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India Rising and the Hunger Index
$0$0$0$0Food policy of UPA
government was one of the major issues ofdifference with the Left parties before the withdrawal of support by the Left. $0$0As a part of food security system, there have been normsworked out regularly on buffer stock of food grains. But for the first time ,food stocks plunged below the buffer norm due to the negative impact ofgovernment encouraging procurement of wheat by big agribusinesses and paying them a much higher rate, almost double,than the rate paid to the Haryana farmers.$0$0Following a public outcry,this year, the government went for large scale procurement from thefarmerscreating a huge surplus ofbuffer stock.FCI officials now say thatnearly 5 million tones of grain are exposed to risk of destruction as itislying in the open due to shortage ofstorage space. Now it is trying to offload rotting stockswith few takers , which in turn will becomean excusein future, thus making bigagribusinesses benefitonce again.Arbitrary decisions are being taken toeliminatea whole section ofbeneficiaries and thus ‘rationalize” the PDS.$0$0Theaverage annualallocations for ‘above poverty line’ families(APL) have been drasticallyslashed . Ironically, states of Madhya Pradesh, UP, Chattisgarh and Bihar,which are categorized as the “most alarming” by World Hunger Index, havesuffered the highest cuts of 95%.The Arjun Sengupta Commission on unorganizedworkers estimated that 77 percent of India’s population spends less thanRs 20 per head a day . By slashing APL quotas, Government has deprived a hugesection of a necessary benefit.It isregrettable that food subsidyof thecountry which has highest malnourished population is just 1.32 per cent of GDPwhile huge subsidies are given to corporates as bailouts and non- performingassets.Many countries around the worldhave increased their food subsidies as a response to higher food prices, sothere is no reason for Indianot to do the same.Elimination of hungershould be a national priority, particularly when a pattern of growth inselective sectors is accompanied by an alarming rise in hunger. $0$0
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Published: December 23, 2008
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