FOOD INSECURITY

AND POVERTY IN
INDIA
SUBMITTED TO Ms. RIYA MAM ( ECONOMICS TEACHER )

Food security means :

availability,
accessibility
affordability of food to all people at all times.

Food Security is ensured in a

country only if
Enough food is available for all the persons
All persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality and
There is no barrier on access to food.

Need for Food Security:

For the poor sections of the society
Natural disasters or calamity like
earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami,
Widespread crop failure due to
drought

Famines and Starvation Deaths in

India
Bengal Famine, 1943
-killed 1.5 million to 3 million
The Bihar famine, 1966-7
- 2,353 deaths due to starvation reported
Starvation deaths have also been reported in:
1.

Kalahandi and Kashipur in Orissa

2.

Baran district of Rajasthan,

3.

Palamau district of Jharkhand

and many other remote areas during the recent

years.

States facing problem of food

insecurity
Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts), Bihar,
Jharkhand,
Orissa,
West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh,
parts of Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra

Hunger, another aspect of Food

Insecurity
Chronic Hunger

Inadequate diet for a long

time
Poor people suffer from
chronic hunger

Seasonal Hunger

Due agricultural activities-rural regions &

urban areas- casual labour
When a person is unable to get work for
the entire year

Government schemes
PDS (initial Public Distribution System scheme)
RPS (Revamped Public Distribution System)
TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System)
Special Schemes:
AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana)
APS (Annapurna Scheme)

POVERTY AS A
CHALLENGE
Section 2

Poverty as a Challenge
In our daily life, we come across many people who we think are poor. They
could be landless labourers in villages or people living in overcrowded
jhuggis in cities. They could be daily wage workers at construction sites or
child workers in Chapter Poverty as a Challenge dhabas. They could also
be beggars with children in tatters. We see poverty all around us. In fact,
every fourth person in India is poor. This means, roughly 260 million (or 26
crore) people in India live in poverty. This also means that India has the
largest single concentration of the poor in the world. This llustrates the
seriousness of the challenge.

POVERTY

Poverty as seen by social

scientists
poverty is looked through other social indicators
like illiteracy level, lack of general resistance
due to malnutrition, lack of access to
healthcare, lack of job opportunities, lack of
access to safe drinking water, sanitation etc.
Analysis of poverty based on social exclusion
and vulnerability is now becoming very common

Social exclusion
According to this concept, poverty must
be seen in terms of the poor having to
live only in a poor surrounding with other
poor people, excluded from enjoying
social equality of better -off people in
better surroundings.

POVERTY
AS SEEN IN
INDIA

Vulnerability
Vulnerability to poverty is a measure, which
describes the greater probability of certain
communities (say, members of a backward
caste) or individuals (such as a widow or a
physically handicapped person) of becoming,
or remaining, poor in the coming years.

Causes of Poverty
low level of economic development under the British colonial administration.
The failure at both the fronts: promotion of economic growth and population control
perpetuated the cycle of poverty.
irregular small incomes
huge income inequalities.
Many other socio-cultural and
economic factors also are responsible for poverty.

Anti-Poverty Measures
The current anti-poverty strategy of the
government is based broadly on two
planks
(1) promotion of economic growth
(2) targeted anti-poverty programmes.

SCHEMES BY GOVERNMENT
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005
National Food for Work Programme (NFWP), which was launched in 2004
Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY) is another scheme which was started in 1993.
Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) was launched in 1995.
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched in 1999.
Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yozana (PMGY) launched in 2000
Antyodaya Anna Yozana (AAY)

CHALLENGES AHEAD
challenges that still remain: providing
health care, education and job security
for all, and achieving gender equality and
dignity for the poor. These will be even
bigger tasks.

THANK YOU

MADE BY
VARDAAN VISHNU
ROLL NO. 31
CLASS IX C