Food security is one of the major components of social security. It consists of ensuring that food is available at all times; that all persons have means of and access to it; that it is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity, quality, and variety; and that it is acceptable within the given culture. There are three elements in this definition: availability, access, and suitability. In 2007, India's National Development Council adopted a resolution to launch a 'food security mission' to further increase the production of rice, wheat, and pulses by the end of the country's Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12). Accordingly, a centrally-sponsored scheme - the National Food Security Mission - was launched to operationalize the above mentioned resolution. This collection of essays consists of 15 research papers on the subject of food security. The issues raised add constructively to the current debate on this sensitive subject of national importance to India.
