Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Food Security and Public Distribution System in India

  • Brief Research Article
  • Published:
Agricultural Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the temporal changes in the status of food security in India. The food security was assessed in terms of its basic pillars—availability access and absorption. Findings reveal that though there has been a remarkable improvement in the status of food security in India, the presence of food insecurity on a large scale erodes the large chunk of sheen from the glory of economic development in India. Several initiatives have been taken to tackle the challenge of food security, and the public distribution system (PDS) has been the most important instrument of ensuring food security in India. It has been observed that its contribution to poverty reduction and food security improvement has been increasing over time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The ‘poor’ class comprised households which have expenditure level below poverty line (PL) as defined and adopted by the Planning Commission, Government of India; the households having expenditure more than 150 % of PL were classified as rich households.

References

  1. Dreze Jean, Khera Reetika (2013) Rural poverty and the public distribution system. Econ Political Weekly 48(45–46):55–60

    Google Scholar 

  2. Himanshu, Sen Abhijit (2011) Why not a universal food security legislation. Econ Political Weekly 46(12):38–47

    Google Scholar 

  3. Himanshu, Sen Abhijit (2013) In-kind food transfers—I: impact on poverty. Econ Political Weekly 48(45–46):46–54

    Google Scholar 

  4. Himanshu, Sen Abhijit (2013) In-kind food transfers—II, impact on nutrition and implications for food security and its costs. Econ Political Weekly 48(47):60–73

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hirway Indira (2003) Identification of BPL house-holds for poverty alleviation programmes. Econ Political Weekly 38(45):4803–4808

    Google Scholar 

  6. Jha S, Ramaswami B (2010) How can food subsidies work better? Answers from India and the Philippines Asian Development Bank. Working Paper No 221

  7. Joshi PK, Acharya SS, Chand Ramesh, Kumar Anjani (2009) Agricultural sector: status and performance. State of Indian agriculture. National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, pp 1–34

    Google Scholar 

  8. Joshi PK, Kadiyala Suneetha, Mahendra Dev S (2011) India’s Economy Roars Ahead but Nutritional Improvement Is Stalled Global Food Policy Report. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  9. Khera R (2008) Access to the targeted public distribution system: a case study in Rajasthan. Econ Political Weekly 43(44):51–56

  10. Khera R (2011) Trends in diversion of grain from the public distribution system. Econ Political Weekly 46(21):106–114

    Google Scholar 

  11. Khera R (2011) Revival of the public distribution system: evidence and explanations. Econ Political Weekly 46(44, 45):36–50

    Google Scholar 

  12. Khera R (2011) India’s public distribution system: utilisation and impact. J Dev Stud 47(7):1038–1060

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kumar Anjani, Bantilan MCS, Kumar Praduman, Kumar Sant, Jee Shiv (2012) Food security in India: trends, patterns and determinants. Indian J Agric Econ 67(3):445–463

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mahamallik Motilal, Sahu Gagan Bihari (2011) Identification of the poor: errors of exclusion and inclusion. Econ Political Weekly 46(9):71–77

    Google Scholar 

  15. Nagavarapu Sriniketh, Sekhri Sheetal (2014) Plugging pds pilferage: a study of an sms-based monitoring project. Econ Political Weekly 49(13):61–65

    Google Scholar 

  16. Radhakrishna R, Subbarao K, Indrakant S, Ravi C (1997) India’s PDS: a national and international perspective. World Bank Discussion Paper No. 380, Washington DC: World Bank

  17. Rao CH, Hanumantha (2003) Declining per capita demand for foodgrains in India: Why and What Does Employ? In Dev, Mahendra S., K.P. Kannan and Nira Ramchandran (eds) Towards a food secure India: issues & policies. Institute for Human Development, New Delhi and Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, PP 89–101

  18. Swaminathan Madhura, Misra Neeta (2001) Errors of targeting. Econ Political Weekly 36(26):2447–2454

    Google Scholar 

  19. Tritah, Ahmed (2003) The public distribution system in India: counting the poor from making the poor count. GREMAQ, Universit’e des Sciences Sociales, Toulouse, July 7

  20. Zhou Zhang-Yue, Gandhi Vasant P. (2000) Public Food Distribution System and food security of the poor: The Indian and Chinese experience compared. 44th Annual Conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, the University of Sydney, Australia, 23–25 January 2000

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Anjani Kumar

  2. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India

    S. Ayyappan

Authors
  1. Anjani Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. Ayyappan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anjani Kumar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kumar, A., Ayyappan, S. Food Security and Public Distribution System in India. Agric Res 3, 271–277 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-014-0115-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-014-0115-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation