Department of Agricultural Economics UAS, G.K.V.

K, Bangalore-560065

SEMINAR REPORT On

FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA: ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPEMENT

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. T.N.PRAKASH Dr.B.V.CHINNAPPA REDDY Seminar Teachers Department of Agricultural Economics, UAS, Bangalore.

SUBMITTED BY:

HARISHKUMAR H.V PAL 0083 Sr.M.Sc(Agri.) I Semester 2011-12

12 NOV 2011

Seminar I

CONTENTS
Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
INTRODUCTION DEFINITION AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF FOOD SECURITY STATUS OF FOOD SECURITY FOOD SECURITY AND MACRO ECONOMIC POLICIES FOOD SUBSIDY IN INDIA NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY BILL (DRAFT)-2011 FOOD INSECURITY(DEFINITION, TYPES, CAUSES) ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES FOR ACHIEVING HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY CONCLUSION REFERENCES

PARTICULARS

Page No 1-2 3-8 9-11 12-12 13-13

14-23

24-25 26-26 27-31 32-32 33-33

List of Tables
Sl.No 1 2 PARTICULARS Page No 05 05 06 06 07 11 12 13 29 30

Production of Major Crops Gross Area under Major Crops Surplus and Deficit Projections of demand and supply of food grains to 2020,2030 Net Availability and Per Capita Availability of Cereals and Pulses Indicators of poverty and food security-in India Poverty by castes and other sub-groups Amount of food subsidies released by Government Net Availability, Procurement and Public Distribution of food grains Allocation and Offtake of Rice and Wheat in other food based social safety net programs Key public programs in India and their central plan and non plan outlay

3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10

11

31

List of Figures
Sl.No 1 2 3 PARTICULARS Page No 05 08 10

Production of food grain crops in India Per capita availability of food grain crops Poverty levels

Rising share of high value agricultural commodities in India

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INTRODUCTION
Human concern for food security is as old as humanity itself. The issue of food security became an international concern when world food conference in Rome (1974) adopted food security as its main topic. Declaration of this conference was that every man, woman and child have the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop fully and maintain their physical and mental faculties. The sudden rise of commodity prices, especially the food prices worldwide has brought into focus the issue of feeding the millions. Shrinking area under cereal cultivation, over the years and the general neglect of agriculture has finally led the world into a situation where there is a shortage of food grains, threatening food crisis in several countries. Though the situation in India is not as alarming as other countries, but still ensuring food for the poor remains an issue. Food security has emerged as the top issue in 2008 and dominated the front pages. Jacques Diouf, director general of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has sounded an alert and announced the world food situation is very serious today with food riots reported from many countries like Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Bangladesh: the world has just about enough cereal stocks to feed the global population for two to three months. Ensuring food security ought to be an issue of great importance for a country like India where more than one-third of the population is estimated to be absolutely poor and one-half of all children malnourished in one way or another. There have been many emerging issues in the context of food security in India in the last two decades. These are: (i) Economic liberalization in the 1990s and its impact on agriculture and food security; (ii) Establishment of WTO: particularly the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) under it; (iii)Challenges of climate change; crisis of the three Fs, viz., food prices, fuel prices, and financial crisis; (iv) The phenomenon of hunger amidst plenty, i.e., accumulation of stocks in the early years of this decade and in 2008-09 along with high levels of poverty; (v) Introduction of targeting in the Public Distribution System (PDS) for the first time in the 1990s; (vi) Right to Food campaign for improving food security in the country and the Supreme Court Orders on mid-day meal schemes; (vii) Proposal for National Food Security Law (Right to Food); and (viii) Monitorable targets under the Tenth and Eleventh Five Year Plans similar to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on poverty and women and child nutrition. These developments in the last two decades have provided both opportunities and challenges for food and nutrition security in the country.
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Attainment of self sufficiency in food grains at the national level is one of the countrys major achievements in the post-independence period. After remaining a food deficit country for about two decades after independence, India became largely self-sufficient in food grain production at the macro level. There have hardly been any food grain imports after the mid-1970s. Food grain production in the country increased from about 50 million tons in 1950-51 to around 241 million tons in 2010-11. The growth rate of food grains has been around 2.5 per cent per annum between 1951 and 2006-07. The production of oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, and milk has also increased appreciably. Where does India stand in achieving global food security? India has achieved food self sufficiency 33 years ago through dramatic investments in technology, institutions, and infrastructure. Yet Indias efforts in achieving food security for all Indians remain unimpressive. India is the only Asian country other than Bangladesh and Yemen to be in the top 25 of 97 hunger affected countries in the world. The rest of the countries come from Africa. With a population approaching almost 1.2 billion today, and likely to be the most populous country on this planet by 2030 with 1.6 billion people, currently accounting for more than 17 percent of the global population and 456 million poor or 41.6 percent living on less than $1.25 a day (Chen and Ravallion 2008), ensuring food and nutrition security is a challenge for India. Food security concerns can be traced back to the experience of the Bengal Famine in 1943 during British colonial rule. With the launching of major reforms in 1991, although liberalization was already underway since 1980s, India has grown out of a period of acute shortages and heavy dependence on food aid to self sufficiency, or broadly selfreliance in food. The Indian agricultural sector has had quite a revolutionary past with the Green Revolution in the late 1960s and 1970s, White Revolution (Operation Flood) in 1970s and 1980s, and efforts are to usher in a second green revolution to reenergize the food grain sector. The Indian agri system is also undergoing a structural transformation especially the high value segment. Production pattern are diversifying toward high value commodities such as fruit and vegetables, milk, eggs, poultry, and fish in responses to changing demand patterns fuelled by a growing economy and rising income levels. While the achievements of Indian agriculture for at least three decades since the early 1970s, together with a robust economy and buoyant external sector, have helped to ensure macro level food security to a large extent, large sections of the population continue to live in poverty and hunger.

Though India, which has one of the highest areas of area under cultivation, would survive the food grain crises, the issue of making food available to the poor remains a concern.

DEFINITION AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF FOOD SECURITY

FAO DEFINITION:(1983) All people at all times have both physical and economic access to basic food they need. WORLD BANK DEFINITION:(1986) Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Its essential elements are the availability of food and the ability to acquire it. Conceptual framework of food security and generic indicator categories are,

Natural Rainfall levels Soil quality Water availability Forest resource access Physical Livestock ownership Infrastructure access Farm implement ownership Land ownership human Gender of household head Dependency ratio Education, literacy level Household size

Total area cultivated Irrigated area Area in fallow Access to and use of inputs Number of cropping seasons Crop diversity Crop yields Food production Cash crop production

Total income Crop income Livestock income Wage income Self employment income Producer prices

Total expenditure Anthropometry Food expenditure Morbidity Non-food expenditure Mortality Consumer price Fertility Dietary intake Food frequency

Source: Chung et al.,(1997)

FOOD AVAILABILITY (PHYSICAL ACCESS) Refers to the need to produce sufficient food in a way that generates income for small scale producers while not depleting the natural resource base, and to the need to get this food into markets for sale at prices that consumers can afford. The policy goal to attain self sufficiency in food grains in a sustainable manner resulted in a major effort led by the national government in partnership with domestic partners and international agencies to mobilize technical, administrative and financial resources to launch the Green Revolution. While all India production of wheat grew at 3.8 percent in 1959/60, it registered a growth of 10.3 percent in 1969/70. The trends observed in Haryana (() 1.1% to 27.2%) and Punjab (3.8% to 25.1%) were spectacular. Between 1950/51 to 2008/09, production of food grains and its category (rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses) has increased, however the growth patterns have been volatile. Food grains comprise nearly 64 percent of the gross cropped area and account for less than 25 percent of the total output value of agriculture in 2007/08 (which in India is defined as crop, livestock and fisheries). Yet cereals (probably for food security reasons) continue to dominate the policy debate in agriculture. The high value segment accounts for 47.2 percent of the value of output of agriculture and is likely to drive the future growth in agriculture. India has emerged as the largest producer of milk (108.5 million tons in 2008/09) and the second largest producer of fruit and vegetables (197.6 million tons), production of fish has also nearly doubled since 1990/91. (Nandakumar et al., 2010) Agricultural trade in India has been growing steadily, especially during 19902009. Net agricultural exports increased from USD 2.7 billion in 1990/91 to USD 10.7 billion in 2008/09. Between 2001/02 and 2008/09, India has exported a cumulative total of 33.2 million tons of rice. Despite volatility in production patterns, there have been times when India accumulated large stocks of rice and wheat. Currently, as of 30th April, 2010, the central pool has nearly 60 million tons of rice and wheat. One of the issues pertaining to the ongoing debate on the food security is the per capita availability of food. The overall trend in per capita availability of food grains, though fluctuating has been marginally negative (with per capita availability gradually coming down). (Nandakumar et al., 2010) Given the present policy imperative of seeking self sufficiency in food production, as revealed in the Five Year Plans, India will have to largely feed itself and the challenge therefore is to do it in an environmentally and financially sustainable manner. Issues related to climate change impact on agricultural production systems, depleting water reserves need to be addressed. The governments flagship programs such as RKVY (National Agricultural Development Program), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), and programs related to irrigation (Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP), Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP), Micro Irrigation Mission (MIS), etc) are geared toward providing the much needed boost to enhancing agricultural productivity and thereby higher agricultural growth. As for the high value sector, the National Horticulture Mission is an initiative by the public sector. The issue of huge post harvest losses (nearly 20%30% in case of fruit and vegetables), poor processing levels arising from fragmented value chains require large investments and knowledge partnerships.
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Table: 1 Production of major crops (million tonnes)

commodity 196061 Food grains Cereals Pulses Rice Wheat 82.00 (100) 69.30 (84.51) 12.7 (15.48) 34.6 (49.29) 11.0 (15.87) 197071 108.40 (100) 96.6 (89.11) 11.8 (10.88) 42.2 (43.68) 23.8 (24.63) 198081 129.6 (100) 119.0 (91.82) 10.6 (8.17) 53.6 (45.04) 36.3 (30.50) 199091 176.4 (100) 162.1 (91.89) 14.3 (8.10) 74.3 (45.83) 55.1 (33.99) 200001 196.8 (100) 185.7 (94.35) 11.0 (5.58) 85.0 (45.77) 69.7 (37.53) 200506 208.6 (100) 195.2 (93.57) 13.4 (6.42) 91.8 (47.02) 69.4 (35.55) 200607 217.3 (100) 203.1 (93.46) 14.2 (6.53) 93.4 (45.98) 75.8 (37.21) 200708 230.8 (100) 216.0 (93.58) 14.8 (6.41) 96.7 (44.76) 78.6 (36.38) 200809 234.4 (100) 219.9 (93.81) 14.6 (6.22) 99.2 (45.11) 80.7 (36.69) 200910 218.2 (100) 203.6 (93.30) 14.6 (6.69) 89.1 (43.76) 80.7 (39.63) 201011 241.56 (100) 223.47 (92.51) 18.09 (7.48) 95.32 (42.65) 85.93 (38.45)

Source: Economic Survey, 2010-11

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2009, MoA, GoI 2009

Figure 1: Production of food grain crops in India: 1950-51 to 2008-09 Table 2: Gross area under major crops (Million hectares)
commodity Food grains Cereals Pulses Rice Wheat 196061 115.6 (100) 92.0 (79.58) 23.6 (20.41) 34.1 (37.06) 12.9 (14.01) 197071 124.30 (100) 101.8 (81.89) 22.6 (18.18) 37.6 (36.93) 18.2 (17.87) 198081 126.7 (100) 104.2 (82.24) 22.5 (17.75) 40.1 (38.48) 22.3 (21.40) 199091 127.80 (100) 103.2 (80.75) 24.7 (19.32) 42.7 (41.37) 24.2 (23.44) 200001 121.0 (100) 100.7 (83.22) 20.3 (16.77) 44.7 (44.38) 25.7 (25.52) 200506 121.6 (100) 99.2 (81.57) 22.4 (18.42) 43.7 (44.05) 26.5 (26.71) 200607 123.7 (100) 100.5 (81.24) 23.2 (18.75) 43.8 (43.58) 28.0 (27.86) 200708 124.1 (100) 100.4 (80.90) 23.6 (19.01) 43.9 (43.72) 28.0 (27.88) 200809 122.1 (100) 100.7 (82.47) 22.1 (18.09) 45.5 (45.18) 27.80 (27.60) 200910 121.3 (100) 98.0 (80.79) 23.4 (19.29) 41.8 (42.65) 28.50 (29.08)

Source: Economic Survey, 2010-11 8

It is observed from the table that the area under food grains is decreasing in recent years although production of food grains is increasing with slow growth rate. Table 3: Surplus and Deficit Population 2011 (Billion) Cereals 460 167.9 1.21 Requirement as per ICMR norm (MT) 203.159 Food Production 2010-11 (MT) 223.47 20.311 Surplus (MT)

Item

ICMR norm(Gms/day)

Kgs/Yr

Pulses Food grains

40

14.6

1.21

17.666

18.09

0.424

500

182.5

1.21

220.825

241.56

20.735

Table 4: Projections about demand and supply of food grains to 2020,2030

year 2020 2030

supply 257.2 288.24

demand 289.17 344.87

gap -31.97 -56.63

The yearwise data about foodgrain production is taken for trend analysis of food supply and yearwise per capita consumption and population are used to determine the future projections of foodgraina demand. The difference in projected demand and supply is calculated to see the gap. There was a large gap in the projected supply and demand hence sustainable increase in agricultural production is needed supplemented with agricultural research. FOOD ACCESS (ECONOMIC ACCESS) Relates to peoples ability to get economic access to this food. Economic access is typically constrained by income. If households cannot generate sufficient income to purchase the food, they lack an entitlement to that food. While the rising middle class in India is observed to be steering the changes in consumption patterns and driving up demand for quality food, there is a large section of the population dwelling below the poverty line. Although the proportion of poor people has come down from 55% in 1973/74 to 27.5% in 2004/05, the rate of decline has somewhat slowed down in the post
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reform period and more than 300 million people continue to live in poverty. Food accounts for more than 50 percent of the monthly per capita expenditure in India and even more for the low income groups. Hence economic access of food is an issue for the poor and vulnerable groups. However a dietary transformation is underway, with the consumption of cereals declining and that of high value food increasing. Consumption of cereals has declined over time: per capita monthly consumption of cereals has come down from nearly 15 kg in 1983 to 12 kg in 2004/05 in rural areas while that in urban area has declined from 11.3 kg to almost 10 kg. Growth alone may not be able to ensure food security of the poor and vulnerable and hence the social safety net programs and employment generating programs play an important role in improving accessibility of food by the poor and vulnerable. (Gulati,2010) The Public Distribution System (PDS) is the largest public sector managed network for distribution of essential commodities, primarily rice, wheat, sugar, and kerosene. The functioning of the PDS is a joint responsibility of both central and state governments. The PDS imposes an enormous financial burden on the public exchequer and it is quite visible from the rising food subsidy bill, (Rs 555.8 billion)(BE 2010/11). The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) aims at improving livelihood security of rural households by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work. NREGS has helped create rural job opportunities and this has an impact on the supply of agricultural laborers. Table 5: Net per capita availability of cereals and pulses
Year Cereal(Net availability) (million tons) 1951 363.20 44.80 1961 442.40 64.60 1971 551.30 84.00 1981 688.50 104.80 1991 851.70 145.70 2001 1033.20 145.60 2002 1050.60 175.90 2003 1068.20 159.30 2004 1085.60 169.10 2005 1102.80 157.30 2006 1119.80 168.80 2007 1136.60 169.00 2008 1153.10 165.90 2009 1169.40 173.70 Source: Economic Survey, 2010-11 Population (million) Pulses(net availability) (million tons) 08.00 11.10 10.30 09.40 12.90 11.30 13.60 11.30 14.20 12.70 13.30 14.70 17.60 15.80 Cereals per capita availability perday(gms) 334.20 399.70 417.60 417.30 468.50 386.20 458.70 408.50 426.90 390.90 412.80 407.40 394.20 407.00 Pulses per capita availability perday(gms) 60.70 69.00 51.20 37.50 41.60 30.00 35.40 29.10 35.80 31.50 32,50 35.50 41.80 37.00 Total per capita availability perday(gms) 394.90 468.70 468.80 454.80 510.10 416.20 494.10 437.60 462.70 422.40 445.30 442.80 436.00 444.00

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Table 3 shows that the population over a period increasing at higher rate than the net availability of cereals and pulses, per capita availability is decreasing over the years but during 2009 it has increased to 444 gms from 436 gms.

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2009, MoA, GoI 2009 Figure 2 : Per capita availability of food grain crops: 1990 to 2008 (P)

FOOD UTILIZATION:ABSORPTION (NUTRITIONAL OUTCOME) It is concern to an individuals ability to use food consumed for growth, nutrition and health in an environment lacking clean water, sanitation, childcare and health facilities, the ability to use food to promote health and nutrition will be impaired. An interrelated and important aspect yet to be effectively addressed is nutritional security. Despite intervention through several food based social safety net programs, some of them running over decades, malnutrition levels continue to be severe and persistent. There is an urgent need to envisage an integrated nutrition and health program for all vulnerable groups, with a focus on the role of gender and governance. Poor nutritional outcomes of infants and children arise from poor health status of women, overall poverty and lack of hygiene and proper health facilities. In India, 35.6% of women suffer from chronic energy deficiency (CED) indicated by the Body Mass Index (BMI) below 18.5 (Jose, Navaneetham 2010). Micronutrient deficiencies alone may cost India US$2.5 billion annually (World Bank 2010). What is the relation between agricultural performance and nutritional outcomes? Gulati and Shreedhar (2010) observe a negative correlation between value of agrioutput per hectare and malnutrition status across Indian states. Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) are two flagship public programs directed toward addressing the nutritional outcomes for women and children.

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STATUS AND MEASSUREMENT OF FOOD SECURITY The status of food security of a country needs to be assessed at three levels. First is the availability of food at national level on sustainable basis, which depends on level and growth of food production, or adequate capacity to import food (if availability elsewhere is assured). Second is the physical and economic access of all households to food. Physical access requires efficient marketing, transport, and storage system to carry the food within an easy reach or at a reasonable distance from human settlements (villages). Economic access of every household to food depends on its purchasing power and prices of food at which it is available. And third is the utilization of available food by individuals, which depends on intra-family allocation of food, and maintenance of reasonable level of health of all individuals to consume and absorb required level of food. Social factors like education, primary healthcare, gender bias, and role of women in household decisions affect food security at the individual level. India tackled the hunger and food-insecurity situation through both long-term and short-term measures. The long-term strategies like maintenance of adequate growth of national food production, and employment and incomes of masses, improvement in marketing infrastructure and access to education and primary healthcare. The short-term strategy involved selective market intervention and targeted distribution of subsidized food. MACRO FOOD SECURITY (i) The most notable change has been in the increase in national production of staple food, i.e. cereals. The production of cereals went up from 44 Mt in 1951-52 to 241.56 Mt during 2010-11. The average incremental production was around 4 Mt per year continuously for two decades from 1974-75 to 1994-95. The rate of increase came down during the later decade but has picked up again during the recent years. (ii) With the increase in domestic production of staple food, the dependence on imports was almost eliminated. Indias net exports of cereals were 0.53 Mt/year during 1990-95, 2.62 Mt/year during 1995-00 and 6.43 Mt/year during 2000-05. (iii) In addition to the increase in domestic cereal production, the inter-year instability in production was reduced considerably. This happened for two reasons. First, the irrigated area under cereals expanded considerably, reducing the dependency on uncertain rainfalls. Out of the total cereal area, irrigated area increased from 23.1 per cent in 1964-65 to 50.6 per cent by 200405. And second, the share of more stable grains (wheat) increased while that of unstable grains (coarse cereals) decreased. Wheat, which had accounted for 15.2 per cent of total cereals in 1964-65, increased its share to 36.3 per cent in 2007-08. On the other hand, the share of coarse cereals declined from 34.1 per cent to 17.7 per cent during this period. (v) Another noteworthy feature of Indias advancements in macro food-security is that 96.5 per cent of the incremental output of cereals between 1964-65 and 2006-07 was due to improvements in the per hectare productivity (yield); and area expansion, accounting for only 3.5 per cent. The improvement in yield resulted from advancements in technology, irrigation, and the diversion of low-yielding crops to high-value produce. (Acharya., 2009)

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HOUSEHOLD AND INDIVIDUAL FOOD-SECURITY (i)There has been a considerable improvement in physical access of households to food in different parts of the country, which was contributed by several factors. First, the share of rice, which is more geographically dispersed, in total staple food, continues to be quite high at around 45 per cent. Second the expansion of network of public distribution system. And third, expansion of road networks, creation of primary market yards, and building-up of storage facilities in the rural areas increased physical access of rural households to food. (ii)There has been considerable reduction in hunger or non-availability of food at the household level. As per large sample surveys of NSSO, the percentage of households not getting enough food daily even in some months declined from 16.2 % in 1983 to 1.9 % in 2004-05. (iii)Economic poverty is an important factor affecting food security at the household level. Over the years, the incidence of poverty, in both rural and urban areas, has declined considerably. The percentage of population below poverty line declined from 51 per cent in 1977-78 to 22 per cent in 2004-05. (Acharya., 2009).

Source: Planning Commission estimates from Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2009. Figure 3: Poverty levels: 1973/74 to 2004/05 MEASSUREMENT OF FOOD SECURITY The food security concept addresses peoples risk of not having access to the required food. These risks can be with respect to crop production, employment and income. Therefore the multiple dimensions of food insecurity suggest that that there can be no single indicator for measuring it. Access to the needed food is necessary, but not a sufficient condition for a healthy life. A number of other factors, such as the health and sanitation environment and household or public capacity to care for vulnerable members of society also come into picture. Availability of food and access to food are two essential determinants, but the first does not ensure the second; food may be available, but a household, for various reasons may not have access to it. Global, regional and national food security can be monitored in terms food demand, supply and stock and trade indicators. Food production, stock holding and trade are the primary determinants of national, regional and local availability food. Variations in availability or prices can contribute to food insecurity by causing fluctuations in food consumption. Poverty is a major determinant of chronic food insecurity.
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Table 6: Indicators of poverty and food security-in India (2011)

Sl. No. State Deficit in food production (mt) % BPL Rural infrastructure index(%) Rural literacy(%)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

ANDHRAPRADESH ASSAM BIHAR CHATTISGARH GUJARAT HARYANA HIMACHALPRADESH KARNATAKA KERALA JARKHAND MADHYAPRADESH MAHARASHTRA ORISSA PUNJAB RAJASTHAN TAMILNADU UTTARPRADESH UTTARANCHAL WESTBENGAL

1.16 1.29 1.55 0.42 1.74 0.33 0.76 1.11 3.99 3.70 1.12 1.27 1.13 0.16 1.25 1.18 0.94 0.85 1.18

15.92 45.01 56.93 44.38 22.18 28.02 30.34 29.88 25.76 62.00 42.05 37.93 49.72 11.95 26.46 32.48 44.24 24.98 40.80

42.80 74.76 99.20 60.00 30.80 34.90 11.80 35.80 39.70 80.00 57.40 32.40 64.60 37.70 56.90 31.40 84.10 70.00 89.90

55.33 60.92 44.42 76.23 58.53 64.00 74.38 60.00 90.05 46.26 58.10 71.00 66.44 65.00 56.00 67.00 54.00 61.00 64.00

Source: Kurukshetra,2011

It is seen from the table 4 that Kerala is most food insecure by way of deficit in food production to the extent of 3.99 mt followed by Jharkhand and Gujarat to the extent of 3.70 mt and 1.74 mt respectively. It is also clear that Jharkhand (62%) is having maximum per cent BPL followed by Bihar (56.93) and Orissa (49.72). In regard to rural infrastructure index Bihar (99.20) stood at 1st place and followed by West Bengal (89.90) and Uttar Pradesh (84.10). Whereas Kerala(90.05%) stood at 1st place in rural literacy followed by Chattisgarh(76.23%) and Himachal Pradesh(74.38%).

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Table 7: Poverty by castes and other sub-groups (% of the population in poverty) Year All Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes All Hindus Muslims Other Minorities Source: Sukhadeo, 2011 1983 46.5 59.0 63.9 47.0 51.2 30.2 1993-94 37.2 48.6 50.6 36.8 45.2 26.8 2004-05 28.0 37.1 44.7 28.0 33.0 17.9

FOOD SECURITY AND MACRO ECONOMIC POLICIES MACRO ECONOMIC POLICIES

In India macro-economic policies can be view from the point of fiscal policy and monetary policy. Suppose if government employs contractionary fiscal policy by way of reduction in public expenditure and increase in taxes will going to lead lower investment in agriculture which intern leads to reduction in food availability backed up by lowered purchasing power and the rerverse happens when it follows expansionary fiscal policy. Monetary policy is a central banks action to influence the availability of finance through changing cost of credit either by increasing or decreasing the interest rates by changing its key rates. Suppose if central bank increases its key rates then there will be rise in cost of credit which affects the agricultural production by making farming as expensive and the reverse happens when it decreases its key rates. Dreze and sen (1989) have made a distinction between the approaches followed in the different policies as growth mediated security and support-led security. The growth-mediated security aims to promote economic growth and take the best possible advantage of the potentialities released by greater general affluence, including not only an expansion of private incomes but also an improved basis for public support. The support-led security envisages to resort directly to wide-ranging public support in domains such as employment provision, income distribution, health care, education and social assistance in order to remove destitution without waiting for a transformation in the level of general affluence.

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FOOD SUBSIDY IN INDIA Food subsidy is the difference between MSP plus handling/distribution expenses incurred by Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the issue prices of food grains under PDS. This is the amount disbursed by the government to FCI for its procurement, handling and distribution activities. In India, the food subsidy has served the multiple objectives of minimum guaranteed prices to the farmers, maintenance of buffer stocks, supply of subsidized food grains under identified schemes of the government, and occasionally open market sales for stabilizing market prices. The magnitude of food subsidies is, therefore, linked to the scale of operations for achieving the above-mentioned national objectives. The food subsidy in India which was 0.43 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 1990-91 (Rs 24.5 billion), and 0.57 per cent (Rs 120.1 billion) of GDP in 2000-01, increased further due to higher commitment of distribution of subsidized food grains under different programmes. The food subsidy increased to Rs 241.8 billion, accounting for around 0.99 per cent of GDP during 2002-03 due to severe drought in the country. However, since then, the food subsidy has been relatively contained. During 2007-08, the food subsidy, as reflected in the Union Budget, was Rs 254 billion, accounting for 0.62 per cent of GDP. (Acharya.,2009) Table 8: Amount of food subsidies released by Government Year
1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

Food subsidy
(Rs crore)
9,200.00 12,010.00 17,494.00 24,176.45 25,160.00 25,746.45 23,071.00 23,827.59 31,259.68 43,668.08 46,906.68

Annual growth
(per cent)
05.75 30.54 45.66 38.20 04.07 02.33 -10.39 03.28 31.19 39.69 07.42

2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

Source: Economic Survey, 2009-10 There was drastic increase in the food subsidy released by GOI, during 1999-00 it was just 9200 crore but in 2009-10 it was 46906.68 crore. The growth in food subsidy was positive in all years except during 2005-06.
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NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY BILL (DRAFT)-2011

It is an Act to ensure public provisioning of food and related measures to enable assured economic and social access to adequate food, for all persons in the country, at all times, in pursuance of their fundamental right to live with dignity. The National Food Security Act 2011 is the most expansive-politicians have called it showpiecelegislation of the UPA government in its second term in office. It covers all India, except Jammu and Kashmir. The priority households, the main beneficiaries of this bill, will be selected from the poorest 46% in rural areas and 26% in urban areas. Another 29% and 22% of the population from rural and urban areas respectively will be treated as general category. The bill also guarantees 7 kgs of grain to every person belonging to priority households and 3 kgs to individuals from general households every month at subsidized prices. The draft has cast the so-called National Food Security Bill 2011 into the mother of all welfare schemes by providing free food to children and pregnant women and encompassing swathes of people such as the destitute, the homeless and migrant workers,. The draft bill also envisions a radical change in welfare schemes by making women of 18 years and above as head of selected households that can access rice, wheat and nutri-cereals with ration cards. Short Title, Extent and Commencement This Act may be called the National Food Security Act 2011. It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir: Provided that the Central Government, may with the consent of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, extend the Act to the State. It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint: Provided that this Act shall be brought into force in the whole of the territory to which it extends within a period of one year from the date of passage of this act and different sections may be brought into force on different dates.
SHARING OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES (1)Subject to the Rules as maybe prescribed, the Central Government shall provide to the State governments the following namely:

(a) Food grains free of cost, including costs of storage and transportation; or the cash equivalent of the procurement costs borne by State Governments in case of decentralized procurement, to State Governments; (b) Administrative expenses of a minimum of six percent for the implementation of this act; (2) All other costs incurred under this Act, shall be shared between Central and State governments in such a way that Central Government bears at least 70% of all costs.

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RIGHT TO FOOD SECURITY

Right to access of food security

Every person shall have physical, economic and social access, at all times, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate, sufficient and safe food, which ensures an active and healthy life.

Life-Cycle Approach

Food Security and the obligations created under this Act of appropriate governments shall be based on access to adequate and appropriate food throughout the life cycle of a human being from pregnancy to old age so as to ensure a healthy body and mind. On and from the date of enactment of the Act, the State Government shall provide all pregnant and nursing women the following: (a) Take-home rations or nutritious and freshly cooked meals, free of charge, during pregnancy and 6 months thereafter through the local anganwadi ; (b) Maternity benefits of Rs. 1000 per month, for a period of six months, Provided the sum of Rs1000 per month shall be revised every year based on an appropriate price index as determined by the Central Government; On and from the date of coming into force of the Act, the State Government shall provide : (a) nutritious Take Home Rations and/or local and freshly cooked meals throughout the year through the local Anganwadi to all children in the age group of 0 3 years (b) local and freshly cooked meal in the local Anganwadi, for at least 300 days in a year to all children in the age group of 3 to 6 years; (c) services including but not limited to supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check-ups, referral services, growth monitoring and promotion and pre-school education to all children in the age group of 0 -6 years;

Entitlements of Pregnant and Nursing Women

Entitlements of children at the age group of 0 - 6 years

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Midday meal to Children

(1) On and from the date of enactment of this Act, the State Government shall provide all children of the age group 6 to 14 years, at least one freshly cooked nutritious midday meal in all schools run by local bodies, government and government-aided schools up to Class 8 or beyond, as may be specified by the central and state governments from time to time, everyday of the year, except school holidays, of equal or greater amount, (2)Every school shall have appropriate facilities for the purpose of hygienic cooking and clean drinking water as prescribed. (3)The food provided through the mid-day meal shall be locally appropriate and nutritious. (1)On and from the date of enactment of this Act, the State government shall, identify children who suffer from all or any grades of malnutrition as well as those experiencing growth faltering or nutritional deterioration. (2) Parents or guardians of every malnourished Child shall be provided support through Nutrition counseling for appropriate therapeutic foods, health checkups and referral Services, free of charge. (3) All severely underweight, undernourished or sick malnourished children shall be entitled, free of charge, to appropriate therapeutic foods. Any child below the age of 14, including those that are out-of-school, may approach any feeding facility such as anganwadi centre, school mid-day meals, destitute feeding centers etc., as defined under this Act, for a freshly cooked nutritious meal; no such institution may deny a freshly cooked nutritious meal to such a child on any grounds whatsoever by modalities that will be notified in the Rules.

Prevention and Treatment of Child Malnutrition

No denial to any child

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ENTITLEMENTS OF SPECIAL GROUPS Entitlement of Destitute persons

The State Government shall provide all destitute persons at least one freshly cooked meal every day, free of charge, at a location close to their home, or if they are homeless, close to the place they are ordinarily to be found in, in accordance with appropriate schemes to be piloted and specified under this Act. The State Government shall ensure urban homeless and such other needy persons as deemed appropriate, have access to affordable meals by appropriate scheme to be piloted, through a scheme of Community Kitchens run by any agency identified by the appropriate government, or any other method. Migrants and their families shall be able to claim all entitlements as specified under Section 4 to Section 12 of this Act, at whatever location in the country is their current place of residence.

Entitlement of Homeless Persons

Entitlements of Migrants

Emergency and Disaster Affected Persons

(1) Upon a declaration that an emergency or disaster situation exists by the State Government, provide to all persons affected by the emergency or disaster situation, subsidized food grains at priority quantities and rates specified in Section 24, immediately thereafter, for a period of one year. (2) All destitute persons, senior citizens, pregnant and nursing women and children, affected by the emergency or disaster, shall be provided two freshly cooked meals every day, free of charge, for a period of 3 months after the disaster. (3) All households shall be assured at least 200 days of wage employment for one year at minimum wages or equivalent income in case wage employment is not available or family members are not capable of working for wages

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RIGHT OF PERSONS LIVING IN STARVATION The State Government shall make all reasonable Right of persons living in starvation efforts to ensure that all persons, households, groups or communities living in starvation or conditions akin to starvation are provided appropriate food to restore them with immediate effect to a condition of good health of the body and mind and for that purpose and such persons shall be entitled to the benefits mentioned in section 16 hereto.

Immediate Relief from Starvation

All persons, households, groups or communities living in starvation or conditions akin to starvation shall with immediate effect be provided with the following: (a) freshly cooked meals, at least 2 times a day, free of charge, to pregnant and nursing women, children, and destitute persons; (b) Rs. 2000 as maternity benefits to the pregnant and nursing women; (c) Subsidized food grains of twice the amount specified for priority households as specified in Schedule 4, free of charge for period, for a period of six months; (d) All households shall be assured at least 200 days of wage employment for two years at minimum wages or equivalent income in case wage employment is not available or family members are not capable of working for wages
(1) The State Government shall within 6 months of the Act coming into force, establish, through a Code, the processes for investigating starvation and protocols for mandatory intervention by State authorities for relief, prevention and accountability that are in conformity with the provisions of this Act, to be known as the Starvation Protocol. (2) The Protocol shall establish processes which shall be transparent, reliable and respectful of the dignity of all persons. (3) State governments shall clearly designate authorities, at state, district and local levels, directly responsible for preventing starvation and starvation death.

Starvation Protocol

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RIGHT TO RECEIVE SUBSIDIZED FOOD GRAINS Identification of Households The State Government shall, based on the criteria notified by the Central Government identify households known as the Priority households and General households and issue to them appropriate Ration Cards to enable them to receive food grains at the rates applicable to them Subsidized Food Grains to rural households

(1) The State Government shall provide to all rural households on the basis of criteria notified by the Central Government, subsidized food grains at the rates specified in Section 24 hereto, to be known as the Rural Priority Households. (2) All rural households other than those in the priority households shall be entitled to subsidized food grains at the rates specified in Section 25 here to, to be known as the Rural General Households. (3) The State Government may exclude persons who fulfill the exclusion criteria notified by the Central Government, to be known as the excluded category and such households shall not be entitled to subsidized food grains; Provided that not less than 46% of all rural households shall be designated as Rural Priority Households. Provided, further, 90% of all rural households are entitled to subsidized food grains.

Rates for General Households

The State Government shall provide General Households whether Rural or Urban a minimum of 4 kilograms of food grains per person per month, at a price not exceeding 50 per cent of the Minimum Support Price for paddy, wheat and millets,. Provided that single-member households shall receive a minimum of 8 kilograms of grain per month at the same prices.

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Rate for Priority Households The State Government shall provide Priority Households whether Rural or Urban a minimum of 7 kilograms of food grains per person per month, at a price not exceeding Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg for millets at 2011-11 rates, which will not be revised upward for a minimum period of 10 years from the date of notification of the Act. Provided that single-member households shall receive a minimum of 14 kilograms of grain per month at the same prices.

Subsidized Food Grains to urban households

(1) The State Government shall provide to all urban households on the basis of criteria notified by the Central Government, subsidized food grains at the rates specified in Section 24 hereto, to be known as the Urban Priority Households. (2) All urban households other than those in the priority households shall be entitled to subsidized food grains at the rates specified in Section 25 here to, to be known as the Urban General Households. (3) The State Government may exclude persons who fulfill the exclusion criteria notified by the Central Government, to be known as the excluded category and such households shall not be entitled to subsidized food grains; Provided that not less than 28% of all urban households are categorized as Urban Priority Households. Provided, further, 50% of all urban households are entitled to subsidized food grains.

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PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM Procurement of Food Grains (1)The Central Government shall procure or cause to procure food grains through its agencies and /or the State Governments and their agencies, as may be necessary from time to time, adequate food grains to meet the requirements under this Act, (2) The Central Government shall make appropriate efforts to expand decentralized procurement in states. (3) Central and state governments shall take measures to promote and facilitate the procurement of millets and other nutritious grains, by ensuring appropriate quality standards, timely announcement of support prices, and adequate procurement arrangements. (4) The appropriate government will open procurement centers within a radius of 10 kilometers wherever feasible and provide on spot payment to farmers. (1) The Central Government shall either on its own or through any other Government agency designated by it ensure physical delivery of food grains of fair quality to the State Governments for distribution under the Public Distribution System and for the aforesaid purpose make allocation in a timely manner and issue release orders for the aforesaid purpose. (2) The State Government shall on getting an allocation of food grains from the Central Government issue district wise allocation orders and make arrangements for the food grains to be delivered to the district godowns and further to the fair price shops. (3) While making the aforesaid allocation, the Central Government and the State Government shall take into consideration the number of individuals and households in rural and urban areas eligible to receive subsidized food grains and make allocations to the appropriate extent. (4) State Governments shall make arrangements for taking delivery of food grains issued by the Central Government by their designated agencies or nominees from the Food Corporation of India depots/godowns and ensure further delivery to the fair price shop within the first week of the month for which allocation is made. (5) State Governments shall ensure that stocks of food grains under the Public Distribution System, as issued from the Food Corporation of India godowns, are not replaced by stocks of inferior quality during storage.
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Distribution of Food Grains

Fair Price Shops

(1) The State government shall set up Fair Price shops for the delivery of subsidized food grains within 3 Kilometers of a habitation. (2) The State Government shall, when issuing licenses for fair price shops, give preference to community institutions such as Self-Help Groups and Cooperatives or public bodies such as Gram Panchayats or nongovernmental organizations. (3) The State Government shall undertake appropriate measures to ensure that the daily management of Fair Price Shops shall, wherever possible, be done by women or womens collectives. (4) The State Government shall ensure that the Fair Price Shops are financially viable by ensuring that reasonable commissions and operational costs are provided in a time bound manner. (5) The responsibilities and duties of fair price shop owners shall include, inter alia (i) Sale of essential commodities as per the entitlement of ration card holders at the retail issue prices fixed by the concerned State Government under the Public Distribution System; (ii) Display of information on a notice board at a prominent place in the shop on daily basis. (iii) Maintenance of records of ration card holders, stock register, issue or sale register; (iv) Furnishing of copies of specified documents, namely, ration card register, stock register, sale register, to the office of the Gram Panchayat. (6) Opening and closing of the fair price shop as per the prescribed timings displayed on the notice board. (7) The manager of each Fair Price Shop shall be responsible for ensuring that details of food transactions are promptly entered in the ration cards of the recipients, in legible writing, along with the managers signature. (1) Every identified household shall receive a ration card which shall be designed to include a clear entitlements page, written in simple words in the official language(s) of the state, with details of food grain entitlements as well as helpline numbers and grievance redressal mechanisms. (2) Ration cards shall be issued in the name of an adult woman member of the family, if any. (3) The State Government shall ensure that no eligible household is denied a ration card under the Public Distribution System. (4) The designated authority shall issue a ration card within one month of the date of survey or of receipt of the application after necessary checks and verification. (5) The State Government shall upon application make any additions or alterations in the ration card within one month of receipt of application (6) The State Government shall conduct periodical checking of ration cards to clear ineligible and bogus ration cards as well as bogus units in ration cards.
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Ration Cards

NATIONAL FOOD COMMISSION AND STATE FOOD COMMISSION The Central Government and State Government shall constitute a body known as the National Food Commission and State Food Commission to exercise the powers and perform the functions assigned to it under this Act. Functions of National Food Commission and state Food Commission:(a) Suo moto or on a receipt of information, inquire into(i) Violation of any provisions and any schedule mentioned there under, of this Act; (ii) Dereliction of duty by a public servant as defined under Section 85 of this Act: (b) Intervene in any proceeding involving any allegation of denial of entitlement pending before a court with the approval of such court. (c)Advice the Central Government on framing appropriate schemes for all the entitlements provided under this Act (d)Advise the Central and State government, their agencies, autonomous bodies as well as non governmental organizations involved in delivery of relevant services, steps for the effective implementation of schemes made under this Act, to enable individuals to fully access all food entitlements created by the Act. (e)Monitor the conditions of persons living in starvation and where necessary give appropriate advice to the State Government. (f) Frame requisite guidelines for training and capacity building of all persons charged with the duty of implementation of the schemes as well as Nodal Officers and District Grievance Redressal Officer. (g) Identify an area affected by a natural or human made disaster or emergency which threatens the food security of its residents and recommend to the central and state governments or to the National Disaster management Authority, for notification of the said area. (h) Impose penalties in accordance with Section 87 of this Act. PROGRESSIVE REALISATION OF FOOD SECURITY For further advancing food and nutritional security, central, state and local governments shall progressively endeavor to (a)Make efforts to revitalize agriculture and promote agrarian reform, through measures such as securing the interests of small and marginal farmers through remunerative prices, credit, irrigation, crop insurance and technical assistance, and focus on dry land regions; (b)Prohibit unnecessary and unwarranted diversion of land and water from food production; and promote decentralized food production, procurement and distribution systems; (c)Pay particular attention to small farmers; and women and youth farmers who constitute the majority of the farming population; (d)Progressively increase investments in agriculture, research and development, extension, micro and minor irrigation and rural power supply; (e)Diversify commodities available under the Public Distribution System (PDS), to include over time pulses, oil and cooking fuel; (f)Provide universal access to safe and adequate drinking water and sanitation. (g)Progressively realize universal health care coverage;
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FOOD INSECURITY (DEFINITION, TYPES, CAUSES) USDA definition of food insecurity: Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited, or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways There are two types of food insecurity: Temporary food insecurity: It is due to sudden unpredictable shocks like drought, insect or pest attack, unemployment etc, which directly cause food insecurity. Cyclical or seasonal food insecurity: Cyclical or seasonal food insecurity is where food insecurity follows a regular cyclical pattern of inadequate access to food. The poorest people, who are chronically food insecure, are hit hardest by transitory food insecurity, which implies a temporary decline in access to food especially in case of households. Groups vulnerable to food insecurity: There are three groups vulnerable to food insecurity which are included RURAL :It consists of unskilled landless, substance farmers, low-income farmers, shepherds etc. URBAN : It consists of unemployed and self-employed people etc. GENERAL: It consists of female headed households.

CAUSES OF FOOD INSECURITY I) CHRONIC POVERTY: The most important cause of food insecurity is chronic poverty, which is continuing lack of economic opportunity either to produce adequate food or to purchase adequate food. II) LOW AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY: Agricultural productivity over the period in India is remained low compared to other developing countries. Therefore India cannot able to produce sufficient food for the their growing population and this has resulted in the food insecurity. III) HIGH RATES OF POPULATION GROWTH: Rapid population growth rate is an important cause of food insecurity which increases the number of malnourished and weakens the capacity of the country to achieve food self-sufficiency through domestic production. IV) CIVIL CONFLICTS: Civil war and racial conflicts also threaten food security by reduction of food production and disputing traditional agriculture. V) POOR INFRASTRUCTURE: Poor infrastructure is also a factor contributing to food insecurity. Increase in the agricultural production only will not increase food security if farm

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production is unable to make it to market. For example infrastructure facility like transportation facility, market facility etc. VI) ECOLOGICAL CONSTRAINT: Ecological constraints like poor soil quality, decrease in the ground water table..Etc will directly influence food security by reducing food production. VII) INAPPROPRIATE ECONOMIC POLICIES: Inappropriate policies, which result in disincentives to local production and efficient marketing, are another cause of food insecurity. VIII) LIMITED ARABLE LAND: Limitations of arable land prevent from increasing the agricultural products by expanding area under cultivation. IX) RISING SHARE OF HIGH VALUE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES: It is seen from the below figure the share of high value commodities increased from 1983 to 2008, the share of food grains was reduced from 31.7 to 24.9 for above mentioned years.

Source: National Accounts Statistics, Central Statistical Organization, GOI 2007&09 Figure 4: Rising share of high value agricultural commodities in India

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ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS OF FOOD SECURITY Increase in food production can damage or degrade natural resources in many ways including, I) SOIL DEGRADATION Expansion of agriculture on less suitable land exposes fragile soils to the dangers of erosion and nutrient depletion. The soil degradation may be due to water erosion, wind erosion, chemical degradation and physical degradation. In recent years the loss of top soil is being increasing which resulted in the poor productivity. To achieve food security one must reverse the current path of land and water degradation. II) DRAINGE OF WETLANDS Felling and drainage of mangrove forests and other coastal wetlands destroys spawning and feeding of grounds for fisheries since major fisheries production originates from coastal ecosystems. III) LOSS OF BIO DIVERSITY The conversion of forests and other natural habitats to food production has been the primary reason for the rapid loss of biological diversity that threatens 5-20 percent of some groups of plants and animals with extinction. IV) OVER FISHING Almost 70 percent of stocks of marine fisheries for which assessments are available are being fished at levels close to or beyond the maximum sustainable yield. V) DEFORESTATION Another important effect is the deforestation where the forest lands are exposed for agricultural purpose which has resulted in the reduction in the forest area. VI) FOOD WASTAGE Enormous amount of food is being wasted in the many ceremonies, marriage occasions apart from that post harvest losses constitutes to 30-35% of food. A chunk of grain mountains rotting at Food Corporation of India due to lack of storage faciltys. Grain worth of Rs, 527 crore was lossed from past 50 years. VII) ANAMOLIES IN THE SYSTEM There is lot of indescrepience happening in the system of public distribution. Planning commission evaluation (2003) reveals that 58% of subsidized food grains do not reach BPL families, for one rupee transfer to poor the government spends 3.65 rupees, fair price shops are not viable. VIII) HIGH FOOD SUBSIDIES The release of higher food subsidies by the government has resulted in the labour shortage apart it created reduction in labour productivity. IMPLICATION There is a need to evolve strategies to manage natural resources and should check the problems like overfishing, deforestation and erosion etc,. Provision for overlapping of welfare schemes having similar objectives whether it is central or state programme. Proper management of storage and distribution system of PDS and other welfare schemes. Establishment of monitoring agencies at grass root level to check the indescripiences.
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POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES FOR ACHIEVING HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY The policies and programmes for achieving household food security are based on the identification of the characteristics of the food insecure households and individuals. There is close relationship between poverty and household food security, which highlights the relevance of various macro-economic policies and poverty alleviation programmes. Since the majority of poor lives in the rural areas and since most of them are small farmers or landless agricultural labourers, the policies pursued in relation to agricultural development have a high significance. Apart from macro-economic policies in general and in particular the agricultural policies and poverty alleviation programmes, a number of direct interventions such as public distribution of food grins and feeding programmes are relevant in the context of achieving household food security. MACRO ECONOMIC POLICIES Macro-economic policies have both short-run and long-run effects on food security of the poor through its implications for employment, income and prices. In the early years of planned economic development in India, growth was visualized as an important contributor of poverty alleviation. A number of anti-poverty programmes were also initiated to combat poverty. The measures initiated for restructuring the economy through macroeconomic adjustments and trade liberalization also have its impact on employment and income levels of the poor. Price policies and measurements for controlling inflation are expected to help the poor to improve the consumption basket. AGRICULTURAL POLICIES Agricultural development policies pursued by the central and state governments have wide ranging influence on food security through availability of food, farm income and employment opportunities. The specific policies followed in this category include support for technology, irrigation, farm inputs, agricultural prices, agricultural credit, institutional framework including tenancy and land reforms, agricultural trade and infrastructure including agro-processing industries, transport facilities and agricultural marketing. Most of these policies were initiated to achieve the national goals such as self-sufficiency in food production, equity and resource use efficiency. Programmes for increased food production, both for home consumption and for commercial purposes, influence household food security through increased physical access and increased purchasing power through sale of agricultural products and promotion of employment opportunities (Binswanger et al, 1991).

ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMMES The various anti-poverty programmes followed in India can be broadly classified as, Income and employment generating programmes and Target oriented programmes.
INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATING PROGRAMMES

The Income and employment generating programmes pursued in India belong to two broad categories of self employment and wage-employment. The major self employment programmes includes
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INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME(IRDP) The basic objective of the IRDP which was introduced during the sixth five year plan (1980-85) period is to enable identified rural poor families to augment their incomes and cross the poverty line through acquisition of credit based productive assets(GOI,1999,P.147). Assistance provided under this programme includes subsidy by the government and a low-interest term credit by financial institutions for income generating activities. The level of family investment increased from Rs. 1,642 during 1980-81 to Rs.17,441 during 1998-99. TRAINING OF RURAL YOUTH FOR SELF EMPLOYMENT(TRYSEM) The objective of the programme is to train rural youth in the age group of 18-35 from the families below poverty line to develop some skills required for them to take up self-employment programmes in the broad fields of agriculture and allied activities, industries and service sectors. There is also a provision for assistance to start own enterprises with loan and subsidy under IRDP to the rural youths trained under TRYSEM. SWARNA JAYANTI GRAM SWAROZGAR YOJANA(SJSGY) IRDP, TRYSEM, DWCRA, MSW, SITRA and Ganga Kalyan Yojana were restructured into a self employment programme called SGSY in 1999.The schemes aims at establishing a large number of micro enterprises in rural areas. It also aimed at bringing assisted poor families above poverty line in 3 years by providing income generating assets through mix of bank credit and government subsidy. SAMPOORNA GRAMMEN ROJGAR YOJANA(SGRY) Employment Assurance Scheme(EAS) and Jawahar Grameena Swarozgar Yojana(JGSY) were merged into SGRY on September 2001with the objective of providing additional wage employment and food security in rural areas, alongside creation of durable community assets. DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN RURAL AREAS(DWCRA) It is a sub-component of the IRDP and its main objective is to provide opportunities of selfemployment to women members of households below poverty line. JAWAHAR ROZGAR YOJANA(JRY) JRY, which was created by merging the earlier programmes of National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme(RLEGP), is the major wage employment programme. The main objective of JRY is to create additional gainful employment for the unemployed and under employed rural population living below the poverty line.
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (MGNREGA) NREGA was launched on February 2, 2007, Ongoing schemes SGSY and NFFWP were submerged into NREGP. It covers 580 districts, providing effective employment for 100 days to every house hold whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. During financial year of 2006-07 Rs 11000 crore, 2008-09 Rs 37397.06 crore, 2009-10 Rs 39100 crore and 2010-11 Rs 40100 crore were allotted. (while Rs 79387 crore were allotted during this financial year to rural development, >50% of this were allotted to MGNREGA).
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TARGET ORIENTED PROGRMMES PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM(PDS) The PDS, which has origin during the second world war period, has been an important source for enhancing the food security of the poor(George,1983). The central Government has the responsibility for the supply of rice, wheat, sugar, imported edible oils and kerosene to the state governments and these items are distributed through a network of about 4.5 lakh retail outlets known as the fair price shops. In view of the increased subsidy involved in the operation, from June 1997 a revised scheme of distribution known as the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced. The TPDS envisages a two-tier system of delivery to households Below Poverty Line(BPL) and Above Poverty Line with BPL families receiving food grains at heavily subsidized prices.

Table 9: Net availability, procurement and public distribution of foodgrains (Million tonnes)
Net procurement availability of food grains 1951 52.40 03.80 1961 75.70 00.50 1971 94.30 08.90 1981 114.30 13.00 1991 158.60 19.60 2001 156.90 42.60 2002 189.50 40.30 2003 170.60 34.50 2004 183.30 41.10 2005 170.00 41.50 2006 181.90 37.00 2007 183.70 35.80 2008 183.50 54.20 2009 189.50 60.50 Source: Economic Survey,2010-11 Year Public distribution

08.00 04.00 07.80 13.00 20.80 13.20 18.20 23.20 28.30 31.00 31.80 32.80 34.70 41.30

Table 6 shows the increase in the both procurement and distribution of food grains. During the periods of distribution exceeding the procurement the balance is derived from imports from the surplus countries.

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NUTRITIONAL PROGRAMMES INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICE(ICDS) The target group includes the children below the age of 6 and expectant and nursing mothers, offer a package of services including health check-ups, immunization, supplementary feeding, nutrition and health, pre-school education for children and nutrition education for mothers. The ICDS which was started with 33 experimental projects has expanded to about 3400 projects covering about 18 million children and 3.5 million mothers. MID-DAY MEAL PROGRAMME The target group includes the children between age groups of 2-14 attending schools. It was implemented in 1975 to universalize primary education, later renamed as nutritional support to primary education. This programme is also been started for high school level in many states. ANTYODAYA ANNA YOJANE(AAY) AAY ensures food security to the poorest of the poor; beneficiaries under this scheme are given 25kg of food grain @ Rs 3/ kg. ANNAPURNA SCHEME This scheme started in 2000-01 ensures food security to the senior citizens of 65 years of age or above who are not getting pension, beneficiaries are supplied with 10kg per month of food grains free of cost. Table 10: Allocation and offtake of rice and wheat in other food based social safety net programs (2010-11) PROGRAMS ALLOCATIO OFF-TAKE % OFF-TAKE N (1000TONNE (1000TONNE S) S) Mid day meal 2626 2019 76.9 WBNP ICDS 810 607 74.9 Scheme for supply 408 284 69.6 of food grains to SC/ST/OBC hostels/welfare institutions Annapurna scheme 169 95 56.2 Nutritional program 111 59 53.2 for adolescent girls Emergency feeding 18 17 94.4 program Total 4142 3081 74.4 Source: Department of Food and Public Distribution,2010-11 Above table reveals that more than 60% of total allocation of rice is allocated for mid-day meal programme, followed by ICDS programme.

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Table 11: Key public programs in India and their central plan and non plan outlay: 2010/11 Key Programs Outlay (billion Rs) 67.22 13.50 115.00 10.00 10.60 499.80 401.00 555.80 87.00 94.00 150.00 154.40 bill (555.8 billion) and

Availability Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) National Food Security Mission (NFSM) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP) Micro Irrigation National Horticulture Mission (NHM) Fertilizer subsidy Accessibility National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Food Subsidy Bill Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) Absorption Mid Day Meal Scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Source: GoI 2010b Maximum outlay among key public programmes is for food subsidy fertilizer subsidy (499.8 billion)

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CONCLUSION Food security in terms of availability, access, and absorption or nutrition is inter-related. For example, availability and access to food can increase nutrition among the households. So one should think in above perspective in order to achieve food security. Although India has many policies and programmes however, food insecurity and malnutrition continue to be high. The problem is with both design and implementation of the programmes. So better governance is very important for effective functioning of food-based programmes. The major problems of Indiass food security is related to the resources and means of having access to stock powers of good grains. Lack of food is due to the lack of the means to acquire it not due to shortfall in food grains as commonly understood. In India as agriculture is the main issue of income sector for vast majority of population. Sustained growth of agriculture sector is very vital to ensure food security. However food lost by ceremonial occasions should not be ignored. What needs to be done is to improve the system-whether of the procurement agencies, the fair price shops or the methods of distribution. The coming national food security bill-2011 should be implemented effectively in order to come out from the problem of food insecurity. The government should develop appropriate policies and programmes to check malnutrition as human right issues. The country can achieve to food security by efficient use of resources, increasing agricultural productivity by agricultural research, investment in human capital and rural infrastructure, encourage farmers for land consolidation and reducing population. To feed the increasing population, the challenge for the future will be to simultaneously intensify production and minimize damage to the environment.

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REFERENCES

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