Food Security in India

As air is for breathing, similarly is food necessary for living. But food security means something extra than only getting square meals two times. 

Food Security

It measures the availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times. It has the following dimensions:

• Availability of food: The food is produced within the country, food imports and the stock stored in the last years in government granaries
• Accessibility: is when food is within reach of every person
• Affordability: It means that an individual has sufficient money to purchase enough safe and nutritious food to meet one’s dietary needs

Hunger

Hunger is another aspect indicating food insecurity. It is not only the appearance of poverty, but it brings about poverty. Chronic and Seasonal are the two dimensions of Hunger.

• Chronic Hunger is a result of diets regularly inadequate in terms of quantity and quality
• Cycles of food growing and harvesting are associated with seasonal Hunger
• This is widespread in rural areas due to the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and casual labourers in urban areas

Need for Food Security

• To ensure the welfare of the poorest section of the society
• To deal with an emergency or catastrophic situations such as earthquakes, floods, droughts, famines 

People Vulnerable to Food Insecurity

• The landless individuals with practically no land to rely on, conventional craftsmen, suppliers of standard organizations, minor freely utilized workers and blue including verses are the worst affected by assembling
• The food unreliable families in the metropolitan regions are those whose functioning individuals are generally utilized in less-paid callings and the easygoing work market
• The SCs, STs and a few segments of the OBCs (lower stations among them) who have either helpless land-base or extremely swamp efficiency are defenceless against food instability
• The people affected by natural disasters must migrate to other areas in search of work
• Many pregnant and lactating mothers and children under the age of 5 build an essential part of the food insecure population

Food Security in India

The Green Revolution emerged in the early-1970s. The nation has kept away from starvation in any event during unfriendly climate conditions.

India has become independent in food grains during the last 30 years due to various crops grown throughout the country. The accessibility of food grains (even in adverse weather conditions or otherwise) at the country level has been ensured by the government’s carefully designed food security system. This system has two components: 

• Buffer Stock- It is the stock of food grains, viz. wheat and rice, acquired by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) 
• A pre-announced price is paid to the farmers for their crops called Minimum Support Price (MSP)
• Every year before sowing, it is announced to give incentives to farmers for raising the production of these crops 
• Granaries are used to store the food grains that are purchased 

The buffer stock is created so that the food grains are dispersed in deficit areas and among the poorer strata of the society at a price lower than the market price, also known as the Issue Price.