SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Sept 11: The Institute for Human Development (IHD) and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) on Sunday launched the Food Security Atlas of Jharkhand explaining the various dimensions of food security in terms of food availability, access and utilisation.
IHD and IGIDR also organised a panel discussion on Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security in Jharkhand.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest Rameshwar Oraon, Minister for Finance and Food Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs said, “Adequate means of irrigation are not available in Jharkhand and the agriculture here is completely dependent on rainfall. Even now the state has to face severe drought conditions. In such a situation, there is a need to overhaul the PDS system.”
“This is to make sure that people get grains as per the requirement. In the present system of food supply, the beneficiary poor can be fed, but they do not get the necessary nutrition. Soon nutritious food would also be made available to the beneficiaries of PDS,” he added.
When further questioned if certain districts are insecure in terms of food security, the minister said that the situation of food security is not uniform in all the districts of the state, and the districts which are backward need more work.
Notably, Godda, Sahibganj and Pakur of Santhal Pargana region of Jharkhand come under the category of ‘high food insecure zone’. Meanwhile, East Singhbhum, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts come under ‘highly food-secure’ districts, while Jamtara, Garhwa, Pakur, Sahibganj and Godda districts come under ‘extremely-food-insecure’ category as per the data of the report.
Himani Pandey, Secretary, Food Processing said, “We distribute around 90 percent of grains online. The shops that are still offline have been provided with internet connections and dongles to convert them online. Shops with slower networks have also been provided the same for improvement in distribution. We have also provided tracking systems to track the grains and its movement from the distribution godowns to shops.”
Regarding the droughts at present, “We under the PDS schemes will be all kinds of necessary help required within the state. We are also trying to keep people informed of the changes. In case the dealers get the grains, we are trying to make sure that people are informed of it.”
