Shanta Kumar Committee

GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources, issues relating to poverty and hunger.


 What is the issue?

  • Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan lays down the future roadmap for Food Corporation of India (FCI).
  • B He stated that primacy will be given to ensuring that the functioning of FCI is streamlined and fast paced as per recommendations of the Shanta Kumar Committee.

 BACKGROUND: 

  • The government, in 2014, had constituted a high level committee chaired by Shanta Kumar, who had given several recommendations as how to make the entire food grain management system more efficient.
  • The committee suggested the reorienting of the role of FCI in MSP operations, procurement, storage and distribution of grains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
  • The HLC had wide consultations with various stakeholders in its several meetings in different parts of the country. It also invited comments through advertisements in newspapers and electronic media.
  • HLC would like to gratefully acknowledge that it has benefitted immensely from this consultative process, and many of its recommendations are based on very intensive discussions with stakeholders.
  • Article 47 of the Constitution of India states that it is the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health Per capita food availability.
  • As of 2017, the per capita net availability of food grains is 190.5 grams/ day Per capita calorie intake: according to a OECD Report, the per capita calorie intake in India is 2445kcal (2011-12) – one of the lowest in the world Poverty:
  • 7 and 13.7 percent of the population were poor in rural and urban India, respectively, in 2011-12.
  • Poverty-line: 972 INR (Rs 32 per day) in rural areas and 1407 INR (Rs 47 per day) in urban areas- based on monthly minimum consumption expenditure(food and non-food) per person or per household.
  • According to Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, 2016, nearly 54% of the Indian population is multi-dimensionally poor -indicating extent of deprivation in terms of living standards, health, and education.
Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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