India and the Age of Crisis by Michael Gillan Rob Lambert

Author:Michael Gillan, Rob Lambert [Michael Gillan, Rob Lambert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367739645
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2020-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

This paper has asserted that the issue of food insecurity among the poor in India needs urgent attention if the potential benefits from economic growth are not to bypass their nutritional needs and rights. The importance of these issues gains heightened significance in the current context of global food price inflation, the negative social effects of which are greater for poorer population segments.58 The recent debate on food security legislation at the national level in India would seem to confirm, at a general level at least, recognition of this imperative. Yet, as Currie argued more than a decade ago, evidence suggests considerable ‘slippage’ between the ideal and the practical workings of food policy in India.59 When policies and programmes are framed to respond to individual symptoms of the food insecurity problem, the ability to treat underlying causal circumstances can be lost.

With this in mind, the key contribution this article makes is to position India’s laggard progress in combating food insecurity within a policy-relevant, conceptual framework. India is in danger of not meeting its MDG targets for hunger, not because of one single factor, but because a number of forces coalesce to reinforce nutritional deprivation among the poor. This conception of food security as derived from multiple aggravating sources is developed in this article through the concept of entitlement failure interactivities—an adaptation of Sen’s framework for understanding food, hunger and society. For policy-makers, these arguments counter ‘silver bullet’ policies and programmes linked to the provisioning of vulnerable populations with food staples. Food insecurity is a component of a wider array of deprivations and, unless these are addressed, too many of India’s poor will remain undernourished.

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