Food security and grain bank scheme in India

Food made available and accessible to the very poor people in sustainable manner is the main objective of every government in developing countries. The Concept of Grain bank evolved as replicable model and made food insecure people food secure on sustainable basis. There have been reports from time to time of deaths of rural poor in general and poor tribal families in particular, due to starvation, malnutrition etc., in remote and backward tribal areas. Indebtedness among the rural poor and tribes is a common phenomenon. Particularly most of the tribes in rural areas live at the level of the bare subsistence and own very few assets. Any troublesome situation, arising from crop failure or other natural calamities or even domestic problems like illness, death, marriage in the family etc., affect them adversely upon this precarious economic position of the tribal, since they hardly ever have any surpluses to meet any unexpected circumstances. In this scenario, the poor people are in an unending debt trap. Not only the tribal families, but all the families living below the poverty-line in remote and backward areas also fall victim to this situation. By the time information of this crisis reaches the administration, it is often too late for the most vulnerable section and the result is lots of death by hunger. Concept of grain bank was successfully adopted and operated in many countries. Since the 1980s when there were several years of famine, community grain banks have become popular throughout the India, providing a village-based solution to critical food shortages. The main purpose of the scheme presently being implemented is to provide protection against starvation during the period of natural calamity or during lean season when the marginalized food insecure households do not have sufficient resources to purchase rations. Such people in need of food grains will be able to borrow food grains from the Village Grain Bank. The village grain bank provides one workable solution to food security problems.