Highlight the various approaches adopted by the Government of India for ensuring the food security of the nation by giving special emphasis to the Midday Meals Scheme.
Highlight the various approaches adopted by the Government of India for ensuring the food security of the nation by giving special emphasis to the Midday Meals Scheme.
Various Approaches for ensuring Food Security:
1. Legislations:
National Food Security Act, 2013 - The Act legally enables upto 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System.
Essential Commodities Act, 1955 - ensures the delivery of food and other products, the supply of which, if obstructed due to hoarding or black marketing, would affect the normal life of the people.
2. Schemes/Programmes:
National Food Security Mission targets the addition production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals, oil seeds
e-National Agriculture Market - is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India. The market facilitates farmers, traders and buyers with online trading in commodities. The market is help
National Nutrition Mission to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers
3. Institutions:
CSIR- CFTRI (Central Food Technology Research Institute), IIFPT -Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology are at the forefront in ensuring food security of the nation.
4. Agricultural Innovations:
Organic farming, zero-budget natural farming, micro-irrigation, genetic crops introduction, promotion of seed villages are important agricultural innovations to ensure food security
5. Rainbow Revolutions:
The various colors of the Rainbow Revolution indicate various farm practices such as Green Revolution (Food Grains), White Revolution (Milk), Yellow Revolution (Oil seeds), Blue Revolution (Fisheries) and so on.
6. International Cooperation:
- India takes all possible steps to ensure its food security by working closely with the World Trade Organisation, Food and Agriculture Organisation, International Food Policy Research Institute and so on.
- India effectively leverage both bilateral and multilateral diplomacy with its friendly nations to ensure food security
Midday Meals Scheme:
- Launched in 1995, this centrally sponsored scheme aims to attain the goal of universalization of primary education by addressing hunger and malnutrition among poor children.
- Apart from that, the scheme strives to improve socialisation among castes and to provide employment to women at grassroot level.
- The scheme provides cooked meals to every child covering the age group of 6 and 14 years studying in classes I to VIII
- It provides food security allowance to the children in case of failure to provide meals due to non-availability of food grains or any other reason.
- When it comes to nutritional standards, the scheme provides cooked meal having nutritional standards of 450 calories and 12 gm of protein for primary (I-V class) and 700 calories and 20 gm protein for upper primary (VI-VIII class)
- All government and government aided schools, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) are being covered under this scheme
Recently, the world’s premier NGO, International Food Policy Research Institute lauded the success story of the Midday Meal scheme.
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