RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science Economics Chapter 4 Food Security in India

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science Economics Chapter 4 Food Security in India Textbook Exercise Questions and Answers.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Solutions Economics Chapter 4 Food Security in India

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Food Security in India InText Questions and Answers

Page No. 43
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Question  1.
Some people say that the Bengal famine happened because there was a shortage of rice. Study the table and find out whether you agree with the statement?
Production of Rice in the Province of Bengal

YEAR	PRODUCTION (Lakh tonnes)	IMPORTS (Lakh tonnes)	EXPORTS (Lakh tonnes)	TOTAL (Lakh tonnes)
1938	85	-	-	85
1939	79	04	-	83
1940	82	03	-	85
1941	68	02	-	70
1942	93	-	01	92
1943	76	03	-	79

Answer: 
No, the Bengal famine didn’t happen because of shortage of rice. By analysing the table, it is concluded that when Bengal famine happened in the year 1943, the production of rice was sufficient in the province of Bengal. However, there can be a number of other reasons like improper distribution, lack of resources, etc.

Question 2.
Which year shows a drastic decline in food availability?
Answer: 
The year 1941 shows a drastic decline in food availability.

Page No. 45
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Question 3.
Why is agriculture a seasonal activity?
Answer:
Agriculture is a seasonal activity because there are certain busy seasons when sowing, harvesting, weeding and threshing are done. Certain months do not provide much work to the people dependent on agriculture.

Page No. 47
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Question 1. 
Study the Graph 4.1 and Answer:wer the following questions : Production of foodgrains in India (Million tonnes) 

SOURCE: Department of Agricultural, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Annual Report, 2017-18.

(a) In which year did our country cross the 200 million tonnes per year mark in food grain production?
Answer: 
According to the graph from year 2010-11 to year 2016-17, the country has ' crossed the 200 million tonnes per year mark in food production.

(b) In which decade did India experience the highest decadal increase in food grain production?
Answer: 
India experienced the highest decadal increase in food grain production in the decade 2000-2010.

(c) Is production increase consistent in India since 2000-01?    
Answer: 
No, the production increase of food grains is inconsistent in India since 2000-01.

Page No. 51
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Question 2. 
Study the Graph 4.2 and Answer:wer the following questions :
Central Foodgrains (Wheat & Rice)

SOURCE: Food Corporation of India.
1. In which recent yew food grain stock with the government was maximum? Answer:. In month of July at 650.53 million tonnes.

2. What is the minimum buffer stock norm for the FCI?
Answer:
The minimum buffer stock norm for the FCI is 210.4 million tonnes.

3. Why were the FCI granaries overflowing with food grains?
Answer: 
The FCI granaries were overflowing because of increased foodgrain procurement compared to actual requirement.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Food Security in India Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.    
How is food security ensured in India?
Answer: 
Food security is ensured in India if -

1. Enough food is available for all persons.
2. All persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality.
3. There is no barrier on access to food. To ensure the food security Indian government has formed initiative of Buffer . stock and Public Distribution System. Various poverty alleviation programmes has been also started by the government such as Integrated Child Development Services, Mid-day Meals, Antyodaya Anna Yojana, etc.

Question 2.    
Which are the people more prone to food insecurity?
Answer: 
People prone to food insecurity are :

1. In the rural areas, landless people, traditional artisans were: providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers and destitute, including beggars are the worst affected groups due to food insecurity.
2. In the urban areas, the food insecure families are those whose working ‘ members are employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labour market. They are engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages.
3. The SCs, STs and some sections of the OBCs are prone to insecurity. 

The people affected by natural disaster, who have to migrate to other areas in search of work, are also among the most food insecure people. A large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years are also a part of food insecure population.

Question 3
Which states are more food insecure in India?
Answer: 
The states of Uttar Pradesh (eastern and south-eastern parts), Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra account for largest number of food insecure people in the country.

Question 4.    
Do you believe that green revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains? How?
Answer: 
The Indian policy makers adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains after independence. India adopted a new strategy in agriculture with the introduction of HW seeds, improved irrigation facilities, insecticides and fertilizers. This resulted in the ‘Green Revolution’ especially in the production of wheat and rice. The success of wheat was later replicated to rice. The highest rate of growth has been achieved in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where food grain production reached 78.9 million tonnes in 2012-13. Production of food grain increased speedly due to green revolution measures. So, we can say green revolution has made India self sufficient.

Question 5.    
A section of people in India are still without food. Explain.
Answer:

1. Though India has achieved self-sufficiency in food grains because of green revolution then also a large section of people in India suffer from food and nutrition insecurity. The worst affected groups are landless people, traditional artisAnswer:, providers of traditional services and beggars who are below the poverty line.
2. PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to malpractices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, etc.
3. It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor quality grains left.

Question 6.    
What happens to the supply of food when there is a disaster or a calamity?
Answer:
The supply of food is adversely affected when there is a disaster or a calamity. Due to a natural calamity, total production of food grains decreases. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. As a result, the prices go up. At the high prices, many people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity happens in a very wide spread area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a situation of starvation. Sometimes massive starvation night take a turn of famine.

Question 7.    
Differentiate between seasonal hunger and chronic hunger?
Answer:
There are two dimensions of hunger—chronic hunger and seasonal hunger

(i) Chronic Hunger : It is a consequence of diet continuously inadequate in terms of quantity or quality. Poor people suffer from chronic hunger because of low income and inability to buy food even for survival.

(ii) Seasonal Hunger : This type of hunger exists when a person is unable to get work for the entire year. It is related to cycles of food growing and harvesting. This is prevalent in rural areas because of the seasonal nature of agricultural activities and in urban areas because of the casual labour.

Question 8.    
What has our government done to provide food security to the poor? Discuss any two schemes launched by the government?
Answer:
The availability of food grains at the country level has ensured with a carefully designed food security system by the government. This system has two components:

(i) Buffer stock: It is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price.

(ii) Public Distribution System : The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer section of the society. This is called public distribution system (PDS). There exist 5.5 lakh ration shops all over the country. Ration shops are also known as Fair Price Shops. They keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene and oil for cooking. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price.

(iii) Poverty Alleviation Programmes : Our government has also launched various programes to provide food security. Like, in 2000, two special schemes were launched; Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Annapurna Scheme (APS) with special target groups of poorest of the poor and indigent senior citizens respectively.

Question 9.    
Why buffer stock is created by the government?
Answer:
The buffer stock is created by the government to distribute food grains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society at a price lower than the market price is known as Issue Price.This stock also helps to resolve the storage of food during adverse weather conditions, low production periods and dining calamities.

Question 10.    
Write notes on:
(i) Minimum support price
(ii) Buffer stock    
(iii) Issue price
(iv) Fair price shops
Answer: 
(i) Minimum support price: 
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) . purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops. This price is called Minimum Support Price (MSP).

(ii) Buffer stock: 
It is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice procured by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI).

(iii) Issue price : The government creates buffer stock to distribute food .    grains in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society at a
price lower than the market price it is known as Issue Price.

(iv) Fair price shops s The essential commodities procured by the FCI is distributed through government sponsored shops at subsidised prices to the poorer sections of the society and BPL families.

Question 11.    
What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops?
Answer: 
The ration shops are regulated by the government and their aim is to distribute food procured by FCI among the poorer sections of the society. There are various problems of the functioning of ration shops such as:

(i) The PDS dealers resort to malpractices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops, etc.

(ii) It is common to find that ration shops have unsold stocks of poor quality grains left. When ration shops are unable to sell, a massive stock of food grains piles up with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) which gets rotten away.

(iii) In recent year, there is another factor which led to the decline of PDS. Earlier every family had a ration card with a fixed quota of items such as rice, wheat, sugar, etc. But now, with TPDS of three different prices, any family above the poverty line gets very little discount at the ration shop.

Question 12.    
Write a note on the role of cooperatives in providing food and related items.
Or
How cooperatives are helpful is food security?
Answer: 
The cooperatives are also playing an important role in food security in India especially in the southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people. For example.

(i) In Tamil Nadu, around 94 percent fair price shops are being run by cooperatives.

(ii) In Delhi, Mother Dairy provides milk and vegetables to the consumers at controlled rate decided by the Government of Delhi.

(iii) Amul is another success story of cooperatives in milk and milk products from Gujarat which has brought about the White Revolution in India.

(iv) In Maharashtra, Academy of Development Science (ADS) facilitates a network of NGOs for setting up grain banks in different regions. ADS organises training and capacity building programmes on food security for NGOs. The ADS grain bank programme has been successful and innovative in food security intervention.