Answer to exercise questions of the chapter ‘Food security in India’ are given here with proper key points. These answers will help students to draft quality answers.
Food Security in India Question Answers
1. How is food security ensured in India?
Ans. Food security is ensured in India by
(i) Creation of buffer stock.
(ii) Introduction of the Public Distribution System (PDS).
(iii) Running other special programmes like
(a) Food for work programme
(b) Mid-day meal in schools
(c) Integrated child development services
2. Which are the people more prone to food insecurity?
Ans. A large section of people suffer from food and nutrition insecurity in India. The worst affected are
(i) The landless people with little or no land to depend on.
(ii) Traditional artisans.
(iii) Providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers and destitute, including beggars.
(iv) Urban casual labourers engaged in seasonal activities.
(v) The SCs, STs and some sections of OBCs.
(vi) People affected by natural disasters.
3. Which states are more food insecure in India?
Ans. The states of Uttar Pradesh (Eastern and South Eastern parts) Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bangal, Chhattisgarh parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra account for the majority of food insecure areas of the country.
4. Do you believe that green revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains? How?
Ans. Yes, the Green Revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains.
- India adopted a new strategy in agriculture in which HYV,
- insecticides and pesticides were used which resulted in Green Revolution or great production of wheat and rice.
- 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 an all-time high of 30.33 million tonnes in 1995.
- The success of wheat was later replicated in rice production.
5. A section of people in India are still without food. Explain?
Answer:
(i) 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, landless the labourers, casual urban workers, SCs and STs who are below the poverty line find it impossible to get two square meals a day.
(ii) The PDS is not functioning properly because the ration shop owners are diverting the grains to the open market.
(iii) Low quality grains are available at ration shops which often remain unsold.
(iv) Corruption in the PDS and extreme poverty are the two basic reasons that even today some people are still without food in India.
6. What happens to the supply of food when there is a disaster or a calamity?
Answer:
(i) When the country faces a national disaster/calamity like earthquake, drought, flood or tsunami, there is widespread failure of crops. Standing crops are destroyed, leading to shortage of food grains which results in price rise and hardship to all.
(ii) If the crop is not destroyed, sometimes the transport system is affected and transportation of food grains from the food surplus areas becomes impossible. This leads to shortage of food grains in other areas.
7. Differentiate between seasonal hunger and chronic hunger?
Ans. Hunger has seasonal and chronic dimensions.
Seasonal Hunger: Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting.
(i) This is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of casual labour.
(ii) This type of hunger exists when a person is unable to get work for the entire year, e.g., many casual construction labourers during rainy season become unemployed.
Chronic Hunger:
(i) Chronic hunger is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity and quality.
(ii) Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of their very low income and in turn inability to buy food even for survival.
8. What has our government done to provide food security to the poor? Discuss any two schemes launched by the government?
Ans. To provide food security to the poor, the government has implemented the following
- Creating a buffer stock of food grains for distribution when and where needed.
- Public Distribution System for making available food grains to the poor at highly subsidised rates. Besides these, a number of schemes have been launched.
During the 1970s, the following schemes were started
- Integrated Child Development Services
- Food for Work Programme
In the year 2000, the following schemes were launched
- Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) – This scheme is for the poorest of the poor. Under this scheme, 35 kg of food grains per month are made available to a family at 2 per kg for rice.
- Annapurna Scheme (APS) – This is meant for indigent senior citizens who are not having any family to support them. Under this scheme, 10 kg of food grains per month are made available to them free of cost.
9. Why buffer stock is created by the government?
Ans. Buffer stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice, procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production.
(i) The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This is called the Minimum Support Price.
(ii) The purchased food grains are stored in the granaries and called buffer stock. This is done 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.
(iii) This also helps to resolve the shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or during a period of calamity
10. Write notes on:
(a) Minimum support price
(b) Buffer stock
(c) Issue price
(d) Fair price shops
Answers:
(a) Minimum Support Price
(i) The Food Corporation of India (FCI) purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production.
(ii) The farmers are paid pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price (MSP).
(iii) The MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to provide incentives to the farmers for raising production of these crops.
(b) Buffer Stock
(i) Buffer stock is the stock of food grains namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).
(iii) The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production and stores this grain in the granaries as butter stock.
(iii) This is done to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poor strata of society when there is shortage of food grains because of crop failure due to natural calamities.
(c) Issue Price
(i) The FCI purchases food grains from the farmers in states with surplus food production and stores it in granaries.
(ii) This is done to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poor state of society at a price lower than the market price which is also known as issue price.
(d) Fair Price Shops
(i) The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer sections of the society. This is called Public Distribution System (PDS).
(ii) Ration shops are now present in most localities villages, towns and cities.
(iii) Ration shops are also known as fair price shops.
(iv) These fair price shops keep stocks of food grains, sugar and kerosene oil. Here these items are sold at a price lower than the market price.
11. What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops?
Answers:
(i) The PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the grains to open market for more profit.
(ii) Dealers sell poor quantity grains at ration shops.
(iii) Ration shops are opened at irregular time creating problems for the people.
(iv) It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor-quality grains.
Answers:
(i) The co-operatives are also playing an important role in food security in India, especially in the Southern and Western parts of the country.
(ii) The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people.
(iii) In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making progress in provision of milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled rates decided by the Government of Delhi.
(iv) Amul is another success story of co-operatives in milk and milk products from Gujarat. It has brought about the white revolution in the country.
(v) These are a few examples of many co-operatives running in different parts of the country ensuring food security of different sections of society.
