Title: Food security and technology in India

Authors: Seema Shukla; Surya Prakash Singh; Ravi Shankar

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Viswakarma Building, Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg, IIT Delhi, New Delhi 110 016, India ' Department of Management Studies, Viswakarma Building, Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg, IIT Delhi, New Delhi 110 016, India ' Department of Management Studies, Viswakarma Building, Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg, IIT Delhi, New Delhi 110 016, India

Abstract: In India, the growing population has put tremendous pressure on the economy. The most important concern of this millennium is to feed the ever growing population. Several countries are working on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to achieve food security for their citizens, and in the same line, recently India has passed the Food Security Bill: 2013, which assures every citizen a right for quality food. This paper is an attempt to study the technologies available and their applicability on the betterment of agricultural practices including production, harvesting, distribution and storage and their impact on achieving food security. The existing structure of Public Distribution System (PDS) in India and role of technology in improving the current PDS to ensure food security are examined. The paper also identifies the aspects related to lack of food safety control on some of current technological practices. The paper identifies the areas in agricultural practice and distribution system where technology can have large impact. The paper further identifies the need for development of regulatory system, policies and communicating it to relevant stakeholders. There need to reach out to people and involve participation globally to avoid duplication of work.

Keywords: food security; food technology; agriculture; sustainable development; biotechnology; nanotechnology; food safety; agriculture extension; information technology; public distribution systems; PDS; sustainable development; India; food quality; agricultural production; harvesting; food storage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2015.069054

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2015 Vol.1 No.1, pp.89 - 102

Received: 02 Jun 2014
Accepted: 02 Dec 2014

Published online: 25 Apr 2015 *

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