DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
CLASS IX: ECONOMICS
CHAPTER: 4 FOODSECURITY IN INDIA
Q.No Questions Mark
1 What is meant by food security? Point out the three dimensions of food security. Food Security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times everywhere in the country.
1. Availability of food means food production within the country, food imports and the previous year’s stock stored in government granaries.
2. Accessibility means food is within reach of every person.
3. Affordability implies that an individual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet one’s dietary needs.
2 How is food security affected during a calamity?
1. Due to a natural calamity, say drought, total production of food grains decreases.
2. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas.
3. Due to shortage of food, the prices go up. At the high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food.
4. If such a calamity happens in a very wide spread area or is stretched over
a longer time period, It may cause a situation of starvation.
5. A massive starvation may become a famine.
3 Define Famine.
1. A famine is characterized by wide spread 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.
4 Why should the governments ensure food security?
1. All sections of the society might be food insecure during national disaster or calamity like drought, flood, etc
2. There can be food insecurity due to poverty. Even today there are places where people die of starvation eg. Kalahandi and Kashipur in Orissa, and places in Rajastan and Jharkand.
3. It is the responsibility of a welfare state to make food available, accessible and affordable to its people.
5 Who are food insecure people?
1. Landless people with little or no land to depend upon, traditional artisans, destitute including beggars
2. Workers engaged in ill-paid occupations and casual labourers in urban areas.
3. The SCs ,STs and some sections of the OBCs who have either poor land base or very low land productivity .
4. People affected by natural disasters who have to migrate to other areas in search of work.
5. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years, which faces high incidence of malnutrition.
6 ‘The social composition along with the inability to buy food also plays a role in food insecurity’. Point out such social groups that are food insecure..
1. The SCs,STs and some sections of the OBCs who have either poor land base or very low land productivity.
2. People affected by natural disasters who have to migrate to other areas in search of work, are also among the most food insecure people.
3. A high incidence of malnutrition prevails among (pregnant) women; this also puts the unborn baby at risk of malnutrition.
4. . A large number of nursing mothers and children under the age of five years constitute an important segment of the food insecure people.
5. According to National Health and Family Survey, 1998–99, the number of such women and children are approximately 11 crore.
7 Which states are more food insecure in India?
Ans. U.P, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
8 What is hunger? Differentiate between Chronic and Seasonal Hunger.
Ans: Hunger is an aspect that indicates food insecurity. The attainment of food security involves eliminating current hunger and reducing the risks of future hunger.
9 Examine the contribution of Green revolution towards food security in India.
1. After independence, Indian policy makers adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. India adopted a new strategy in agriculture, which resulted in Green Revolution.
2. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India officially recorded the success of Green Revolution by releasing special stamp entitled ‘Wheat Revolution’.
3. The success of wheat was later replicated in rice but this increase was disproportionate.
4. The highest rate of growth was achieved in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The total foodgrain production was 252.22 Million tonnes in
5. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh recorded a significant production in field of wheat.West Bengal and UP, on the other hand, recorded significant production of rice .s
10 What is Buffer Stock? Why does the government create it?
Ans. 1. Buffer stalk is the stalk of food grains namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI)
2. 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 is called Minimum Support Price.
3. The MSP declared by the government every year provides incentive to the farmers to increase the production of the crops.
4. The buffer stock is created by the Government 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’
5. This also helps solve the problem of shortage of food grains during adverse weather conditions and during the period of calamity.
11 Briefly describe the (PDS) ‘Public Distribution System’./ Examine the functioning of Ration Shops/ Fair price Shops in India.
ANS 1. The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer sections of the society .This is called PDS.
2. Ration shops are now present in most localities, villages, towns and cities. There are about 5.5 lakh ration shops all over the country.
3. Ration shops are known as Fair Price Shops that keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking. These are also sold at a low price than the market price.
4. Any family with a ration card can buy a stipulated amount of these items every month from the nearby shop.
5. The ration cards are three types based on the income level of the people:
(1)Antyodaya Cards for the poorest of the poor, (2) BPL Cards (3) APL cards.
12 Briefly describe the emergence of rationing system in India.
ANS. 1. The introduction of Rationing in India dates back to the 1940s during the Bengal famine, during the British Raj.
2. The rationing system was reviewed and expanded to all parts of the country during the acute shortage of food grains in 1960s prior to the Green revolution.
3. In recent years many poverty alleviation programs (PAP) are a part of rationing and food security such as National Food for Work Program.
4. PDS and Mid Day meal are exclusively food security programs.
5. Government has introduced three types of ration cards as a part of targeted approach to ensure food security.
13 Discuss the current status of the public distribution system in India and its advantages.
ANS. 1. PDS is the most important step taken by the government of India towards ensuring food security. In the beginning the coverage of PDS was universal with no discrimination between the poor and non-poor.
2. Over the years, the policy has been revised to make it more efficient and targeted. The prices have been under revision in favour of poor households in general.
3. It is the most effective instrument of the Government policy in stabilizing prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices.
4. It has been instrumental in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to the deficit regions.
5. The system including the minimum support price and procurement has contributed to an increase in food grain production and provided income security to farmers in certain regions.
14 What are the problems in the functioning of the Public Distribution System?
ANS. 1. Instances of hunger are prevalent despite overflowing granaries and FCI go-downs are overflowing with grains, with some rotting away and some being eaten by rats.
2. High level of buffer stock is very undesirable and can be wasteful like high carrying costs, deterioration of grain quality.
3. Increased MSP encourages farmers to produce less coarse grains, which is the staple food of the poor.
4. Average consumption of PDS grain at all India level, which is very less, also shows ineffectiveness of PDS.
5. PDS dealers are sometimes involved in malpractices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margins, etc.
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