Daily Answer Writing GS 3 (Public Distribution System, Food processing)

Daily Answer Writing GS 3 (Public Distribution System, Food processing)

Take out your practice sheets and Answer the following Questions


Subject: GS 3

Syllabus:

  • Public Distribution System - objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security;
  • Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
  • Food processing and related industries in India - scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.

Questions

  1. The Public Distribution System was introduced to make food grains available to the needy and marginalised sections. What are the issues involved in this system, and suggest some reforms that can be implemented? (250 Words, 15 Marks)
  2. Changing times have put focus on e-technology, which can aid farmers in the long run. Discuss the advantages of e-technology and list some government schemes in this regard. (250 Words, 15 Marks)

Model Structure

1. The Public Distribution System was introduced to make food grains available to the needy and marginalised sections. What are the issues involved in this system, and suggest some reforms that can be implemented? (250 Words, 15 Marks)

Model Structure

Introduction

  • Public Distribution System is a food security system that aims to distribute food grains and other food items at affordable prices to those people who fulfil a set of criteria. Both central and state governments are involved in this, where the centre procures, stores and transports grains, and state governments distribute them.

Main Body

  • The Public Distribution System (PDS) is quite an old system, going back to World War times and continues even today due to the needs of society. But due to less upgradation and changes with changing times, there are a few issues like-
    • Huge amounts of leakages result in black marketing, which results in inflation, and also deprives target beneficiaries of their entitlements.
    • The Food Corporation of India is mandated to store the grains, but many audits have pointed out the incapacity of these godowns, resulting in rotting of grains.
    • There are large inclusion and exclusion errors due to corruption and negligence at lower levels. This results in undue benefits for those who are not entitled and a loss for deserving beneficiaries.
    • No limit to procurement even if demand is met or godowns at full capacity. This open-ended procurement results in a shortage in the open market, which results in inflation.
    • PDS and MSP are interlinked, and both are major contributors to environmental issues like depletion of the groundwater table and salinisation of soils.
  • These issues need to be addressed at the earliest by taking reform measures like-
    • Wadhwa committee suggested technology-driven PDS system to plug leakages by ensuring the timely disbursal of food grains to targeted beneficiaries.
    • One nation one ration card for better portability, which allows migrants to avail food grains on ration cards of their home state.
    • Aadhar-linked and enabled authentication of beneficiaries to plug leakages and ensure there are no middlemen.
    • Smart card to prevent counterfeiting, which is done by states like Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
    • Use of GPS technology to monitor the status and location of PDS trucks so that no food is diverted towards middlemen.

Conclusion

  • PDS is indispensable in the long run because of the enormous benefits it entails. But to make it more robust, there is a need to take steps like social audits, GPS enabling and colour coding of trucks in all states and bio-fortification of food to ensure nutrition security along with food security.

2. Changing times have put focus on e-technology, which can aid farmers in the long run. Discuss the advantages of e-technology and list some government schemes in this regard. (250 Words, 15 Marks)

Model Structure

Introduction

  • India has around 50% population engaged in agriculture and is also the seventh largest country in the world. Both these factors make use of e-technology in agriculture indispensable. It involves the use of the internet, communication and information technology to make all the processes in the agricultural sector efficient and smooth.

Main Body

  • Technological changes in the Indian agricultural landscape go back to the 1960s when the green revolution ushered and the adoption of e-technology began in 2007 when the National Policy for Farmers was launched. This happened because of the advantages of e-technology, like-
    • Better weather and rainfall prediction make early information dissemination, which enhances the preparedness of farmers.
    • Bargaining power improves due to better price discovery of produce, which helps farmers get better returns.
    • Use of technology helps develop high-yielding and disease-resistant varieties of crops, which ensure food security and check inflation in the long run.
    • Timely availability of inputs like fertilisers, fuel, and seeds that farmers can know the status of their arrival from sources and plan accordingly.
    • Better availability of institutional credit, as there is a lot of push for digital India, and the presence of bank branches in rural areas also helps protect farmers from the clutches of moneylenders.
  • To ensure these benefits are reaped, there are many schemes and initiatives launched by the government. Some of them are-
    • National Agriculture Market, which is pan-India virtual market and an e-trading portal linking all APMCs and other markets, for better price discovery and easy selling of farm produce.
    • Digital Agricultural Mission is a recently launched mission aiming to infuse new technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence, blockchain etc in agriculture.
    • AGMARKNET, or the agriculture market network, is an e-governance portal allowing information dissemination on prices of produce and their arrival.
    • Agristack is a collection of technology-based agriculture interventions.
    • e-choupal provides weather updates, alternative marketing options, input arrival status and upcoming agricultural practices.

Conclusion

  • Digital penetration due to affordability and accessibility of the internet has improved in the past decade, and there is a need to tap into reap benefits. Better availability of institutional credit, climate-smart agriculture due to climate change, crop ecological zonation, diversification, organic farming etc are some of the areas which must be integrated to make e-technology successful.

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