IX STD-ECONOMICS NOTES

CHAPTER 1 – THE STORY OF VILLAGE PALAMPUR

The Story of Village Palampur Class 9

Notes Social Science Economics Chapter 1
As per the previous 3 years’ examinations, special emphasis has been laid upon the
following topics from this chapter.

 Organisation of Production
 Change in the Traditional Activities
 Fanning in Palampur

Village Palampur

 Palampur is a small village. About 450 families live here. It is 3 km away from
Raiganj — a big village.
 Shahpur is the nearest town to the village.

Main Production Activities

 Farming is the main production activity in the village Palampur.

 Most of the people are dependent on farming for their livelihood.
 Non-farming activities such as dairy, small-scale manufacturing (e.g., activities of
weavers and potters, etc.), transport, etc., are carried out on a limited scale.

Factors of Production (or Requirements for Production of Goods and Services)

 Land, labour and capital are the basic requirements for the production of goods
and services which are popularly known as factors of production.
 Land includes all free gifts of nature, e.g., soil, water, forests, minerals, etc.
 Labour means human effort which of course includes physical as well as mental
labour.
 Physical capital is the third requirement for production.
 Physical capital includes fixed capital (e.g. tools, machines, building, etc.) and raw
materials such as seeds for the farmer, yarn for the weaver.
Important Changes in Farm Activities

Land area under cultivation is virtually fixed. However, some wastelands in India had
been converted into cultivable land after 1960.

Over the years, there have been important changes in the way of farming, which have
allowed the farmers to produce more crops from the same amount of land. These
changes include:

 Multiple cropping farming

 Use of modern farming methods.

Due to these changes (in the late 1960s) productivity of land has increased substantially
which is known as Green Revolution. Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar
Pradesh were the first to try out the modern farming methods in India.

Labour: After land, labour is the basic factor of production. Small farmers provide their
own labour, whereas medium and large farmers make use of hired labour to work on
their fields.

Capital: After land and labour, capital is another basic factor of production. All
categories of farmers (e.g., small, medium and large) require capital. Small farmers
borrow from big farmers or the village moneylenders or the traders who supply them
various inputs for cultivation.

Modern farming requires a great deal of capital.

Sale of Surplus Farm Products

Farmers produce crops on their lands by using the three factors of production, viz. land,
labour and capital. They retain a part of produce for self-consumption and sell the
surplus in the nearby market. That part of farm produce which is sold in the market is
called marketable surplus. Small farmers have little surplus output. It is the medium and
big farmers only who have substantial surplus produce for selling in the market.

Non-farming activities
Out of every 100 workers in the rural areas in India, only 24 are engaged in non-farming
activities. There is a variety of non-farming activities in the villages. Dairy, small scale
manufacturing, transport, etc., fall under this category.
……….XXX…

Overview
An introduction to some basic concepts related to production through a hypothetical village called
Palampur where farming is the main activity. The village also has several other activities such as
small scale manufacturing, dairy, transport, etc, carried out on a limited scale.

Introduction
Palampur is fairly connected with a well-developed system of roads, transport, electricity, irrigation,
schools and health centres. The story of Palampur takes us through the different types of production
activities in the village. In India, farming is the main production activity across villages.

Organisation of Production
The main aim of production is to produce goods and services, which require four essential
components.

1. Land and other natural resources such as water, forests, minerals

2. Labour
3. Physical Capital such as tools, machines, buildings, raw materials and money

A variety of raw materials are required during the process of production, such as the yarn used by
the weaver and clay used by the potter. Money is also essential during production and both of them
in hand are called working capital. The fourth requirement is knowledge and enterprise to be able to
put together land, labour and physical capital and produce an output. The factors of production are
combining of land, labour, physical capital and human capital.

Farming in Palampur
1. Land is fixed
For Palampur, village farming is their main production and the wellbeing of these people is related to
production on the farms. But, there is a basic constraint in raising farm production. Land area under
cultivation is practically fixed.

2. Is there a way one can grow more from the same land?
In the rainy season, Kharif farmers grow jowar and bajra followed by the cultivation of potato
between October and December. In winter, farmers grow wheat and a part of the land is devoted to
sugarcane harvested once every year. Due to well-developed irrigation, farmers can grow three
different crops. Electricity transformed the system of irrigation. Multiple cropping means to grow
more than one crop on a piece of land. Another way for higher yield is modern farming. In the later
1960s, the Green Revolution introduced the Indian farmer to cultivation of wheat and rice using high
yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds.

3. Will the land sustain?

Modern farming methods have overused the natural resource base. Due to increased use of
chemical fertilisers, the soil lost its fertility. Natural resources like soil fertility and groundwater are
destroyed and it is very difficult to restore them.

4. How is land distributed between the farmers of Palampur?

Land is important for any kind of farming. In Palampur, about one-third of the 450 families are
landless. Dalits have no land for cultivation. 240 families cultivate small plots of land less than 2
hectares in size. In Palampur, there are 60 families of medium and large farmers who cultivate more
than 2 hectares of land.

5. Who will provide the labour?

Small farmers cultivate their own lands. Medium and large farmers hire labourers to cultivate their
fields who come either from landless families or families cultivating small plots of land. Farm
labourers will not have any right over the crops grown on the land. They will be paid on wages for
their work which can be cash or in-kind, e.g. crop. Sometimes labourers get meals also. Wages vary
from region to region, crop to crop, one farm activity to another. Farm labourers are employed on a
daily basis, or for one particular farm activity like harvesting, or for the whole year.

6. Capital needed in farming

Modern farming methods require a great deal of capital.

1. Most small farmers borrow money from large farmers or the village moneylenders or the traders
who supply various inputs for cultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high.

2. The medium and large farmers have their own savings from farming. They are thus able to
arrange for the capital needed.

7. Sale of Surplus Farm Products

The wheat the farmers produce from the land is retained in part for their family consumption and
they sell the surplus wheat. Only the medium and large farmers supply wheat to the market.

Non-Farm Activities in Palampur

25 per cent of the people working in Palampur are engaged in activities other than agriculture.

1. Dairy — the other common activity

Other than agriculture, some people are engaged in dairy and the milk is sold in the nearby village.
2. An example of small-scale manufacturing in Palampur
People are engaged in small-scale manufacturing which is carried out at home or in the fields. This
manufacturing involves very simple production methods.

3. The shopkeepers of Palampur

Traders of Palampur buy various goods from wholesale markets in the cities and sell them in the
village. General stores in the village sell a wide range of items like rice, wheat, sugar, tea, oil, biscuits,
soap, toothpaste, batteries, candles, notebooks, pen, pencil, even some types of cloth.

4. Transport: a fast developing sector

Transport services include rickshaws, tonga, jeep, tractor, truck drivers, traditional bullock cart and
bogey. They transport people and goods from one place to another and in return get paid for it.

CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 2 - People as

Resource
Chapter 2 – People as Resource is an effort to explain population as an asset for the economy
rather than a liability. Population becomes human capital when there is an investment made in
the form of education, training and medical care. Human capital is the stock of skill and
productive knowledge embodied in them. Here, we have provided CBSE Class 9 Economics
notes for Chapter 2 to help students grasp concepts quickly and revise thoroughly before the
exams. These Economics notes for Class 9 have been designed precisely covering almost all the
concepts mentioned in the chapter. Preparing from these notes will help students to fetch
excellent marks in their Class 9 Economics exam.
Chapter 2 People As Resource

People as Resource Class 9 Notes Social

Science Economics Chapter 2
According to the previous 3 years examinations, the following concepts are most
important from this chapter and should be focussed upon.

 Various Aspects of Human Resource Development

 The Role of Education
 Unemployment and Forms of Unemployment in India.
Human beings perform many activities which can be grouped into economic and non-
economic.

Economic Activities: Economic activities refer to those activities of human which are

undertaken for a monetary gain or to satisfy his/her wants. The activities of workers,
farmers, shopkeepers, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers, taxi drivers, etc. fall under this
category.

Non-Economic Activities: Non-economic activities are ones that are not undertaken for
any monetary gain. These are also called unpaid activities, e.g., Puja-paath,
housekeeping, helping the poor or disabled, etc.

Classification of Economic Activities: Various economic activities can be classified into

three main sectors, that is, primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector. The
primary sector includes activities like agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing,
poultry, farming and mining. In this sector, goods are produced by exploiting nature. In
the secondary sector, manufacturing (small and large) and construction activities are
included. The tertiary sector (also called service sector) provides various types of
services like transport, education, banking, insurance, health, tourism, etc.

Market Activities and Non-Market Activities: Economic activities, i.e., production of

goods and services can be classified into market activities and non-market activities.
Market activities are’performed for remuneration. Non-market activities are the
activities carried out for self¬consumption.

Activities of Women: Women generally look after domestic affairs like cooking of food,
washing of clothes, cleaning of utensils, housekeeping and looking after children.

Human Capital: Human capital is the stock of skill and productive knowledge embodied
in human beings. Population (human beings) become human capital when it is provided
with better education, training and health care facilities.

People as a Resource: People as a resource is a way of referring to a country’s

workforce in terms of their existing skills and abilities.

Human Capital Formation: When the existing human resource is further developed by

spending on making the workforce more educated and healthy, it is called Human
Capital Formation.
Quality of Population: The quality of population depends upon the literacy rate, life
expectancy and skills formation acquired by the people of the country.

Role of Education: Education is the most important component of Human Resource

Development. In view of its contribution towards the growth of the society, government
expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP rose from 0.64% in 1951-52 to 3.98%
in 2002-03. However, our national goal is 6% of GDP

Health: Health is another very important component of Human Resource Development.

The efficiency of workers largely depends on their health.
There has been a considerable improvement in the country’s health standard. For
instance, the life expectancy at the time of birth in India rose from 37.2 years in 1951 to
63.9 years in 2001. Similarly, the infant mortality rate has come down from 147 to 70
during the same time period.

Unemployment: Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at

the prevailing wage rates cannot find jobs. When we talk of unemployed people, we
refer to those in the age group of 15-59 years. Children below 15 years of age and the
old people above 60 are not considered while counting the number of unemployed.

Nature of Unemployment in India: Seasonal unemployment occurs when people fail to

get work during some months of the year (that is, during off-season). Farm labourers
usually face this kind of problem, i Disguised unemployment is another kind of
unemployment found in rural areas. Such kind of problem arises due to excessive
pressure of population on agriculture. Disguised unemployment refers to a situation
wherein the number of workers in a job is more than actually required to do the job. The
extra number of workers are disguisedly unemployed.

Consequences of Unemployment:

 Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resource.

 Unemployment tends to increase the economic overload that is the dependence of
the unemployed on the working population.
 Unemployment may lead to an increase in social unrest and tension.

We hope the given People as Resource Class 9 Notes Social Science Economics
Chapter 2 SST Pdf free download will help you. If you have any query regarding People
as Resource Class 9 Economics Chapter 2 Notes, drop a comment below and we will
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CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 2 – People as Resource
PDF

Overview
People as Resource is a way of referring to a country’s working people in terms of their existing
productive skills and abilities. Like other resources, the population is also considered as a human
resource. When the existing ‘human resource’ is further developed by becoming more educated
and healthy, it is called human capital formation. Investment in human capital (through
education, training, medical care) yields a return just like investment in physical capital.
Human capital is superior to other resources like land and physical capital. Total productivity
adds to the growth of the economy. Investment in human resource (via education and medical
care) can give high rates of return in future. Countries, like Japan, have invested in human
resources.

Economic Activities by Men and Women

The activities in Economics are divided into three sectors i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary.
Primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, mining
and quarrying. Secondary sector includes manufacturing. Tertiary sector includes trade,
transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance, etc. These
activities are termed as economic activities. Economic activities have two parts — market
activities and non-market activities. Market activities involve remuneration to anyone who
performs i.e., activity performed for pay or profit. These include production of goods or services,
including government service. Non-market activities are the production for self-consumption.
These can be consumption and processing of primary product and own-account production of
fixed assets.
There was a division of labour between men and women. Men were paid for their services but to
the contrary women were not paid for their services. Education played an important role for
individuals to make better use of economic opportunities. Most women used to work in places
where there was no job security. In this sector, employment was characterised by irregular and
low income. Basic facilities were missing like maternity leave, childcare and other social
security systems. However, women with high education and skill formation were paid highly.
Quality of Population
The quality of population depends upon the literacy rate, health of a person indicated by life
expectancy and skill formation acquired by the people of the country. It ultimately decides the
growth rate of the country and a literate and healthy population were an asset.
Education
Education contributes to the growth of society and enhances the national income, cultural
richness and increases the efficiency of governance. Literacy is needed for citizens to perform
their duties and enjoy their rights properly. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which was introduced in the
year 2010 provides elementary education to all children in the age group of 6–14 years. To
encourage attendance and retention of children and improve their nutritional status, a mid-day
meal scheme was introduced. The 12th plan focused on increasing access, quality, adoption of
state-specific curriculum modification, vocationalisation and networking on the use of
information technology, distance education, convergence of formal, non-formal, distance and IT
education institutions.
Health
Improvement in the health status of the population has been the priority of the country. The
National Policy, too, aimed at improving the accessibility of healthcare, family welfare and
nutritional service, especially for the underprivileged segment of the population. India over the
last five decades has developed its manpower required in the primary, secondary and tertiary
sector.

Unemployment
In India, we have unemployment in rural and urban areas, though the nature of unemployment
differs in rural and urban areas. In rural areas, unemployment was seasonal and disguised. In
urban areas, unemployment was educated unemployment. Seasonal unemployment occurred
when people were not able to find jobs during a few particular months of the year. In disguised
unemployment people appeared to be employed. Educated unemployment became a common
phenomenon in urban areas. Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resource, tends to
increase economic overload, has a detrimental impact on the overall growth of an economy. In
India, statistically, the unemployment rate is low.
In the primary sector, employment structure is characterised by self-employment. Agriculture is
the most labour absorbing sector of the economy. But, in recent years, there has been a decline in
the dependence of population on agriculture. Some of the surplus-labour in agriculture has
moved to either the secondary or the tertiary sector. In the secondary sector, small scale
manufacturing was the most labour absorbing. In case of the tertiary sector, various new services
are now appearing like Biotechnology, Information Technology and so on.
CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 3 - Poverty as a
Challenge
Poverty is one of the formidable challenges faced by independent India. Chapter 3 of Class 9
Economics discusses the problem of poverty through examples and the way poverty is seen in
social sciences. Poverty trends in India and the world are illustrated through the concept of the
poverty line. Causes of poverty, as well as anti-poverty measures taken by the government, are
also discussed. The chapter ends with broadening the official concept of poverty into human
poverty. The notes which we have mentioned below comprise all the concepts mentioned in the
chapter. While preparing the CBSE Class 9 Economics notes Chapter 3 – Poverty as a
Challenge, we took help from subject matter experts. With these notes, students can understand
every concept thoroughly and will make the exam preparation easier. It is considered as the best
study material to revise the entire chapter quickly.
Chapter 3 Poverty As A Challenge

Poverty as a Challenge Class 9 Notes

Social Science Economics Chapter 3
Poverty is the most difficult challenge faced by independent India. Poverty is a condition
in which a person lacks the financial resources and essentials things to enjoy minimum
standards of life. Poor people can be landless labourers in villages, jhuggi and slum
dwellers in cities and towns, daily wage workers at construction sites, child , workers in
dhabas or even beggars. India has the largest single concentration of the poor in the
world, where every fourth person is poor.

Two Typical Cases Of Poverty

The following two cases show the many dimensions of poverty, including lack of proper
food, shelter, healthcare, education as well as clean water and sanitation. They also
show lack of a regular means of livelihood.

(i) Urban Case

Ram Saran is a daily wage labourer in a flour mill near Ranchi in Jharkhand. He earns
around Rs. 1500 per month when employed. He supports his family of 6 persons,
besides sending some money to his elderly parents. His wife and son also work, but
none of his 4 children can attend school. The family lives in a one-room rented house on
the outer areas of the city; The children are undernourished, have very few clothes or
footwear and no access to healthcare.

(ii) Rural Case

Lakha Singh is a landless labourer in a small village near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. By
doing odd jobs for farmers, he earns Rs. 50 per day. Sometimes, he gets some
foodgrain or other items instead of cash. He is not literate and his family of 8 people
lives in a kuchha hut near the edge of the village. They have no access to healthcare,
cannot afford new clothes or even soap or oil.

Poverty Analysis by Social Scientists

Social scientists, analyze poverty from many aspects besides levels of income and
consumption.
These aspects are

 Poor level of literacy

 Malnutrition leading to poor resistance to disease
 Lack of access to healthcare
 Lack of job opportunities
 Lack of access to sanitation and safe drinking water and so on.

Indicators for Poverty

The most commonly used indicators for poverty analysis are social exclusion and
vulnerability.

Social Exclusion
A social exclusion means living in a poor surrounding with poor people, excluded from
enjoying Social equality of better off people in the better surrounding. Social exclusion
can be a cause as well as a result of poverty which leads to exclusion of individuals or
groups from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy.

In India, the caste system is based on social exclusion. People belonging to certain
caste were prevented from enjoying equal facilities, benefits and opportunities. This
caused more poverty than the lower income.

Vulnerability
Vulnerability to poverty is a measure, which describes the greater probability of certain
communities e.g. members of a backward caste or individuals e.g. widow, physically
handicapped person of becoming or remaining poor in the coming time.
Vulnerability is determined by various options available to different communities in
terms of assets, education, job, health, etc and analyse their ability to face various risks
like natural disasters. The group which face greater risk at the time of natural calamity
are called vulnerable groups.

Poverty Line
Poverty line is an imaginary line used by any country to determine its poverty. It is
considered appropriate by a country according to its existing social norms. It varies
from time to time, place to place and country to country.
The most common method of determining poverty is income or consumption levels i.e.
people will be considered poor if their income or consumption level falls below a given
‘minimum level’ (poverty line) necessary to fulfil the basic needs.

Poverty Line Estimation in India

In India, a subsistence level or minimum level of food requirement (as determined by its
calorific value), clothing, footwear, fuel, lighting,-educational and medical requirements,
etc are determined for estimating the poverty line. Since ih rural and urban areas, the
nature of work and the prices of goods are different, the calorific requirement and
expenditure per capita are also different.

Poverty line defined by the government as follows

The money value required for buying these calorie requirements (given in the last
column) in terms of foodgrains and other items is revised periodically based on rise in
prices of these goods. In urban areas, the prices of essential items is higher when
compared to the rural areas and so, the poverty line is higher despite having low
calorific requirement per day.

Organisations Involved in Estimating Poverty Line

Surveys for determining poverty line are carried out by the National Sample Survey
Organisation (NSSO). It is an organisation under the Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation of the Government of India. It conducts surveys at the
interval of 5 years. It is the largest organisation in India conducting regular socio-
economic surveys. It was established in 1950.

For determining the poverty line in various countries and for their comparison,
international organisations like the World Bank use a uniform standard method. As per
this method, the poverty line is level of minimum availability of the equivalent of $1 per
person per day.

Poverty Trends In India

There is a decline in poverty ratios in India from about 45% in 1994 to 21.9% in 2012. If
the trend of declining poverty ratios in India continues at this rate, then the poverty line
may reduce 20% in the next few years.

Group Vulnerable to Poverty

Poverty among social groups and economic categories varies widely in India. Social
vulnerable groups are the households of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled
Tribes (STs). Economically vulnerable groups comprise rural landless labour
households and urban casual labour households.
However, during the last few years, all these groups except the Scheduled Tribes group,
have witnessed a decline in poverty.

In the year 2011-12, the proportions (as determined by NSSO) were as given below

Source Reports of Employment and Unemployment among Social Groups in India

NSSO. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.
There is a great difference within poor families. It is observed that female infants,
women and elderly members are not given equal access to resources available to the
family. So, they are also called poorest of the poor.

Story of Sivaraman
The family of Sivaraman, a rural landless labourer has been cited as an example of such
a family. There are 8 members in the family and both he and the wife work. His children
do not attend school due to poverty. Only his son gets milk sometimes and they find
difficulty in managing even two meals in a day.

The story portays the sufferings of Sivaraman who works as an agricultural labourer,
that too for just 5-6 months in a year. The sufferings and inequality within the family for
women and children »are even more. Girls are not sent to school and not even given
milk to drink, while the youngest child, who is a son gets milk to drink sometimes and
his parents also plan for his education.

Inter-State Disparities
The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. Recent estimates show
while the all India HCR was 21.9% in 2011-12, states like Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa had all India poverty level.
Bihar and Odisha continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 33.7% and
37.6% respectively. Alongwith rural poverty, urban poverty is also high in Odisha,
Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
In states like Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West
Bengal, there is a significant decline in poverty. The states successful in reducing
poverty have adopted different methods for doing so.
Some examples are

 Punjab and Haryana had high agricultural growth rates due to the effects of the
Green Revolution.
 Kerala has developed its human resources by investing more in education.
 West Bengal has reduced poverty by implementing land reforms.
 Public distribution of foodgrains at subsidised prices in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu has helped in poverty reduction.
 Jammu and Kashmir have generated wide-ranging economic activities all across
the state and converted potential in various sectors into employment
opportunities.

Global Poverty Scenario

Although extreme economic poverty has reduced in the world from 43% in 1990 to 22%
in 2008 (as per the World Bank), still there are vast regional differences. These are
stated below

The proportion of people living under poverty in different countries is defined by the
international poverty line (means population below $1 a day).

In South-East Asia and China, there is a decline in poverty due to rapid economic growth
and massive investment in human resource development.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the poverty ratio has not changed significantly
since 1981.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty has increased since 1981 due to successive droughts
and other reasons. However, it declined from 51% in 1981 to 47% in 2008.
Economic Growth It is a term which defines an increase in real output of a country.

The Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations (formulated in the year 2000)
call for reducing the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day to half the 1990
level by 2015.

Causes of Poverty
Poverty continues in India for a variety of reasons.
These are
  Historically, there was a low level of economic development under the British
colonial administration prior to 1947. They discouraged traditional handicrafts and
also industrial development, reducing job opportunities and income growth.
 The low level of economic development persisted for many years after
independence and due to population increase, per capita income growth was low,
increasing poverty.
 The Green Revolution improved opportunities in agriculture, only in certain areas
of the country.
 The growth in the population increased the number of job seekers, who had to be
content with low paying jobs in urban areas, leading to poverty spreading to towns
and cities.
 Sociocultural (i.e. traditions) and economic factors lead to extra expenditure,
which ultimately increases poverty.
 There is an unequal distribution of land and other resources, that is why there are
large income inequalities also.
 Land reforms have not been properly implemented and lack of adequate land
resources is also a reason for many people to be poor.
 Small farmers borrow money for seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, etc and later on
fail to pay landing in debt trap. This high level of indebtedness is both the cause
and effect of poverty.

Anti-Poverty Measures
Removal of poverty has been one of the major objectives of Indian developmental
strategy.
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based on the following two
objectives

(i) Promotion of Economic Growth

The government has promoted economic growth during the last few years. Economic
growth was low till the 1980s but has increased significantly since then, causing
significant poverty reduction. The high economic growth helps in a significant reduction
of poverty. There is strong linkage between economic growth and poverty reduction.
Economic growth widens opportunities and provides the resources needed to invest in
human development.

High economic growth encourages people to send their children (including the girl child)
to school with hope of better economic returns from investing in education.
The poof may not take direct advantage of economic growth. Due to lack of growth in
the agricultural sector, the large number of people remain poor in rural areas.

(ii) Targeted Anti-Poverty Programmes

The government introduced targeted anti-poverty programmes starting from 1990. The
results of these programmes have been mixed due to lack of proper implementation
and improper targeting. Also, some schemes overlap others. Thus, the benefits of these
schemes are not fully reaching the deserving poor.

So, now the government is emphasising more on proper monitoring of all these
programmes.
Millennium Development Goals These are eight international development goals that
were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in
2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. One of these
was to reduce by 50% the proportion of people living on less than US $1 a day by the
year 2015.

The Challenges to Poverty Reduction

Poverty reduction is still a major challenge in India, due to the wide differences between
regions as well as rural and urban areas. Further, poverty should include not only the
matter of the adequate amount of food but other factors like education, healthcare,
shelter, job security, gender, equality, dignity and so on.
These give us the concept of human poverty. Poverty reduction is expected to be lower
in the next 10-15 years.
In addition to anti-poverty measures, the government should focus on the following to
reduce poverty.
  Higher economic growth.
 Universal free elementary education.
 The decrease in population growth.
 Empowerment of women and weaker sections.

Summary
The most difficult challenge faced by independent India is poverty.

India has the largest single concentration of the poor in the world, where every fourth
person is poor.

Social scientists analysis poverty from many aspect besides level of income and
consumption.

These aspects include poor level of literacy, lack of job opportunities etc.

Social exclusion aneb* vulnerability are the most commonly used indicators for poverty
analysis.

The poverty line is an imaginary line used by any country to determine is poverty. It
varies time to time, place to place and country to country.

The most common method of determining poverty is income or consumption levels.

The calorific requirement and expenditure per capita are different for urban and rural
areas.

Surveys for determining poverty lines are carried out by the National Sample Survey
Organisation (NSSO).

The organisation is under the Ministry of statistics and programme implementation of

the Government of India.

Poverty among social groups and economic categories varies widely in India.

Female infants, women and elderly member are not given equal access to resources
available to the family.
Bihar and Odisha continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 33.7% and
37.6% respectively.

In states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, there is significant decline in poverty.

The proportion of people living under poverty in different countries is defined by the
international poverty line i.e. population below $ 1 a day.

There is decline in poverty in South-East Asia and China due to rapid economic growth
and massive investment in human resource development.

The Millenium Development Goals of the United Nations formulated in 2000, call for
reducing the proportion of people living on less than $ 1 a day to half the 1990 level by
2015.

There are many causes for the prevalence of poverty in India like unemployment, low
economic development and income inequalities.

Removal of poverty has been one of the major objectives of Indian developmental
strategy.

There is a strong linkage between economic growth and poverty reduction.

The Government of India introduced targeted anti-poverty programmes starting from

1990.

Poverty reduction is still a major challenge in India, due to the wide differences between
regions as well as rural and urban areas.

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CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 3 – Poverty as a Challenge
PDF

Introduction
In our daily life, we see poverty all around us. They could be landless labourers in villages,
people living in overcrowded jhuggis in cities, daily wage workers or child workers in dhabas.
According to facts, in India every fourth person is poor.
Two Typical Cases of Poverty
Poverty means hunger and lack of shelter, lack of clean water and sanitation facilities, lack of a
regular job at a minimum decent level. Poverty is considered as one of the biggest challenges of
independent India. India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become
free of human suffering.
Poverty as seen by social scientists
Social scientists look at poverty through a variety of indicators. Usually, the indicators are used
to relate to the levels of income and consumption. But, now poverty is looked through other
social indicators like illiteracy level, lack of general resistance due to malnutrition, lack of access
to healthcare, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, etc.
Poverty Line
The poverty line is a method to measure poverty based on income or consumption levels.
Poverty line varies according to time and place. In India, the poverty line is determined through a
minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical
requirement, etc.. These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees. In India
poverty is calculated on the basis of the desired calorie requirement. The accepted average
calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories
per person per day in urban areas. On the basis of these calculations, for the year 2011–12, the
poverty line for a person was fixed at Rs 816 per month for rural areas and Rs 1000 for urban
areas. The Poverty Line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting
sample surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
Poverty Estimates
In India, there is a substantial decline in poverty ratios from about 45 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.2
per cent in 2004–05. The proportion of people below the poverty line further came down to
about 22 per cent in 2011–12.
Vulnerable Groups
Social groups, vulnerable to poverty are Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. Similarly, among
the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and
urban casual labour households. According to a recent study, except scheduled tribe, all the other
three groups (i.e. scheduled castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual labour
households) have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s.
Inter-State Disparities
In India, the proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. Bihar and Odisha continued
to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 33.7 and 32.6 percent, respectively. Urban
poverty is high in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Kerala, Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal saw a decline in poverty. Punjab and
Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high agricultural
growth rates. Kerala has focused more on human resource development. In West Bengal, land
reform measures have helped in reducing poverty. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, public
distribution of food grains is responsible for the improvement.
Global Poverty Scenario
In China and Southeast Asian countries, poverty declined substantially as a result of rapid
economic growth and massive investments in human resource development. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, poverty declined from 51 per cent in 2005 to 41 per cent in 2015. In Latin America, the
ratio of poverty has declined from 10 per cent in 2005 to 4 per cent in 2015.
Causes of Poverty
There are various reasons for widespread poverty in India.
1. Under British control, India had a low level of economic development. New policies of the
colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries.
like textiles. Low rate of growth and an increase in population combined to make the growth rate
of per capita income very low. With the spread of irrigation and the Green revolution, many job
opportunities were created in the agriculture sector. However, these were not enough to absorb
all the job seekers.
2. Another feature of high poverty rates has been the huge income inequalities. One of the major
reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources. In India, lack of land
resources has been one of the major causes of poverty in India, but proper implementation of
policy could have improved the lives of millions of rural poor.
3. Small farmers needed money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, etc.
So, they used to borrow money and were unable to repay the loan because of poverty.
Anti-Poverty Measures
The current anti-poverty scheme is divided into two parts.
1 Promotion of economic growth
2 Targeted anti-poverty programmes
Since the eighties, India’s economic growth has been one of the fastest in the world. There is a
strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction. Some of the schemes which are
formulated to affect poverty directly or indirectly are:
1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 – It aimed to provide 100
days of wage employment to every household to ensure livelihood security in rural areas. It also
aimed at sustainable development to address the cause of drought, deforestation and soil erosion.
One-third of the proposed jobs have been reserved for women.
2. In 1993, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) was started. The main aim of the programme
is to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and
small towns.
3. In 1995, Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) was launched. The aim of the
programme is to create self-employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns.
4. In 1999, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched. The programme aims
at bringing the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organising them into self-help
groups, through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.
5. In 2000, the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) was launched. Under this
programme, additional central assistance is given to states for basic services such as primary
health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.
The Challenges Ahead
In India, Poverty has certainly declined in India, but it still remains India’s most compelling
challenge. Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen years.
This can be achieved by higher economic growth, increasing stress on universal free elementary
education, declining population growth, increasing empowerment of the women and the
economically weaker sections of society.

CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 3 - Poverty as a

Challenge
Poverty is one of the formidable challenges faced by independent India. Chapter 3 of Class 9
Economics discusses the problem of poverty through examples and the way poverty is seen in
social sciences. Poverty trends in India and the world are illustrated through the concept of the
poverty line. Causes of poverty, as well as anti-poverty measures taken by the government, are
also discussed. The chapter ends with broadening the official concept of poverty into human
poverty. The notes which we have mentioned below comprise all the concepts mentioned in the
chapter. While preparing the CBSE Class 9 Economics notes Chapter 3 – Poverty as a
Challenge, we took help from subject matter experts. With these notes, students can understand
every concept thoroughly and will make the exam preparation easier. It is considered as the best
study material to revise the entire chapter quickly.
Chapter 3 Poverty As A Challenge

CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 3 – Poverty as a Challenge

PDF

Introduction
In our daily life, we see poverty all around us. They could be landless labourers in villages,
people living in overcrowded jhuggis in cities, daily wage workers or child workers in dhabas.
According to facts, in India every fourth person is poor.
Two Typical Cases of Poverty
Poverty means hunger and lack of shelter, lack of clean water and sanitation facilities, lack of a
regular job at a minimum decent level. Poverty is considered as one of the biggest challenges of
independent India. India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become
free of human suffering.
Poverty as seen by social scientists
Social scientists look at poverty through a variety of indicators. Usually, the indicators are used
to relate to the levels of income and consumption. But, now poverty is looked through other
social indicators like illiteracy level, lack of general resistance due to malnutrition, lack of access
to healthcare, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, etc.
Poverty Line
The poverty line is a method to measure poverty based on income or consumption levels.
Poverty line varies according to time and place. In India, the poverty line is determined through a
minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical
requirement, etc.. These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees. In India
poverty is calculated on the basis of the desired calorie requirement. The accepted average
calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas and 2100 calories
per person per day in urban areas. On the basis of these calculations, for the year 2011–12, the
poverty line for a person was fixed at Rs 816 per month for rural areas and Rs 1000 for urban
areas. The Poverty Line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting
sample surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
Poverty Estimates
In India, there is a substantial decline in poverty ratios from about 45 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.2
per cent in 2004–05. The proportion of people below the poverty line further came down to
about 22 per cent in 2011–12.
Vulnerable Groups
Social groups, vulnerable to poverty are Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. Similarly, among
the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and
urban casual labour households. According to a recent study, except scheduled tribe, all the other
three groups (i.e. scheduled castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual labour
households) have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s.
Inter-State Disparities
In India, the proportion of poor people is not the same in every state. Bihar and Odisha continued
to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 33.7 and 32.6 percent, respectively. Urban
poverty is high in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Kerala, Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal saw a decline in poverty. Punjab and
Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high agricultural
growth rates. Kerala has focused more on human resource development. In West Bengal, land
reform measures have helped in reducing poverty. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, public
distribution of food grains is responsible for the improvement.
Global Poverty Scenario
In China and Southeast Asian countries, poverty declined substantially as a result of rapid
economic growth and massive investments in human resource development. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, poverty declined from 51 per cent in 2005 to 41 per cent in 2015. In Latin America, the
ratio of poverty has declined from 10 per cent in 2005 to 4 per cent in 2015.
Causes of Poverty
There are various reasons for widespread poverty in India.
1. Under British control, India had a low level of economic development. New policies of the
colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries.
like textiles. Low rate of growth and an increase in population combined to make the growth rate
of per capita income very low. With the spread of irrigation and the Green revolution, many job
opportunities were created in the agriculture sector. However, these were not enough to absorb
all the job seekers.
2. Another feature of high poverty rates has been the huge income inequalities. One of the major
reasons for this is the unequal distribution of land and other resources. In India, lack of land
resources has been one of the major causes of poverty in India, but proper implementation of
policy could have improved the lives of millions of rural poor.
3. Small farmers needed money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, etc.
So, they used to borrow money and were unable to repay the loan because of poverty.
Anti-Poverty Measures
The current anti-poverty scheme is divided into two parts.
1 Promotion of economic growth
2 Targeted anti-poverty programmes
Since the eighties, India’s economic growth has been one of the fastest in the world. There is a
strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction. Some of the schemes which are
formulated to affect poverty directly or indirectly are:
1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 – It aimed to provide 100
days of wage employment to every household to ensure livelihood security in rural areas. It also
aimed at sustainable development to address the cause of drought, deforestation and soil erosion.
One-third of the proposed jobs have been reserved for women.
2. In 1993, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) was started. The main aim of the programme
is to create self-employment opportunities for educated unemployed youth in rural areas and
small towns.
3. In 1995, Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) was launched. The aim of the
programme is to create self-employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns.
4. In 1999, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched. The programme aims
at bringing the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organising them into self-help
groups, through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.
5. In 2000, the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) was launched. Under this
programme, additional central assistance is given to states for basic services such as primary
health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.
The Challenges Ahead
In India, Poverty has certainly declined in India, but it still remains India’s most compelling
challenge. Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen years.
This can be achieved by higher economic growth, increasing stress on universal free elementary
education, declining population growth, increasing empowerment of the women and the
economically weaker sections of society.

Food Security in India Class 9 Notes Social Science Economics Chapter 4 SST Pdf free
download is part of Class 9 Social Science Notes for Quick Revision. Here we have
given Food Security in India Class 9 Economics Chapter 4 Notes.

Food Security in India Class 9 Notes Social

Science Economics Chapter 4
Food security refers to availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at
all times. Food security depends, on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and
government vigilance and time to time action, when this security is threatened.

Meaning Of Food Security

Food security means availability of adequate supply of basic foodstuffs at all times.
The 1995 World Food Summit declared, “Food security at the individual, household,
regional, national and global levels exists when all people, at all times, have physical and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The declaration further recognises that
“poverty eradication is essential to improve access to food”.

Food security has the following dimensions

 Availability of Food It means food production within the country, food imports and
the previous years stock stored in government granaries.
 Accessibility of Food It means food is within reach of every person.
 Affordability of Food It implies that an individual has enough money to buy
sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet one’s dietary needs.

The above dimensions conclude that food security is ensured in a country only if *
Enough food is available for all the persons.

 All persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality.

 There is no barrier on access to food.

Necessity Of Food Security

Food security is needed in a country to ensure food at all times. It is needed to ensure
that no person in a country dies of hunger.

Effect of Natural Calamity on Food Security

Most of the time, the poorest section of society might be food insecure. But persons
above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national
disaster/calamity like earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami, widespread failure of crops
causing famine, etc.-

The total production of foodgrains decreases due to a natural calamity. It creates a

shortage of food in the affected areas. The price of the food products goes up due to
this shortage. At high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity
happens in a very wide area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a
situation of starvation. Massive starvation might take a turn of famine. Thus, natural
calamity affects food security adversely.

Famine and Starvation

A famine is characterised by widespread deaths due to starvation and epidemics
caused by forced use of impure water or decaying food and loss of body resistance due
to weakening from starvation.
The most devastating famine in India was the famine of Bengal in 1943. Thirty lakh
people died in it. The price of rice, the staple diet of the people in the region, increased
sharply.

People Affected by Famine

No famine has occurred in India since independence. But today also, there are places
like Kalahandi and Kashipur in Odisha where famine-like condition still prevails.
Starvation deaths are also reported in Baran district of Rajasthan, Palamau in
Jharkhand and man^ other remote areas.

Food Insecure People

Food and nutrition insecurity has affected the large section in India. But the most
affected people in the rural areas are landless agricultural labourers, traditional artisans
and petty self-employed workers. In urban areas the most affected are beggars and
homeles people, casual labourers people employed in ill-paid occupations and
construction migrant and other seasonal workers.

Further, many pregnant and nursing mothers and also children under the age of 5 years
are food insecure people. The second National Health and Family Survey (NHFS)
conducted during 1998-99. estimated that approximately 11 crore women and children
in India are food insecure.

Food Insecure Regions

Economically backward states with high level of poverty, tribal and remote areas,
regions more prone to natural disasters (like Eastern and South-eastern parts of Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and parts of
Madhya Pradesh) consist the largest number of food insecure people.

Hunger
Food insecurity also has an important aspect of hunger. To create food security, current
hunger should be removed and the risk of future hunger should be reduced. Hunger has
two dimensions i.e. chronic and seasonal.

National Health and Family Survey (NHFS) 1998-95 A large-scale, multi-round survey
conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India. Three rounds of
the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93 and this was the
second. The survey provided .essential data on health and family welfare needed by the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other agencies for policy and programme
purposes as well as information on important emerging health and family welfare
issues.
There are two types of hunger. These are as follows
(i) Chronic Hunger
It is a consequence of a diet regularly deficient in quantity and quality this is caused due
to lack of income to buy food for survival. Chronic hunger has reduced in rural areas
from 2.3% of households in 1983 to 0.7% in 1999 – 2000. In urban areas, it has reduced
from 0.8% to 0.3% during the same period.

(ii) Seasonal Hunger

It is related to seasonal cycles of food growing and harvesting. It affects landless*
agricultural labourers in rural areas the most. In urban areas, casual construction
workers suffer from this during the time when they do not get work. The proportion of
households experiencing seasonal hunger in rural areas has reduced significantly from
16.2% in 1983 to 2.6% in 1999-2000. In urban areas, it has reduced from 5.6% to only
0.6% during the reference period.

Note Malnutrition is a condition that results from eating a diet in which certain nutrients
are lacking or in wrong proportions.
Measures for Self-Sufficiency in Foodgrains.

India is aiming at self-sufficiency in foodgrains since independence. India has adopted

all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in foodgrains. The’ Green Revolution during the
late 1960s and early 1970s helped significantly to achieve this, although the success
varied from region to region.

During this period, High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of wheat and rice were introduced in
many states. The highest rate of growth was achieved in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,
where foodgrain production jumped from 7.23 million tonnes in 1964-65 to reach an all-
time high of 78.9 million tonnes in 2012-13.

Production of foodgrains in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, Tamil Nadu has dropped.

West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, recorded significant increases in rice
yield in 2012-13. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, officially recorded the
impressive progress of the Green Revolution in agriculture by releasing a special stamp
entitled ‘Wheat Revolution’ in Julyl968.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) This was set-up under the Food Corporation’s Act 1964,
in order to support operations for safeguarding the farmers, distribution of foodgrains
throughout the country Tor PDS and maintaining satisfactory level of operational and
buffer stocks.
Minimum Support Price (MSP) This is the price at which the government (through the
Food Corporation of India) purchases crops from the farmers. Presently, there are 27
crops being purchased with such prices including varieties of cereals, pulses, oilseeds,
fibre crops and others.

Food Security In India

The Green Revolution was started in early 70s. Since then, our country has avoided
famine even during adverse weather conditions. India has become self-sufficient in
foodgrains during the last 30 years due to the variety of crops grown. Foodgrains
availability even in adverse conditions has been ensured by the government through a
food security system consisting of maintaining a buffer stock of foodgrains, alongwith a
Public Distribution System (PDS) for foodgrains and other essential items.

Buffer Stock
It is the stock of foodgrains (wheat and rice) procured by the government. Government
purchases wheat and rice from farmers through the Food Corporation of India (FCI)
states having surplus production. The farmers are paid a Minimum Support Price (MSP)
for their crops. The MSP is announced at the beginning of the sowing season to give an
incentive to the farmers to grow more. These purchased foodgrains are stored in
granaries as a buffer stock. This stock is maintained to distribute foodgrains through
the PDS in the areas of the country where production is less. It is provided, to the poorer
sections of society at subsidised prices, i.e. lower than the market price which is known
as the issue price. The buffer stock also helps to resolve the problem of food shortage
due to a calamity or in adverse weather conditions.

Programmes For Food Security In India

In mid-1970s, National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reported the high incidence
of poverty level. Due to this, three important food intervention programmes were
introduced.
They are

 Public Distribution System (PDS) for foodgrains

 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
 Food-For Work (FfW) programme.

Public Distribution System (PDS) Through government regulated ration shops, the food
procured by the FCI is distributed among the poorer sections of the society. This is
called the Public Distribution System (PDS). Ration shops are now present in most
localities, villages, towns and cities. There are about 5.5 lakh ration shops all over the
country. Ration shops are also known as fair price shops. They keep stock of
foodgrains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking. These items are sold to people at a price
lower than the market price. Any family with a ration card can buy .a stipulated amount
of these items (e.g. 35 kg of grains, 5 litres of kerosene, 5 kg of sugar, etc) every month
from the nearby ration shop. The ration cards are of three kinds, colour-coded for easy
recognition

 Antyodaya card for the poorest of the poor.

 BPL card for families below the poverty line.
 APL card for all others.

Rationing
It is a term given to government controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods
or services. It restricts how much people are allowed to buy or consume at a particular
time within a particular period. Rationing in India was introduced in 1940s against the
backdrop of the Bengal famine. Later, it was revived in the wake of an acute food
shortage during 1960s prior to the Green Revolution.

Current Status of Public Distribution System

In the beginning, the PDS coverage was universal with no discrimination between the
poor and non-poor. In 1992, a Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was started
in 1,700 blocks of the country to provide the benefits of PDS in remote and backward
areas. In 1997, a Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced to target
the ‘poor in all areas’, with a lower issue price for foodgrains for them compared to the
price paid by non-poor people. Further in year 2000, two special schemes Antyodaya
Anna Yojana (AAY) and Annapura Scheme (APS) were launched.

(i) Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) for the ‘poorest of poor’. AAY was launched in
December 2000. Under the scheme, 1 crore of the poorest among the BPL families
covered under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) were identified.
Poor families were identified by the respective state rural development departments
through a Below Poverty, Line (BPL) survey. 25 kg of foodgrains were made available to
each eligible family at a highly subsidised+ rate of Rs. 2 per kg for wheat and ? 3 per kg
for rice. This quantity was increased from 25 kg to 35 kg from April 2002.

(ii) Annapurna Scheme (APS) for the ‘indigent senior citizen’. It provides 10 kg of
foodgrains free of cost per month to senior citizens who are not receiving any pension
or have any other source of income or having a family to support them, i.e. they are
destitute.

Following are some remarkable achievements of PDS

  PDS has helped government to stabilise foodgrain prices, so that it is available to
consumers at affordable rates.
 It has helped in avoiding widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from
surplus regions to deficit ones.
 It also helped in increasing foodgrain production, besides providing income
security to farmers in some areas.

Criticisms of PDS
The implementation of the PDS still needs to be improved, because of the following
reasons

 Buffer stocks are much higher than the rules.

 In some FCI godowns, grains are getting damaged or eaten by rats and still
instances of hunger are prevalent.
 High level of buffer stock of 65.3 million tonnes of wheat and rice in 2014 was
much more than the minimum level of buffer norms. The excess stock of
foodgrains bought from farmers at high , prices leads to high carrying costs for
the government, besides leading to deterioration and wastage.
 The pressure exerted by leading foodgrain producing states to increase the buying
cost has increased MSP. The rising’ MSP has increased the maintenance cost of
procured foodgrains, storage cost and transportation cost.
 The buying of foodgrains is concentrated in a few prosperous states like Punjab,
Haryana Western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and to a lesser extent in West
Bengal.
 The high MSPs have made farmers to cultivate wheat and rice more resulting in
depletion of the water table, as they require more water to grow. This has also led
to soil degradation, endangering future sustainability of agricultural development
in the regions where these are grown.

Malpractices in PDS
PDS has also become ineffective in many regions of the country because dealers
running the ration shops are indulged in malpractices
The malpractices indulged into by the dealers include

 Diverting the grains to open market to get a better margin.

 Selling poor quality grains at ration shops.
 Irregular opening of the shops and so on.

The malpractices have resulted in consumers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh
and Odisha buying much less foodgrains than the national average from the ration
shops. In the Southern states, where the shops are run by cooperatives, the consumers
purchase much more than the national average.
Since the introduction of Targeted Distribution System (TPDS), with three levels of
prices for three different income level families, the Above Poverty Line (APL) families do
not have much incentive to buy foodgrains from the ration shops. The prices for these
families are not significantly lower than market prices.

Subsidy
It is a payment that a government makes to a producer to supplement the market price
of a commodity. Subsidy helps in keeping consumer prices low while maintaining a
higher income for domestic producers.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

In 1975, it was introduced on an experimental basis. Its aim is to provide children upto 6
years of age supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health, check-up, referral services,
pre-school non-formal education as well as nutrition and health education for their
mothers.

Food-For-Work (FFW) Programme

The main objective of the Food for Work Programme is generation of supplementary
wage employment. It is open to all rural people who are in need of unskilled work wage
employment.

National Food For Work Programme

National Food for Work Programme was launched on 14th November, 2004 in 150 most
backward districts of the country with the objective of intensifying the generation of
supplementary wage employment. The programme is open to all rural poor who are in
need of wage employment and desire to do manual unskilled work. It is implemented as
a 100% centrally sponsored scheme and the foodgrains are provided to the states free
of cost. The Collector is the nodal officer at the district level and has the overall
responsibility of planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring and supervision.
The programme from 2005 has since been subsumed in NREGA.

Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs)

Over the last few years, several other Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs), were
launched mostly in rural areas. Some of – them have also been restructured.

Some of these programmes have explicit food components. Others are employment
programmes, which improve food security by increasing the income of the poor. For
example, Rural Wage Employment Programme, Employment Guarantee Scheme,
Sampurna Grameen Rozgar Yojana and Mid-day-Meal.
Role Of Cooperatives In Food Security
The role played by cooperatives in food security of India is important 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, out of all fair price shops running in
Tamil Nadu, around 94% are being run by the cooperatives.
The examples shown below are success stories of cooperatives in order to contribute in
food security of India

In Delhi, Mother Dairy is making progress in the provision of milk and vegetables to the
consumers at a controlled rate decided by the Government of Delhi.

Amul is another success story of cooperatives in milk and milk products from Gujarat. It
has brought about the White Revolution in the country.

In Maharashtra, Academy of Development Science (ADS) has facilitated 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 is acknowledged as a successful and innovative food security intervention.

Summary
The availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times is called
food security.

When there is problems in food production or distribution, poor household has to suffer
the most.

The food, security in India depends on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and vigilant
and timely action of the government.

Food is an essential item for the survival of human being.

Food security of a nation is ensured if all of its citizens have enough nutritious food
available (availability), all person having the capacity to buy food (affortat>iJit^) and
there is no barrier on access to food (accessibility).

The poorest strata of society are mostly food insecure and the better off might face
food insecurity during national disaster and calamity.
During natural calamity there is decrease in foodgrain production, which causes
shortage of foodgrain. The increased price ultimately leads to starvation and famine.

Epidemics during famine is caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying

food and loss of body resistance due to weakening from starvation.

Landless people, traditional artisans, petty self employed workers and destitutes
Including beggars are worst affected groups from food and nutrition insecurity.

Workers of ill-paid occupations and casual labourer are the most food insecure people
in urban areas.

Agriculture is seasonal and low paying activity.

Besides the inability to buy food, the social composition (like SCs, STc, OBCs etc) also
has role in food insecurity.

Economically backward states, with high incidence of poverty, tribal and rural areas,
regions prone to natural disaster has largest number of food insecure people.

For example, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra
etc.

Poverty and hunger are two dimensions of food insecurity.

Hunger can be chronic or seasonal.

The chronic hunger is the consequence of a diet regularly deficient in quantity and
quality due to lack of income.

The seasonal hunger is the consequence of seasonal nature of food production and
harvesting which affects landless agricultural labourers the most.

Through Green Revolution, India attained self sufficiency in foodgrain production.

The food security system of government consist of component of buffer stock and
public distribution system.
Buffer stock is the stock of foodgrains (wheat and Rice) procured by government
(through FCI) from surplus producing state for distribution (through PDS) to deficit
states and the poorest section of society.

The pre-announced price, paid by government to farmers is called Minimum Support

Price (MSP).

The price at which foodgrains is distributed to poorer section of people is called issue
price. It is lower than market price.

The system of distribution of food procured by the FCI among the poorer section of
society is called the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Ration shops (also known as fair price shops), keep stocks of foodgrains, sugar,
kerosene etc to be sold to people at a price lower than market price.

In addition to PDS, the other poverty alleviation programme comprising component of

food security are : Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS); Food For Work (FFW),
mid day meals, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) etc.

Various cooperatives, NGOs are also working intensively along with government to
ensure food security of India.

Mother Dairy, Amul, Grain banks are regarded as successful and innovation food
security intervention.

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CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 4 - Food Security in
India
Food Security is the ability to assure, on a long term basis, that the system provides the total
population access to a timely, reliable and nutritionally adequate supply of food. CBSE Class 9
Chapter 4 – Food Security in India of Economics talks about topics related to the importance of
food security, people who are insecure, initiative taken by the government to tackle food
insecurity, etc. By reading this chapter, students of Class 9 will get an idea of how our country
deals with food insecurity. The CBSE Class 9 Economics notes for Chapter 4 are given here to
help students prepare for their exam more effectively. These notes are developed by subject
matter experts according to the latest syllabus. With the help of these CBSE Class 9 notes of
Economics, students can quickly revise the entire chapter in a short period. The notes consist of
all the essential topics, as mentioned in the chapter.
Chapter 4 Food Security In India

CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes Chapter 4 – Food Security in India

PDF

Overview
Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times.
Food security depends on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and government vigilance and
action at times, when this security is threatened.
What is food security?
Food security has the following dimensions
(a) availability of food means food production within the country, food imports and the previous
years stock stored in government granaries.
(b) accessibility means food is within reach of every person.
(c) affordability implies that an individual has enough money to buy sufficient, safe and
nutritious food to meet one’s dietary needs.
Food security is ensured in a country only if
(1) enough food is available for all the persons
(2) all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality
(3) there is no barrier on access to food.
Why food security?
During natural calamity such as drought, production of food grains get decreased, creating a
shortage of food in the affected areas. The prices get increased due to shortage of food. People
cannot afford to buy food and if such a calamity happens in a very wide spread area or is
stretched over a longer time period, it might cause a situation of starvation. Massive starvation
might take a turn into a famine. A Famine is characterised by widespread deaths due to
starvation and epidemics caused by forced use of contaminated water or decaying food and loss
of body resistance due to weakening from starvation.
Who are food-insecure?
In India, a large section of people suffers from food and nutrition insecurity. People having little
or no land, traditional artisans, providers of traditional services, petty self-employed workers and
destitute including beggars are the worst affected groups. In the urban areas, the food-insecure
families are those who are generally employed in ill-paid occupations and the casual labour
market. These workers are largely engaged in seasonal activities and are paid very low wages.
The social composition along with the inability to buy food also plays a role in food insecurity.
People of SC, ST and OBC communities who have either poor land-base or very low land
productivity are prone to food insecurity. People affected by natural disasters, who migrate to
other areas in search of work, are among the most food-insecure people. A large proportion of
pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years constitute an important
segment of the food insecure population.
Another aspect of food insecurity is hunger, which is not just an expression of poverty, it brings
about poverty. Hunger has chronic and seasonal dimensions. Chronic hunger is a consequence of
diets persistently inadequate in terms of quantity and/or quality. Seasonal hunger is related to
cycles of food growing and harvesting.
Since Independence, India has been aiming at self-sufficiency in food grains. After
Independence, Indian policymakers adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food
grains. In the field of agriculture, India adopted a new strategy, which resulted in the ‘Green
Revolution’.
Food Security in India
Since the Green Revolution, the country has avoided famine even during adverse weather
conditions. India has become self-sufficient in food grains during the last 30 years because of a
variety of crops grown all over the country. The availability of food grains has been ensured with
a carefully designed food security system by the government. This system has two components:
(a) buffer stock, and (b) public distribution system.
What is Buffer stock?
Buffer Stock is the stock of food grains, namely wheat and rice, procured by the government
through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The stock of wheat and rice are purchased by the
FCI from the farmers where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre announced
price for their crops, called Minimum Support Price (MSP). Every year, the MSP is declared by
the government before the sowing season to provide incentives to farmers for raising the
production of these crops. Buffer Stock is created to distribute foodgrains in the deficit areas and
among the poorer section of the society at a price lower than the market price also known as
Issue Price.
What is the Public Distribution System?
FCI distributes the food procured from the farmer through government-regulated ration shops. It
is called the Public Distribution System (PDS). Ration shops also, known as Fair Price Shops,
keep stock of foodgrains, sugar, and kerosene for cooking. Rationing in India was introduced
during the 1940s against the backdrop of the Bengal famine. In the mid-1970s, three important
food intervention programmes were introduced:

1. Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains

2. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) a
3. Food-for-Work (FFW).

At present, there are several Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAPs), mostly in rural areas,
which have an explicit food component also. Employment programmes greatly contribute to
food security by increasing the income of the poor.
Current Status of Public the Distribution System
Public Distribution System (PDS) is the most important step taken by the Government of India
towards ensuring food security. In 1992, Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was
introduced in the country. From June 1997, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was
introduced to adopt the principle of targeting the ‘poor in all areas’. In 2000, two special schemes
were launched Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Annapurna Scheme (APS).
Over the year, the PDS proved to be the most effective instrument of government policy in
stabilising prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices. However, the
Public Distribution System has faced severe criticism on several grounds. High level of buffer
stocks of foodgrains is very undesirable and wasteful. In states such as Punjab, Haryana, Western
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh mainly two crops— wheat and rice— are grown. The intensive
utilisation of water in the cultivation of rice has also led to environmental degradation and fall in
the water level, threatening the sustainability of the agricultural development in these states.
PDS dealers started malpractice like diverting the grains to open market to get better margin,
selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops, etc. In recent years,
there is another factor that has led to the decline of the PDS. The three types of cards and the
range of prices that you see today did not exist. Now, with TPDS of three different prices, any
family above the poverty line gets very little discount at the ration shop. The price for APL
families is almost as high as open market price, so there is little incentive for them to buy these
items from the ration shop.
Role of cooperatives in food security
In India, the cooperatives are also playing an important role in food security especially in the
southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low
priced goods to poor people. Some of the examples of cooperative societies are Mother Dairy in
Delhi, Amul from Gujarat, Academy of Development Science (ADS) in Maharashtra.