{"id":259710,"date":"2023-09-12T21:52:54","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T16:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=259710"},"modified":"2023-09-12T21:52:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T16:22:54","slug":"ridding-india-of-food-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ridding-india-of-food-insecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Ridding India of food insecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cRidding India of food insecurity\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Times of India\u201d <\/strong>on 12th September 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Social Issues – Issues related to hunger. GS3- Issues of food security<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– India is facing accelerating food-price inflation. The rise in the price of food first accelerated sharply in 2019. In July this year, annual inflation exceeded 11%, the highest in a decade.<\/p>\n

What are challenges related to food insecurity in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As per the ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ <\/strong>report from the FAO, an estimated 74% of the populatio<\/strong>n in India cannot afford a healthy diet.<\/strong> This translates to approximately one billion individuals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A study highlighted in The Hindu newspaper examined the price trends of food<\/strong> in Mumbai city from 2018 to 2023.<\/p>\n

It revealed that during this period, the cost of preparing a homemade “thaali”<\/strong> has surged by 65%. In contrast, the average income<\/strong> of a manual laborer has increased by 38%, and that of a salaried worker has gone up by 28%.<\/p>\n

The latest National Family Health Survey<\/strong> estimated that over 50% of adult women <\/strong>were suffering from anemia. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Traditional macroeconomic policies<\/strong> aimed at controlling inflation have proven ineffective<\/strong> in this context.<\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank of India has faltered in this regard. Inflation rates<\/strong> have consistently exceeded their targets for the past four years. Their strategy of “inflation targeting,<\/strong>” does not address food inflation stemming from supply-side issues. <\/strong><\/p>\n

What are some facts about the green revolution?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The government launched a supply-side strategy<\/strong> by equipping farmers with high-yielding seeds, affordable credit, and guaranteed prices through procurement. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This endeavor achieved remarkable success. Within a short span, India no longer relied on food imports<\/strong>. It facilitated India’s aspiration for self-sufficiency. <\/strong><\/p>\n

However, there were some mistakes at the level of strategy. There was excessive use of chemical fertilizers that led<\/strong> to soil degradation. <\/strong><\/p>\n

There was also an overemphasis on procurement prices<\/strong> rather than boosting productivity <\/strong>to enhance farm incomes. It contributes to inflation. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The policy predominantly concentrated on cereals rather than pulses,<\/strong> a primary source of protein for most Indians.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward to achieve the goal of food security?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The focus should be on rectifying the challenges<\/strong> created by the green revolution<\/strong>. There is a need to prioritize the specific objective<\/strong> of reducing the cost of food production.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Green revolution paid insufficient attention<\/strong> to the cost of producing food. <\/strong>Therefore, a second agricultural revolution<\/strong> is now imperative.\u00a0 Containing the escalating food prices necessitates multifaceted action. <\/strong>It demands a mission-oriented approach. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Farm-focused measures <\/strong>to boost yields and contain production costs are essential.<\/p>\n

There is need for improvement in key areas like extending irrigation<\/strong> to cover 100% of the net sown area, eliminating land leasing restrictions<\/strong>, accelerating agricultural research, and reinstating extension services.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ongoing subdivision <\/strong>of already small land holdings diminishes the potential for investments in productivity-enhancing capital<\/strong>. Allowing land leasing<\/strong> could provide a solution to this issue.<\/p>\n

India’s network of public agricultural research institutions<\/strong> needs revitalization to reclaim the pivotal role they played in the 1960s. The extension services<\/strong> need to be reinvigorated.<\/p>\n

The active participation of states<\/strong> is crucial. In the 1960s, the states selected for the adoption of new agricultural technology<\/strong> worked closely with the central government.<\/p>\n

A similar collaborative approach<\/strong> is essential to make a substantial impact nationwide.<\/strong> The central government and states should work together in the spirit of cooperative federalism. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A pragmatic approach<\/strong> is necessary, both at the national level and within individual states, to bring about meaningful change.<\/p>\n

An important aspect of the first Green Revolution <\/strong>was that it embraced a capitalist approach b<\/strong>y relying on private enterprise, and compromised on socialist principles<\/strong>. The objective was to make India self-sufficient in food. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Therefore, in the current context, no approach should be dismissed if it aligns with ecological sustainability.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cRidding India of food insecurity\u201d published in \u201cThe Times of India\u201d on 12th September 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Social Issues – Issues related to hunger. GS3- Issues of food security News– India is facing accelerating food-price inflation. The rise in the price of food first accelerated sharply in… Continue reading Ridding India of food insecurity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500,8131],"class_list":["post-259710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","tag-social-issues","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}