Food Security and the Public Distribution System

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-203
Author(s):  
Jean Drèze
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
National Sample ◽  
North India ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
System P

This chapter discusses India's National Food Security Act (NFSA), with a special focus on the public distribution system (PDS). The PDS had a very poor record until recently, but is now improving significantly in many states. In north India, Chhattisgarh took the lead by initiating a series of PDS reforms in the mid‐2000s, with impressive results. Similar reforms were initiated later on in many other states. Even the reformed PDS is far from perfect, but it does protect millions of rural households from hunger and food insecurity. Recent evidence from the National Sample Survey also suggests that the PDS has a substantial impact on poverty. The NFSA is an opportunity to extend PDS reforms across the country and put the PDS on a new footing.

Rethinking the Formation of Public Distribution System: A Class-Focused Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 048661342110349
Author(s):  
Soumik Sarkar ◽  
Anjan Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Surplus Labor ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
System A ◽  
Historical Condition ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The 1960S

Using the methodology of overdetermination, class process of surplus labor as the entry point and socially determined need of food security, we deliver an alternative class-focused rendition of the public distribution system (PDS) in India. We first surmise our theoretical framework to infer that the overdetermined and contradictory relation of class and social needs matter for PDS. Beyond the reasoning of being pro-poor, fair, or wasteful, we deploy this framework to reinterpret the formation of Indian PDS in the 1960s. Its demonstration requires revisiting the historical condition that shaped capital’s passive revolution through the post-independence Indian state and its subsequent crisis arising out of the contradictions and conflicts in the class-need space. We argue that PDS signals a case of success and not failure of capitalism.

scholarly journals Food Security in India: Issues and Suggestion to Improve the Public Distribution System

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-40
Author(s):  
T Thangalakshmi ◽  
V Suthacini
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
Self Sufficiency

Food security in India is unfavourably affected by several biotic and socio-political situations. The current position may get worse in the future if timely and suitable actions are not executed and planned. The discipline of human population and land for cultivation, climate change, government policies of public distribution and marketing of food grains and lack of a participatory approach all are committing to check down the availability of foods. Also, crop fecundity seems to be very much unsustainable. The situation has to be remedied by all possible means and citizens must be assured of food security. This review summarises several strategies for crop production and food distribution through the public distribution system. Finally, results indicate that India has achieved self-sufficiency in grains; it is still lagging at the back in the production of oilseeds and pulses. It is also commented that there has been a meaningful increase in the reproduction of rice, wheat, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and other products. Among the specific charges made to lift the agricultural sector from its present slowdown and stagnation, we comprise decorated increased public investment and a severe review of subsidies provided to farmers. To improve the infrastructure, credit facilities, inputs, land and water management, effective marketing and price policies, the diversification of agriculture, strengthening the improvement strategies for tackling climate change, and the strict regulation of land use and diversion of land for non-agricultural activities.

Delivering Food Subsidy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Kotwal ◽  
Bharat Ramaswami
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Assistance Programs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
Retail Outlets ◽  
Food Subsidies ◽  
The Government

This article begins by tracing the development of the Indian model of food distribution. Food subsidies in India are delivered through the public distribution system, consisting of a network of retail outlets through which the government sells grain. The discussions then turn to the outcomes and the performance of the distribution system, food security legislation, the rights approach to food security, debates over food security legislation, lessons from social assistance programs across the world, and political opposition to cash transfers.

scholarly journals Impact of the Pandemic on Livelihood and Food Security: An Empirical Analysis of the PDS in Delhi

2021 ◽  
pp. 001955612110457
Author(s):  
O. Grace Ngullie ◽  
Arib Ahmad Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
The Government ◽  
Access To Food ◽  
The Impact

The sheer extent of the Covid-19 pandemic and its crippling effect on the entire economy gave cold creeps. Suddenly the fragile, one-of-a-kind arrangement through which the daily wagers and the migrant workers were surviving broke down with the imposition of the lockdown, and we had a novel disaster on our hands. In such a hanging-by-thread situation, the adversely affected poor had to rely on the government machinery for sustenance. We attempt to undertake a first-hand evidence-based study of the implementation of the Public Distribution System in Delhi while examining the impact of the pandemic on livelihood and food security. Some policy gaps that we have identified include inconsistency with the quantity and quality of rations received and promised, exclusion and ultimately access to food. Based on the empirical examination of the specific problems faced by the poor on the ground, we recommend policy solutions corresponding to those specific problems which include utilising modern and emerging technologies, creating new cadre for monitoring and upwardly revising the allocation.

scholarly journals The Public Distribution System and Food Security in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (17) ◽  
pp. 3221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neetu Abey George ◽  
Fiona H. McKay
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Childhood Mortality ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
Environmental Footprints

The Public Distribution System (PDS) of India plays a crucial role in reducing food insecurity by acting as a safety net by distributing essentials at a subsidised rate. While the PDS forms a cornerstone of government food and nutrition policy, India continues to be home to a large population of hungry and malnourished people. This review seeks to explore the functioning and efficiency of the PDS in achieving food and nutritional security in India. A comprehensive and systematic search using the key terms “food insecurity” OR “food security” AND “Public Distribution System” OR “PDS” OR “TPDS” AND “India” identified 23 articles which met the inclusion criteria. This review draws attention to the lack of published literature in areas of PDS and food security in India. The findings of the review emphasise the role of PDS in tackling hunger and malnutrition while highlighting its limited role in improving food security and childhood mortality due to operational inefficiencies. The PDS has the potential to act as a solution to food insecurity in India if the operational inefficiencies and environmental footprints are addressed by adequate policy reforms.

Public Distribution System in Uttar Pradesh: Access, Utilization and Impact

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abha Gupta ◽  
Deepak K. Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Distribution System ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Calorie Intake ◽  
Open Market ◽  
Consumer Expenditure ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
Using Data

The public distribution system (PDS) in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India’s most populous state, was widely recognized as dysfunctional. However, following the introduction of reforms in recent times, analysts have put this state in the category of “reviving” states. Against this backdrop, this article presents recent evidence of improved accessibility, utilization and impact of PDS in UP using data from the 68th Round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) and primary data collected from six villages of western UP. The main findings show that the accessibility to PDS rationing is higher among lower socioeconomic groups and regions, which also have a higher share of PDS commodities in their food consumption and calorie intake in comparison to the non-poor categories. PDS has also made a positive and significant contribution towards ensuring food security among poor families. However, entitlements for the non-poor have been gradually phased out as the majority of them do not purchase food items and consider their entitlement for “kerosene only.” With high levels of corruption and lower income margins, ration dealers siphon off a part of the PDS quota for sale in the open market or charge higher prices to cover their losses.

Food Security Eludes Tribals of Andhra Pradesh

Social Change ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-221
Author(s):  
K. Radhakrishna Murty
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Right To Food ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Access Information ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

India’s tribal population suffers mainly from deprivation and marginalisation. Caught in vicious cycles of poverty and social exclusion, tribals often struggle to survive while opportunities to access information, supplies and essential services elude them. Given this scenario, the present study intends to evaluate and assess the impact of the public distribution system run by the Government of India in a few selected tribal pockets in the state of Andhra Pradesh in the context of food security vis-à-vis the socio-economic situation of tribals. In this process, the study also covers the crucial aspect of a tribal’s right to food from the viewpoint of its availability, accessibility, adequacy and affordability—an area which is still an elusive chimera.

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