In 2014, the stock of wheat and rice with FCI was 65.3 million tonnes which was much more than the minimum buffer norms
1. The situation improved with the distribution of food grains under different schemes launched by the government.
2. There is a general consesthat high level of buffer stocks of food grains is very undersirable and can be wasteful.
3. The storage of massive food stocks has been responsible for high carrying costs, in addition to wastage and deterioration in grain quality.
4. Freezing of MSP for a few years should be considered seriously.

(a) The PDS has proved to be the most effective instrument of government policy over the years in stabilishing prices and making food available to consumers at affordable prices.
(b) It has been instrumental in averting widespread hunger and famine by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to the deficit ones.
(c) In addition, the prices have been under revision in favour of poor households in general
(d) The system, including the minimum support price and procurement, has contributed to an increase in food grain production and provided income security to farmers in certain regions.

The food security system of India has been nicely designed:
1. The Government through Food Corporation of India (FCI) procure food grains from various parts of the country
2. The Government buys surplus food grains from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP)
3. This stock of food grains, kept by FCI, is called buffer stock
4. Through Public Distribution System (PDS), the government distributes these food grains to BPL families, EWS and other poor people of the country from authorised ration shops.
5. The Government also distributes the food grains to the states where there is scarcity of it.

National Food for work Programme was designed under Food-for-Work Scheme. It was launched on 14^th November 2004 in about 150 most backward districts of the country.
1. The main objective of this programme was to generate supplementary wage employment- It is open to all rural poor who desire to do manual labour for wage employement.
2. It is open to all rural poor who desire to do manual labour for wage employment 
3. This district collector is the nodel head of the programme in his/her district
4. Planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and supervision are the subject matter the district collector.

The food procured by the FCI is distributed through government regulated ration shops among the poorer section of the society.
1. This is called the Public Distribution System (PDS)
(a) Ration shops are now present in most localities, villages, towns and cities. There are about 5.5 lakh ration shops all over the country.
2. Ration shops also known as Fair Price Shops keep stock of food grains, sugar, kerosene oil for cooking.
3. These items are sold to people at a price lower than the market price.
4. Any family with a ration card can buy a stipulated amount of these items (e.g., 35kg of grains, 5 litres kerosene, 5 kgs of sugar etc) Every month from the nearby ration shop.​​

Minimum support price (MSP) . The price declared by the government every year before sowing season, at which grains are procured by the government agencies from the farmers to increase their production.

The following factors have led to the decline in PDS:
(a) The per Capita consumption of PDS wheat has doubled since 2004-05 in both rural and urban India. PDS dealers are sometimes found resorting to mal practices like diverting the grains to open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, the irregular opening of the shops, etc.
(b) It is common to find that ration shops regularly have unsold stocks of poor quality grains left. This has proved to be a big problem.
(c) When ration shops are unable to sell, a massive stock of food grains piles up with the FCI.
(d) In recent years, there is another factor that has led to the decline of the PDS. Earlier every family, poor and non-poor had a ration card with a fixed quota of items such as rice, wheat, sugar etc.
But now the government has withdrawn the facility of ration from the persons who are income tax payee.
(e) Due to the low percentage of profit margin, many ration shop owners have closed their businesses.
(f) Due to the poor quality of foodgrains and other products available at Fair Price Shops, many people have stopped purchasing their ration from them. They rather prefer purchasing from the open market and does not hesitate in paying more.

(a) India is aiming at self-sufficiency in food grains since independence.
(b) After independence, Indian policy makers adopted all measures to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains.
(c) India adopted a new strategy in agriculture, which resulted in the 'Green Revolution' especially in the production of wheat and rice.
(d) Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, officially recorded the impressive strides of the Green revolution in agriculture by releasing a special stamp entitled 'Wheat Revolution' in July 1968.
(e) The success of wheat was later replicated in rice. The increase in food grains was, however, disproportionate.
(f) The highest rate of growth has been achieved in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where food grain production reached an all-time high of 78.9 million tonnes in 2012-13.
(g) Production of food grain in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, Tamil Nadu has dropped.
(h) West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, recorded a significant increase in rice yield in 2012-13.