Day 41 – Q 3. What strategies were adopted to address India’s food crisis post independence? Discuss.
3. What strategies were adopted to address India’s food crisis post independence? Discuss.
स्वतंत्रता के बाद के भारत के खाद्य संकट को संबोधित करने के लिए क्या रणनीति अपनाई गई? चर्चा करें।
Introduction:
India which was once called as a land of plenty had suffered numerous famines before independence. However fortunately post-Independence there has been no major famine
Body
India had to face a serious food crisis at the time of independence.
To meet the deficiency in the supply of food grains in the short run, the Government made the following provisions:
(a) Extension of the rationing system to cover both urban and rural areas;
(b) Import of food grains to make easy the situation and the amount of import reached the level of 2.7 million tonnes in 1947
(c) Introduction of subsidy for the distribution of imported food grains as it was expensive as compared to indigenously produced food grains. But the public distribution system which was mostly maintained in the urban areas primarily had been suffering from huge degree of inefficiency and corruption.
Between 1951 and 1954. The share of imports in the total availability of food grains in the country was 4.8 percent, which in the next five years i.e. 1955-59 declined to 3.9 percent. However, during the first half of the sixties this share increased to 6.25 percent and further to 8.3 percent in the late sixties (1965-69). Thus to increase production of food grains in country emphasis was put on
1)Increasing land productivity: As the potential for bringing more areas under cultivation had started saturating. Introduction of high yielding variety of seeds by applying the modern farm inputs like HYV seeds, chemical fertilizers and mechanization of certain agricultural operation.
2) Input Subsidies: Input subsidies are provided to enhance the food grain production in the country, as it encourages the adoption of specific technology and benefits small producers. Fertilizer, electricity, irrigation and bank credit at nominal charges are the major input subsidies besides HYV seeds and other facilities that help farmers encourage food production.
3) Minimum Support Price: The rationale of minimum support price lies in assuring the farmers who may suffer from periodicals gluts caused by good monsoon or the use of superior technology. The minimum support price for principal commodities are generally announced at the sowing time and the government agree to buy any amount of quantity offered for sale at those prices.
4) Issue Price: These are the prices at which the Government releases food grains stocks from the central pool to the PDS. They are lower than the prevailing market prices and slightly higher than the procurement prices. These prices involves heavy element of subsidy from the government on food grains as well as non-food items such as sugar and edible oil.
5) Institutions to implement Agriculture Price policy:
- a) The Food Corporation of India (FCI): The FCI was set up in 1964 through an act of parliament. Its primary responsibility is to undertake purchase, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of food grains.
However even after 70 years of India gaining independence there are still some challenges
1) Green revolution: The revolution occurred only at few places in north; the rest of states still had less production of food grains
2) Infrastructural barriers such as insufficient road networks and transportation, food security become a real challenge. Such barriers cause massive wastage of food that could be used to feed the hungry.
3) Indian agriculture also depends on its yearly monsoons. Poor rainfall not only causes fiscal burdens, but leads to other grave and tragic consequences.
Conclusion
The need of hour is to improve the food production across length and breadth of country and also improving income of farmers so that farming becomes more viable profession and India achieves the promised goals of SDG to end hunger and poverty.
Best Answer: Ankur
