Monday 5 March 2012

Food Security in India

 15:15 hrs
      
 Actually our country is in state of ' stable famine '. Our Central Government has proposed a  Food Security Bill  which it claims to be 'sharp'. But if the draft of Food Security Bill that is currently before the Standing  Committee of the  Parliament  gets passed , it will get worse.The proposed Food Security Bill means to alleviate this nation from starvation,is a disaster.The bill shows three categories  - excluded,general (Above Poverty Line) and priority ( Below Poverty Line).People in the general category get a monthly 3 kg of grain per capita and the priority  category get 7 kg . The very basic  method by which they identify these  categories is faulty.According to the government,an urban person whose daily expenditure is Rs 32 or less and a rural person whose daily expenditure is Rs 26 or less is BPL.The criteria and implementation are faulty so how it benifit the people ?That beggar having earned Rs 40 in just two minutes would be dreading of an income - tax department raid as he is above the BPL mark.


The grievance redressal system proposed in the bill is also faulty.The Food security Bill allows the Government to change from PDS (Public Distribution System) to cash transfer system at any point of time. It is a step backward from existing  system. According to the research by economist Usha Patnaik,there has been a steady decline in grain consumption over 10 year period.A family of five that used to consume 880 kg of grains annually consumes only 770kg after lapse of 10 years.And since this a mean figure,it means that the economically advantaged have actually increased their consumption and the decline for the economically  backward is far greater.Planning Commission in 2011 submitted an affidavit in Supreme Court which revises the recommended calorific intake downward to 1800 per day;this is against the Indian Council for Medical Research's recommendation of 2400 calories per day for people doing moderate work and 2100 calories per day for those doing sedentary work.


We need an extensive public campaign to acquaint people with flaws of the Bill and the need for a Bill that will enable people to get enough food.I don't know what  game my fate will play with me in the future.But I have every reason to work for the welfare for such kind of helpless people.In fact I really want to improve the living standard of  these people .I don't have any idea about the strategy in the mind of the government.It is thinking hard over spending Rs 1 Lakh crores to provide sufficient food,but easily spends Rs 5 lakh crore towards tax revisions for corporates!!Well whatever is in the mind of government I will try my best to  curb widespread malnutrition across the country  which is just  now wearing the medal of  potential to improve  due to faulty  policies of the government.