Food security in India and its challenges

Food security means an access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life. The world food day is celebrated every year on 16th of October which gives an impulsion to the necessity of food security. It is basic right of everyone to adequate diet. But at present the food security in India is insecured because food is not available with the recommended quantity of nutrients and number of malnourished/undernourished persons in every year. The Global hunger index of 2012 of India is more than 30.0 (extremely alarming 20–29.9, alarming 10.0–19.9, serious 1.5–9.9, low to moderate hunger).

Despite ensuring ample availability of food, existence of food insecurity at the micro-level in the country has remained a formidable challenge for India. Improving food security ought to be an issue of great importance for a country like India where half of the population is estimated to be absolutely poor and one-half of children malnourished in one way or another. This paper is an attempt to bring out the major challenges of the national food security bill in India.