NCERT Exercises
1. How is food security ensured in India?
Ans. Measures of food security in India:
1.
Buffer stock: It
is created to distribute food-grains in deficit area among the poor section of
the society at low prices. It helps in solving the issues of scarcity of food
to an extent during adverse weather and other calamities. This stock is
refreshed every year through buying the grains from the farmers on the cropping
season.
2.
Public Distribution System (PDS): It was introduced for the distribution of food through
Rasan Card System, stored in buffer stock among the poor. Fair shops have been
opened which are known as government regulated ration shops. Now ration shops
are present in most localities, villages, towns and cities. These ration shops
keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking, and these items are
sold at a price lower than the market price.
3.
Other Programmes: Integrated
Child Development Services, Food for work, Mid-day meals etc. have been
launched for ensuring food security. In Maharashtra, academy of
development science has facilitated a network of NGOs for setting up grain
banks in different regions. Grain banks are now slowly taking shape in
different parts of Maharashtra.
2. Which are the people more prone to food
insecurity?
Ans.
People who are prone to food security:
1.
Landless people with small piece of land or no land at all.
2.
Traditional artisans.
3.
Self-employed workers.
4.
Impoverished people including beggars.
5.
Other than the economic division, the women and elders are more prone to food
insecurity.
3. Which states are more food insecure in
India?
Ans. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Jharkhand, Orissa,
West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra are the few states which are more
food insecure in India. A large section of people suffer from food and
nutrition insecurity in India, the worst affected groups are landless people
with little or no land to depend upon, traditional artisans, providers of
traditional services, petty self-employed workers and destitute including
beggars. The above mentioned states have the largest number of people from
these economic and vocational categories and thus are the most food insecure.
4. Do you believe that green revolution
has made India self-sufficient in food grains? How?
Ans.
Yes, I believe that
Green Revolution, which started in 1966-67, has played a crucial role in making
India self-sufficient in food grains by raising the production of wheat and
rice.
1.
India has hardly faced famine like situation and has largely become
self-sufficient in food grains since the advent of the Green Revolution.
2.
The import bills for the food grains have greatly went down and that money is
used in other economic activities.
3.
Less dependence on food grain import has helped us attain some diplomatic
independence as well.
4.
Increase in the production of food grains has also helped in increasing the
export earnings over the years.
5. A section of people in India are still
without food. Explain?
Ans. A section of people in India is still
without food and the main cause of this is that many poor families don’t have
enough money to buy required food items for self and their families. Food items
are generally available in the market but as the incomes of the poor are very
less, thus they are not able to buy those grains at the market rates. Many a
times, the families have insufficient resources to even buy necessary food
items and thus the idea of buying nutritious food is a heresy.
6. What happens to the supply of food
when there is a disaster or a calamity?
Ans.
When there is a
disaster or a calamity like earthquake, flood, drought, tsunami, wide-spread
failure of crops that causes famine, then:
1.
Food supply declines because of the less availability of grain.
2.
Food requirement increases because many people are ailing or hurt owing to the
calamities.
3.
To supply the food grains buffer stocks are used.
4.
The victims have to rely on government support and relief programs to make the
ends meet.
7. Differentiate between seasonal hunger
and chronic hunger?
Ans. Difference
between seasonal hunger and chronic hunger:
Seasonal hunger - It is caused due to cycles of food growing
and harvesting. When people are unable to find the job then they suffer from
seasonal hunger.
Chronic
hunger - It is caused due to persistently inadequate
diet in terms of quantity and quality.People suffer from chronic hunger due to
irregular income and low paid wages.
8. What has our government done to
provide food security to the poor? Discuss any two schemes launched by the
government?
Ans. Provision
of food security to the poor by our government: Availability of
food grains at the security system has been ensured by the government through
the establishment of fair price shops and also the subsidy distribution through
the PDS card system.
The major schemes launched by the government are:
In 1992,
Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1,700
blocks in the country. The target was to provide the benefits of PDS to remote
and backward areas.
From
June 1997, in a renewed attempt, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)
was introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the ‘poor in all areas’. It
was for the first time that a differential price policy was adopted for poor
and non-poor.
Further,
in 2000, two special schemes were launched viz., Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)
and Annapurna Scheme (APS) with special target groups of ‘poorest of the
poor’ and ‘indigent senior citizens’, respectively. The functioning of these
two schemes was linked with the existing network of the PDS.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was launched in December 2000. Under this
scheme one crore of the poorest among the BPL families covered under the
targeted public distribution system were identified. Poor families were
identified by the respective state rural development departments through a
Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey. Twenty-five kilograms of food grains were made
available to each eligible family at a highly subsidized rate of Rs. 2 per kg
for wheat and Rs. 3 per kg for rice. This quantity has been enhanced from 25 to
35 kg with effect from April 2002. The scheme has been further expanded twice
by additional 50 lakh BPL families in June 2003 and in August 2004. With this
increase, 2 crore families have been covered under the AAY.
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 the Food Corporation of
India (FCI). 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 price is called Minimum Support Price (MSP). The
MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to
provide incentives to farmers for raising the production of these crops.The
purchased food grains are stored in granaries.
Why this buffer stock is created by the
government?
This is done to distribute food grains
in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of the society at a price
lower than the market price also known as Issue Price. This also helps
resolve the problem of shortage of food during adverse weather conditions or
during the periods of calamity.
10. Write notes on:
(a) Minimum
support price
Ans. Minimum
Support Price: It refers to the price at which the government secures food grains (wheat
and rice) through FCI from the farmers in states where there is surplus in
production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. The
minimum support price is declared by the government every year before the
sowing season. The purchased grain forms the part of the buffer stock and is
stored in FCI granaries.
(b) Buffer stock
Ans. Buffer Stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice,
procured by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
(c) Issue price
Ans. Issue Price: a price lower than the market price known as Issue Price. This price
is essentially kept lower than the market rates so that all the economic weaker
sections have access to the food grains.
(d) Fair price
shops
Ans. Ration shops also, known as Fair Price
Shops, keep stock of food grains, sugar, and kerosene for cooking. These
items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price. Any family
with a ration card* can buy a stipulated amount of these items (e.g. 35 kg
of grains, 5 litres of kerosene, 5 kgs of sugar etc.) every month from the
nearby ration shop.
*There are three kinds of ration cards: (a) Antyodaya cards for the poorest of the
poor; (b) BPL cards for those below poverty line; and (c) APL cards
for all others.
11. What are the problems of the
functioning of ration shops?
Ans. Problems of
the functioning of the Ration Shops:
1.
Poor quality of items because of some malpractices and incompetency
shown at the time of procurement.
2.
To get better margin the shop owners divert the subsidized grain to open
market which renders the supply highly irregular.
3.
Cheating the illiterate customers by measuring less using fraud weights
and measures.
4.
Three types of ration card distribution also cause some issues.
5.
The opening schedule of the ration shops is highly irregular which
causes issues.
6.
There is very little interest showed by the families above poverty line because
they don’t get much discount and the quality too is questionable.
12. Write a note on the role of
cooperatives in providing food and related items.
Ans. The cooperatives play a vital role in providing food and
other related items, and have proved to be effective especially in the southern
and western parts of India.
(i)
It has been found that around 94% of the ration shops are run by the cooperatives
in Tamilnadu.
(ii)
The mother dairy is supplying milk and other milky products like butter,
ghee, curd etc. to the people at much subsidized rates in Delhi.
(iii)
AMUL is doing the same job of supplying milk and milk products to people
at much cheaper rates in Gujarat. In a way these dairies have brought White
Revolution in country.
(iv)
The academy of development science (ADS) has facilitated many NGOs to set
their own grain banks in various parts of the state, which have proved a great
asset in providing food security to people, especially the poor section in
Maharashtra.