Food security in India

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Food security has been a major concern in India. In 2022, the Global Food Security Index ranked India at 68th out of the 113 major countries in terms of food security. [1] In 2023, the Global Hunger Index ranked India at 111th out of 125 countries. [2] According to United Nations, there are nearly 195 million undernourished people in India that make up a quarter of the world's undernourished population. In addition, roughly 43% of children in India are chronically undernourished. [3] Though the current nutritional standards meets 100% of daily food requirements, India lags far behind in terms of a quality protein intake at 20%; this shortcoming can be alleviated by making available protein-rich food products such as soybeans, lentils, meat, eggs, dairy, etc. more readily accessible and affordable for Indian citizens. [4] The Human Rights Measurement Initiative [5] finds that India is operating at only 56.8% of its capacity based its economic power to ensure its citizens have adequate food security. [6]

Contents

Laws

In order to ensure citizens' fundamental rights to accessible and affordable food, the Parliament of India enacted the National Food Security Act in 2013. Also known as the Right to Food Act, this Act seeks to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India's 1.33 billion population. [7] It was signed into law on 10 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013. [8] [9]

Schemes by government

Central Initiatives

State Initiatives

Challenges for India

A lack of access to affordable and healthy foods is widespread throughout India. With over 60% of India's population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, the agricultural sector is critical for both India's economy and food security levels across the country. [17] However, India's agricultural sector faces a growing number of challenges, including lower agricultural productivity due to climate volatility and reduced available farmland partially due to India's rapidly increasing population outpacing economic growth that strains India's natural resources and land availability. [18] India produces around 100 million tonnes of rice every year. While there might be enough food for the whole population of India, many families and especially children in India don't have access to food because of financial problems. Thus, this is the cause of millions of malnourished children around India. The cultural knowledge in India allows them to have a very nutritional and balanced diet. Nearly the whole of the Indian population has rice at least once a day which allows them to have carbohydrates in their system. Since India is most commonly known for producing and exporting rice to other countries, their lifestyle will be mainly dominated by rice. [19]

Technological solutions

India can use some methods to improve the availability and affordability of protein rich food products using the latest environmental friendly technology without the need of additional land and water. [20] Biogas or natural gas or methane produced from farm/agro/crop/domestic waste can also be used in addition to mined natural gas for producing protein rich cattle/fish/poultry/pet animal feed economically by cultivating Methylococcus capsulatus bacteria culture in a decentralized manner near to the rural/consumption areas with tiny land and water foot print. [21] [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rice</span> Cereal (Oryza sativa)

Rice is a cereal grain, and in its domesticated form is the staple food for over half of the world's human population, particularly in Asia and Africa, due to the vast amount of soil that is able to grow rice. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or, much less commonly, O. glaberrima. Asian rice was domesticated in China some 13,500 to 8,200 years ago, while African rice was domesticated in Africa some 3,000 years ago. Rice has become commonplace in many cultures worldwide; in 2021, 787 million tons were produced, placing it fourth after sugarcane, maize, and wheat. Only some 8% of rice is traded internationally. China, India, and Indonesia are the largest consumers of rice. A substantial amount of the rice produced in developing nations is lost after harvest through factors such as poor transport and storage. Rice yields can be reduced by pests including insects, rodents, and birds, as well as by weeds, and by diseases such as rice blast. Traditional polycultures such as rice-duck farming, and modern integrated pest management seek to control damage from pests in a sustainable way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger</span> Sustained inability to eat sufficient food

In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term hunger is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an appetite. The most extreme form of hunger, when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of famine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural productivity</span> Quotient between production and productive factors

Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to inputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, which is known as crop yield, varying products make measuring overall agricultural output difficult. Therefore, agricultural productivity is usually measured as the market value of the final output. This productivity can be compared to many different types of inputs such as labour or land. Such comparisons are called partial measures of productivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food security</span> Measure of the availability and accessibility of food

Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender or religion is another element of food security. Similarly, household food security is considered to exist when all the members of a family, at all times, have access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Individuals who are food-secure do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food security includes resilience to future disruption of food supply. Such a disruption could occur due to various risk factors such as droughts and floods, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars. Food insecurity is the opposite of food security: a state where there is only limited or uncertain availability of suitable food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malnutrition</span> Medical condition

Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues and form. Malnutrition is not receiving the correct amount of nutrition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midday Meal Scheme</span> Lunch program for students in India

The Mid Day Meal Scheme is a school meal programme in India designed to better the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide. The scheme has been renamed as PM-POSHAN Scheme. The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in government primary and upper primary schools, government aided Anganwadis, Madarsa and Maqtabs. Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School meal</span> Meal provided to students at school

A school meal is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world offer various kinds of school meal programs, and altogether, these are among the world's largest social safety nets. An estimated 380 million school children around the world receive meals at their respective schools. The extent of school feeding coverage varies from country to country, and as of 2020, the aggregate coverage rate worldwide is estimated to be 27%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in India</span>

The history of agriculture in India dates back to the Neolithic period. India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per the Indian economic survey 2020 -21, agriculture employed more than 50% of the Indian workforce and contributed 20.2% to the country's GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in North Korea</span>

Farming in North Korea is concentrated in the flatlands of the four west coast provinces, where a longer growing season, level land, adequate rainfall, and good irrigated soil permit the most intensive cultivation of crops. A narrow strip of similarly fertile land runs through the eastern seaboard Hamgyŏng provinces and Kangwŏn Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in India</span> Overview of the production, consumption, import and export of energy and electricity in India

Since 2013, total primary energy consumption in India has been the third highest in the world after China and United States. India is the second-top coal consumer in the year 2017 after China. India ranks third in oil consumption with 22.1 crore tons in 2017 after United States and China. India is net energy importer to meet nearly 47% of its total primary energy in 2019.

Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.

Despite India's 50% increase in GDP since 2013, more than one third of the world's malnourished children live in India. Among these, half of the children under three years old are underweight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Distribution System (India)</span> Indian food security system

The Public Distribution System (PDS) is a food security system that was established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute food and non-food items to India's poor at subsidised rates. Major commodities distributed include staple food grains, such as wheat, rice, sugar and essential fuels like kerosene, through a network of fair price shops established in several states across the country. Food Corporation of India, a government-owned corporation, procures and maintains the PDS.

Uttar Pradesh food grain scam took place between years 2002 and 2010, in Uttar Pradesh state in India, wherein food grain worth ₹350 billion (US$4.4 billion), meant to be distributed amongst the poor, through Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes like Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and Midday Meal Scheme for Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders, was diverted to the open market. Some of it was traced to the Nepal and Bangladesh borders, as in 2010 security forces seized Rs 11.7 million worth of foodgrains like paddy and pulses being smuggled to Nepal, another Rs 6062,000 worth of grains were confiscated on the Indo-Bangladesh border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology of malnutrition</span> Overview of global nutritional deficiencies

There were 795 million undernourished people in the world in 2014, a decrease of 216 million since 1990, despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone—7 billion people—and could feed more than that—12 billion people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amma Unavagam</span>

Amma Unavagam(Tamil: அம்மா உணவகம்) is a food subsidisation programme run by the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Tamil Nadu in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Food Security Act, 2013</span> Act of 2013 which enabled food security

The National Food Security Act 2013, also known as Right to Food Act, is an Indian Act of Parliament which aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two thirds of the country's 1.4 billion people. It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ration card (India)</span> Ration Card

Ration cards are an official document issued by state governments in India to households that are eligible to purchase subsidised food grain from the Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). They also serve as a common form of identification for many Indians.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is a food security welfare scheme announced by the Government of India on March 26 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. But the nodal ministry is Ministry of Finance.The scale of this welfare scheme makes it the largest food security program in the world benefiting 81.35 crore in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indira Rasoi</span> Rajasthan initiative for food security

The Indira Rasoi scheme provides subisidized food to anyone who wants it at Rs. 8 per meal in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The state began the program in August 2020 during the pandemic lockdown. The scheme began in 213 Urban Local Bodies and was expanded. Rasoi means kitchen in Hindi. The program is subsidized by the state government. The canteens get Rs. 17 from the state government per meal.

References

  1. ↑ "Global Food Security Index (GFSI)". The Economist. 7 February 2023.
  2. ↑ "India slips in Global Hunger Index, ranks 107 out of 121 nations". Al Jazeera.
  3. ↑ "Nutrition and Food Security - UN India". UN India. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "India: Global Food Security Index". Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  5. ↑ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries". humanrightsmeasurement.org. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  6. ↑ "India - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "National Food Security Act" (PDF). PRS Legislative Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Press Information Bureau" . Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "Food Security Act To Be Implemented From June 5". BTVI.in. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ "Expenditure Budget, Union Budget 2017-18" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  12. ↑ The Gazette of India. "The National Food Security Act, 2013" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Indira Canteen, Karnataka". Archived from the original on 8 December 2020.
  14. ↑ "Nalabothu foundation".
  15. ↑ "Tamil Nadu's Amma canteen concept catches on in other states", Live Mint , 27 March 2017
  16. ↑ How Village Restaurants Could Change The Lives Of The Rural Poor
  17. ↑ "India", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 5 September 2023, retrieved 7 September 2023
  18. ↑ "USDA ERS - India Continues to Grapple with Food Insecurity". www.ers.usda.gov. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  19. ↑ Swaminathan, M.S.; Bhavani, R.V. (2013). "Food production & availability - Essential prerequisites for sustainable food security". The Indian Journal of Medical Research. 138 (3): 383–391. PMC   3818607 . PMID   24135188.
  20. ↑ "Food made from natural gas will soon feed farm animals – and us" . Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  21. ↑ "BioProtein Production" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  22. ↑ "New venture selects Cargill's Tennessee site to produce Calysta FeedKind® Protein - Calysta". calysta.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016.

Further reading

Ramaswamy, S. (2017). Food Security in India. India: MJP Publishers.

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