India's food security policy was crafted with an aim at attaining food self-sufficiency by making basic foodgrains available to all its citizens at an affordable price. To make this possible and to oversee its implementation, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was set up under the Food Corporations Act 1964. The FCI procures foodgrains from farmers at the government-declared minimum support price (MSP), which is a long-term guarantee to ensure minimum production, stocks them in its warehouses, and then makes them available at affordable rates to the people through the public distribution system (PDS), which was restructured into the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) in 1997, at an issue price, which is different for those above and below poverty lines.

Besides the TPDS, the government has implemented numerous other programmes aimed at food security, which include the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) for providing nutrition and healthcare services to children and pregnant women, the Antyodaya Anna Yojana for providing affordable food to below poverty level (BPL) households, and the Mid-day Meals Scheme.

At the same time, the government has been suppressing market prices through extensive restrictions and pricing controls on the free trade in foodgrains, and by providing input subsidies to farmers, such as on water, power and fertilizers, to compensate for that.

Over the years following Independence, India has successfully been able to transform itself from a foodgrain-importing country to a food self-sufficient country with adequate buffer stocks to see itself through a year or two of drought. The general incidence of poverty has also fallen, but a lot still needs to be done as according to a 2000 National Sample Survey, about 25 per cent of the population still lives below the poverty line.

From the 1970s onwards, the rich farmers lobby has been able to pressurize the government into raising the MSP to such high levels, sometimes even higher than the market price, that it has become, in effect, a very high procurement price. As the government tries to make low-cost food available to its people, while at the same time is raising the support price, government expenditure increases to subsidise consumers and farmers to meet this growing gap. Despite this, issue price has increased steadily to the extend that today it comes close to international market prices. Increasing pressure for procurement and at the same time a decrease in off-take has led to piles of foodgrain being stocked and rotting away in FCI warehouses, while millions of starving Indians do not have access to basic foodgrains. This surplus stock of food has led to heavy losses for the government of India. Increasing procurement also tends to deplete the general market, thereby raising the market price. On the one hand, while it is mainly the better-off farmers who enjoy the benefits of FCI programmes, the smaller and poorer farmers are left out of the process and they often have to resort to distress sale at lower prices. Even among consumers, although from the mid-1990s onward the TPDS has been aimed at meeting the needs of BPL lies, government inefficiency and corruption has often led to a failure of proper identification of BPL households, who are then denied the benefits of this system. The FCI programme also encourages farmers to concentrate on wheat and paddy, neglecting other staple foodgrains.

The first challenge that stares the government in the face is fully implementing the TPDS and making it accessible to deserving groups. It also has to develop effective social security nets for vulnerable population groups, especially during moments of crisis such as drought, earthquakes or cyclones. Food security implementation can also be tied to other development projects, such as health, employment, and education. To meet these demands, a large number of voluntary organisations are aiding the government in providing assistance and in developing networks and role models for effective food and nutritional security. Food security is an important step towards national economic development as no country can prosper if one-fourth of its people have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan: Anam Raksham (Save food)

While both the government and the voluntary sector are conducting programmes to meet the food security needs of the nation's impoverished through various social service networks, the poorest of the poor invariably get left behind as they lack adequate representation and the required connections. None are perhaps more unfortunate in this respect as the urban poor and homeless. Usually migrants who have left their villages for the city in search of work, statistics like BPL and issue price mean little to them as officially and on paper, they do not even exist. The ActionAid India supported Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan (Right to Shelter Campaign) or AAA in Delhi is one non government organization (NGO) that runs several projects to look after the needs of the poor and homeless in the capital, Delhi.

As they lack even a basic shelter and lead their lives in dire poverty on the streets, most of Delhi's homeless survive on waste from restaurants, handouts from religious organisations, or unhealthy food from inexpensive roadside stalls. This food is anything but nutritious, as a result of which a number of homeless suffer from malnutrition or starvation.

AAA runs a cooked meal programme for such people in various parts of the city. Each day, volunteers serve breakfast and dinner to the homeless and needy, especially women, children, the elderly and disabled. Initially begun as a free food programme, the AAA later started charging a nominal sum to run the project on a more sustainable basis.

AAA also runs a Sanjha Chula (community kitchen) campaign, whereby a group of homeless and needy come together and provide labour and money to buy and cook the food for themselves. This provides the members with a sense of security as well as belonging.

The focus of the AAA campaign is anam rakhsam (save food). The organisation encourages the affluent sections of society and restaurants and business houses not to waste food, so that the destitute can get at least hot meal a day.

Food Corporation of India: The government of India's food procurement agency

Integrated Child Development Services Scheme: Government programme for nutrition and healthcare of children and women

Antyodaya Anna Yojana: Affordable food for the impoverished

Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan: An NGO that looks after the food and shelter needs of the homeless in Delhi.

ActionAid India: International development agency that strives for a world without poverty

USAID India: International economic growth and development agency