Food Security Atlas Of RURAL MAHARASHTRA - WFP Remote ...

development policy for forest-dwellers will improve their food security. The Forest Rights Act, grantingtenurial security, in conjunction with the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA),accepting the role of Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats in managing forest resources, should helpin framing and implementing appropriate development policies in the food insecure forest areas ofthe state.Access MeasuresThe access measure in Maharashtra, as in other states, has been along the following lines:1. The provision of low-priced foodgrains, as a method of subsidizing the consumption of the poor.This, done through the Public Distribution System (PDS), has undergone some changes with thecurr ent Tar geted PDS, where low prices are charged only for Below Poverty Line (BPL)households.2. Food for Work schemes now carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA).3. The mother and infant supplementary feeding programme through the ICDS.4. The Mid-day Meal Scheme for children in government-run schools.The latest (2004-05) NSS Round gives information on the extent to which these schemes reach thepoor in Maharashtra, and thus contribute something to food security, though it does not show ushow much they add to food entitlements.In Table 7.5 we have also separately included "nearly poor" households, i.e. those whose per capitaconsumption level is within 10% above the poverty line. In both ICDS and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme,the performance in rural Maharashtra is better than in rural India as a whole. Nevertheless, the lowerreach of food-based programmes to the poor, as revealed by NSSO figures, should be contrastedwith the generally high reach shown by official government figures. The reach of ICDS, mid-day mealsin schools is routinely reported by government agencies to be close to or exceeding 100 percent.What is surprising is the rather low reach of employment schemes (Food for Work). However, If theMaharashtra figure is broken down by region, it appears that this is a regional phenomenon. In theInland Central region (i.e. the southern part of Western Maharashtra) the reach of the EmploymentAssurance Scheme (EAS) work is for 19.3 percent of poor and near-poor households together. In theEastern region (i.e. the forest area of Vidarbha) there is little EAS work, reaching just 1.7 of poorhouseholds and no near-poor households.The index of public interventions is calculated by combining mid-day meal scheme and ICDS. Theobjective of these public interventions is to make up for shortfalls in food and other entitlements thathouseholds and individuals require in the usual working of the socio-economic system. Consequently80 FOOD SECURITY ATLAS OF RURAL MAHARASHTRA