what is the role of public distribution system in providing food grains for people.please write in a form of long long essay......
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Explanation:
e of Public Distribution System in Providing Food Security – A Study of Mysore
District
Mahadavappa Eraiah, University of Mysore, India
Abstract
Public Distribution system is one of the strategies to eradicate the poverty in India. The
eradication of poverty is the main slogan of the 10th five year plan. In India even after
half a century of independence still 26% of total population is living below poverty line
(BPL group). Therefore in the Indian development strategies the thrust was focused to
eliminate poverty. In the direction of poverty alleviation the PDS is one of the
instruments in India’s development processes. The main purpose of PDS was to act as
price supporting programmes for the consumers during the periods of food shortage of
the 1960. An the other it acted as an instrument of price stabilization and become a
countervailing force against private traders who were try to exploits the situation of
security of food. The basic aim was to provide essential commodities like rice, wheat,
sugar, and edible oil and kerosene at subsidized prices. From 1960 to 1980 it continued to
be an adhoc scheme. In 1980 the coverage of PDS extended to rural areas in some states
as welfare programme. In 1985 the scheme extended to all the tribal blocks covering
about 51 million persons. The scheme was revamped and extended to 164 million persons
covering the rural areas Thereafterwards the number of fair price shops introduced to
distribute the food grains at subsidized price and the amount spent on subsidy for PDS
increased from 3295 crores in 1974-75 to Rs. 9000 crores in 1998-99, Which indicate the
importance of PDS in the India's development process. However the supply of food under
PDS made a clear demarcation between urban rural consumers. Commodity like wheat,
rice, sugar and edible oils consumed in urban area where as rural consumer mainly
consumed kerosene, rice and sugar. Realizing the significant consumption pattern,
Government of India made policy not to supply food grains under PDS to the APL
(Above Poverty Line) house holder. From 2001-2002 onwards the criteria for issuing the
ration card to the consumer is revamped on the basis of annual income of the family. In
the welfare state, one of the primary duties of the state is to provide food security to its
people. This becomes more prominent in country like India having high density
population with cropping pattern mostly dependent on rains and no regular assured
system of irrigation, due to which the availability of food stocks remains fluctuating over
periods of time causing uncertainties. To overcome such eventualities and to provide
assured supply of essential commodities, a system of PDS is very important. Now the
Public Distribution System (PDS) is the key element of the Government's food security
system in India. It is an instrument for ensuring availability of certain essential
commodities at easily affordable prices especially for the poor. The Government via the
Food Corporation of India (FCI) procures and stocks food grains which are released
every month for distribution through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Public
Distribution System in Mysore District of Karnataka State Study area: Mysore is one of
the important district of Karnataka state. It has seven taluks with 1,328 villages. As per
2001 census the population for the district is 2.69 million. There are 6,89,365 card
holders who are getting the benefit under PDS in the district. The objective of this paperis to trace out the impact of PDS in providing food security to the people living below
poverty line. Total member of families getting the benefit, quantity of foodgrains
distributed in a year will be discussed in this appear. Study will discuss the extent of food
security provided through Public Distribution System.
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• what is the role of public distribution system in providing food grains for people.please write in a form of long long essay......
Food security for a country meant sufficient quantity of essential commodities produced, stored properly and made available to all of the people at all times, especially the under privileged sections. The most important medium through which government ensures food security at micro level is the public distribution system (PDS). Indeed, India's PDS is the world's largest social safety net for food. It operates on the basis of extensive procurement of food grains by the Food Corporation of India on minimum support price terms determined by the Agricultural Prices Commission. Procured product is then distributed through an elaborate national network of Fair Price Shops which sell food grains to poor populations at highly subsidized prices. This has the effect of simultaneously supporting, stabilizing and subsidizing farm incomes for food grain production in a small number of net exporting states Punjab, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh generating a net welfare benefit to poor consumers in other parts of the country, who are able to obtain food grains at below-market price. However, in the 1990s, two major changes were introduced to the PDS, these were: The Revised PDS (RPDS) and the Targeted PDS (TPDS). A two-tier card system was introduced in order to represent a distinction between above and below poverty line cardholders. Each household was allocated to one of the following three categories and was accordingly given a PDS card which specified their entitlements for food grain subsidies. These categories were 'Above Poverty Line' (APL), 'Below Poverty Line' (BPL) and 'Antodaya Anna Yojana' (AAY) cards. This paper tries to to analyse the food security condition of the country during the last few decades and the working of PDS with some macro measures. But in India, the working PDS and government policies have not been successful in achieving food security at the desired level. There is a need for certain reforms in procurement and distribution for better functioning of PDS, i.e., decentralization of procurement and distribution, involving panchayats in PDS.