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Is Targeting the Poor a Penalty on the Food Insecure? Poverty and Food Insecurity in India

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  • M. H. Suryanarayana
  • Dimitri Silva

Abstract

This paper seeks to verify the hypothesis that the set of food insecure is larger than the set of poor in India. Any attempt to reform safety nets like a food distribution programme by targeting it only to the latter would penalize those who are non-poor but food insecure. Towards this end, the paper attempts to: exemplify the issue with reference to measures and criteria for identifying the poor and food insecure; to estimate the incidence of poverty and food insecurity at the national and state levels; and to examine how far their magnitudes tally across states. This limited exercise shows that aggregate estimates of poverty and food insecurity broadly tally at the national level and for several states. The targeted public distribution system covers the majority of the food insecure who are poor, but excludes those sections/regions whose consumption patterns have changed by choice. This calls not for any income transfer but, if at all, for nutrition education programmes to influence consumer choice.

Suggested Citation

  • M. H. Suryanarayana & Dimitri Silva, 2007. "Is Targeting the Poor a Penalty on the Food Insecure? Poverty and Food Insecurity in India," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 89-107.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:8:y:2007:i:1:p:89-107
    DOI: 10.1080/14649880601101457
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Maitra, Chandana & Rao, D.S. Prasada, 2015. "Poverty–Food Security Nexus: Evidence from a Survey of Urban Slum Dwellers in Kolkata," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 308-325.
    2. Bhuyan, Biswabhusan & Sahoo, Bimal Kishore & Suar, Damodar, 2020. "Nutritional status, poverty, and relative deprivation among socio-economic and gender groups in India: Is the growth inclusive?," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    3. Muhammad Masood Azeem & Amin W. Mugera & Steven Schilizzi & Kadambot H. M. Siddique, 2017. "An Assessment of Vulnerability to Poverty in Punjab, Pakistan: Subjective Choices of Poverty Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 117-152, October.
    4. Mousumi Das & Ajay Sharma & Suresh Chandra Babu, 2018. "Pathways from agriculture-to-nutrition in India: implications for sustainable development goals," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1561-1576, December.
    5. M.H. Suryanarayana, 2008. "Agflation and the PDS: Some issues," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2008-009, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    6. Suryanarayana M H, 2013. "Nutritional Norms for Poverty: Issues and Implications," Working Papers id:5392, eSocialSciences.
    7. Chandana Maitra & Sriram Shankar & D.S. Prasada Rao, 2016. "Income Poor or Calorie Poor? Who should get the Subsidy?," Discussion Papers Series 564, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    8. repec:qld:uq2004:508 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Vinod Mishra & Ranjan Ray, 2009. "Dietary Diversity, Food Security and Undernourishment: The Vietnamese Evidence," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 225-247, June.
    10. Neetu Abey George & Fiona H. McKay, 2019. "The Public Distribution System and Food Security in India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-14, September.
    11. M.H. Suryanarayana, 2011. "Policies for the Poor: Verifying the Information Base," Journal of Quantitative Economics, The Indian Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 73-88.
    12. M.H. Suryanarayana, 2008. "Inclusive Growth - What is so exclusive about it?," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22380, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    13. Hossain, Marup & Mullally, Conner & Asadullah, M. Niaz, 2019. "Alternatives to calorie-based indicators of food security: An application of machine learning methods," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 77-91.
    14. Biswabhusan Bhuyan & Bimal Kishore Sahoo & Damodar Suar, 2020. "Quantile Regression Analysis of Predictors of Calorie Demand in India: An Implication for Sustainable Development Goals," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 18(4), pages 825-859, December.
    15. Chandana Maitra & Prasada Rao, 2014. "An Empirical Investigation into Measurement and Determinants of Food Security in Slums of Kolkata," Discussion Papers Series 531, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    16. Moncada, Lorenzo & de la O Campos, Ana Paula & Tornarolli, Leopoldo, 2022. "Food insecurity and poverty – A cross-country analysis using national household survey data," ESA Working Papers 330798, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    17. M.H. Suryanarayana & Dimitri Silva, 2008. "Poverty and food insecurity in India: A Disaggregated regional profile," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2008-005, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    18. Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mugera, Amin W. & Schilizzi, Steven, 2016. "Living on the edge: Household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Renuka Mahadevan & Vincent Hoang, 2016. "Is There a Link Between Poverty and Food Security?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 179-199, August.
    20. Francesco Bartolucci & Alessio Farcomeni, 2022. "A hidden Markov space–time model for mapping the dynamics of global access to food," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(1), pages 246-266, January.
    21. Durgesh C. Pathak & Srijit Mishra, 2011. "Poverty estimates in India: Old and new methods, 2004-05," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2011-015, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    22. Durgesh C. Pathak & Srijit Mishra, 2015. "Poverty Estimates in India: Old and New Methods, 2004–2005," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(1), pages 44-63, March.
    23. Mousumi Das, 2021. "Vulnerability to Food Insecurity: A Decomposition Exercise for Rural India using the Expected Utility Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 167-199, July.
    24. Katrina Kosec & Jie Song, 2021. "The effects of income fluctuations on undernutrition and overnutrition across the lifecycle," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2487-2509, September.
    25. Pinaki Das & Sk Md Abul Basar, 2020. "Are the Non-poor Households Nutritionally Secure? An Assessment from NSSO Unit Level Data in India Between 2004–2005 and 2011–2012," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 14(2), pages 182-201, August.

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