1. What is food security?

Food security is the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food to all people at all times.

2. How is food security ensured in a country?

Food security is ensured in a country only if enough food is available for all people, all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality, and there is no barrier to access to food.

3. Why is food security important?

Food security is important due to overpopulation, reduction in net sown area under cereals, hoarding and black marketing, reduction of land under cultivation, corrupt administrative practices, and natural calamities.

4. How is food security affected during a calamity?

During a calamity, such as drought, the total production of food grains decreases, leading to a shortage of food in the affected areas, which can cause a situation of starvation, and eventually, famine.

5. Who is food-insecure?

In India, the worst affected groups are landless people, traditional artisans, providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers, destitute, SCs, STs, and some sections of the OBCs.

6. Which states are more food insecure in India?

The economically backward states with a high incidence of poverty, tribal and remote areas, and regions more prone to natural disasters such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra account for the largest number of food-insecure people.

7. What is hunger?

Hunger is the inability to acquire sufficient food to meet basic needs, leading to chronic and seasonal dimensions.

8. How is hunger related to poverty?

Hunger brings about poverty and is not just an expression of poverty. The attainment of food security involves eliminating current hunger and reducing the risk of future hunger.

9. What is seasonal hunger?

Seasonal hunger is related to the cycle of food growing and harvesting, where off-season food grain prices become high or there can be a shortage of food grains.

10. What is India's goal in terms of food production?

India's goal is to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains since independence.

11. What are the factors that affect food security in India?

Factors that affect food security in India are overpopulation, reduction in net sown area under cereals, hoarding and black marketing, reduction of land under cultivation, corrupt administrative practices, and natural calamities.

12. What is the role of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in food security?

The Public Distribution System (PDS) plays a vital role in food security by providing food grains to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society at subsidized rates.

13. What are the challenges faced by the PDS?

The challenges faced by the PDS include leakages, diversions, and corruption, leading to inadequate distribution of food grains to the targeted population.

14. What is the role of the government in ensuring food security?

The government has a crucial role in ensuring food security by implementing policies and programs to increase food production, storage, and distribution, and by providing support to vulnerable sections of society.

15. What are the different strategies adopted by the government to ensure food security?

The government has adopted various strategies, including price stabilization, minimum support price, buffer stock, and various poverty alleviation programs, to ensure food security.

16. What is the objective of the National Food for Work Programme?

The objective of the National Food for Work Programme is to generate supplementary wage employment in the 150 most backward districts of the country.

17. What is the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)?

Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) is a scheme launched in December 2000 to provide 35 kgs of foodgrains at a highly subsidized rate to one crore of the poorest among the BPL families covered under the targeted public distribution system.

18. How are cooperatives contributing to food security in India?

Cooperatives in India are contributing to food security by setting up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people, providing milk and vegetables at controlled rates, and facilitating the setup of grain banks in different regions through NGOs.