Food security: status and concerns of India

Kumar, Rajesh and Bagaria, Nidhi and Santra, Swarup (2014): Food security: status and concerns of India. Published in: The International Journal Of Humanities & Social Studies , Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 2014): pp. 108-116.

Abstract

At one hand, various factors like food production, rising food prices, poverty, unemployment, climate changes, efficient public distribution of food, affecting the food security are the major concerns at domestic front, passing of ambitious Food Security Bill in Sep, 2013 by UPA government in India to provide the basic food staples at highly subsidized prices aimed at ensuring the economic access to food for around two-third of its population coupled with India’s obligations of agriculture trade liberalization as a WTO member, exposes how liberalization of agriculture trade can affect India’s food security on the other. Out of 842 million, 214 million people are suffered from chronic hunger in India which is around 17percent of its total population and one fourth of total chronically hunger in the world (FAO, 2013). Almost half of children under age five years (48 percent) are chronically malnourished and one out of every five children in India under age five years is acutely malnourished i.e. wasted (NFHS-3, 2005-06). Among all this, income growth, poverty reduction from 45.3% in 1993-94 to 21.9% in 2011-12, food self-sufficiency and various government schemes to augment employment, health and nutritional status of the population over the years are the noticeable steps taken by GOI in the food security domain. Present paper focuses on status of food security based on its various dimensions such as food availability, access, utilization and stability and associated concerns that India has especially in the post reform period. It is found that though India has been among the fastest developing economy, the pace of reduction of hunger and undernourishment has remained sluggish and well below the developed countries (2 percent hunger and undernourished population). There are challenges at domestic and international level which require more effort on development of agriculture infrastructure, fiscal consolidation, efficient public distribution of food and effective bargaining at international trade forums to secure long term benefits for food security.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: RDA(Recommended Dietery Allowance), PFA(Primary Food Articles), TPDS(Targetted Public Distribution System), GFD(Gross Fiscal Deficit), NFHS(National Family Health Survey), FRBM(Fiscal Responsibilities and Budget Management), MGNREGA(Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gaurantee Act), CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index for Agriculture Labour), CPI-UNME(Conumer Price Index for Urban Non-Manual Employees)
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q10 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy

References

1. Athreya VB, Rukmani R, Bhavani RV., Anuradha G, Gopinath R, Sakthi Velan A (Sep,2010). “Report on state of food insecurity in urban India”. M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.

2. GOI (2013), Annual Report on Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, 2012-13, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi.

3. Government of India, Reserve Bank of India (2012). Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy, Reserve Bank of India. Government of India.

4. Sharma Vijay Paul IIM Ahemdabad, (August, 2012), Food Subsidy in India: Trends, Causes and Policy Reform Options.

5. Gulati Ashok and Saini Shweta, (April 2013), “Taming Food Inflation in India”, Discussion Paper No.4, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

6. Radhakrishna R and Reddy K. Venkata. “Food Security and Nutrition: Vision 2020”.

7. Radhakrishna (2002) “Food and Nutrition Security” in Kirit S. Parikh and R. Radhakrishnas (eds.)

8. India Development Report (2002), Oxford University Press.

9. Panda M, Kumar A Ganesh, (November, 2009) “Trade Liberalization, Poverty, and Food Security in India”,IFPRI discussion paper 00930.

10. Dreze, Jean and A. Sen (1989), “Hunger and Public Action”, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

11. Radhakrishna, R. (2005), “Food and nutrition security for the poor: Emerging perspectives and policy issues”, Economic and Political Weekly 40.

12. Gragnolati Michele, Shekar Meera, Das M Gupta, Bredenkamp Caryn and Lee Yi-Kyoung, (August 2005), “India’s Undernourished Children: A Call for Reform and Action”, HNP discussion paper, The World Bank.

13. NNMB (2002), “Diet and Nutritional Status of Rural Population” NNMB Technical Report No.21 , National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad

14. NFHS (2009),”Nutrition in India”, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-30),2005-06,International Institute for Population Sciences Deonar, Mumbai, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India.

15. GOI (2013), “Press Note on Poverty Estimates, 2011-12”,Planning Commission of India, New Delhi

16. National Institute of Nutrition (2009), “Nutrient Requirements And Recommended Dietary Allowances For Indians” , A Report of the Expert Group of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad.

17. Dev S Mahendra, Sharma Alakh N (2010), “Food Security in India: Performance, Challenges and policies”, Oxfam India Working Paper Series (OIWPS-VII), Sep, 2010.

18. FAO (2013), Report on “The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Multiple Dimensions of Food Security”, Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations, Rome.

19. Chakarvarty Sujoy (2005), “Food Insecurity in India: causes and dimensions”, Economics Area IIM, Ahemdabad, April, 2005.

20. Jha Girish Kumar, Pal Suresh, Mathur VC, Bisaria Geeta, Anbukkani P, Burman RR, Dubey SK (2012), “Edible Oilseeds Supply and Demand Scenario in India: Implications for Policy” Division of Agricultural Economics Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

21. NSSO(2013). “Key Indicators of Household expenditures in India, 2011-2012, NSS 62nd Round, National Sample Survey Organization, Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of Statistics and program Implementation, Government of India, New Delhi.

22. NSSO(2012). “Nutritional Intake in India, 2009-2010, NSS 66th Round, National Sample Survey Organization, Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of Statistics and program Implementation, Government of India, New Delhi.

23. NSSO(2008). “Household consumer Expenditure in India, 2005-2006, NSS 66th Round, National Sample Survey Organization, Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of Statistics and program Implementation, Government of India, New Delhi.

24. NSSO(2005). “Household consumer Expenditure and Employment-Uneployment in India”, 2005-2006, NSS 66th Round, National Sample Survey Organization, Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of Statistics and program Implementation, Government of India, New Delhi