India’s food security policy has a primary objective to ensure availability of foodgrains to the common people at an affordable price. It has enabled the poor to have access to food. The focus of the policy is on growth in agriculture production and on fixing the support price for procurement of wheat and rice, to maintain their stocks. Food Corporation of India (FCI) is responsible for procuring and stocking foodgrains, whereas distribution is ensured by public distribution system (PDS).
The FCI procures foodgrains from the farmers at the government announced minimum support price (MSP). The government used to provide subsidies on agriculture inputs such as fertilizers, power and water. These subsidies have now reached unsustainable levels and have also led to large scale inefficiencies in the use of these scarce inputs. Excessive and imprudent use of fertilizers and water has led to waterlogging, salinity and depletion of essential micronutrients in the soil.
First Millennium Development Goal states the target of “Halving hunger by 2015”. Sadly, the recent statistics for India present a very gloomy picture. India currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world and this is in spite of the fact that it has made substantial progress in health determinants over the past decades and ranks second worldwide in farm output. The causes of existing food insecurity can be better viewed under three concepts namely the: ‘traditional concept’ which includes factors such as unavailability of food and poor purchasing capacity; ‘socio-demographic concept’ which includes illiteracy, unemployment, overcrowding, poor environmental conditions and gender bias; ‘politico-developmental concept’ comprising of factors such as lack of intersectoral coordination and political will, poorly monitored nutritional programmes and inadequate public food distribution system. If the Millennium Development Goal is to be achieved by 2015, efforts to improve food and nutrition security have to increase considerably. Priority has to be assigned to agriculture and rural development along with promoting women empowerment, ensuring sustainable employment and improving environmental conditions (water, sanitation and hygiene). As the problem is multi-factorial, so the solution needs to be multi-sectoral.