SSC Descriptive Writing Current Affairs SSC-CGL (TIER-III) - Food Security in India

FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

Key Points:

What it is

• Definition
• Essential for a robust nation
• Component
• Role of FCI

Challenges

• Leakages
• Cereal centric
• Corruption and black marketing

Measures taken

• Integrated child development scheme
• Mid-day meal scheme
• National food security act

Way ahead

• Direct benefit transfer
• Incentivizing fair price shops
• Technology
• Decentralized production

THE ESSAY BEGINS…

Food security is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as the availability of physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs. Necessary to ensure a robust nation, this comprises of availability, access, and absorption of food, which in India is done through the FCI by the union government, thereafter distributing it to the states. India's rank of 78 in the Global hunger index doesn't present a bright picture.

Food grains distribution in India is limited to cereals, which creates a lopsided policy discouraging crop diversification, which can be solved by decentralized production. Corruption and black marketing can be cured by the Chattisgarh model of GPS tagging. High leakages in the system, as mentioned by the Santakumar commission, can be solved by Direct Benefit Transfer, There is also a need of using technology to improve the quality of crops, and make it climate-resilient.

Measures taken by the government including ICDS, MOMS with the last being National Food Security Act, have helped in solving the problem to a great extent. DBT is often cited as a panacea for all the problems related to food security, since it brings in transparency and accountability, but it can also be misused. Incentivizing the FPS owners to keep them open is another possible step.

Food security is the need of the hour and the government should take all possible measures to make sure that the nation of tomorrow isn't famished.