NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
Food Security in India
Food security in India remains a pressing issue despite the country’s significant agricultural output. The challenge lies not just in food production but in ensuring equitable distribution and access. Issues such as poverty, inadequate infrastructure, and inefficient supply chains contribute to food insecurity for millions. Efforts like the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the National Food Security Act (NFSA) aim to provide subsidized food to those in need, but obstacles such as poor storage facilities and regional disparities persist. To achieve lasting food security, India needs to enhance agricultural efficiency, strengthen distribution networks, and address socio-economic inequalities to ensure that every citizen has reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food.NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
1.How is food security ensured in India?
Ans: Food security in India is ensured when three dimensions of food security are taken care of. The three dimensions are:
- Availability of food – Presence of enough food for each and every citizen.
- Accessibility of food – When there is no barrier to access food.
- Affordability of food – The Capability of all persons to buy quality food.
2.Which are the people more prone to food insecurity?
Ans: A large section of people suffer from the insecurity of food and nutrition in India. The worst affected groups are:
- In rural parts, traditional artists, traditional services providers, landless, beggars and self-employed workers.
- People who are employed in ill-paid occupations and labourers engaged in seasonal activities (in the urban areas).
- People who belong to the backward sections of society, SCs, STs and OBCs.
- People who belong to economically backward states with a high incidence of poverty, tribal and remote areas and regions which are more prone to natural disasters.
- People who are affected by natural disasters have to migrate to some area for work.
- Many pregnant and nursing mothers, and children under the age of 5 years.NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
3.Which states are more food insecure in India?
Ans: There are many economically backward states with high poverty and more food insecurity in India. The states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts), Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, some parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra have the highest number of food-insecure people in India.
4.Do you believe that the green revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains? How?
Ans: The Green Revolution was introduced in the 1960s so that Indian farmers can cultivate (HYVs) seeds. The HYVs which are coupled with chemical fertilisers and pesticides has led to a growth in the productivity of food grains, helping India to attain self-sufficiency in food grains. Because of the Green Revolution, India has avoided famine, during adverse weather conditions.
NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
5.A section of people in India are still without food. Explain?
Ans: Despite a large increase in food grain production, we find people without food in India. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger. They find themselves unable to buy food. More than one-fifth of the country’s population suffers from chronic hunger.
6.What happens to the supply of food when there is a disaster or a calamity?
Ans: When a disaster or a calamity occurs, then the production of food grains decreases in the affected areas, which creates a shortage of food in the area. Since there is a food shortage, the prices go up. The raised prices of food affect the capacity of common people to buy the same. When the calamity occurs in an area that is spread widely or over a long period of time, it may cause a situation of starvation. Massive starvation has the capability to take the form of a famine.
NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
7.Differentiate between seasonal hunger and chronic hunger?
Ans: The differences between seasonal and chronic hunger are given as below:
| Seasonal hunger | Chronic hunger |
| Seasonal hunger is basically associated with cycles of food growing and harvesting, this is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of the casual labour. | Chronic hunger is caused due to inadequate consequences of diets, persistently in terms of quality and quantity. |
| For example, there is less or no work for construction labour during the rainy season. | For example, the poor suffer from chronic hunger because they have very low income which results in the inability to buy food for survival. |
8.What has our government done to provide food security to the poor? Discuss any two schemes launched by the government?
Ans: Food security is ensured by the Government of India, by a carefully designed food security system. This system is consisting of two components:
- Having and maintain a Buffer Stock of food grains,
- Distribution of these food grains among the poorer sections of the society with the help of a Public Distribution System (PDS).
The Government has launched several Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAP) that includes a component of food security. Some of these programmes are – Food-For-Work (FFW), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), and Mid-Day Meals etc.
Two schemes launched by the Government of India to provide food security are:
- Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): In December 2000, this scheme was launched. Under this, one crore of the poorer among the Below Poverty Line families, covered by the Public Distribution System (PDS) was identified. 25 Kg of food grains were made available to each of the eligible families at a highly subsidized rate. The quantity was enhanced from 25 kg to 35 kg, almost after 2 years. In June 2003, and August 2004 respectively, 50 lakh families were added by the government to this scheme twice.
- Food for Work (FFW): In November 2004 this programme was launched, for 150 most backward districts of the country. The main objective of this scheme was to focus on the identification of the generation of supplementary wage employment. This scheme is for all rural poor who are willing to do unskilled labour. In return for their work, the workers are supplied food grains or money as they like.
9.Why buffer stock is created by the government?
Ans: A buffer stock, is a reserve of food grains that are created by the government to distribute the food grains in the food-deficit areas and among the poorer section of society at a price that is very lower than the market price. A buffer stock helps resolve the problem of shortage of food during periods of calamity or adverse weather conditions.
NCERT Solution For Class 9 Economics Chapter 4
10.Write notes on:
(a) Minimum support price
Ans: Minimum Support Price (MSP) – This is the price at which the government purchases food grains, wheat and rice specifically from the farmer to create a buffer stock. MSP is announced by the government every year before the sowing season in order to give incentives to the farmers so that there is a rise in the production of the desired crop. The growth in the MSPs led to the rise in maintenance cost of gaining food grains by both the government and the farmers.
(b) Buffer stock
Ans: Buffer Stock – Foodgrains stock is called buffer stock, especially the wheat and rice that the government gets from the Food Corporation of India (FCI). In those states which have these cereals in surplus, the FCI tend to buy these grains directly from the farmers. The food grains purchased, are kept in big granaries and are called Buffer Stock. The concept of buffer stock is a step taken by the Government of India, to ensure food security in the country.
(c) Issue price
Ans: Issue Price – To help the poor section of the society, the Government of India provides them food grains from the buffer stock at a price that is much lower than the market price. This subsidized price is known as the Issue Price.
(d) Fair price shops
Ans: Fair Price Shops – The food grains collected by the government through FCI is distributed through ration shops to the poor section of the society. The Ration Shops provide food grains to the poor people through these shops at a reasonable price compared to the market price which is very high. Those families who have a ration card can get a specific amount of sugar, food grains, kerosene etc. every month from the ration shop at a fair price.
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11.What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops?
Ans: There are many problems related to the functioning of ration shops:
- There are a large number of homeless poor who fail to get ration from these shops. Since ration cards are issued only to those people who have their proper residential addresses.
- The owners of ration shops sell ration in the open market at higher prices.
- At times, shopkeepers make wrong entries in the ration cards.
12.Write a note on the role of cooperatives in providing food and related items.
Ans: The cooperatives play an important role, particularly in the southern and western parts of the country, as far as food security is concerned in India. The cooperative societies have set up shops to sell goods to poor people at reasonable prices. For example, in most of the fair price shops operating in Tamil Nadu, 94% are being run by cooperatives. In Delhi, Mother Dairy provides milk and vegetables to the people at an affordable rate, the rates are already decided by Delhi Government. This has brought the White Revolution to the country. There are many cooperatives and NGOs which are working intensively in this direction