Hunger Across the World

ISA Collaborative Project

Countries of Study – India, Afghanistan, Nigeria & Sudan
 Partner School
Malika Jalali High School, Afghanistan
 Situation of Hunger In India
 India shares a quarter of the global hunger burden
 Nearly 195 million undernourished people
 Nearly 47 million or 4 out of 10 children in India are not meeting their full
human potential because of chronic under nutrition or stunting.
 There has also been an increase in the prevalence of overweight and
obesity in children and adolescents in India, which has life-long
consequences of non-communicable diseases in adulthood.
 In GHI Report 2018 India was ranked 103 out of 109 countries.
Anti Hunger Measures taken by Govt. of India
 Public Distribution System
 The Public distribution system (PDS) is an Indian food Security System established under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and
Public Distribution.
 PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments
 The Central Government, through Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for
 Procurement

 Storage

 Transportation

 Bulk allocation of food grains to the State Governments.

 The State Government takes care the operational responsibilities including

Allocation within the State
Identification of eligible families
Issue of Ration Cards
Supervision of the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) etc.
 Commodities allocated to the States/UTs for distribution are
 Wheat
Rice
Sugar
Kerosene 
 Some States/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through the PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt,
spices, etc.
 Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS)
  Launched in June, 1992 with a view to strengthen and streamline the PDS as well as to improve its reach in the far-
flung, hilly, remote and inaccessible areas where a substantial section of the poor live.
 It covered 1775 blocks wherein area specific programmes such as the
 Drought Prone Area Programme(DPAP)
 Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP)
 Desert Development Programme (DDP)
 Designated Hill Areas (DHA)
 Food grains for distribution in RPDS areas were issued to the States
 at 50 paise below the Central Issue Price.
 The scale of issue was up to 20 kg per card.
 The RPDS included
 Area approach for ensuring effective reach of the PDS commodities
 Their delivery by State Governments at the doorstep of FPSs in the identified areas
 Additional ration cards to the left out families
 Infrastructure requirements like additional Fair Price Shops
 Storage capacity
 Additional commodities such as tea, salt, pulses, soap, etc. for distribution through PDS outlets.
Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)
 The Public Distribution System (PDS) evolved as a system of management of
scarcity and for distribution of food grains at affordable prices. But this
system could not achieve its desired objectives because of widespread
corruption. So to remove the loopholes of this system, government re-
launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in June, 1997 with
focus on the poor. Under the TPDS, States were required to formulate and
implement foolproof arrangements for the identification of the poor for
delivery of food grains. This programme is run by the Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Govt. of India.
 Features of TPDS
 Targeting (Population was divided in two categories by Planning Commission
 Below Poverty Line (BPL) – Yellow Ration Card Holders
 Above Poverty Line (APL) – Saffron Ration Card Holders
 Dual (multiple) prices
 Prices for BPL consumers
 Prices for APL consumers
 A third price, introduced in 2001, is for beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) for the poorest of
the poor
 Dual Responsibility of Centre & State

 NOTE - The maximum income level for the population to be covered under BPL was kept at Rs.
15,000 per annum. The TDPS provides wheat at Rs. 2/kg., rice Rs. 3/kg and millets at the Rs. 1/kg
to the BPL families.
 Total number of families covered under BPL and AAY is presently 6.52 crore.
How PDS System Functions
 Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)
 Launched in December, 2000 for one crore poorest of the poor families.
 AAY involved identification of one crore poorest of the poor families from
amongst the number of BPL families covered under TPDS within the States
 Providing them food grains at a highly subsidized rate of
 Rs.2/- per kg. for wheat
 Rs.3/- per kg for rice
 The States/UTs were required to bear the distribution cost, including margin to
dealers and retailers as well as the transportation cost.
 The scale of issue that was initially 25 kg per family per month was increased
to 35 kg per family per month with effect from 1st April 2002.
 Expansion of AAY
 The AAY Scheme was expanded in 2003-04 by adding another 50 lakh BPL households headed by
 widows
 terminally ill persons
 disabled persons
 persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
 As announced in the Union Budget 2004-05, the AAY was further expanded by another 50 lakh BPL families by including all
households at the risk of hunger :-
 Landless agriculture labourers
 Marginal farmers
 Rural artisans /craftsmen, such as potters, tanners, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters
 Slum dwellers
 Persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers,
fruit and flower sellers, snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers
 Single women
 Single men with no family or societal support
 Assured means of subsistence.
 All primitive tribal households.
 As announced in the Union Budget 2005-06, the AAY was expanded to cover another 50 lakh BPL households thus
increasing its coverage to 2.5 crore households (i.e. 38% of BPL). Order to this effect was issued on 12th May, 2005.
 Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana – COVID Package
 To overcome the economic impact of coronavirus-induced lockdown on the poor, Prime
Minister Narender Modi, soon after imposition of lockdown on March 24th,2020 announced a
relief of 1.70 lakh crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
 Under the scheme, five kilograms of free wheat/rice was provided to more than 80 crore people
– to each member of family – alongwith 1 kg Chana (Gram) per family, per month.
 Since its unveiling Rs 50,000 crore has been spent on providing employment opportunities to
the poor under the scheme.
 ₹500 each to 19.86 crore women Jan Dhan account holders
 LPG cylinders to be provided to 8 crore poor families for the next three months free of cost.
 ₹1,000 for senior citizens to tide over difficulties during next three months.
 As of 11 April, ₹28,256 crores($4 billion) were disbursed through PMGKY to nearly 32 crore
beneficiaries.[7]
 Rs 50,000-Crore in Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan For returnee migrant workers 
 MNREGA
 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 is
an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee
the 'right to work’. This act was passed in September 2005 under the UPA
government of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

 It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least

100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household
whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
 National Health Mission
National Health Mission (NHM) was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health
Mission and the National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue till March 2020.
The main programmatic components include Health System Strengthening in rural and urban areas for - Reproductive-
Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A), and Communicable and Non-Communicable
Diseases. The NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable & quality health care services that are
accountable and responsive to people's needs.
The National Health Mission seeks to ensure the achievement of the following indicators:

Reduce Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to 1/1000 live births

Reduce Infant Mortality rate (IMR) to 25/1000 live births
Reduce Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.1
Prevention and reduction of anaemia in women aged 15–49 years
Prevent and reduce mortality & morbidity from communicable, non- communicable; injuries and emerging diseases
Reduce household out-of-pocket expenditure on total health care expenditure
Reduce annual incidence and mortality from Tuberculosis by half
Reduce the prevalence of Leprosy to <1/10000 population and incidence to zero in all districts
Annual Malaria Incidence to be <1/1000
Less than 1 per cent microfilaria prevalence in all districts
Kala-azar Elimination by 2015, <1 case per 10000 population in all blocks
 Mid Day Meal (MDM Scheme)
 The Mid-day Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of
India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide. 
 The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper
primary classes in government, government aided, local body, Education Guarantee
Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported
under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the
ministry of labour.
  Serving 120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme
centres, it is the largest of its kind in the world.
 Under article 24, paragraph 2c of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India
is a party, India has committed to yielding "adequate nutritious food" for children.
 Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS)
 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a government programme in India
which provides
 Food
 Preschool education,
 Primary healthcare
 Immunization
 Health check-up
 Referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.

 The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai,
and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
 Tenth five year plan also linked ICDS to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas
and staffed with frontline workers. 
 In addition to fighting malnutrition and ill health, the programme is also intended to
combat gender inequality by providing girls the same resources as boys.
 National Old Age Pension Scheme
 The scheme was launched by Ministry of Rural Development.

 All persons of 65 years and above belonging to below the poverty line category according to
the criteria prescribed by the Government of India time to time, are eligible to be a
beneficiary of the scheme.

 It is a part of National Social Assistance Program (NSAP).

 A monthly pension of Rs 600 - Rs 1000 depending upon the state share of the pension is
given to the beneficiary.
 Annapurna Scheme for Senior Citizens
 The Ministry of Rural Development launched the scheme in 2000-2001. Indigent senior
citizens of 65 years of age or above who though eligible for old age pension under the
National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) but are not getting the pension, are
covered and 10 kgs. of food grains per person per month are supplied free of cost under
the scheme.
 From 2002-2003 it has been transferred to State Plan along with the National Social
Assistance Programme comprising the National Old Age Pension Scheme and the
National Family Benefit Scheme.
 The funds for the transferred scheme are being released by the Ministry of Finance as
Additional Central Assistance (ACA) to the State Plan and the States have the requisite
flexibility in the choice of beneficiaries and implementation.
 The food grains are released to the State Governments on the existing norms at BPL
rates.
 National Food Security Mission
 National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was launched in 2007-08 to increase the production of
rice, wheat and pulses through
 Area expansion and productivity enhancement
 Restoring soil fertility and productivity
 Creating employment opportunities
 Enhancing farm level economy
 Coarse cereals were also included in the Mission from 2014-15 under NFSM.
 The interventions covered under NFSM include cluster demonstrations on improved package of
practices, demonstrations on cropping system, Seed distribution of high yielding varieties, farm
machineries/resources conservation machineries/tools, efficient water application tools, plant
protection measures, nutrient management/soil ameliorants, cropping system based trainings to
the farmers etc.
 The supplementary nutrition programmes envisaged under the National Food Security Act for
pregnant women and lactating mothers and children upto the age of 14 years are operating
smoothly and no proposal to reassess these programmes is under consideration of the Government.
 Links
 https://dfpd.gov.in/index.htm
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_distribution_system
 https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/public-distribution-system-1
 https://
www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/targeted-public-distribution-system-in-india-hist
ory-features-and-criticism-1448019289-1
 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1608345
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act,_2005
 http://mdm.nic.in/mdm_website/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midday_Meal_Scheme
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Child_Development_Services
 https://www.oldagesolutions.org/facility/annapurna-scheme/
 http://nsap.nic.in/
 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1592269#:~:text=National%20Food%
20Security%20Mission%20(NFSM,iv)%20enhancing%20farm%20level%20economy
.