Question

Define food insecurity in India.

Answer 1

In transitory food insecurity, food may be unavailable during certain periods of time. At the food production level, natural disasters and drought result in crop failure and decreased food availability. ... Chronic (or permanent) food insecurity is defined as the long-term, persistent lack of adequate food.

Answer 2

Food insecurity per se, exists when all people, at all times, do not have physical and economic access to the sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, 1996) (1). Food insecurity can lead to lower cognitive ability, diminished work performance and substantial productivity losses. All of these can hamper the growth and development of national economy. India has made substantial progress in health determinants over the past decades. The critical indicators of health, including Infant Mortality Rate, maternal mortality ratio, disease prevalence, and morbidity as well as mortality rates have shown consistent decline over the years. India’s life expectancy has improved and infant mortality, nearly halved in the last fifty years (2). There has been an impressive economic progress with achievements in the domain of agriculture contributing significantly. India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 18.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 and employed 60% of the total workforce (3). However, the problem of chronic hunger and malnutrition seems to prevail on a large scale. India currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world i.e. 212 million. The total number of undernourished people was 172.4 million in 1990–92 which rose to 237.7 million in 2005–07 i.e. nearly 38% increase in undernourished people
Reasons
This is mainly due to lack of improvement in agricultural productivity owing to inadequate resources and markets needed to obtain agricultural stability. An agrarian crisis is currently being unleashed in India and it has a variety of causes, the prominent being the huge cut in government’s development expenditure in the nineties, particularly in rural areas