Importance Of Food Security In India

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1.1. Introduction
Food is an essential need for any living organism. The right to food is a part of an overall goal of achieving the right to development. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), defined food security as “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life ” (World Food Summit, 1996). This widely accepted definition points to four dimensions of food security, viz., availability, access, food utilisation and stability. In the developing countries, the buffer stock and the public distribution system (PDS) were introduced to ensure all dimensions of food security. In India, we can see the coexistence of very rich, rich, poor and very poor people. To ensure food security to the mass of poor and very poor population Government of India introduced PDS system with three categories of ration cards, viz., extremely poor cardholders, BPL cardholders and APL cardholders’. The main objective of PDS operation is to ensure food and nutritional security to all Antyodaya and BPL card holders. Under such circumstances, it will be appropriate to investigate the performance of the PDS system in achieving food security, particularly for a marginal region.
In spite of the extensive coverage of the PDS and its important role in ensuring food security, its relevance and effectiveness in improving food security has been

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