Quick Revision Notes: Class 9 Social Science

Chapter: Food Security in India

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### 1. What is Food Security? (खाद्य सुरक्षा)

• Definition: Food security means availability, accessibility, and affordability of food to all people at all times.
• Core Dimensions (The Three Pillars):
  1. Availability of food: Food production within the country, food imports, and previous years' stock stored in government granaries.
  2. Accessibility: Food is within reach of every person.
  3. Affordability: An individual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs.

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### 2. Why is Food Security Necessary? (खाद्य सुरक्षा क्यों आवश्यक है?)

• To ensure food and nutritional security during times of natural calamities or disasters (e.g., droughts, floods, earthquakes, famines, or pandemics).
• To eliminate widespread poverty, hunger, and starvation.

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### 3. Who are Food-Insecure People? (खाद्य-असुरक्षित लोग कौन हैं?)

• In Rural Areas: Landless people, traditional artisans, petty self-employed workers, and casual laborers.
• In Urban Areas: Beggars, casual laborers employed in ill-paid occupations, and seasonal workers.
• Social Groups at Risk: Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and some sections of the Backward Classes (BCs).
• Vulnerable Demographics: Pregnant and nursing mothers, and children under the age of 5 years.

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### 4. Hunger: Dimensions and Types (भूux के आयाम और प्रकार)

Hunger is not just an indicator of poverty; it brings about poverty. It has two main dimensions:

1. Chronic Hunger: Consistently inadequate diet in terms of quantity and/or quality due to very low income.
2. Seasonal Hunger: Related to cycles of food-growing and harvesting (mostly seen in rural agricultural activities).

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### 5. Green Revolution in India (भारत में हरित क्रांति)

• Launched: In the early 1950s/1960s.
• Impact: India achieved self-sufficiency in food grains (specifically Wheat and Rice) despite severe droughts.
• Key Components: High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and better irrigation facilities.

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### 6. Food Security System in India (भारत में खाद्य सुरक्षा प्रणाली)

The Government of India has ensured food security through two main pillars:

1. Buffer Stock (बफर स्टॉक)
2. Public Distribution System (PDS) (सार्वजनिक वितरण प्रणाली)

A. Buffer Stock

• Definition: It is the stock of food grains (mainly wheat and rice) procured and maintained by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• Minimum Support Price (MSP): The price at which FCI purchases crops from farmers before the sowing season to provide them incentives.
• Issue Price: The price at which food grains are distributed to the poorer section of society at a price lower than the market price (also known as the Fair Price).

B. Public Distribution System (PDS)

• Food procured by the FCI is distributed through government-regulated ration shops (also called Fair Price Shops) to the poor.
• Ration Cards (राशन कार्ड):
  1. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): For the poorest of the poor.
  2. BPL (Below Poverty Line) Cards: For families living below the poverty line.
  3. APL (Above Poverty Line) Cards: For families living above the poverty line.

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### 7. Important Government Schemes & Interventions

• PDS (Public Distribution System): Long-running food distribution network.
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS): Experimented with in 1975 for child and maternal nutrition.
• Food for Work (FFW): Wage employment program linked to food security.
• National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013: Provides for food and nutritional security life at affordable prices to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population.

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### 8. Role of Cooperatives in Food Security (खाद्य सुरक्षा में सहकारिता की भूमिका)

Cooperatives play an active role, especially in the southern and western parts of India:

• Amul (Gujarat): White Revolution in milk and milk products.
• Mother Dairy (Delhi): Supplying milk and vegetables at controlled rates.
• Academy of Development Science (ADS) in Maharashtra: Facilitates a network of grain banks among NGOs.