> Financial Times; December 17, 2002
>
> BACK PAGE - FIRST SECTION: Indians starve as politicians battle to reduce
> food stocks
>
> By Edward Luce
>
> In the 1980s, the European Economic Community gained notoriety as the
> producer of the world's largest food mountains. That distinction is now
> claimed by India - much of its bumper stock is rotting in central
> government warehouses.
That entire 60 million stock is rotting is surely an exaggeration. Food stocks are issued to the public distribution system from ths stock, so the stocks is not static. It is issued and replenished.
>says a western aid official. "But half
> of it is currently being eaten by rats."
This is complete garbage.
> In the last three years, India's stockpile of rice and wheat has more than
> tripled to over 60m tonnes, or roughly a quarter of world food stocks.
> India's total grain production this year is about 220m tonnes.
> The country, which, until less than a generation ago, had to rely on
> foreign aid to feed its people, is now a regular donor of food stocks to
> poorer countries. Last month, India gave 1m tonnes of wheat flour to
> Afghanistan.
India has given i million tonne to WFP, it is being coverted into biscuits by WFP.
> And yet, with more than 50 per cent of India's children classified as
> underweight, more people suffer from chronic malnutrition in India than in
> the whole of sub-Saharan Africa put together. Why does India have so much
> trouble getting its food stocks to the country's poor?
>
> NC Saxena, a rural development expert in New Delhi, says: "India has gone
> from being a major food importer to complete self-sufficiency in less than
> 30 years. But its system of food distribution to the poor has basically
> collapsed."
The volume of food offtake from the Public Distribution System in 1998 was 18.5 million tonnes. This system needs to be extended to everyone who needs food.
> India's farmers are suffering from the country's worst drought in 15
> years.
Yes, food production is expected to drop by about 5% percent. This makes no difference to food supply, since there are enough stocks.
>With food stocks at levels beyond the wildest dreams of ancient
> Egypt's pharaohs, India has been unable to prevent starvation and severe
> malnutrition. In Rajasthan and Orissa, two of India's poorest states,
> there are frequent reports of villagers eating bark and grass to stay
> alive.
How many are eating bark and grass? Any estimates?
> In the last 12 months, the Indian government has resorted to desperate
> measures to reduce its food mountain. The country has become the second
> biggest exporter of rice after Thailand, with 8m tonnes sold off - roughly
> a third of global rice exports.
The Basmati rice exported by India is not consumed by poor poople. Its an expensive and premium quality rie.
>foreign governments have purchased Indian rice at prices lower than or
> equivalent to the subsidised rate offered to the 260m Indians living below
> the poverty line. Even then, it is cheaper for India to sell the rice at a
> loss on the international markets than to keep it in stock.
260 million Indians below poverty line would not consume Basmati rice.
> "One can think of better uses for scarce Indian taxpayer resources than to
> subsidise rice for foreign consumers," says Nicholas Stern, chief
> economist at the World Bank.
India needs foreign exchange for essential imports and loan repayments. India has wriiten off debt due from African countries and has been prepayed some of its loan from multilateral agencies.
> Meanwhile, India's 400,000 "Fair Price" shops - the official outlets for
> distribution of subsidised food - are rarely open, and, when they are,
> offer little edible grain to customers. "Fair Price licences are
> distributed by politicians to their cronies," says Mr Saxena. "These are
> the wrong people to tackle malnutrition in India."
Shops which "are rarely open" distribute 15-18 million tonnes of food every year. Indian politicians and their cronies consumes consume that much food?
Ulhas