The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Halt Adani-Leap India Takeover of India’s Public Food Security Infrastructure
The recent Newslaundry report exposing the Adani-Leap India duopoly in the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) silo modernisation scheme reveals a dangerous attempt to corporatise India’s public food security infrastructure. Adani Agri Logistics Ltd and Leap India Food & Logistics Private Ltd have reportedly secured 110 out of 134 silo contracts, worth over Rs 16,500 crore, giving them control over a major share of India’s grain storage network. The two companies will now together hold an estimated 46.5 lakh metric tonnes of grains out of a total of 60 lakh metric tonnes of grains that are to be stored in these silos, despite the FCI itself having initially proposed an “anti-monopoly” clause to prevent such an outcome.
Adani Agri Logistics Ltd, which is part of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd, is constructing a large private railway network as part of this project to connect the silos to distribution centres. The FCI scheme will thus enable the Adani Group to strengthen its control over all levels of the supply chain — from procurement to storage to transportation to export.
Sweeping changes were made to the tender structure of the scheme and the “anti-monopoly” clause proposed by the FCI was removed as a result of the intervention of the NITI Aayog and the Department of Economic Affairs, as per the exposé, to favour companies with “deep balance sheets”. This is clearly an attempt to push the corporatisation of Indian agriculture through the back door after the defeat of the three farm laws. Even as the government has refused to honour the promise made to the peasantry regarding the implementation of a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price, it is undermining the strategically vital public distribution system and, as a result, India’s food security.
The CPI(M) demands the immediate restoration of the anti-monopoly clause in the silo scheme. Public investment must strengthen FCI infrastructure instead of handing it over to private monopolies. A Joint Parliamentary Committee should be set up to enquire into the role of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee and Government ministries in facilitating concentration of control by big business houses. All democratic forces must unite to resist the corporate takeover of India’s food security infrastructure.