Key Points

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. It has three dimensions: availability, accessibility, and affordability.

Availability refers to food production and stocks. Accessibility means food is within everyone's reach. Affordability implies individuals have enough money to buy food for their dietary needs.

The poorest sections of society are often food insecure. People above the poverty line can also become food insecure during natural calamities like droughts, floods, or earthquakes, which disrupt production and distribution.

A natural calamity can lead to a food shortage, causing prices to rise and leading to starvation. A massive, widespread starvation that causes many deaths is called a famine, like the Bengal Famine of 1943.

In rural areas, landless laborers and traditional artisans are most affected. In urban areas, casual laborers in low-paid occupations and the destitute, including beggars, are the most food insecure.

Chronic hunger is due to persistently inadequate diets from low income. Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting, affecting agricultural and casual laborers who do not have work year-round.

The government ensures food security through a system with two main components. These are the creation of a buffer stock and the establishment of a Public Distribution System (PDS).

A buffer stock is the reserve of foodgrains, primarily wheat and rice, procured by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). This stock is used to distribute food during shortages or calamities.

MSP is a pre-announced price at which the government purchases crops from farmers. It provides an incentive for farmers to increase production and ensures they get a reasonable price for their produce.

The PDS is a network of government-regulated ration shops, also known as Fair Price Shops, that distribute foodgrains and other essential items to the poorer sections of society at subsidized prices.

Issue Price is the price at which the government sells foodgrains from the buffer stock to people through the Public Distribution System. This price is lower than the market price to ensure affordability.

There are three main types of ration cards. Antyodaya cards are for the poorest of the poor, BPL cards are for those below the poverty line, and APL cards are for all other households.

This Act aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India's population. It categorizes households as eligible to receive food grains at highly affordable prices, ensuring a life with dignity.

Launched in December 2000, AAY is a scheme that targets the 'poorest of the poor' among BPL families. It provides them with 35 kg of foodgrains per month at highly subsidized rates.

Cooperatives play a significant role in food security, especially in southern and western India. They set up shops to sell low-priced goods to the poor, such as Mother Dairy in Delhi and Amul in Gujarat.