India's national food security programme: a strategic insight

摘要

Indian National Food Security Programme, with a goal to provide highly subsidized food grains to more than 800 million people in every nook and corner of the vast country, faces strategic challenges related to production, procurement, storage, transportation, distribution, finance, and organization. While the production issues are related to low yield, small farm size, and lack of financial support, the procurement process is skewed and lacks integration with the markets. The storage facilities are inadequate and are non-optimally located. Transportation facilities lack coordination leading to multiple loading and unloading of the food grains. Leakage and improper distribution of food grains are also big challenges. Very high subsidy, inefficient processes, and a large work force have brought to the fore the question of financial viability of the programme. There are also organizational issues related to payment disparity and resistance to labor reforms. The paper has also given a framework for efficient implementation of the programme using cloud system with effective procurement and stock management policy measures.