Although a rapidly growing developing country, India has a larger food-insecure population than all of Sub-Saharan Africa. Given the prevalence of chronic malnutrition, the Government of India spent nearly 1 percent of the gross domestic product in the past year on the Public Distribution System (PDS), its system of subsidies for food grains and other essential commodities. Despite the importance of effective food aid in the country, a large share of PDS food grains do not reach their intended beneficiaries. However, the Indian State of Chhattisgarh instituted a number of PDS reforms in the early and mid-2000s in an effort to improve the distribution of PDS food grains. We find that both PDS consumption and food security improved in response to the reforms.
Details
Title
The Impacts of Reforms to the Public Distribution System in India’s Chhattisgarh on Food Security
Record Identifier
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/337158
Language
English
Total Pages
34
Note
Using consumer expenditure surveys conducted by the Government of India in 1999/2000, 2004/05, and 2009/10, ERS researchers estimated PDS consumption and overall calorie consumption in Chhattisgarh and States bordering Chhattisgarh. The researchers then computed changes in consumption to estimate how food security and PDS consumption changed in Chhattisgarh between each survey. Those changes in Chhattisgarh were compared to what occurred in border States to account for shocks or changes in national policy that might be contributing to the observed trends.