Food Security Debates Now

7/30/2019 Food Security Debates Now

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/food-security-debates-now 1/100

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY – DEBATE: INDIA 2010-13

•

Govt. of India, National Advisory Council ,• A phased programme, Meet in October, 2010************

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY CIVIL SOCEITY DEBATES• What is ‘food insecurity’ & how it may be

eliminated for poor people and children,• Early childcare, ICDS, Pre-primary education,• Targeted / Universal Public Distribution System,• Agri -minister’s Views, • M S Swaminathan, Amartya K Sen,• Right to food campaign, other arguments, facts



2



The National Advisory Council

(NAC)

Provided a broad framework



The National Advisory Council

4

• A broad framework to achievethe goal of food for all andforever:

• The NAC's suggestions includethe swift initiation of

• programmes to insulate pregnantand nursing mothers, infants inthe age group of zero to three,and other disadvantaged citizens,from hunger and malnutrition.

• Such special nutrition supportprogrammes may need annuallyabout 10 million tonnes of foodgrains.



5

The NAC has stressed that in the design of the

delivery system there should be• a proper match between challenge and

response, as for example,• the starting of community kitchens in urban

areas to ensure that the needy do not go to

bed hungry.

• Pregnant women should get priority.



NAC Meet: Food Grain Entitlement Programme

pre-school children, schoolchildren, welfare hostelstudents, adolescent girls,pregnant women, street

children, the homeless, theaged, the infirm, thedifferently abled, thoseliving with leprosy, TB,HIV/AIDS etc., togetherwith community kitchensand feeding the destitute.

6

NAC takes a holisticapproach to the issue,with broad concernsabout the nutritional

needs of the mostvulnerable, suggesting 8different entitlements forthem apart from the PDS.,such as comprehensivenutrition supportschemes for infants,



7

• The NAC has proposed a phased

programme of implementation of the goalof universal public distribution system.

• This will start with either one-fourth of the

districts or blocks in 2011-12 and cover thewhole country by 2015,

• on lines similar to that adopted for theMahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Programme(MGNREGP).



8

This will provide time to develop infrastructure

such as• grain storage facilities and• Village Knowledge Centres and• the issue of Household Entitlements

Passbooks.The NAC is developing inputs for the proposedFood Security Act covering legal entitlements

and enabling provisions based on the principleof common but differentiated entitlements,taking into account the unmet needs of the

underprivileged.



9



Meeting on September 24, 2010

• The Sonia Gandhi-led NAC may finalise the FoodSecurity Bill in New Delhi on September 24. P. C. Dep.Chair Montek Singh Ahluwalia and officials fromMinistries concerned, Women and Child DevelopmentSecretary, will be present to try and help bridge the

differences between the NAC and the Commission /Ministries.• On August 30, while pushing for universalisation of

food security — the position also of the Campaign for

Food Security — Ms. Gandhi pointed out that the poormight wonder why the rich were being given the sameentitlements. The view that there be a system of twoprices and differential entitlements was conceded.

10



11

Ms. Gandhi had also underlined the importance of taking the government's opinion — that of the

Ministries concerned — on board. Since then, keymembers of the NAC's Working Group on FoodSecurity, including Harsh Mander, Jean Dreze and N.C.Saxena, have had detailed discussions on the issue

with Mr. Ahluwalia and Commission Member NarendraJadhav, who doubles as an NAC member. Sources say asystem of differential entitlements is being worked outso that those living below the poverty line (BPL) — atthe enhanced Tendulkar Committee report's figure of about 42 per cent — can be given 35 kg of food grains,with rice at Rs.3 a kg and wheat at Rs.2 a kg. Sources

indicated there was already agreement on this.



12

At the NAC meeting on September 24, a decision may be takenon how much the rest of the population will get — 25 kg of

food grains as promised in the Congress manifesto and in thePresident's address last year, or enhanced entitlement of 35kg, and at what price.The government is pushing for status quo, while the NACwould like it to be increased to 35 kg; however, the price,sources said, at which the food grains will be made available tothe non-BPL population is likely to be pegged at 75 per cent of the Minimum Support Price (MSP). However, while this part of the Bill looks headed for a consensus, the more significant part

relating to securing the nutritional requirements of those atthe bottom of the economic ladder, and which has hugefinancial implications, will also have to be sorted out.



13

At the August 30 meeting, Mr. Mander, who heads theWorking Group on Food Security, had listed a range of

eight entitlements apart from an inclusive andenhanced Public Distribution System.These included schemes for children such as IntegratedChild Development Services and maternal nutrition,

community kitchens for those suffering fromtuberculosis and HIV-AIDS, homeless children anddestitute people and old age pensions.It is in this context that officials from the Ministriesthat deal with these subjects are expected to attendthe September 24 meeting. (To be continued inOctober)



14

Government of India (National Advisory Council), 24 Sept. 2010, Press Release1.

The Fifth meeting of the National Advisory Council was chaired bySmt. Sonia Gandhi on 24th September, 2010 at 2 Motilal NehruPlace, New Delhi.2.Members who attended the meeting were Prof. M.S. Swaminathan,MP, Dr. Ram Dayal Munda, MP, Prof. Narendra Jadhav, Prof. PramodTandon, Dr. Jean Dreze, Ms. Aruna Roy, Ms Anu Aga, Shri N.C.Saxena, Dr. A.K. Shiva Kumar, Shri Deep Joshi, Ms. Farah Naqvi, ShriHarsh Mander and Ms. Mirai Chatterjee.

3.A presentation was made by Shri Harsh Mander, convenor of theWorking Group on the framework of proposed Right to FoodSecurity Bill detailing the Working Group’s proposal .



15

4.Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek S

Ahluwalia, Secretary (Food & Public Distribution), Smt. AlkaSirohi, Secretary (Women & Child Development), Dr D.K. Sikri,and Secretary (Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation), Ms KiranDhingra made presentations, placing the viewpoint of thePlanning Commission and respective Ministries/Departments.

5.The Working Group took note of the issues which emerged fromthe discussion. A further round of discussions is to take place

before the proposal of the Working Group could be finalised.6.The next meeting of the NAC is scheduled to be held on 23October, 2010.



16



NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY

CIVIL SOCEITY DEBATES• Components of Food Security• What is ‘food insecurity’ & how it may be

eliminated for poor people and children,• Early childcare, ICDS, Pre-primary education,• Targeted / Universal Public Distribution System,• Agri -minister’s Views, • M S Swaminathan, Amartya K Sen,• Right to food campaign, other arguments, facts



Components of Food Security:Make production, processing

(storage) & distribution of food

grains equitable, sustainable

• The focus on accelerated foodgrains production on a sustainablebasis and

• Universal Public DistributionSystem , plus

• free trade in grains would• help create massive employment

and• reduce the incidence of poverty in

rural areas.• This will lead to faster economic

growth and give purchasing powerto the people.



19



Food_Availability, Access andAbsorption

• Food availability is assured when enough of itis produced or imported and at an affordableprice it is available locally.

• Food access is assured when we can buy,prepare and consume food to avail anutritious diet.

•

Food absorption is assured when we havenormal physical and mental health and areable to maintain it with our diet.

20



21



FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY-2

•

Food supplementation to address special needs of – the vulnerable groups,

– Integrated Child Development services [ICDS] and

– mid-day meals at secondary schools

• Nutrition education, especially through

– Food and Nutrition Board [FNB] and

– ICDS.

22



• Eliminate Poverty, and• Child mal-nutrition

Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) and its objectives

That every individual has• the physical, economic, social, and environmental access to a

balanced diet that includes• the necessary macro-and micro-nutrients,• safe drinking water,• sanitation, environmental hygiene, primary healthcare and• education so as to lead a healthy and productive life.

India’s Golden Dream to be realized

.



Brain development from Infancy tochildhood

• Infants: children belowone year

• Toddlers: age group 1-2

years• Preschoolers: age group

3 to 5 years• School going: In the age

group 6 to 14

• Scientists say 90% of brain develops by age 5

• Economists say

prevention is betterthan cure and

• Child specialists say

early years arefoundational todevelopment

24



Population below Poverty Line is significant

•

Although India has become self sufficient infood grains production, the ever increasingpopulation of the country is a major cause of concern in sustaining food security andnutritional security. The populationapproaches 1200 million, while about 260million are below the poverty line andprevalence of widespread under-nourishmentand mal-nourishment are a cause of concern.

25



26



child under-nutrition in India

• Stunting (deficiency inheight for age)

• Wasting (deficiency inweight for height)

• Underweight (that isdeficient in weight for

age - a composite mea-sure of stunting andwasting).

• Most of the times, childdeaths and sufferingbecause of poor nutritiongo unnoticed.

• That India reports amongthe highest levels of childunder-nutrition has been

rightly termed by PrimeMinister Manmohan

Singh as a "nationalshame".

27



28



early childcare is very important

• People below poverty line neglect the young.India continues to lose 6 % of our newbornsbefore their first birthday; 50 % of our

toddlers to malnutrition and a wholegeneration to poor health, low skills andpoverty.

• Can we afford to ignore the role that crèchesplay in the survival, development and well-being of young children?

29



Eliminate under nutrition

30



Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS)

•

It is a major national programme that addresses theneeds of children under the age of six years.

• It seeks to provide young children with an integrated

package of services such as supplementary nutrition,healthcare and pre-school education.

• As the needs of a child can not be addressed in isolation

from those of its mother, the programme also extends to

adolescent girls, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

31



32



33



Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS)

• Over the last two decades the ICDS coveragehas progressively increased. As of March 2002,5652 projects have been sanctioned; thereare more than 5 lakh anganwadis in the

country.• The number of persons covered under ICDS

rose from 5.7 million children of 0 – 6 age, and 1.2 million mothers in 1985 to31.5 million children and 6 million mothersup to March 2002.

34



What is a crèche?

• A crèche is not just an enabling mechanism sothat mothers can work, but central to thebattle against malnutrition, low birth weight

and infant mortality.• It essentially facilitates an aware adult to take

on the small tasks involved in childcare forchildren under three years of age such aspatient feeding of small katories of soft foodthree or four times a day. Continued…

35



What is a crèche?

• It essentially facilitates an aware adult to takeon the small tasks involved in childcare forchildren under three years of age such as

• A quick response to fever or diarrhea,• To prevent illness from becoming life

threatening,• Some one to greet and comfort the child

when she wakes up.



A crèche essentially facilitates

• We need crèches so that grand-parents do notask girls to stay back leaving them free to playrun and go to school.

• We need crèches so that women are treatedas citizens with rights and receive the supportthey need during this time of motherhood and

early childcare, thus enabling them toparticipate in work and life.

37



38



39



Child & Mother nutrition: a major challenge

• Nutrition indicators like under weight in pre-school children, stunting, wasting of thesechildren, prevalence of low birth weight, anemiain pregnant women, adolescent girls and children

under three years, poor breast feeding andcomplementary feeding rates pose a majorchallenge.

• Chronic mal-nutrition among school children as

reflected by stunting and wasting is 45.5 %, and15.5 % respectively as per national Family HealthSurvey (NFHS) 2, 1998-99.

40



41



Women’s education and childmalnutrition

• Data show that malnutrition among Indian

children born to illiterate mothers (52%), is

almost three times higher than levels reported

among mothers who have completed 12

years of education(18%).

42



PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION

FROM CRECHE TO NURSURY

TO KG/UG



Pre-primary EducationPre-primary Education isoffered to children in bothurban and rural areas.In urban areas, where

sufficient children areavailable within a reasonableradius, separate NurserySchools or departments are

provided. (continued)

44



Pre-primary Education• Otherwise nursery classes are attached to Junior

Basic or Primary Schools.• In addition to that Pre-Primary education is provided

free of cost.•

Thus, the main object of Pre-primary Education is togive young children social experience rather thanformal instruction.

• It has an essential part to play in every school

System, though Pre-primary education in India is nota fundamental right and thus a very low percentageof children receive preschool educational facilities.

45



46

• In India these services are called Integrated ChildDevelopment Services and Anganwadis.

•

Indian pre- primary schools have differentprovisions.

• These kindergartens are divided into two stages -lower kindergarten (LKG) and upper kindergarten(UKG).

• LKG class comprises children from 3 to 4 years of age, and the

• UKG class comprises children 4 to 5 years of age.• The completion of preprimary schools sends the

children to primary schools.



47

Pre-primary education helps develop

• the physical and mental development of the

children,

• promote their emotional and educational

development, and

• smoothen their socialization (social

development) process.



48

In the formal education system, Pre-primary

Education is considered to be an integral part of

regular schools.

Therefore, all pre -primary instruction isattached to Junior Basic or Primary Schools.

The pre primary education is termed as`Nursery`.



49

Pre primary education also extends to

• Kindergartens,• crèches and

• Montessori schools.

In these sections of schools, these special educational

facilities are made available to the children below the

compulsory age of six.

h i bj i f i d i i



50

The main objective of pre-primary education is• to present an environment to children to develop a

healthy mind through constructive activities and• informal learning experiences.

• This environment also prepares children for a later

day primary education by

• enabling them to adjust to the surroundings outside

their home.



51

Actually, in pre-primary education importance is not

to be given to any kind of formal teaching or learning,and attention is to be given to the psychological

development of the children.

The activities of pre-school are to be designed as per

the interest and the need of the children. So, it is

ideal not to have a permanent syllabus for the pre-school programme.



52

Generally, the main activities of pre-schools are

free-play, organized play, story sessions, music

and dance, acting, drawing and painting,

creative work, nature study, language

development, and inculcating a sense of

counting, measurements, and weight.



SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES, PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION,LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT MATERIALS

• A child who is already a member of a familylearns to become a member of a societythrough the process of socialization in whichlanguage plays a very important role.

• Though it is often quoted that, as far as pre-school is concerned, "love is the language andplay is the method," love should also be

expressed in a human language, in addition toother parental or caregivers' loving behavior,including nonverbal behavior.

53



SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES, PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION,LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT MATERIALS

• The shelter of parental love takes a backseatin the pre-school environment, and is, kind of,substituted by an institutional arrangement of

a learning environment in which teacher andother children come to play a part.

• From a family situation, a child thus begins to

get exposed to the rain and shine of thecommunity that surrounds it.

54



Role of mother tongue

• This process of socialization becomes verynatural if it is done in the mother tongue of the child.

• Since language itself is a system of symbols,when the initial socialization is done in a non-mother tongue of the child, language

symbolism gets more complicated and thechild begins to feel uneasy.

55



LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

• This happens more so, especially when thelanguage used in the pre-school has noopportunities of reinforcement outside its

school environment.• First generation learners and children from

the families which have very little exposure or

competence in English face this barrier.

56



57

The Indian government lays emphasis to primaryeducation up to the age of fourteen years (referred to

as Elementary Education in India.)It has also banned child labour in order to ensure thatthe children do not enter unsafe working conditions.

Both free education and the ban on child labour are

difficult to enforce due to economic disparity and socialconditions. 80% of all recognized schools at theElementary Stage are government run/supported,making it the largest provider of education in theCountry.



58

• However, due to shortage of resources andlack of political will, this system suffers

from• massive gaps including high pupil teacher

ratios,• shortage of infrastructure and• poor level of teacher training.• Education has also been made free for

children for six to 14 years of age or up toclass VIII under the Right of Children toFree and Compulsory Education Act 2009.



TARGETEDVS UNIVERSAL PUBLICDISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (PDS) FOR FOOD

Costs of procuring, storing & distributing food grainsat low cost andhence TPDS /PDS alternates.

59

The proportion of rural population that is below the



p p p pBPL

[ Below Poverty Line]

60



BPL Census should consider

• In deciding its coverage, allowance should be

made to targeting errors which would be large,

but also consider the fact that the under-nutrition rates in India tend to be much higher

than that of poverty estimates: the gap is not

surprising considering that the official ‘poverty -line’ is really a destitution line.

61



Government is helpless• Two arguments mark the opposition to an

universal system (whether in the PDS or othersectors like health )

1. There is no money for the huge subsidy.

2. We may not have enough grain for anuniversal system when successive draughtyears happen, and high input costs of agriculture may bring down production.”Non- government- orgs” too should play asubstantial role.

62



Food Minister of India,29-08-2010•

Union Minister for Food saidfree food grains distribution

is not feasible. The Govt.

already spends Rs. 66,000crores on food grains subsidy.

We buy wheat from farmers

at Rs. 15 a kg. but sell it tothe Antyodaya population at

Rs. 2 a kg.

63

•

How can we sell any cheaperthan that?• Free distribution of grains

would ruin the producers.•

The supreme Court had notdirected the food grains bedistributed free of cost.

• The wastage of food grainswas reduced by presentgovernment to 0.02 % of totalproduction.



States do not lift, food grains, alleging high price

•

“We do not follow the policyof artificially keeping theprices low any more.62 % of India’s population isdependent on agriculture. Dowe want them to remainpoor? Prices have been fixedconsidering the input costsso that farming becomes

viable. This has led to anincrease in the income of farmers,” he said.

64

•

Mr. Pawar also criticised theStates for buying only thefood grains at the lowestprice slab earmarked for theAntyodaya population andleaving the rest untouched.“I call up the Ministers andtheir secretaries, askingthem to take away the food

grains. But they are notinterested .”



65

States should plug PDS loopholes before food bill is enactedOn Monday 7 February 2011

The state governments have been asked to address three core issues -- PDS

reform, stepping up storage units and social accounting of foodgrains sold

via PDS, Food Minister K V Thomas said, .

Detailing PDS reforms, he said, "Computerisation of ration shops, use of

global positioning system in tracking movement of vehicles transporting PDS

items and replacing ration cards with smart cards are some of the reforms

that states should work seriously on," Thomas said.

Keeping in mind the storage need that may arise with the implementation of

the proposed bill, the minister said the government is aiming to boost

storage capacity by 17 million tonnes in the next 2-3 years.



Food Minister of India,29-08-2010

66

• On the wastage of foodgrains, he said the Govt.had taken project to buildwarehouses. It was alsohiring private warehouses.

• In past 8 years, wastagehad been reduced

substantially, and this yearit was just 0.02 % of thetotal produce.

Decentralise procurement storage &



Decentralise procurement, storage &distribution

67



M. S. Swaminathan-1

His stated vision is to rid the

world of hunger and poverty; Dr.

Swaminathan is an advocate of

moving India to sustainable

development, especially using

environmentally sustainable

agriculture, sustainable food

security and the preservation of biodiversity, which he calls an

"evergreen revolution"

68

• That food originates from

efficient and environmentallybenign productiontechnologies

• that conserve and enhance

the natural resource base of crops, animal husbandry,forestry, inland and marinefisheries



M. S. Swaminathan-2• Sustainable food security will have to be defined

as ‘physical, economic, social and ecologicalaccess to balanced diets’.

•

A life cycle approach will have to be followed inthe case of nutrition, ranging from in uteroto old age.

• Achieving such a form of food security willrequire synergy between technology and publicpolicy.

69

M S S i h 3



M. S. Swaminathan-3• Adequate food availability is necessary both for

stabilizing prices and ensuring the operation of aneffective PDS. There is therefore no time to relax on the

food production front.• There is particularly an urgent need for greater

investment in irrigation, power supply, rural roads, coldstorages, storage facilities and food processing units. Byextending the benefits of technological transformationand institutional reform to more areas and farmingsystems, India can become a leader in worldagriculture.

70



71

S i h ' bidi i i h i



72

Swaminathan's abiding interest is, however, in

using science for strengthening the small-farmer

economy and in community approach to food and

nutrition security. The success stories are drawn

from Sri Lanka and Thailand, and the MSS

Foundation's own initiatives. Strategy for India is a

life-cycle approach and community "food- banks",

including locally grown millets, at the village level.



73

The breadth of history, the depth of science

in Einsteinian social perspective, thenuanced reflections on the contribution

and conditions of humble peasantry, and an

informed concern over the ecological

imbalance and climate change - all. these

distinguishing features of the volume make

it a rewarding reading MSS.



AMARTYA KUMAR SEN74



75



76

For more information:



For more information:www.betterworldheroes.com/sen.htm

77



78

Amartya Spake



79

The Kolkata Group, an independent initiativeinspired and chaired by Amartya Sen, has demanded

that the Right to Food Act be made non-discriminatory and universal to cover legal foodentitlements for all Indians. The Eighth KolkataGroup Workshop (February 2010), has argued forcreating durable legal entitlements that guaranteethe right to food for all in the country. Sen stressedthe need for the firm recognition of the right tofood, and comprehensive legislation to guaranteeeveryone the right.



80

“A Right to Food Act covering enforceable foodentitlements should be non-discriminatoryand universal. Entitlements guaranteed by theAct should include food grains from the Public

Distribution System (PDS), school meals,nutrition services for children below the age of six years, social security provision, and allied

programmes”



THE RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN

Other arguments and facts

81

The Right to Food Campaign, civil society and economists like Jean



82

g p g , yDreze, point out several facts.

The poverty estimates of about 40 per cent given by the TendulkarCommittee to determine the number of poor who will receivesubsidized food under the forthcoming National Food Security Actis inadequate to our current situation of hunger, starvation andmalnutrition.Others that have submitted their reports are the National

Committee for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) setup by the Government of India, that estimates that 77 % of ourpopulation have an income of less than Rs.20 per day in 2004-05;

the Saxena Committee set up by the Ministry of RuralDevelopment that says that 50 % of our population should beconsidered below the poverty line.



The paucity of resources can no longer be anexcuse for keeping our people hungry. It is more acase of having the right priorities, and a moraldeficit. The NCEUS report appointed by the

government points out that the safety net can beprovided within the available resources andcapacity of the government. If a universal subsidycan work in Tamil Nadu state and PDS can work inKerela state why can't it be made to workelsewhere?

83

A Right to Food Act is needed



A Right to Food Act is neededon compassionate grounds.

India wants to reach the moon but the question iswhether it can reach its own starving children.

Who cares if the Commonwealth of the “Games” isso uncommonly unequal.According to Harsh Mander, a Food Commissionerappointed by the Supreme Court, about tenhomeless die every day in Delhi. Says Mander “Thatso many people die each day at our doorstep, closeto the centers of power, is a reminder how scarce iscompassion in our public life.”

84

At present the government supplies 27 4 million



85

At present, the government supplies 27.4 milliontonne of rice and wheat for PDS, which costs it Rs56,000 crore (in 2010-11). It estimates to have 50million tonne of grain in its storage facilities at theworst point of the year.Back of the envelope calculations show the first year of NFSA,when one-fourth of the blocks or districts get almost universalcoverage and special nutrition schemes are launched, wouldrequire around 50 million tonne of grain. The subsidy bill willgo up by around Rs 20,000 crore.But even so, the increase of fiscal subsidy might

require only a political decision; supply of grain, onthe other hand, is a governance issue that the NACwill have to fight and push hard.



86

The government has announced a 'second green revolution'through the non-irrigated lands,but the agricultural ministry's past record does not inspireconfidence.To assure itself that the NFSA does not come undone infuture years, the NAC will need to set the course for thissecond 'revolution' and push the government to procuremore.The latter is beset with macroeconomic concerns of howincreased government purchase will hit prices and inflation.

Enhancing production alongside will become



87

Enhancing production alongside will become

mandatory.

This would be the toughest bit to ensure because

these issues will lie beyond the mandate of the

NFSA. They would have to be embedded in anoverall economic policy shift that will require

increased budgetary allocations to agriculture,

combined with the same intellectual vigour that

India witnessed during the first green revolution.

For India, with nearly fifty per cent children



88

underweight,to make freedom from hunger a legal right is a golden

dream that needs hard work to realize it.

It involves besides an universal PDS, manyinterventions & entitlements like

Child nutrition,Social security,

Health care and even

Proper rights. Framing National Food Security Actrequires creative work, public debate and politicalcommitment.

Average daily net per capita availability



g y p p yof food grains in India

• Average daily net per capita availability of food grains in India between 2005 and 2008was 436 grams/Indian.

• That was less than it was half a century ago.• In 1955-58 it was 440 grams.• Take pulses separately and the fall is 50 %.

Around 35 grams in 2005-08 from nearly 70grams in 1955-58.

89



90



91

• The Food Corporation of India (FCI) procures food grainsfrom the farmers at the government announced minimum

support price (MSP). The MSP should ideally be at a levelwhere the procurement by FCI and the offtake from it arebalanced.

• The responsibility for procuring and stocking of food grainslies with the FCI and for distribution with the publicdistribution system (PDS).

• To reduce the fiscal deficit, the government has sought tocurtail the food subsidy bill by raising the issue price of food grains (to APL people) and linking it to the economic

cost at which the FCI supplies food grains to the PDS. Theeconomic cost comprises the cost of procurement, that is,MSP, storage, transportation and administration and ishigh.



92

• When the issue price to APL category goes higher

than the market rates and to BPL category beyond

their purchasing power, resulting in plummeting of

offtake from the PDS.

• There is a need to shift from the existing expensive,

inefficient and corruption ridden institutional

arrangements to those that will ensure cheap

delivery of requisite quality grains in a transparent

manner and are self-targeting.

• It would be sobering for economists to look at the



93

It would be sobering for economists to look at the

expenditures that some of the most prosperous

countries in the world are incurring to stave hunger

and protect children and adult populations from

hunger.• Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu

are four states with four different political parties in

power, have led the way in covering larger numbers

of poor and admittedly, better provisioning of food

grain.

Framing National Food Security Act ( Gaze at Crystal ball )



g y ( y )

• The proposal by the Planning Commission, that the Tendulkar

committee figures for those living below the poverty line bethe cut off for providing food grains at Rs 3 per kg, could nowget greater weightage.

• The favoured proposal may recommend that only 33% of the

urban population be provided subsidized grains and providedifferential services to different income segments.• The proposal may allow for the rural population living above

the Tendulkar poverty line -- or Above Poverty Linebeneficiaries -- to get only 25 kg of food grain, at a higher rate.

• These steps , if accepted , would radically reduce the number of beneficiaries of the proposed Act as well as pare down thegovernment's annual subsidy bill by Rs 15,000-20,000 crore.

94

d h



95

Budget- March- 2011• The implementation gaps in the PDS is a big challenge•

Wholesale-retail price imbalance unacceptable. Need toimprove the distribution system of food and agriculture• Cold storage to be recognised as an infrastructure sector

150 lakh mT of storage capacity for food items beingcreated under Rural Godown scheme

• FM proposes 15 more food parks• Food Security Bill to be introduced this year• Renumeration for Anganwadi helpers increased from Rs

750 to Rs 1,500• Renumeration for Anganwadi workers raised from Rs

1,500 to Rs 3,000



96

As per the Supreme Court of India

“Basic needs of man have traditionally been accepted tothe three - food, clothing and shelter.The right to life is guaranteed in any civilized society.

That would take within its sweep the right to food , theright to clothing, the right to decent environment and areasonable accommodation to live in. ”

Shantistar Builders vs. Narayan Khimalal Totame, Civil Appeal No. 2598 of 1989, decided Jan. 31, 1990. SupremeCourt of India, at sec. 9.

Aug. 27 th 2013



Lok Sabha passes Food Security Bill 2013

• NFS 2013 seeks to provide highly subsidised foodgrains to nearly 70 % of the population of thecountry.

•

Under the Targeted Public Distributed System, about67% of the population will legally be entitled to getsubsidised food grains.

• A beneficiary will be entitled to 5 kg of rice, wheat or

coarse cereals at Rs.3, Rs.2 and Rs.1 per kgrespectively.

97

The beneficiaries will be identified by the States



98

The beneficiaries will be identified by the Statesbased on parameters prescribed by the Uniongovernment.

Total requirements around 62 million tonnes and 75 %of villages would be targetted as a priority sector.

The storage facilities would go up to 85million tonnesby 2914-15.

The off take of the States for the present ongoing

schemes would be protected and additionalprovisions would be made for implementing theentitlements,



99

• Consider the crows, for they neither sow norreap, they have no storeroom or barn, and yetGod feeds them. How much more valuable areyou than the birds!

• And when he had fasted forty days and forty

nights, he was afterward an hungered. Andwhen the tempter came to him, he said, If thoube the Son of God, command that these stonesbe made bread. But he answered and said, It is

written, Man shall not live by bread alone, butby every word that proceeds out of the mouthof God.

• Therefore I say unto you Take no thought for your



Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for yourlife, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor

yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not thelife more than meat, and the body than raiment?• Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,

neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet

your heavenly Father feeds them.• Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubitunto his stature?

AMEN

Documents

Food Security Debates Now