a ration card. A ration card can buy them a stipulated amount of certain essential commodities like food grains or kerosene, every month from a nearby ration shop.

15. When was rationing system introduced in India?

Answer: The rationing system introduced in India in 1940s after the disastrous Bengal famine occurred.

16. When was rationing system revived after Bengal famine?

Answer: The rationing system was revived in the wake of an acute food shortage during the 1960s prior to the Green Revolution. 

17. Which important food intervention programmes were introduced by Indian government after NSSO report?

Answer:(i) Public Distribution System – for food grains. (ii) Integrated Child Development Service – in 1975 on experimental basis. (iii) Food for Work-Introduced in 1977-78. 

18. What are the benefits of PDS?

Answer: The PDS has proved to be the most effective instrument of government policy over the years in stabilising prices and making food available to the poor at affordable prices. 

19. How has Minimum Support Prices supported the farmers?

Answer: The minimum support prices and procurement has contributed to an increase in food grain production and provided income security to farmers in certain regions.

20. Why has PDS been facing severe criticism?

Answer: Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries. FCI god owns are overflowing with grains, with some rotting away and some being eaten by rats.

21 What is the role of ADS?

Answer: ADS is Academy of Development Science which has facilitated a network of NGOs for setting up grain banks in different regions. 

Short Answer Type Questions

1. Explain the three dimensions of food security.

Answer: Availability of food means food production within the country, accessibility means food within reach of every person and affordability is that an individual has enough money to buy sufficient safe food. 

2. How is food security ensured in a country?

Answer:  Food security is ensured in a country only if enough food is available for all persons, all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality and there is no barrier on access to food. 

3. What kind of people faces food insecurity?

Answer: The poorest section of the society might be food insecure most of the times while persons above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national disaster/calamity like drought, flood, tsunami, widespread failure of crops causing famine, etc. 

4. How is food security affected during a calamity?

Answer:  Due to a national calamity say, drought, total production of food grain decreases. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. Due to shortage of food the prices go up. At the high prices, many people cannot afford to buy food.

5. How do famines lead to widespread deaths?  

Answer: A famine is characterised by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation. 

6. In which areas of India even today famine has caused starvation deaths?

Answer: Even today there are places like Kalahandi district and Kashipur tehsil in Raigarh district of Odisha where Some starvation deaths have been reported due to famine like conditions. Starvation deaths are also reported in Baran district of Rajasthan and Palamao district of Jharkhand. 

7. What type of people in urban areas are food insecure?

Answer: In the urban areas, the food insecure families are those whose working members are generally employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labour market. These workers are largely engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages that just ensure basic survival. 

8. Is it true that a high incidence of malnutrition prevails among women?

Answer: This is a matter of serious concern as it is true. It puts even the unborn baby at the risk of malnutrition. A large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years constitute an important segment of food insecure population.

9. In which regions are food insecure people disproportionately large in our country?

Answer: The food insecure people are disproportionately large in some regions of the country, such as economically backward states with high incidence of poverty, tribal and remote areas, regions more prone to natural disasters, etc. 

10. Which states of India account for the largest number of food insecure people?

Answer:  The states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra account for the largest number of food insecure people in the country. 

11. How does ‘chronic hunger’ occur?

Answer: Chronic hunger is a consequence of having persistently inadequate diet in terms of quantity and quality. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of very low income and, in turn, inability to buy food even for survival. 

12. What do you understand by ‘seasonal hunger’?

Answer: Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food production. This happens in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of the casual labourers who get less work during rainy season. 

13. What policies were adopted by Indian government to remove food insecurity?

Answer: After Independence, Indian policy makers adopted all measures to achieve self sufficiency in food grains, for that a new strategy of ‘Green Revolution’ was introduced to increase production of wheat and rice in our country. 

14. How was the success of ‘Green Revolution’ felicitated by Indira Gandhi?

Answer:  Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, officially recorded the impressive strides of the Green Revolution in agriculture by releasing a special stamp entitled ‘Wheat Revolution’ in July 1968. 

15. What is Minimum Support Price?

Answer: The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price. 

16. How does FCI purchase grains from the farmers?

Answer: The Minimum Support Price (MSP) is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to provide incentives to the farmers for raising the production of these crops. The purchased food grains are stored in granaries. 

17. Why is buffer stock created by the government?

Answer: Buffer stock is created 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. It also helps resolve the problem of shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or during the periods of calamity.

18. What is Public Distribution System?

Answer: The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer section of the society. This is called the public distribution system (PDS). 

19. How do PAPs enhance food security?

Answer: Poverty Alleviation Programmes such as PDS, mid-day meals, etc. are exclusively food security programmes. Most of these PAPs are meant for rural areas and enhance food security.

20. What do you know about National Food for Work Programme?

Answer: This programme was launched on November 14, 2004 in 150 most backward districts of the country with the objective of intensifying the generation of supplementary wage employment. 

21. What is RPDS?

Answer: Over the years, the policy related to PDS has been revised to make it more efficient and targeted. In 1992 Revamped Public Distribution System was introduced in 1,700 blocks in the country. The target was to provide the benefits of PDS to remote and backward areas

22. What is TPDS?

Answer: From June 1997, in a renewed attempt. Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the ‘poor in all areas’. It was for the first time that a differential price policy was adopted for poor and non-poor.

23. Which two schemes were linked with the PDS system by the government?

Answer: In 2000, two special schemes were launched – Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Annapurna Scheme with special target groups of ‘poorest of the poor’ and ‘Senior Citizens’, respectively. 

24. What is a ‘Subsidy’?

Answer: ‘Subsidy’ is a payment that a government makes to a producer to supplement the market price of a commodity. Subsidies can keep consumer prices low while maintaining a higher income for domestic producers. 

25. Why is a high level of buffer stock undesirable?

Answer:  There is a general consensus that high level of buffer stocks of food grains is very undesirable and can be wasteful. The storage of massive food stocks has been responsible for high carrying cost, in addition to wastage and deterioration in grain quality. 

26. What is the impact of intensive utilisation of water in the cultivation of rice on the environment?

Answer: The intensive utilisation of water in the cultivation of rice has also led to environmental degradation and fall in the water level, threatening the sustainability of the agricultural development in the states of Punjab and Haryana. 

28. What kind of malpractices are there among PDS dealers?

Answer: PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margins, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops, etc.

29. What is the role of cooperatives in food security?

Answer: The cooperatives are also playing an important role in food security in India especially in southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor families. 

30 Give some important cooperatives running successfully.

Answer:(i) In Delhi Mother Dairy is making efforts in providing milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled rates decided by the government of Delhi. (ii) Amul is a successful cooperative in milk and milk products from Gujarat. 

31. What rights provide food security?

Answer: (i) Availability of food
(ii) Accessibility of food
(iii) Affordability of food. 

32. How can you help poor people in providing food security?  

Answer: (i) By providing standard level of nutrition
(ii) By aiming to raise awareness about self-sufficiency in food grains
(iii) By opening consumer cooperative stores. 

33. What is the contribution of Grain Banks?

Answer: ADS tried to set up Grain Banks in Maharashtra to facilitate replication through other NGOs and to influence the Government policy on food security. These are paying rich dividends. It has been acknowledged as a successful and innovative food security intervention. 

34. What does ‘food security’ mean? On what factors does food security of a country depend?

Answer: Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food for all people at all times. It means something more than getting two square meals. Food security depends on:
(i) The Public Distribution System.
(ii) The government acts at times when this security is threatened. 

Long Answer Type Questions

1. What are the dimensions of ‘food security’?

Answer: The dimensions of food security are:
(i) Availability of food: It is the food production within the country including food imports and previous year stock of food in government granaries.
(ii) Accessibility: This means food within the reach of every person.
(iii) Affordability: This means whether the individual has enough money to buy sufficient and nutritious food.

2. Why do we need ‘food security’?

Answer: Food security is needed because:
(i) The poorest section of the society might be food insecure most of the times.
(ii) People above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national disaster or calamity like an earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami, etc.
(iii) There can also be a widespread failure of crops causing famines, etc. 

3. How is food security affected during a calamity?

Answer:(i) Due to a natural calamity, total production of food grains decreases.
(ii) It creates a shortage of food in the affected area.
(iii) Due to shortage of food, the prices go up.
(iv) At higher prices, some people cannot afford to buy food.
(v) If such a calamity occurs in a widespread area, it may cause a situation of starvation. (vi) A massive situation of starvation might turn into a famine. 

4. What is a ‘famine’? Which states in India are affected by famines?

Answer: A famine is characterised by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation:
(i) The most devastating famine that occurred in India was the Famine of Bengal in 1943. This famine killed 30 lakh people in the province of Bengal.
(ii) Even today, there are places like Kalahandi and Kashipur in Orissa, where famine-like conditions have been existing for many years and starvation deaths have also been reported.
(iii) Starvation deaths are also reported in Baran district of Rajasthan, Palamau district of Jharkhand and many other remote areas during the recent years.

5. Who are the most affected food insecure people in India?

Answer: Worst affected people in rural areas are:
(i) Landless people with little or no land to depend on.
(ii) The traditional artisans.
(iii) Providers of traditional services like Pandits performing religious ceremonies.
(iv) Petty, self-employed workers.
(v) Poor and the destitute including beggars.
Worst affected people in urban areas are:
(i) Those families are food insecure whose working members are generally employed in ill-paid occupations.
(ii) Casual labour in the market.
(iii) These workers are mostly engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages that just ensure their bare survival. 

6. How are food insecure people disproportionately large in some regions of the country?

Answer:(i) There are some states which are economically backward states with high incidence of poverty.
(ii) These are the tribal and remote areas, and regions more prone to natural disasters, etc. (iii) In fact, the states of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra account for the largest number of food insecure people in the country. 

7. Cite evidences which explain that India is self-sufficient in food grain production.

Answer: India has become self-sufficient in food grain production during the last thirty years. (i) This is because of a variety of crops grown all over the country.
(ii) The availability of food grains even in adverse weather conditions or otherwise, has further been ensured with a carefully designed food security system by the government. (iii) This system has two components:
(a) Buffer stocks and
(b) Public distribution system. 

8. Why is the Public Distribution System criticised?

Answer: The PDS has been criticised because:
(i) Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries.
(ii) The FCI god owns are overflowing with grains where some are rotting away and some are eaten by rats.
(iii) Shopkeepers of fair price shops are black marketing the goods in the retail market, though they are not allowed to do so. 

9. What does Antyodaya Anna Yojana mean?

Answer: (i) The AAY was launched in December 2000.
(ii) Under this scheme, one crore of the poorest among the BPL (Below Poverty Line) families covered under the targeted PDS system were identified.
(iii) Twenty-five kilograms of food grains were made available to each eligible family at a highly subsidised rate. 

10. How do PDS dealers resort to malpractices?

Answer: (i) The PDS dealers are diverting the grains to the open market to get better margins.
(ii) They are selling poor quality grains at ration shops.
(iii) Opening the shops irregularly, which is inconvenient for the poor. It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor quality grains left. 

11. How does a calamity affect food security?

Answer:(i) Food security is severely affected by a calamity.
(ii) Due to a natural calamity like drought, flood, earthquake, total production of food grain decreases.
(iii) Due to shortage of food, the prices increase, making the things more expensive for the people. If it gets prolonged, it could lead to even starvation and starvation deaths also. 

12. How is food security ensured in a country?

Answer: Food security is ensured in a country only if:
(i) Enough food is available for all the persons.
(ii) All persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality.
(iii) There is no barrier on the access of food. 

13. In which regions of India, starvation deaths are reported?

Answer:(i) It is disturbing to note that even today, there are places like Kalahandi and Kashipur in Orissa where famine-like conditions have been existing for many years and where some starvation deaths have also been reported.
(ii) Starvation deaths are also reported in Baran district of Rajasthan, Palamau district of Jharkhand and many other remote areas during the recent years.
(iii) Therefore, food security is needed in a country to ensure food at all times. 

14. What does ‘Seasonal Hunger’ mean?

Answer: (i) Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting.
(ii) This is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of the casual labour. e.g., there is less work for casual construction labour during the rainy season.
(iii) This type of hunger exists when a person is unable to get work for the entire year. 

15. Why is the buffer stock created by the government?

Answer: (i) 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.

(ii) This also helps resolve the problem of shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or during the periods of calamity. 

16. What are the three important Food Intervention Programmes?

Answer: (i) Public Distribution System (PDS) gives provision of food grains for the poor at subsidised cost. It was existing earlier also but strengthened thereafter.
(ii) Integrated Child Development Science (ICDS). It was introduced in 1975 on an experimental basis.
(iii) Food For Work (FFW) was introduced in 1977-78. Over the years, several new programmes have been launched and some have been restructured with the growing experience of administering of the programme. 

17. Why were the FCI granaries overflowing with food grains and how was the situation controlled?

Answer:(i) In July 2002, the stock of wheat and rice with FCI was 63 million tones which was much more than the minimum buffer norms of 24.3 million tonnes.
(ii) The stock eased after 2002-03 due to relief operations undertaken by the government as the year was declared as draught year due to failure of monsoon.
(iii) The decline in stocks continued in subsequent years. However, these remained consistently higher than the buffer norms. The situation improved with the distribution of food grains under different schemes launched by the government. 

18. What buffer norms are to be followed by the government?  

Answer: (i) There is a general consensus that high level of buffer stocks of food grains is very undesirable and can be wasteful.
(ii) The storage of massive food stocks has been responsible for high carrying cost, in addition to wastage and deterioration in grain quality.
(iii) Freezing of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for a few years should be considered seriously. The rising MSP has raised the maintenance cost of procuring food grains by the government. 

19. How does social inability to buy food also play a role in food insecurity?

Answer: (i) The SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs who have low land productivity are prone to food insecurity.
(ii) The people who are affected by natural disasters and have to migrate to other areas in search of work are also amongst the most food insecure people.
(iii) Malnutrition among women can even put the unborn baby at the risk of malnutrition. (iv) A large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers, and children under the age of 5 years are also among the food insecure population.

20. What is ‘hunger’? Differentiate between Chronic and Seasonal hunger.

Answer: Hunger is another aspect of food insecurity. Hunger is not just an expression of poverty, it brings about poverty. Its a situation when you feel hungry but are unable or cannot afford food. Difference between Chronic and Seasonal hunger:

(i) Chronic hunger
(a)It is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity and/or quality.
(b) Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low incomes and inability to buy food even for survival.

(ii) Seasonal hunger 
(a) It is related to the cycles of food growing and harvesting.
(b) This is prevalent in the rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities.
(c) In urban areas, casual labour is unable to get work for the entire year which makes him hungry. 

21. How did India aim at self-sufficiency in food grains after independence?

Answer: (i) After independence, the Indian policy makers adopted all measures to achieve self- sufficiency.
(ii) India has adopted a new strategy in agriculture called the ‘Green Revolution’, which is introduced in the production of rice and wheat.
(iii) Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India officially recorded the success of the Green Revolution by releasing a special stamp entitled ‘Wheat Revolution’.
(iv) The success of wheat was later replicated in rice.
(v) The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Haryana where food grains production jumped to an all-time high.
(vi) Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on the other hand, recorded significant increase in rice yield. 

22. What is ‘buffer stock’? Why was it created by the government?

Answer: Buffer stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).
(i) The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production.
(ii) The farmers are paid a 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 the production of these crops.
(iv) The purchased food grains are stored in granaries by the government.
(v) 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.
(vi) This also helps resolve the problem of shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or during the periods of calamity. 

23. What is the Public Distribution System?

Answer:(i) When the food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poor sections of the society, it is called the 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’, which keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking.
(iv) Items such as these are sold to people at a price lower than the market price.
(v) Any family with a ration card can buy a stipulated amount of these items every month from a nearby ration shop, depending on the number of family members.

24. What is the ‘rationing system’?

Answer:(i) It was introduced in India in the 1940s after the Bengal Famine.
(ii) The rationing system was revived in the 1960s due to food shortage in India.
(iii) Due to high incidence of poverty in the mid-1970s reported by NSSO, three food intervention programmes were introduced:
(a) Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains; already existed but strengthened later on.
(b) Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) introduced in 1975 on an experimental basis.
(c) Food For Work (FFW) Programme launched in 2004 in 150 most backward districts of the country to intensify the generation of supplementary wage employment. 

25. What is the current status of the Public Distribution System?

Answer: PDS is the most important step taken by the government of India towards ensuring food security.
(i) In the beginning, the PDS system was universal with no discrimination between the poor and the rich.
(ii) Over the years, the policy related to PDS has been revised to make it more efficient and targeted.
(iii) In 1992, Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced to provide the benefits of PDS in remote and backward areas.
(iv) From June 1997, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to target the ‘poor in all areas’. It was for the first time that a differential price policy was adopted for the poor and non-poor.
(v) In 2000, two special schemes were launched:
(a) Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)
(b) Annapurna Scheme with special target  groups of ‘poorest of the poor’ and ‘indigent senior citizens’, respectively. 

26. What are some of the important features of the PDS?

Answer: (i) It is the most effective government policy in stabilising prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices.
(ii) It helps in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to the deficit areas.
(iii) The prices have been under revision in favour of poor households in general.
(iv) Minimum Support Price announcement has increased the food production and provided income security to farmers. 

27. What is the role of ‘Cooperatives’ in food security? Or Write a note on the role of cooperatives in providing food and retained items.

Answer: (i) The Cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people.
(ii) In Delhi, ‘Mother-Dairy’ is making efforts to sell milk, milk products and vegetables at controlled rates.
(iii) Amul is another cooperative in milk and milk products in Gujarat. It has brought about the ‘White Revolution’ in the country.
(iv) In Maharashtra, Academy of Development Science (ADS) has a network of NGOs for setting up grain banks in different regions. They organize training and capacity building programmes on food security for NGOs. Grain banks are now slowly taking shape in different parts of Maharashtra.
(v) There are many more cooperatives running in different parts of the country, ensuring food security for different sections of the society. 

28. Who are food insecure in India? What is their social composition? How are they scattered over in the country?    

Answer: (i) Although a large section of people suffer from food and nutrition insecurity. In India, the worst affected groups are landless people with little or no land to depend upon, traditional services petty self employed workers and destitute including beggars. In the urban areas, the food insecure families are those whose working members are generally employed in ill paid occupations and casual labour market. Rickshaw – puller.

(ii) The Social composition along with the inability to buy food also plays a role in food insecurity. The SCs , STs and some sections of the OBCs, who have either poor land base or very low land productivity are prone to food insecurity. The people affected by natural disasters who have to migrate to other areas in search of work, are also among the most food insecure people. A large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers and children’s under the age of 5 years constitute an important segment of the food insecure population.

(iii) The food insecure people are disproportionately scattered our large areas regions in the country.