NCERT Solutions For Class 9 Social Science Economics Chapter 4 Food Security in India

Question-1
How is food security ensured in India?
Solution:
Food security is ensured in India on the basis of the two components, i.e., Buffer Stock and Public Distribution System (PDS).

  1. Buffer Stock. It is the stock of food grains like wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).
  2. Public Distribution System. The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops called Fair Price Shops (FPS) among the poorer sections of the society.

Question-2
Which are the people more prone to food insecurity?
Solution:
Although a large section of people suffers from food and nutrition insecurity in India, the worst affected groups are landless or land-poor households in rural areas and people employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labourers engaged in seasonal activities in the urban areas.

Question-3
Which states are more food insecure in India?
Solution: Eastern and south-eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are the largest food-insecure states in India.

Question-4
Do you believe that the green revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains? How?
Solution: Post-independence, India adopted a new strategy in the agricultural field which led to the Green Revolution, especially for the production of wheat and rice. Ever since India has avoided famine even in adverse weather conditions and varieties of crops grow all across the country. This availability of food grains even in adverse conditions at the country level ensured the Government to have a proper food security system. Hence, it can be said that the green revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains.

Question-5
A section of people in India is still without food. Explain?
Solution: A section of people in India are still without food despite a large increase in the food grain production in the country. This is because of the increased price of commodities and people not being able to afford food to feed themselves and their families. Unemployment can also be a cause of this chronic hunger that poor people suffer in rural areas.

Question-6
What happens to the supply of food when there is a disaster or a calamity?
Solution: When there is a disaster or calamity, the production and cultivation of food grains is highly affected. The production decreases and this causes a shortage of food grains and ultimately in the hiked prices of food grains. The region affected by calamity might also turn into a food-insecure state if the calamity lasts for a longer period of time.

Question-7
Differentiate between seasonal hunger and chronic hunger?
Solution:
Seasonal hunger is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting whereas chronic hunger is a consequence of diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity or quality.

People suffer from seasonal hunger in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and because of causal labour in the urban areas whereas poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of very low income and thereby inability to buy food even for bare survival.

Question-8
What has our government done to provide food security to the poor? Discuss any two schemes launched by the government?
Solution:
In order to help the poor, and provide food security to them,two special schemes were launched in 2000. They were, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Annapurna Scheme (APS) with special target groups of ‘poorest of the poor’ and ‘indigent senior citizens’, respectively. The functioning of these two schemes was linked with the existing network.

Question-9
Why is a buffer stock created by the government?
Solution:
To ensure availability of food to all sections of the society the Indian government carefully designed a food security system, which is composed of two components: (a) buffer stock and (b) public distribution system. This is done to distribute foodgrains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society at a price lower than the market price.

Question-10
Write notes on Minimum Support Price, Buffer Stock, Issue Price and Fair Price Shops.
Solution:
a. Minimum Support Price
The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price. The MSP is declared by the government every year before the sowing season to provide incentives to the farmers for raising the production of these crops.

b. Buffer Stock
Buffer Stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).

c. Issue price Food is kept in stocks in the form of the buffer stock to distribute foodgrains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of the society at a price lower than the market. This price is also known as Issue Price.

d. Fair price shops Ration shops, also known as Fair Price Shops, keep stock of foodgrains, sugar, and kerosene for cooking. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price. Any family with a ration card can buy a stipulated amount of these items every month from the nearby ration shop.

Question-11 What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops? Solution: Ration shops, also known as Fair Price Shops, keep stock of foodgrains, sugar, and kerosene for cooking. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price. However, there are problems of functioning of the ration shops:

  1. The quality of food provided to poor people is less than the expected quality of foodgrains.
  2. The ration shop deals indulge in malpractices and do not provide the poor people with the entire quantity they deserve.
  3. Some ration shops are not opened regularly, and this causes discomfort to the poor.
  4. The ration shopkeepers even update wrong entries in the name of the poor people.

Question-12
Write a note on the role of cooperatives in providing food and related items.
Solution:
The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people, such as Mother Dairy in Delhi is rapidly growing in providing milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled prices, announced by the government of Delhi.

Another success story of cooperatives lies in Amul, a cooperative, dealing with milk and milk products from Gujarat. It has brought about the ‘White Revolution’ in the country.

These cooperatives are functioning in various parts of the country to ensure food security to various sections of the society.