Glossary and Important Information - Food Security in India | Social Studies (SST) Class 9 PDF Download

Glossary and Important Information

1.   Food Security : Food security at the individual, house hold, regional, national and global level exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious foods.  It implies availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times.

2.   Famine : It is characterised by wide spread death due to starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation.

3.   Malnutrition : It is the state of not having enough food or not getting nutritious food.

4.   Buffer stock : It is the stock of food-grains namely rice and wheat procured by the government through FCI.

5.   Food corporation of India : It was set up under the Food Corporation Act 1964. As the country’s nodal organisation for implementing the national food policy. It provides food grains at reasonable prices, maintain buffer stock and intervenes in the market for price stabilization of agricultural goods.

6.   Minimum Support Price : The FCI purchases food grains from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre announced price for their crops. It is fixed to protect the small farmers.

7.   Issue Price : It is price lower than the market price at which the government distributes food grains among the poorer strata of society.

8.   Bengal Famine : It was the most divesting famine that occurred in India in 1943. Killing 30 Lakh people in the province of Bengal.

9.   Public Distribution System (PDS) : It implies distribution of food among the poorer section of the society by the government through government regulated shops.

10.  Fair Price Shops : These are the outlets from where poor people can produce food items at subsidized prices.

11.  Subsidy : It is a payments that a government makes to a producer to supplement the market price of a commodity. It can keep consumer prices low while maintain a higher income for producer.

12.  Rationing : It is a term given to government controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services. It restricts how much people are allowed to buy at a particular time with in a particular period.