EVENTS CONVENT HIGH SCHOOL
16/02/2021 Class-9 SLOT-2
Economics
Chapter-4
Food Security In India
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Question-1How is food security ensured in India?
Solution:Food
security is ensured in India on the basis of the two components, i.e., Buffer
Stock and Public Distribution System (PDS).
Buffer Stock. It is
the stock of food grains like wheat and rice procured by the government through
Food Corporation of India (FCI).
Public Distribution
System. The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government
regulated ration shops called Fair Price Shops (FPS) among the poorer sections
of the society.
Question-2Which are the people more
prone to food insecurity?
Solution:Although a
large section of people suffers from food and nutrition insecurity in India,
the worst affected groups are landless or land-poor households in rural areas
and people employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labourers engaged in
seasonal activities in the urban areas.
Question-3Which states are more food
insecure in India?
Solution:The
economically backward states with high incidence of poverty are more food
insecure in India. The states of Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern
parts), Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, parts of Madhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra account for the largest number of food-insecure people
in the country.
Question-4Do you believe that the green
revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains? How?
Solution:After
independence, India adopted a new strategy in agriculture, which resulted in
the ‘Green Revolution’ especially in the production of wheat and rice. Indira
Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, officially recorded the impressive
strides of the Green revolution in agriculture by releasing a special stamp
entitled ‘Wheat Revolution’ in July 1968. The success of wheat was later
replicated in rice. The increase in food grains was, however, disproportionate.
The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Haryana, where food grain
production jumped from 7.23 million tonnes in 1964–65 to reach an all-time high
of 30.33 million tonnes in 1995–96.
Question-5A section of people in India is still without
food. Explain?
Solution:Despite
achieving self-sufficiency in food grains, as a result of the Green Revolution,
a section of people in India are still without food because of poverty. Thus,
the landless labourers, casual urban workers, SCs, and STs who are below the
poverty line find it impossible to get two square meals a day.
The Public
Distribution System is not functioning properly because the ration shop owners
are diverting the grains to the open market. Low-quality grains are available
at ration shops which often remain unsold.
Question-6What happens to the supply of food when there is a
disaster or a calamity?
Solution: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 earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami,
widespread failure of crops causing famine, etc.
Solution:Seasonal
hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting whereas chronic
hunger is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity
or quality.
People suffer from
seasonal hunger in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural
activities and because of causal labour in the urban areas whereas poor people
suffer from chronic hunger because of very low income and thereby inability to
buy food even for bare survival.
Question-8What has our government done to provide food security to the poor?
Discuss any two schemes launched by the government?
Solution:In order
to help the poor, and provide food security to them,two special schemes were
launched in 2000. They were, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Annapurna
Scheme (APS) with special target groups of ‘poorest of the poor’ and ‘indigent
senior citizens’, respectively. The functioning of these two schemes was linked
with the existing network.
Question-9Why is a buffer stock created by the government?
Solution:To ensure
availability of food to all sections of the society the Indian government
carefully designed a food security system, which is composed of two components:
(a) buffer stock and (b) public distribution system. This is done to distribute
foodgrains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society at a
price lower than the market price.
