Impact of Weather Shock on Food Insecurity: A Study on India

Abstract

This chapter makes a novel attempt to examine food insecurity in India and its variations across space and different social and religious groups. It further intends to examine the impact of weather shock on food insecurity in India and also identify the socio-economic factors that affect the same. The results of analysis based on the second round of India Human Development Survey, 2011–12 reveals large variations in the extent of household level food insecurity across India and also its various socio-religious groups. The binary logistic regression results show that weather shocks have a positive impact on the probability of a household to be food insecure. Moreover, size of households, dependency ratio, poverty and urban residence make a household more likely to be food insecure. On the other hand, per capita income, female adult education, remittances and cultivation as the main occupation reduce the probability of food insecurity.