The Food Paradox of India : Hunger a midst plenty
Lack of sufficient food have many implication on a country
from jeopardising sovereignty to death due to hunger. When we got independence,
we were left with lack of sufficient food to feed our population. Our founding
fathers understood the miserable situation and took necessary measure to
increase food production. We attained self-sufficiency in food production in
70s with the help of green revolution. Since then we are producing food at a
rate more than the population growth but despite the achievement of consistent
high production millions of people remained hunger. This is our failure of
transforming macro-level food security into household level. We stand at 63 in
global hunger index, even behind from our neighbour countries Pakistan and
Bangladesh. Food insecurity leads to the malnutrition as well as hunger. Worst
affected segment from food insecurity is poor and marginalized people, who have
not enough purchasing power to buy adequate amount of food. Lack of adequate
food also affect the growth and development of children undermining the
development of country. Major achievement of India since independence is the
prevention of famine but on other hand failed to eliminate hunger and malnutrition.
Various governmental schemes helped in reducing the hunger but complete
elimination of hunger seems a distant dreams due to which we are lagging behind
in realising millennium developmental goal.
India has second largest population in the world among which more than half of population below poverty line, who have not sufficient purchasing power to take optimum amount of food so it become the responsibility of government to provide food to these marginalised and poor people at subsidised price. In a ruling supreme court has declared subsidised food to poor people as a legal entitlement. Government is trying very hard to eliminate hunger completely through various schemes like public distribution schemes, antyodaya ann yojana, annpurna yojana, food for work programme in specified areas etc. Despite these efforts, results are not significant. It is due to the failure of government to address various drawback and loop holes in social schemes, notably PDS which is the key component for distribution of food grains at subsidised price. Some are the most important drawback in PDS and food policy are
1. Faulty mechanism for identification of beneficiaries.
2. Failure of government to prevent diversion of food from fair price shop to open market.
3. Continuous increase in MSP price despite CACP recommendation to reduce it which ultimately pushing the issue price, making food grains costlier.
4. Unable to generate adequate number of employment for increasing the purchasing power.
5. High level of intervention and regulation of agriculture commodity market.
6. Procurement of food grain more than requirement resulting into increase in stock while at the same time creating scarcity in open market.
7. Lack credit availability to the small farmer, marginal workers.
Reforms initiated to increase food production for securing food security will not be successful until it reaches to poor and marginal people. Regional disparity in food production and various intermediaries creating the problem of price rise in food production and their movement to the deficit regions.
To address the problem of hunger we need a holistic approach which should include consistent increase in food production along with distribution. Food security bill is a good approach but it alone cannot address the root cause of hunger. Main reason of hunger and malnutrition is the lack of adequate purchasing power until we increase the purchasing power and make people empower any effort will go into vain. Government need to fill the loopholes in various scheme by making them transparent, identifying the real beneficiaries, generating employment etc. employment generation in rural areas attached with protection of ecosystem or restoration will serve many purpose besides generating enough purchasing power for poor people. Financial support to small farmers for adopting new technology along with awareness will not only contribute in production but also provide employment. Spread of information technology by establishing KIOSK in villages will help in spread of education about nutrition, new schemes, technology and realization of goal of e-governance. Use of information technology will help in reducing the leakage of food grain. Government should also reduce the procurement of food grain so that more food grain would be available in open market to check the inflation in food prices. Decentralization of PDS is a good idea but it needs the support of central government in the form of financial help along with transfer of some FCI godowns to state government. Increasing the food stock will not serve any purpose rather than it will increase the already ballooning fiscal deficit. Prevalence of hunger in india is not due to the lack of food but efficient distribution. Providing food grain over the buffer stock at subsidised price is better than selling it in international market at nominal price or leaving it in open for rotting.
Every individual have some basic requirement to live life with dignity
and security, among all the basic requirement sufficient food is most important.
Lack of adequate food is not good for integrity of any country as History taught
us that People became hostile to government when it failed to provide sufficient
food. Considering the size of population it is difficult for a government to feed
whole population. A targeted approach with exclusion of those who are to
purchase their food with close monitoring will serve the purpose of eliminating
hunger. Sufficient number of employment generation will attract the people from
over saturated agriculture sector. It will ultimately result into increase into
purchasing power without any negative effect on production. We have large demographic
dividend which will accelerate the growth of country in near future if we take
care of hunger timely. Widespread hunger across the country negatively affect
our image internationally undermining the soft power. We have sufficient food
to eliminate hunger, what we actually need is the political will and honest officer.
Close monitoring with the help of modern information technology will not only
fill the various loopholes in government schemes but also made it more
efficient. India has second largest population in the world among which more than half of population below poverty line, who have not sufficient purchasing power to take optimum amount of food so it become the responsibility of government to provide food to these marginalised and poor people at subsidised price. In a ruling supreme court has declared subsidised food to poor people as a legal entitlement. Government is trying very hard to eliminate hunger completely through various schemes like public distribution schemes, antyodaya ann yojana, annpurna yojana, food for work programme in specified areas etc. Despite these efforts, results are not significant. It is due to the failure of government to address various drawback and loop holes in social schemes, notably PDS which is the key component for distribution of food grains at subsidised price. Some are the most important drawback in PDS and food policy are
1. Faulty mechanism for identification of beneficiaries.
2. Failure of government to prevent diversion of food from fair price shop to open market.
3. Continuous increase in MSP price despite CACP recommendation to reduce it which ultimately pushing the issue price, making food grains costlier.
4. Unable to generate adequate number of employment for increasing the purchasing power.
5. High level of intervention and regulation of agriculture commodity market.
6. Procurement of food grain more than requirement resulting into increase in stock while at the same time creating scarcity in open market.
7. Lack credit availability to the small farmer, marginal workers.
Reforms initiated to increase food production for securing food security will not be successful until it reaches to poor and marginal people. Regional disparity in food production and various intermediaries creating the problem of price rise in food production and their movement to the deficit regions.
To address the problem of hunger we need a holistic approach which should include consistent increase in food production along with distribution. Food security bill is a good approach but it alone cannot address the root cause of hunger. Main reason of hunger and malnutrition is the lack of adequate purchasing power until we increase the purchasing power and make people empower any effort will go into vain. Government need to fill the loopholes in various scheme by making them transparent, identifying the real beneficiaries, generating employment etc. employment generation in rural areas attached with protection of ecosystem or restoration will serve many purpose besides generating enough purchasing power for poor people. Financial support to small farmers for adopting new technology along with awareness will not only contribute in production but also provide employment. Spread of information technology by establishing KIOSK in villages will help in spread of education about nutrition, new schemes, technology and realization of goal of e-governance. Use of information technology will help in reducing the leakage of food grain. Government should also reduce the procurement of food grain so that more food grain would be available in open market to check the inflation in food prices. Decentralization of PDS is a good idea but it needs the support of central government in the form of financial help along with transfer of some FCI godowns to state government. Increasing the food stock will not serve any purpose rather than it will increase the already ballooning fiscal deficit. Prevalence of hunger in india is not due to the lack of food but efficient distribution. Providing food grain over the buffer stock at subsidised price is better than selling it in international market at nominal price or leaving it in open for rotting.
A very well written essay with good n strong language. not much flaws except for some grammatical errors here and there. I couldnt understand one line "Lack of sufficient food have many implication on a country from jeopardising sovereignty to death due to hunger " if you could elaborate this for me please. Rest I find everything right in order and fine.
ReplyDeleteReview by Luv :
ReplyDeletePositive points :
1).Lucid language.
2).Nice coverage of scope of essay
3).Structured essay
4).Explicitly mentions various govt schemes which is to the point and fits in the scheme of thing brilliantly
Negative points :
1).Essay though structured with a good intro deviates from it in main body where according to me the question of "Why there is hunger amidst plenty" should have been dealt before then what are its implications.Order shouls have been as ,Why ,Remedies,implications .
2).Grammatical errors are there but they can be improved upon gradually.
3).You have mentioned drawbacks of PDS and food policy but i dont think topics demands them per se .You just need to relate that how their failures contribute to hunger .
4).Conclusion can be improved.Also try to incorporate a quote in your essay either in intro or conclusion or in both .Though not necessary it improves the quality of essay greatly and reader feels more inclined to read the whole essay.