Food System in India

October 4, 2021

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The first and historic United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) 2021 was held in September this year.

Background:

It concluded after an intense ‘bottom-up’ process conceived in 2019 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to find solutions and ‘catalyse momentum’ to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food and help address rising hunger.
There is a need to achieve the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 and address climate change in view of food production, leaders and subject matter experts stressed at the United Nations Food System Summit September 23, 2021.
This transformation can stem from an understanding that we must urgently move from incremental and siloed action towards a systems approach. The food system will not prosper until all sectors concerned work together, they said.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), food systems encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products.
Food systems comprise all food products that originate from crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which these diverse production systems are embedded.
The world is looking forward to a simpler and more inclusive food system. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has already given the world a ‘One-Health’ vision, and the world is optimistic of a food system that recognises the associated concerns of non-judicious use of chemicals as well as unregulated animal intensification.

Public Distribution System in India

The Public Distribution System (PDS) which evolved as a system of management for food and distribution of food grains was relaunched as Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in June 1997. This programme is controlled by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India. TPDS emphasizes on the implementation and identification of the poor for proper arrangement and delivery of food grains. Therefore, the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under the Government of India plays the same role as the PDS but adds a special focus on the people below the poverty line.

Procurement of foodgrains:

The center is responsible for procuring the food grains from farmers at a Minimum Support Price (MSP).
The MSP is the price at which the FCI purchases the crop directly from farmers; generally, the MSP is higher than the market price.
This is intended to provide price support to farmers and incentivize the production.
Who sets MSP: Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
Procurement: Two types of procurement, Centralised Procurement, and decentralized procurement.
Centralized procurement is carried out by the FCI(Food corporation of India) where FCI buys crops directly from farmers.
Decentralized procurement is a central scheme under which 10 states/Union Territories procure food grains for the central pool at MSP on behalf of FCI.
Why decentralized procurement? The purpose is to encourage local procurement of food grains and minimize expenditure incurred when transporting grains from surplus to deficit states over long distances.

Storage of food grains

According to the storage guidelines of the FCI, food grains are normally stored in covered godowns and silos. In case if FCI has insufficient storage space, it hires space from various agencies such as the central and state warehousing corporations (CWC, SWC), state government agencies and private parties.

ISSUES WITH STORAGE:

Inadequate storage capacity with FCI.
Food grains rotting or damaging on the CAP or Cover & Plinth storage.

Allocation of Foodgrains

The central government allocates food grains from the central pool to the state governments at uniform Central Issue Price (CIP) for the distribution through PDS.
Identification of poor people- The onus is on the state Government to identify the eligible households in each state. Apart from that allocation of food grains within State, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) etc. rest with the State Governments.
Allocation for BPL and AAY(Antyodaya Anna Yojana –poorest among the BPL families) families is done on the basis of the number of identified households.

Reforms in PDS

Adhaar Linked and digitized ration cards: This allows online entry and verification of beneficiary data. It also enables online tracking of monthly entitlements and off-take of foodgrains by beneficiaries.
Computerized Fair Price Shops: FPS automated by installing ‘Point of Sale’device to swap the ration card. It authenticates the beneficiaries and records the quantity of subsidized grains given to a family.
DBT: Under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, cash is transferred to the beneficiaries’ account in lieu of foodgrains subsidy component. They will be free to buy food grains from anywhere in the market. For taking up this model, pre-requisites for the States/UTs would be to complete digitization of beneficiary data and seed Aadhaar and bank account details of beneficiaries. It is estimated that cash transfers alone could save the exchequer Rs.30,000 crore every year.
Use of GPS technology: Use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track the movement of trucks carrying foodgrains from state depots to FPS which can help to prevent diversion.
SMS-based monitoring: Allows monitoring by citizens so they can register their mobile numbers and send/receive SMS alerts during dispatch and arrival of TPDS commodities
Use of web-based citizens portal: Public Grievance Redressal Machineries, such as a toll-free number for call centers to register complaints or suggestions.

The Hindu Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/reimagining-food-systems-with-lessons-from-india/article36813294.ece

Question: What are the reformative steps taken by the government to make food grain distribution system more effective?