Volume 7, No. 6, July-August, 2006

The govt. has been changed, but the imperialist dictated economic policies have been continuing. The abject condition of the poor people not only persists, it is further deteriorating. In this ‘largest democracy of the world’ millions of people including men, women and even children, go to sleep hungry every night. This has become a way of life and has been continuing uninterruptedly for many decades. The poorest of the poor people have to take wild shrubs, weeds and tubers to combat the pangs of hunger. In this wretched condition of ‘food security’ the UPA govt took decisions to raise the price and to reduce the quantity of rice and wheat under the PDS (Public distribution system). As usual the ‘Left’ partners of the UPA govt, a section of the Congress, DMK and others opposed this decision. The AIDMK even declared that they would not implement this decision. On January 19, 06 Mr. Sharad Power, the union agriculture minister, declared that the decision to enhance the price and cut allocation to all categories of beneficiaries had been "Put on hold". And further stated that "the decision will go through. I have to speak to political parties and build a consensus," Thus the decision had been postponed till the completion of the assembly election in the states. It can well be understood that the main reason of this postponement was the impending assembly election in five states and not for their concern about the dreadful conditions of the millions of poor people. The same reason has also prompted those who opposed the decision.

Now the elections are over. Now it is a time to build consensus. And that will be achieved inspite of ‘left’ phrase mongering, strong opposition, protests, etc. This mock fighting will come to an end, approving the pending decision of the ministry, may ne with some nominal amendments.

This decision clearly indicates that the union govt. wanted to prune the food subsidy to the tune of Rs. 4,524 crores and impose this huge burden on the back of the most oppressed sections. The method of doing so has also been prescribed. That is by reducing the quantity of wheat and rice distributed through the P.D.S. and Antyodaya Anna Yojana. This will result in 5 Kg less of food grain with each card holder of PDS compared to what they are now entitled to receive per month. This simply means to cut a portion of the meagre quantity that are being distributed to the below poverty line households and Antyodaya households i.e. 35 kg and 25 kg a month respectively. This very govt. when it came to power promised that it would give a human face to the imperialist sponsored economic policies. Now that has turned into a pathetic joke and the UPA govt continues to follow the same policy as the NDA. This decision is in accordance with that policy which will further push upward the number of starved and semi starved people.

This is a decision to further strengthen the very process of dismantling the P.D.S. This process was initiated in 2002 taking out from its purview all but the people living below the poverty line. Even those people, who are living belowthe poverty line, have not been covered entirely. The stark reality is that till to day hundreds of thousands of poorest of the poor people, inspite of their desperate efforts, are unable to have BPL cards. Right to food which is a fundamental right, still remains as illusive as before to these people. This decision of increasing the price and de-creasing the qua-ntity of food gra-in that are distri-buted through PDS will deprive more people of their fundamental rights, and PDS will become irrelevant to them. It is a ploy to dismantle the PDS and accommodate the imperialist demand at the cost of the poorest of the poor people.

This WTO dictated decision serves the interest of the five major MNCs who control global grain trade. These MNCs operate through the WTO and pressurize the govts of backward countries to dismantle what ever schemes are there to provide food security. It has already exposed that the food and agricultural policy is no longer controlled by the Union Govt. rather it is the dictact of the WTO controlled by MNCs that in being followed by the union govt.

The neo-liberal policy of free trade and movement of agricultural produce, removal of the restriction on farmers of bringing their produce to procurement centres helped the multinationals and other private traders increase their exploitation. Even the parliamentary Standing Committee on food tabled its report on May 26th, have to state that MNCs and private traders "…. entered the market in a big way and procured wheat in excess of their requirement leading to profiteering, hoarding and a black market". It has further stated that "... the government may find it difficult to manage and operate the Public Distribution System and replenish its dwindling stocks". Thus the successive union governments have served the MNCs well !!! And this decision will provide more service to them.  

The distribution of less quantity of food grains, follows less quantity of procurement and this will limit the turnover of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Consequently, the ability of the FCI to procure crops at a minimum support price will further dwindle. The union govt. surreptitiously following this path. In the last two years quantity of procurement, off take and stocks of food grains with the FCI have been declining.

While 22 million tonnes of food grain stock with the FCI is required to call itself "food secure", it has only 15.1 million tonnes of food grain. This gap is the result of the anti-people, pro-imperialist policy of the UPA govt to create provision for import. And now it is taking place. After 6 years India is importing 5 lakh tonnes of wheat. On January 1, wheat stocks were 62 lakh tonnes which was 20 lakh tonnes less than the norm. The entry of private traders, mainly MNCs and big comprador houses has already been ensured. And impending implementation of the decision will affect FCI adversely leading to its wind up to provide space for MNCs.

While the farmers are suffering from severe agrarian crisis and the poor people are being deprived of food security, the govt took this decision as a further step towards privatisation of the country’s food front. MNCs will have better scope to exploit the country’s food sector. The farmers’ demand for remunerative prices of their output will be negated. Much needed food security for the poor people will be ignored. Consequently, the agrarian crisis will further accentuate leading to increase in the number of farmer’s suicide deaths and poor people will starve to death.

There were promises that the govts would provide food to every mouth and these promises have reiterating while number of hungry people has been increasing. This UPA govt is no exception. In their "national minimum common programme" this govt too promised to ensure "universal food security over time." Mr Manmohan Singh, the initiator of imperialist dictated "economic reform programme" assured that their main objective would be to " give a human face" to this draconian liberal policy. But those were nothing but phase mongering to woo the distressed people. The grim reality is that the right to food or food security continue to remain elusive to millions of country men and the UPA govt. remain as mindless as ever, though hunger causes havoc.

According a report published Tehelka January 14, 2006, 320 million people are going to bed without food and 10,000 people dying of hunger related pangs every day. This has been pointed out by experts. Further, 99 percent of adivasi families in Jharkhand and Rajasthan have to face chronic hunger in 2005. This condition still persists. Nevertheless, this govt. claims that it stands for "aam admi"! who are their "aam admi"?

Even the modest estimation of FAO stated that the number of the country’s army of hunger grew by 13 million between 95-97 and 2000-02 and this constituted nearly there fourth of the newly hungry throughout the world. Other estimates give a more dreadful picture. Total number of hungry people, as it is referred to in the Hindustan Times January 04, 06, is about 200 million. India’s first social development report released in New Delhi. recently states that 26 percent or about 260 million (193 million in rural areas and 67 million in urban areas) of the country’s population are still living below the poverty line. And the number of BPL families have been increasing. The percentage of total people living below the poverty line is 47.15 percent in Orissa, 42.60 percent in Bihar and 36.09 percent in Assam. UNICEF reported that one in three of the world’s malnourished children are living in India and half of Indian children are undernourished. One can easily realize that the ground reality is far more deplorable.

Lack of food security is continuing and it manifests itself in the declining trend of per capital calories intake per day. In 1987-88 it was just above 2,200 calories and in 1999-2000 it came down to 2,150 per day. The food grain consumption also declined from 476 gram per day in 1990 to 418 grams per day in 2001. During the rule of the UPA Govt. this trend not only persists, even further strengthens. The recent reports indicate that due to food insecurity chronic malnutrition, severe under nutrition starvation deaths pervades the country. High infant mortality rate is the result of under nutrition.

The recent report of the Council for Social Development, Oxford, states that Orissa has the highest infant mortality rate of 83 deaths per 1,000 births. Madhya Pradesh has 82 and Uttar Pradesh 76 per 1,000 births. The worst affected are Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. The IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) is 85.2 among the Scheduled Tribes and 83 among the Scheduled Castes. The number of hunger deaths are increasing among these poorest of the poor people of the society. The reports of hunger death is coming from various parts of the country everyday. The State Govts, as usual, deny the facts. The ferocity of hunger has been so sweeping that it has killed thousands of lives in various states.

The Maharashtra State Govt. admitted to the High Court that between January and July of the last year (2005) 2,814 children had died of starvation. The vast majority of them were from tribal areas. The same situation persists in different states of the country. In this deplorable situation the union govt. took the decision to slash even a portion of the meagre quantity that is distributed through the PDS to the poorest of the poor.

The ruinous effect of the economic reform programme is very much conspicuous in the rural India. It has devastated the agrarian economy. The crises of the agrarian economy is getting more and more acute. The peasantry cannot live on cultivation and they demand remunerative prices for their fruits of toil. This heartless decision is a step towards abolition of the minimum support price and the introduction of private trading of food grains controlled by MNCs. The plight of the peasants will become more deplorable. The economic reform policies have already claimed thousands of farmers’ and peasants’ lives. In the last few years, according to Ms. Vandana Shiva, more than 40,000 formers and peasants committed suicide. The crises is so devastating and intensive that a large number of peasants/farmers want to give up agriculture. Latest NSSO data reveal that more than 40 percent of the farmers/peasants are keen on quitting agriculture. The rural despair has developed to such an extent that the peasants of six villages in Sangrur, Mansa and Bhatinda district of Punjab, the frontline agricultural state, have decided to put up their villages for sale. The heartless UPA govt. is not concerned about that.

Promises belied, "Universal food security" - remains to be a myth. The govt. of "aam admi" continues to serve the indigenous and foreign business, trading and commercial houses as well as financial speculators. So, going back on their promises to ensure "universal food security" the UPA govt. have decided to prune the food subsides by Rs. 4,524 crores. This is almost the same amount that they gave up in the last year abolishing capital gain tax. The beneficiaries were domestic and foreign financial speculators on the stock market. The UPA govt. considers these speculators as "aam admi"! And they now plan to compensate that amount of money squeezing millions of destitute hungry people and distressed farmers/peasants.

Despair is a temporary phenomenon. It leads to socio-political unrest organized and led by the real aam admi, a formidable social force. This force has begun to assert and will continue to assert more powerfully.

<Top>