Class 9 Economics Chapter 4 Extra Question Answers - Food Security in India

Q1. What does 'Food Security' mean?

Ans: Food security means that everyone has enough safe and nutritious food at all times. It has three parts: food must be available in the country, people must be able to access it, and they must be able to afford it.

Q2. On what factors does food security depend?

Ans: Food security depends on an efficient Public Distribution System (PDS) and timely government vigilance and action when food supplies are threatened. This includes measures such as procurement, storage, transport, emergency relief and price stabilisation to protect vulnerable groups.

Q3. Explain the three dimensions of food security.

Ans: Availability of Food means that the country produces or has access to sufficient food through domestic production, imports or stocks so that enough food is present for the population.

Accessibility means that food is within physical reach of every person - people can get food from markets, ration shops or other sources.

Affordability means that people have enough income or support (for example, through PDS or welfare) to buy safe and adequate food of acceptable quality.

Q4. How is food security ensured in a country?

Ans: Food security is ensured when enough food is available for all persons, everyone has the means to buy food of acceptable quality and there are no barriers that stop people from getting food. Government policies, buffer stocks, PDS and safety-net programmes help achieve these goals.

Q5. What kind of people face food insecurity?

Ans: The poorest sections of society are most often food insecure. However, even people above the poverty line can become food insecure during national disasters such as droughts, floods or widespread crop failures that cause shortages and raise prices.

Q6. How is food security affected during a calamity?

Ans: A natural calamity reduces total production of food grains.

• It creates a shortage of food in the affected area.
• Shortage pushes prices up.
• At higher prices, some people cannot afford to buy sufficient food.
• If the calamity is widespread, shortages may cause starvation.
• Severe, prolonged starvation may develop into a famine.

Q7. How does the situation of starvation arise?

Ans: Starvation can arise when a calamity affects a very large area or continues for a long time, causing prolonged shortages of food. When many people are unable to get enough food over a long period, the situation may escalate into famine.

Q8. How do famines lead to widespread deaths?  

Ans: Famines cause widespread deaths partly because of starvation and partly because weakened people become more vulnerable to diseases. Lack of food lowers body resistance, and use of contaminated water or decaying food during crises can trigger epidemics, increasing mortality.

Q9. Which was the most devastating famine to have occurred in India?

Ans: The most devastating famine in India was the Bengal famine of 1943. It resulted in the deaths of about thirty lakh (three million) people in the province of Bengal.

Q10. In which areas of India, even today, has famine caused starvation deaths?

Ans:Even today, famine-like conditions and starvation deaths have been reported from areas such as Kalahandi and Kashipur in Odisha, Baran district of Rajasthan and Palamau district of Jharkhand.

Q11. What kind of people in rural areas are food insecure?

Ans: In rural areas the most food insecure groups are landless people with little or no land, traditional artisans and service providers, petty self-employed workers, casual labourers, and destitutes including beggars. These groups have unstable incomes and limited access to resources.

Q12. What type of people in urban areas are food insecure?

Ans: In urban areas food insecurity affects families whose working members are employed in ill-paid, casual or seasonal jobs. These workers earn very low wages that often cover only basic survival needs and leave them vulnerable to food shortages.

Q13. Which other parts of society are prone to food insecurity?

Ans: Certain social groups, such as Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and some sections of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), are more prone to food insecurity when they have a poor land base, low land productivity or limited access to markets and services.

Q14. How are people affected by natural disasters food insecure?

Ans: People affected by natural disasters often have to migrate in search of work and lose their regular livelihoods. Being displaced and unsettled makes them among the most food insecure, as they lack stable income, shelter and access to food support systems.

Q15. Is it true that a high incidence of malnutrition prevails among women?

Ans: Yes. A high incidence of malnutrition among women is a serious concern. Malnutrition in pregnant and nursing mothers endangers both the mother and the unborn or young child, increasing the risk of poor birth outcomes and child malnutrition.

Q16. In which regions are food-insecure people disproportionately large in our country?

Ans: Food insecurity is disproportionately large in economically backward states with high poverty, tribal and remote areas, and regions prone to natural disasters. These areas often lack proper infrastructure, markets and social services.

Q17. Which states of India account for the largest number of food-insecure people?

Ans: States that account for the largest number of food insecure people include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Q18. Does hunger cause food insecurity?

Ans: Hunger is an indicator of food insecurity. It usually arises from poverty when people do not have enough income or access to buy adequate food.

Q19. How does 'chronic hunger' occur?

Ans: Chronic hunger occurs when people persistently have an inadequate diet in both quantity and quality. It is common among the very poor who have low, unstable incomes and cannot afford enough nutritious food over a long time.

Q20. What do you understand by 'seasonal hunger'?

Ans: Seasonal hunger is hunger that follows cycles of food production. In rural areas it happens because agriculture and work are seasonal. In urban areas casual labourers may get less work in certain seasons (for example, the monsoon), reducing their income and access to food.

Q21. What policies were adopted by the Indian government to remove food insecurity?

Ans: After Independence, Indian policy makers aimed for self-sufficiency in food grains. A major measure was the introduction of the Green Revolution, which increased wheat and rice production through improved seeds, irrigation and farming practices.

Q22. How was the success of the 'Green Revolution' facilitated by Indira Gandhi?

Ans: Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, marked the success of the Green Revolution by releasing a special stamp titled 'Wheat Revolution' in July 1968 to acknowledge the impressive increase in wheat production.

Q23. Which states achieved the highest rate of growth in food grain production during the Green Revolution?

Ans: Punjab and Haryana achieved the highest growth in wheat production during the Green Revolution and became major surplus states.

Q24. Which states continued to lag in food production despite the Green Revolution?

Ans: Eastern states such as Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, parts of Madhya Pradesh, and the north-eastern states lagged behind due to poor irrigation and infrastructure

Q25. How did India become self-sufficient?

Ans: Over the last few decades India became self-sufficient in food grains through a mix of measures: increased production across many regions, improved agricultural techniques, government procurement and support prices, and expansion of irrigation and inputs.

Q26. What is buffer stock?

Ans: Buffer stock is the stock of food grains (mainly wheat and rice) procured by the government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). It is kept to meet shortages and stabilise supplies and prices.

Q27. What is the Minimum Support Price?

Ans: The Minimum Support Price (MSP) is the pre-announced price at which the FCI buys wheat and rice from farmers in surplus states. MSP gives farmers a guaranteed price and an incentive to produce more.

Q28. How does FCI purchase grains from the farmers?

Ans: The government announces MSP every year before sowing season to encourage farmers. FCI purchases grains at MSP and stores them in granaries for distribution through PDS and other programmes.

Q29. Why is a buffer stock created by the government?

Ans: Buffer stock is created to distribute grains to deficit areas and poorer people at issue prices lower than market rates. It also helps handle shortages caused by adverse weather or calamities and stabilise prices.

Q30. What is the Public Distribution System?

Ans: The Public Distribution System (PDS) is the network of government-regulated ration shops through which food procured by FCI is sold to poorer sections at subsidised prices to ensure food access.

Q31. What are Fair Price Shops?

Ans: Fair Price Shops, also called ration shops, stock food grains, sugar, kerosene and other essentials and sell them to eligible families at prices lower than the open market.

Q32. Which families can buy from these Ration Shops?

Ans: Families holding ration cards - Antyodaya (AAY), Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) - can buy fixed quantities from ration shops.

Q33. When was the rationing system introduced in India?

Ans: The rationing system was introduced in India in the 1940s after the disastrous Bengal famine of 1943.

Q34. When was the rationing system revived after the Bengal famine?

Ans: The rationing system was revived in the 1960s during an acute food shortage that preceded the Green Revolution, to ensure fair distribution until production rose.

Q35. Which important food intervention programmes were introduced by the Indian government after the NSSO report?

Ans: Public Distribution System (PDS) - for supplying food grains to the poor.

• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) - started in 1975 on an experimental basis to support child nutrition and maternal care.
• Food for Work - introduced in 1977-78 to provide food in exchange for work and to create rural assets.

Q36. How do PAPs enhance food security?

Ans: Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs) such as PDS and mid-day meal schemes reduce hunger by providing subsidised food or meals. Most PAPs focus on rural areas and increase food security by boosting access to affordable food.

Q37. What do you know about the National Food for Work Programme?

Ans: The National Food for Work Programme aimed to generate employment and provide food security by giving foodgrains as part of wages to workers in backward districts.

Q38. What is RPDS?

Ans: The Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was introduced in 1992 in around 1,700 blocks to improve reach of PDS to remote and backward areas and make distribution more efficient.

Q39. What is TPDS?

Ans: The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), introduced in June 1997, targeted subsidies to the poor. It adopted differential pricing for poor and non-poor so that benefits reach those most in need.

Q40. Which two schemes were linked with the PDS system by the government?

Ans: In 2000 the government launched two schemes linked to PDS: Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) for the 'poorest of the poor' and the Annapurna Scheme for senior citizens who are destitute and not covered by other programmes.

Q41. What are the benefits of PDS?

Ans: PDS has been effective in stabilising prices and making food available to poor people at affordable prices. It acts as an important instrument of government policy to protect vulnerable groups from hunger.

Q42. How have Minimum Support Prices supported the farmers?

Ans: Minimum Support Prices and government procurement have contributed to higher food-grain production by guaranteeing farmers a minimum income. MSPs have provided income security to farmers, particularly in surplus regions.

Q43. Why has PDS been facing severe criticism?

Ans: PDS faces criticism because of inefficient storage and distribution. There have been cases of overflowing granaries with rotting grain, high carrying costs, diversion of stocks and losses due to pests and poor storage, which reduce effectiveness. 

Other criticisms include irregular opening of ration shops, poor quality grains and leakage of foodgrains.

Q44. What is a 'Subsidy'?

Ans: A subsidy is a government payment to producers or sellers to keep consumer prices low while ensuring a higher income for domestic producers. It is used to support farmers and to make essential goods affordable.

Q45. Why is a high level of buffer stock undesirable?

Ans: Very high buffer stocks are undesirable because they are costly to store, can lead to wastage and deterioration in grain quality, and increase government carrying costs. Excessive stocks therefore become wasteful and inefficient.

Q46. What is the impact of intensive utilisation of water in the cultivation of rice on the environment?

Ans: Intensive water use for rice cultivation has caused environmental problems such as falling groundwater levels and water scarcity in states like Punjab and Haryana. This threatens the long-term sustainability of agricultural development there.

Q47. What kind of malpractices are there among PDS dealers?

Ans: Some PDS dealers engage in malpractices such as diverting grains to the open market for higher profit, selling poor quality grains, irregular opening of shops, and short-weighing beneficiaries. These practices reduce PDS effectiveness.

Q48. What is the role of cooperatives in food security?

Ans: Cooperatives play an important role by supplying food and other essentials at controlled prices, especially in southern and western India. They can improve access and provide competition to private traders, helping the poor buy necessities affordably.

Q49. Give some important cooperatives running successfully.

Ans: In Delhi, Mother Dairy provides milk and vegetables to consumers at government-decided controlled rates.

Amul from Gujarat is a highly successful cooperative in milk and milk products, supplying affordable dairy to large populations.

Q50. Why do we need 'food security'?

Ans: Food security is needed because the poorest sections are often food insecure; people above the poverty line can become food insecure in disasters; and widespread crop failures can cause famines. Ensuring food security protects lives, health and economic stability.