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Posted on 04/15/2012 6:16:43 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
NEW DELHI: The problem of plenty is once again troubling the Indian government as it does not know where to store the bumper grains to be harvested for the third year in a row. Fears are rising that the grains would be out in the open, rot and be eaten by rodents even as millions go hungry in the country which is planning to enact a right to food law.
The government's plans to create additional storage space have so far moved at a snail's pace. For instance, of the additional storage capacity of 19 million tonnes (MT) planned by 2012-13 through public-private partnership (PPP), only 0.5 MT could be created till January 2012.
"The states fail to provide land for the purpose," said a food ministry official, citing the reason for the tardy progress of the scheme.
Experts say the government's move to attract private players to build warehouses and other infrastructure has not succeeded because it does not offer tax benefits to them.
Biraj Patnaik, adviser to the Supreme Court-appointed food commissioners, told IANS: "The government should drop the idea of involving private players in building godowns and let the states do the job."
With wheat procurement having started this month, the government is looking at a record crop over 90 MT this April-June season.
But the total storage capacity available is 53.4 MT, including 33.4 MT with the Food Corporation of India functioning under the central government, and 20 MT with the states.
Of this, ministry sources said, storage utilisation is 76 percent, leaving around 24 per cent capacity unutilised due to lack of proper planning.
According to one estimate, up to seven percent of the country's annual grain production goes waste due to insufficient storage space and inefficient transport and distribution networks.
The lack of adequate storage capacity would bother authorities as procurement of wheat from major producing states like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh picks up. Together, the three states account for over 80 per cent of India's total production.
One way of solving the problem, Patnaik told IANS, is that the government should distribute more grains among the needy if it is not able to create enough storage capacity.
To reduce stockpiles, the government had allowed traders last year to export wheat and rice surpluses.
The government's food grain stock up to January 2012 was 46.7 million tonnes. Ministry officials said most states failed to lift the additional 2.5 MT grain allocated to them last year.
To deal with the emerging situation, the finance and food ministries are trying to dovetail a food-for-work scheme with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
But the idea has not found favour with the rural development ministry.
Having too much food grown sounds like good news but there is a downside to everything in this old world.
Well they could trade it for Chevys from China.
Socialism is failing in India too.
Your point being?
It sure sounds like India needs some more “you’re-on-your-own” economics.
Wow.
I’ve been in that country twice now on medical mission trips. The Dalits (formerly known as the “untouchables”) are being drawn to Christ, especially in the south. They have been taught all their lives that their underclass, almost slave like status, results from previously shameful lives.
The gospel appeals to them, especially when they learn there is one God in heaven who loves them and sent his son to save them from eternal damnation.
Of course, distribution of an over abundance of food in a land of want is always problematic, but at least the article points out they are considering distributing the excess to the poor due to inadequate space. Amazing, under any other situation, corrupt officials would be the sole beneficiaries.
I wonder if this is how the Lord will provide for His people in India with adequate food? I know for a fact that there are honest capable Indian run Christian organizations that would jump on such an opportunity.
Currently living in rural India for the last half a year, and India fails on this because India is still entrenched in it’s centuries-old caste system, where corruption is every day business and common courtesy does not exist except for self.
Everyone expects someone else to pay and do the work, and most government workers don’t bother working at all unless you bribe them.
The Eastern half of India is currently in it’s third year of drought. the Godavari river is all but dried up and the people are out of drinking water in some places.
In India, no one does anything unless it benefits them in some way in money or political favors, and more than half the population are considered ‘untouchable’ and get little to nothing in support or help.
India is a system three and a half millennia old, and it does not change, except that everyone has cell phones but few have running water or toilets outside of using the side of the road. It’s chaos, graft and corruption on a scale that would make Chicago blush.
India sounds like Mexico.
Socialism never produced bumper crops too large to store. India isn't socialist, it's a sort of corrupt, government-heavy, every-man-for-himself system. That's still a step up from socialism.
Ah, just like Congress.
Have they considered turning their fool into fuel?
Why don’t they do like the US does, and give the wheat away free to their enemies?
Why doesn’t the US turn Joe Biden into fuel then?
It's how oligarch elites stay in power. If you're a smart lower-middle-class guy wanting to start a business, you face an endless stream of bureaucrats wanting to be bribed to overlook your violation of some obscure regulation, or to stamp your form, etc. Meanwhile, the "connected" don't have to worry about low-level bureaucrats when they have department heads on their payroll.
The net effect is that the elite make money without having to work hard. Meanwhile, the unconnected find it impossibly hard to get anything off the ground, which is why they all want to come here on H1B visas.
For good reason, it's a very similar system. In both countries you have a hereditary elite class running things. Both are oligarchies. The pattern is similar in many countries.
” Fears are rising that the grains would be out in the open, rot and be eaten by rodents even as millions go hungry in the country which is planning to enact a right to food law.”
Any law will be tried except the law of the free market.
No, but I've considered doing it to ours.
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