what is the role of public distribution system in the direction of food security in the country
Answers
Since 1951, food production increased almost steadily (except for a few bad years) and overstepped the growth rate of population and the Buffer Stock of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) exceeded the required minimum except for the last few years. Still food insecurity increased during the 1990s although there had been a falling trend during the 1980s.
If we look at the buffer stock position of the FCI we come across a paradoxical situation. On the one hand buffer stock has been more than sufficient till 2006 to meet the requirements. For the last few years it has fallen marginally below the minimum required,
which could be met by food imports. On the other hand intensity of food insecurity of the vulnerable segments of rural and urban population has been continuously increasing ever since the 1990s. The percentage of hungry people fell marginally during the period but absolute number increased considerably.
So it becomes clear that supply deficiency is not the basic cause of hunger and food insecurity of the majority of the population. Historical evidence also shows that famines and food insecurity in India in the past arose not because of supply failure but because of wrong policy of the government. Amartya Sen has shown that during the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, there was no scarcity of food grains (Sen 1999).
After independence India has not experienced any acute food crisis in the form of famine which had been a recurrent catastrophe during the British regime, but we have been inflicted with chronic hunger which has been intensified since the 1990s. Here also the basic cause does not lie in supply deficiency but in wrong policy of the government in two ways. First, the policy of liberalization has resulted in fall of income and employment of the vulnerable segments of population and second, the PDS and other safety measures for the poor have become less efficient. So in brief, the basic reason for the recent increasing trend of food insecurity are:
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,