As Grains Rot, Millions Die Of Malnutrition in India

D Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India, an opposition group said “This is a case of criminal neglect by the government,” as reported by First Post. “The ruling party has been the worst manager of the demand-supply of food grains,” he added.

Bureaucratic inefficiencies and corruption are what hamper distribution to the hungry. Corruption includes distributors basically "cutting" the grain, mixing rotting grain with fresh grain and selling it on the market. Then there is what India calls the "mother of all scams," with hundreds of government officials redirecting billions of dollars worth of grain away from the poor and into local and global markets.

According to the Reuters, the Indian government pays about $346 per ton. To be competitive in the market, a ton would have to sell for about $260. That $80 difference makes up a huge loss for a government already running a high fiscal deficit. The grain is clearly not feeding hungry Indians and neither is it making the government any money.

Saddomajra, a village in the bread-basket, Punjab, was noted to be one of the dumping grounds for the record stockpile of wheat that has accumulated after half a decade of abundant harvests in the world’s second-largest producer of the grain.