25 Pct Population Hungry in India Even With Excess Grain Stock

The contradicting situation India has landed itself in can only be explained by the subsidy cutting government policy, corruption and even profiteering, bureaucratic blunders, informed experts and activists.

These stocks were created by better prices offered by the government procurement agencies and consecutive bumper harvests since 2006. A record making 380 lakh tonnes of wheat was yielded in April and March 2012. While from October 2011 to September 2012 a record making 350 lakh tonnes of rice was obtained in the yearly yield.

Reetika Khera, economist and Right to Food activist said, “Procurement has increased by about 1 percentage point each year and is close to one-third of production now,” as reported by TNN. This does explain the large stock. However, it’s hard to understand why these stocks are not distributed on need based requirement.

The government claims that food grains can only be issued through its targeted public distribution system (TPDS) at low prices to those below poverty line (BPL), and at fixed amounts  at higher prices to those above poverty line (APL).

In the current approach of grain distribution several problems have been pointed out by Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court, who is assisting the apex court in tracking government policy on this subject.

Also Read: India Scores Low on Hunger Index