Lok
Sabha
Elections
2004
Campaign Booklets
There
is
a
phenomenon
that
the
UNICEF
calls
the
“South
Asian
Enigma”.
It
refers
to
the
extremely
high
rates
of
malnutrition
seen
in
children
in
South
Asia
–
India,
Bangladesh,
Pakistan
and
Nepal.
Malnutrition
rates
in
these
regions
are
far
above
any
other
region
in
the
world.
Bangladesh
with
63%
of
children
malnourished
and
India
with
53%
have
the
highest
rates
of
malnourishment
in
the
world.
These
rates
are
far
in
excess
of
what
is
seen
in
even
Sub-Saharan
Africa
–
20-25%.
This
situation
points
to
the
conditions
of
near
starvation
in
which
the
bulk
of
India’s
population
lives
today.
The
NDA
Government
in
the
last
five
years
has
actively
aided
this
process
by
its
blatant
pro-rich
and
anti-poor
policies.
A
Reserve
Bank
of
India
report
points
out,
that
the
expansion
of
buffer
food
stocks
to
3
times
the
desired
level
by
2000-2001
was
accompanied
by
a
decline
in
per
capita
availability
of
food
grain.
This
fell
from
a
high
of
505.5
grams
per
day
in
1997
to
470.4
grams
in
1999
and
then
to
458.6
grams
in
2000,
indicating
that
the
basic
food
security
problem,
far
from
being
solved,
has
actually
worsened.
As
a
result,
as
we
entered
the
twenty
first
century
the
availability
of
cereals
in
the
country
dropped
to
an
all-time
low
of
less
than
143
kg.
per
head
and
that
of
pulses
per
head
similarly
dropped
to
below
10
kg.
The
last
time
such
abysmally
low
levels
of
availability
were
seen,
was
just
before
the
World
War
II
in
colonial
times,
and
again
briefly
for
two
years
during
the
food
crisis
of
the
mid-sixties.
Today,
an
average
family
of
five
members
consumes
114
kg.
less
of
food
grains,
compared
to
the
early
nineties.
It
is
thus
not
surprising
that
starvation
deaths
are
reported
from
across
the
country.
While the crisis over forty years ago was caused by a deficiency of supply, which everyone could understand, the problem today is caused by deficiency of demand: and most people cannot comprehend how the existence of large buffer stocks of food grains goes hand in hand with hunger and starvation. The cruel truth is that the NDA government has withheld the distribution of food to the starving millions in the country even as grain stocks rose to unprecedented levels in government godowns.
Dismantling
of
the
Public
Distribution
System
What was the response of the NDA Government to unprecedented levels of hunger in the country? The Government responded by a virtual dismantling of the Public distribution system in the country. In the name of Targeted PDS, the Government reduced the amount of food released through the PDS and resorted to a savage hike in prices off food grains offered through the PDS. The effects were immediate and startling. The price of rice distributed to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families was increased from Rs.350 per quintal to Rs.595 per quintal in 1997. The price of wheat was increased from Rs.250 per quintal to Rs.450 per quintal in 2000. The rise in prices for Above poverty Line (APL) families was even steeper. Food distributed through the PDS plummeted – from 19.7 million tonnes in 1996 to 12 million tonnes in 2000.
The NDA Government, instead of being concerned about this, gleefully started shouting from the rooftops about the large buffer stock of food grains! At one point this buffer stock rose to 60 million tonnes, i.e. 5 times what was distributed through the PDS. It costs the government in excess of Rs.14,000 crores to hold this large reserve stock, and more than 50% of the Rs.25,000 crore support that the government provides to maintain food security is spent on maintaining this buffer stock! While hunger stalks the villages of India, rats consume Rs.308 crores worth of food grains every year. The BJP-led Government spends more to keep its people hungry than to feed the hungry millions.
The drought in 2002-2003 forced even the callous NDA Government to bring about a marginal decrease in PDS food prices and the proposed expansion of the “antodaya scheme”, leading to an increase in food released through the PDS. But even these measures have not led to a restoration of food released through the PDS to levels achieved in 1996. The Government however showed its concern for the increasing food stocks that it held in a novel manner.
Exporting
Food
While
People
Starve
A
significant
portion
of
these
stocks
was
actually
exported,
at
hugely
subsidised
rates,
or
sold
in
the
open
market.
The
export
price
was
as
low
as
the
price
paid
by
Below
Poverty
Line
(BPL)
households.
When
the
World
Trade
Organisation
objected
that
this
amounted
to
an
export
subsidy,
which
is
not
allowed,
the
Indian
government
responded
by
converting
the
difference
into
a
transport
subsidy
for
exporters,
who
were
still
allowed
to
sell
abroad
at
these
amazingly
low
rates.
So
while
hundreds
of
millions
of
our
people
continued
effectively
to
starve,
the
Central
Government
sent
around
17
million
tonnes
of
food
at
abysmally
low
rates
out
of
the
country.
In
contrast
the
Government
distributed
just
7
million
tons
of
food
grains
to
14
drought-affected
states
in
2003.
Another six million tonnes were sold to private traders, also at relatively low prices. If these are taken together, 23 million tonnes were effectively wasted over 16 months, by not using them in productive employment or welfare schemes. If these food stocks had been actually used for government schemes, the total volume of all such schemes could have been doubled. Total employment schemes could have been increased more than tenfold, with huge positive implications for the currently desperate situation of rural employment. Alternatively, all the schoolchildren in the country could have been provided mid-day meals in school through a centrally organised scheme.
License
to
Qualify
as
Poor!
Today, under the targeted PDS scheme, three layers have been created – Above Poverty Line (APL), Below Poverty Line (BPL) and the poorest who qualify for the Antodaya scheme.
The Targeted PDS scheme in a predominantly poor country like India means demarcating not between the rich and the poor, but between different categories of the poor, to "target" some of them for benefits regarding access to cheap food that actually all of them require. It is aimed at statistically reducing the numbers of the poor, even though an increasing number of people are joining the ranks of the destitute every day.
The
NDA
Government
acknowledges
that
more
people
have
less
work,
as
revealed
by
official
data
on
unemployment.
It
admits
that
nine
out
of
I
0
families
in
rural
India
and
seven
out
of
10
in
urban
India
spend
Rs.
60
out
of
every
Rs.
100
they
earn
on
meeting
their
minimum
food
requirements.
In
several
countries,
a
family
is
considered
poor
if
more
than
a
third
of
its
income
is
spent
on
food.
But
the
criteria
used
for
the
identification
of
poverty
border
on
the
farcical.
For
instance,
if
a
woman
owns
more
than
three
sarees,
she
becomes
ineligible
for
a
BPL
card.
Ownership
of
a
bicycle,
even
if
it
was
acquired
through
incurring
debt
or
by
cuts
in
other
essential
household
expenditures
including
food,
deprives
the
household
of
the
benefit.
In December 2000, the Prime Minister as his birthday gift to the poor had announced the Antodaya scheme, namely, the provision of 35 kg of food grains at Rs.2 a kg per family a month for wheat and Rs. 3 for rice to the "poorest of the poor" arbitrarily decided as being around one crore in the whole country. Apart from the gross underestimate in numbers, the criteria of eligibility for benefits accruing under this scheme further lowers the standards of human existence. It is like telling a hungry family that they cannot be that hungry if they have shared two rotis, since there are those who have shared only one. And who is to decide on eligibility? In a bizarre replay of the inspector raj system against which the rich had many complaints, inspectors, instead of checking the piles of currency notes hidden away in designer mattresses, now search the meagre belongings of the poor to decide if they qualify for the much sought after red card. While, under the economic liberalisation programme pursued vigorously by the BJP-led Government, licenses have been abolished for virtually everything, only the poor in this country now need a license to qualify as poor!
One
of
the
important
recommendations
made
by
the
Abhijit
Sen
Committee
set
up
by
the
Ministry
of
Consumer
Affairs
and
Food
in
the
context
of
the
huge
stocks
of
over
6
crore
tonnes
of
food
grains
rotting
in
Government
godowns
is
precisely
the
people
of
this
country
demand
-
an
"expansion
of
the
existing
Antodaya
scheme
of
food
support,
to
become
a
food
security
system
for
the
entire
destitute
population,
in
particular
old
people,
the
disabled,
widows
and
other
single
women
without
regular
support".
The
committee
also
calls
for
a
restoration
of
the
earlier
universal
public
distribution
system,
where
food
grains
at
low
prices
were
distributed
through
the
PDS
to
all
those
who
wanted
to
avail
of
the
facility.
It
further
recommends
the
provision
of
food
grains
at
half
the
present
BPL
prices,
analysing
in
detail
the
utter
failure
of
the
targeted
system.
True
to
character,
the
BJP-led
NDA
Government
has
virtually
ignored
the
recommendations
of
this
committee.
This then is the record of the NDA government in its provision of the basic minimum that is required for the survival of the Indian people. It is a record that would have made the government in any civilized country hang its head in shame. Instead, in a brazen display of callous indifference to the plight of millions of hungry people, this government is telling the world that “India is Shining”!