In general, the dependence and demand for food-based welfare programs in the study villages is extremely high. 100 Table 5.1 Household characteristics by type of ration cards in Chaudhurirchar and Kumargaon 104 Table 5.2 Ownership of ration card by the households in Chaudhurirchar village, 2015 107 Table 5.3 Ownership of ration card based on size of operational holdings in Chaudhurirchar village.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Indirect method of poverty measures is based on Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Laborers (CPIAL) (see Patnaik, 2007). However, what we do have are headcount ratios of poverty for states based on the Tendulkar Committee Report (see GOI.
FOOD PRICE VOLATILITY OF THE 1990S AND 2000S
Estimates also show that poverty rates in Assam stagnated in the period of 1990s and increased in the 2000s. Of the two, however, the consumer's issue price was much higher than the producer's acquisition price.
UNDERSTANDING THE TERM FOOD SECURITY
The period that followed between the 1970s and the early 1990s brought about significant changes in the understanding of the concept of food security. The 1996 World Conference provided a landmark definition of food security, which is widely accepted by countries.
THE STATE OF FOOD INSECURITY IN RURAL INDIA AND ASSAM
The per capita per day production of cereals in Assam is the lowest among all the 16 states mapped by the Food Insecurity Atlas of Rural India, 2001. Similarly, the percentage of households consuming less than the ICMR recommended 2400 Kcal of food per day was also one of the highest in Assam (53.9 percent).
THE ENTITLEMENT APPROACH AND FOOD SECURITY
The production component is the production function, which in turn depends on the individual's endowment set (e.g. soil quality, food production technology, etc.). Some of the instrumental freedoms highlighted by Sen (e.g., political freedoms, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security) also form a subset of exchange entitlement as forwarded by the 1981 entitlement approach.
THE ROLE OF FOOD BASED INTERVENTIONS IN ENSURING FOOD SECURITY
Until the 1970s, Assam's food procurement and distribution system was largely in the hands of the private sector. The supply of food grains was inadequate and the state's public distribution system could not cope with the demand (EPW, 1968).
THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS
Assam's contribution to the country's reserves has also been negligible since the mid-1990s. Thus, Assam's low growth rates, increasing poverty rates and increased food insecurity give me the justification to examine the state of food insecurity in the country.
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
Research Objective 2: To inquire into the implementation and performance of the major state and state-sponsored food-based welfare programs in rural Assam. What has been the nature of the policy of the public distribution system in Assam since its inception in the 1940s.
DATA SOURCES AND CHAPTER OUTLINE
Descriptive statistics, regression analysis and exploratory data analysis are performed based on data needs.
Introduction and review of literature
Food insecurity in rural Assam: A district level analysis ranks the districts of Assam according to the level of food security based on the CFSVA-baseline framework
The study area and profile of the village describes the location of the study area and brings out the differences in socio-economic characteristics of both the villages
The functioning of Targeted Public Distribution System in rural Assam explains the functioning of the public distribution system of Assam. The main focus of this
Socio-economic composition of households excluded from TPDS: Errors of exclusion in the study villages measures the level of inclusion and exclusion errors in
Role of Targeted PDS in ensuring household cereal consumption needs
Supplementary Nutrition Programmes: A case study of ICDS and MDM programmes in Assam studies the demand for these two programmes in the study villages
In conclusion: rural households of Assam require continuous food based interventions provides a commentary on the role and significance of food based welfare
FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS CARRIED OUT WORLDWIDE
Some of them include the Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA-Baseline), Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM), Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA), Food Security Monitoring System (FSMS), Joint Assessment Mission (JAM), Market Assessment and bulletin (MAB) and other multi-agency reviews. Three main sets of indicators used to measure the dimensions of the food security problem in EFSA are mortality rates, nutrition indicators (Mid Upper Arm Circumference or MUAC), food security indicators measured by the food consumption score (which is based on the number of food intakes) groups that a household consumes during a reference period of seven days).
MAPPING OF FOOD INSECURITY IN RURAL INDIA .1. Mapping of food insecurity at the state level
Hence in the absorption dimension Assam is categorized as having "very high" level of food insecurity. During the selection of indicators for the design of food security at the district level, 3 indicators of availability, 6 accessibility and 2 indicators of utilization were selected.
MAPPING OF FOOD INSECURITY AT DISTRICT LEVEL FOR RURAL ASSAM For district level ranking data availability is one of the major constraints. 12 I have considered
Three income indicators are used to paint a picture of food affordability: per capita net district domestic product, percentage of BPL households to total rural households, and percentage of households with agricultural labor. Two indicators are used for food absorption: the under-five mortality rate and the percentage of households with access to safe drinking water.
DISTRICT RANKS: ALL DIMENSIONS AND INDICATORS
Furthermore, looking at the individual ranks, Dhubri was the lowest in most of the food security indicators. Figures 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 show how the distribution of data points of the different food security indicators for the districts by means of a box-and-whisker plot diagrammatic representation.
METHOD OF SAMPLE SELECTION
To this end, I have had further discussions with officials of the Directorate of Health, who can show me blocks and villages with incomes where indicators of health outcomes are low. In the 2011 Census list of villages, Chaudhurirchar Part -1 and Part -2 appear as two separate revenue villages.
DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA - DISTRICTS
More than 50 percent of the area of the district remains completely affected by floods within a year (ibid). Indicators related to basic household infrastructure show that 74 and 72 percent of households in Dhubri and Jorhat districts, respectively, do not have toilet facilities.
PROFILE OF CHAUDHURIRCHAR REVENUE VILLAGE Socio economic profile
Muslim households constitute 80 percent while Hindu households constituted 20 percent of the total households in Chaudhurirchar. 17 percent of the population have completed the secondary education level, and this shows that the maximum level of
PROFILE OF KUMARGAON REVENUE VILLAGE Socio economic profile
21 percent of the population is currently enrolled in school, mostly children and adolescents. 11 percent of the population is out of the labor force and they are mostly dependent on others.
MAJOR CROPS CULTIVATED IN BOTH VILLAGES
Summer paddy (IRRI) November-December May-June shallow tube wells Winter paddy (Sali) April-May October-November Rainwater.
BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE STUDY VILLAGES
In the case of Kumargaon village, the Primary Health Center is just 2 km away from the village. There is no secondary school in the village, the nearest secondary school is about 10 km away from the village.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PDS IN ASSAM
The price of PDS food grains in Assam is determined by the state government and varies depending on the geographical terrain. Many GPSSs in the state have had to close PDS stores due to heavy losses.
IDENTIFICATION OF PDS BENEFICIARIES IN ASSAM
The information on beneficiary households under NFSA is derived from the PDS portal of the Government of India. The amount of rice supplied to the AAY households under NFSA 2013 was fixed at 35 kg per household at the rate of Rs 3 per kg, while the PHs were provided 5 kg of rice per person at Rs 3 per kg.
SPREAD OF FAIR PRICE SHOPS IN ASSAM
It is seen that immediately after the introduction of TPDS in 1996-97, the number of FPSs in the state has decreased. From 2011-2012 onwards, the Assam Economic Survey provides the number of total FPS in the state without showing the urban-rural breakdown.
ISSUE PRICE OF PDS RICE IN INDIA
GEOGRAPHICAL TARGETING AND STATE ISSUE PRICE IN ASSAM The department of Food Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs, GoA fixes the transportation
It is disturbing to know that there are 15 different SIPs for BPL and APL rice in the state. Accordingly, SIP for APL rice has been fixed by the state government based on the geographical classification.
CONCLUSION
This is validated against the cross-sectional data from the village studies in the following chapters. This section shows that a large proportion of households in the state are excluded from TPDS and the village data further validates the NSSO findings.
HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS BY TYPE OF RATION CARD
Furthermore, the average MPCE for food is highest for APL households and lowest for AAY households. In Kumargaon village, the average non-food MPCE is highest for households without ration cards, followed by APL households.
COVERAGE OF TARGETED PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
Among the semi-medium land households, 2.4 percent have no cards and less than 1 percent have BPL cards. Retailer households have the largest share of BPL cards (5. Percent), who work in non-agricultural (5 percent), out of labor force (3 percent) and domestic work (4 percent).
TARGETING ERRORS OF EXCLUSION AND INCLUSION
The size of operational land holdings and the main occupation of household members have been found to be the main determinants of household economic well-being. Swaminathan (2009) also points to the fact that there is a high exclusion (87.7) in Assam as most households either have APL cards or no cards.
EVIDENCE OF EXCLUSION OF HOUSHEOLDS BASED ON NSSO DATA
Thus, in Chaudhurirchar village, the total number of AAY households is 20 and the total number of PHs is 109, and households that did not possess ration cards (18) remained excluded even after the implementation of NFSA 2013. Less than 1 percent of ST households own an AAY card, 10 percent own a BPL card and 19 percent of these households do not have a ration card at all.
CONCLUSION
Thus, the total number of AAY households in Kumargaon village was 37 and the total number of PHs was 74. Second, what is the actual utilization level of PDS rice in the study villages and considering the high errors of exclusion and geographic targeting, is their welfare cost.
UTILIZATION OF TPDS IN RURAL INDIA AND ASSAM: NSSO ESTIMATES The NSSO quinquennial round reports on Consumption Expenditure provide State level
In Assam, only 9 percent households reported consumption of rice from the PDS against 24.4 percent at the national average in 2004-05. The household share of rice consumed from the PDS was also very low in Assam compared to the national average.
SOURCES OF AVAILABILITY OF RICE FOR CONSUMPTION IN THE STUDY VILLAGES
MMASY households consume 60 percent of rice from the open market and 40 percent of rice from home production. Households without cards consume 55 percent of rice from the open market and 45 percent of rice from home production.
UTILISATION OF TPDS RICE: WELFARE COSTS BORNE BY THE HOUSEHOLDS
But the actual amount of rice purchased by the BPL household in the village is 30 kg at Rs.7 per kg. In Kumargaon village, the actual amount of rice received by AAY households was 35 kg per card at a rate of Rs 4 per kg, and the priority households received 5 kg per person at the rate of Rs 4 per kg.
DIFFERENCE IN PRICE ENTITLED AND CHARGED THROUGH TPDS
In order to have financial viability of the FPSs in the state, the Government of India should allocate separate financial package (PEO, 2005). Therefore, it can be said that the overall performance of the FPSs in both the towns is satisfactory.
IMPACT OF TARGETED PDS ON FOOD CALORIE CONSUMPTION
Another reason for the poor performance of TPDS was low financial support from the government. Therefore, the income transfer resulting from the increase in food price subsidies has changed the consumption pattern of rural households.
CONTRIBUTION OF TARGETED PDS TO HOUSEHOLD CEREAL CONSUMPTION NEEDS: AN OLS AND QUANTILE REGRESSION
The MPCE variable also has a positive and significant impact on household food security. However, the MDM variable shows a negative and significant impact on household food grain security.
CONCLUSION
The variable MDM shows a negative and significant impact on the food grain security of the households. The variable OH_Land has a positive and significant impact for all the quantiles except OLS.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF ICDS
Health services and referral: Immunization for children aged 0-6 years includes six types of vaccines, i.e. beneficiaries in the immunization program are also provided with IFA (iron, folic acid and vitamin A) supplements.
BENEFICIARIES UNDERICDS IN CHAUDHURIRCHAR AND KUMARGAON VILLAGE
In both towns, far fewer people were aware of the official claim of the SNP. In Chaudhurirchar village, none of the adult beneficiaries were aware of the amount of food.
UTILISATION OF MDM IN THE STUDIED VILLAGES
In 2004, the calorie norm was set at 300 kcal and 8-12 grams of protein per child per school day. Correspondingly, the monthly consumption of pulses per child 300gms to 350gms at LP level and UP level respectively in both the villages.
CONCLUSION
PUBLIC SUPPORT IN FOOD CONSUMPTION REQUIRED BECAUSE THERE IS AN ENTITLEMENT FAILURE
Several food security assessments conducted at the national level have shown that Assam's vulnerability to weather and other forms of conflict makes the country an easy target for food shortages. This thesis therefore argues that there is a lack of rights in the form of a reduction in the capacities of individuals and households in Assam, and that therefore public food support is a necessity (see sections 1.1 and 1.3).
MOST DISTRICTS OF ASSAM ARE VULNERABLE TO FOOD INSECURE CONDITIONS
Jorhat, although not the best performer across all indicators, ranked relatively high (see Sections 2.3 and 2.4). To study the role of food based welfare program at household level, two income villages viz.
ASSAM PRESENTS A UNIQUE CASE OF GEOGRAPHICAL TARGETING ALONG WITH NARROW TARTETING OF POPULATION BASED ON INCOME
Although, both villages were severely affected by floods and erosion, but Kumargaon fared relatively better in terms of socio-economic indicators compared to Chaudhurirchar village (Sections 3.3 and 3.4 discuss the profiles of both the affected villages).
HIGH ERRORS OF EXCLUSION FROM THE PDS PROGRAMME
Thus, after the introduction of NFSA 2013, all households are covered under TPDS in Kumargaon village. These excluded households are mostly APL and MMASY and households without ration cards (Section 5.3.1).
CEREALS CONSUMPTION DEVIATION FROM NORM LOW WHEN HOUSEHOLDS HAVE ACCESS TO PDS RICE AND HAVE OTHER
ICDS_dummy is positive and significant for OLS, but it shows no significant impact on any of the quantile classes. MDM_dummy shows negative and significant impact for OLS and 50th and 75th quantile of FDev.
HIGH DEMAND OF SUPPLEMENTARY NUTRITION PROGRAMMES IN THE STUDY VILLAGES
The most basic infrastructural facilities like toilets, safe drinking water and electricity supply are not available in the AWCs of both the villages. Chaudhurirchar village AWC is in dilapidated condition and AWW is running the center through her house.
THE WAY FORWARD
The study also failed to cover the nutritional impact of the food provided by the food-based welfare programs. The propensity to natural disasters and the overall poor socio-economic conditions of the study villages provide an essential justification for the implementation of food-based welfare programs in the study area.
