| Steps to Ensure Safe Storage of Foodgrains | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BACKGROUNDER The Government take all precaution to ensure safe storage of foodgrains. The following precautionary and remedial steps are mandated to be followed by Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State Government agencies to maintain quality of foodgrains stored in the central pool. • All godowns are to be constructed as per specifications suggested by experts. • Foodgrains are to be stored by adopting proper scientific code of storage practices. • Adequate safety materials such as wooden crates, bamboo mats, polythene sheets are to be used to check migration of moisture from the floor. • Fumigation covers, nylon ropes, nets and insecticides for control of stored grain insect pests are to be provided in all the godowns. • Prophylactic (spraying of insecticides) and curative treatments (fumigation) are to be carried out regularly and timely in godowns for the control of stored grain insect pests. • Effective rat control measures, both in covered godowns as well as in ‘Cover and Plinth’ (CAP) storage are to be used. • Food grains in CAP storage are to be stored on elevated plinths and wooden crates. Stacks are to be properly covered with specifically fabricated low-density black polythene water -proof covers and tied with nylon ropes/nets. • Regular periodic inspections of the stocks/godowns are to be undertaken by qualified and trained staff including senior officers. • The principle of “First in First Out” (FIFO) is to be followed to the extent possible so as to avoid longer storage of food grains in godowns. • Only covered rail wagons are to be used for movement of foodgrains so as to avoid any damage during transit.
Radiation processing of food involves exposure of food to short wave radiation energy to achieve a specific purpose such as extension of shelf-life, insect disinfestations and elimination of food borne pathogens and parasites. In comparison with heat or chemical treatment, irradiation is considered a more effective and appropriate technology to destroy food borne pathogens. It offers a number of advantages to producers, processors, retailers and consumers. Though irradiation alone cannot solve all the problems of food preservation, it can play an important role in reducing post-harvest losses and use of chemical fumigants.
Know-How and Technology Transfer
Expertise and know-how for designing, fabrication and commissioning of irradiators is available in the country with the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and BARC. In India commercial food irradiation could be carried out in a facility licensed by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). The DAE has set up two technology demonstration units in India. The Radiation Processing Plant at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, mainly meant for treatment of spices, dry vegetable seasonings like onion flakes, and pet foods, is being operated by the Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT). KRUSHAK (Krushi Utpadan Sanrakshan Kendra), Lasalgaon, was set up in 2002 by BARC, to demonstrate low dose applications of radiation such as control of sprouting, insect disinfestations, and quarantine treatment. KRUSHAK became the first Cobalt-60 gamma irradiation facility in the world, outside US, to be certified by USDA-APHIS for phytosanitary treatment enabling export of mango from India to the US in 2007 after a gap of 18 years. The microbiological, nutritional and chemical aspects of radiation-processed foods have been studied in detail around the world. None of these studies have indicated any adverse effects of radiation on food quality.
Commercial Prospects in India
In India radiation processing of food can be undertaken both for export and domestic markets. Food could be processed for shelf-life extension, hygienization and for overcoming quarantine barriers. Huge quantities of cereals, pulses, their products, fruits and vegetables, seafood and spices are procured, stored, and distributed throughout the length and breadth of the country. During storage and distribution grains worth of thousand of crores of rupees are wasted due to insect infestation and related problems. Radiation processing can be used for storage of bulk and consumer packed commodities for retail distribution and stocking.
Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition in India
World Food Day is celebrated every year on 16th October, the foundation day of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations . The World Food Day theme for 2013 is "Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition”. Some of the themes adopted during previous years emphasize the policy framework for better global food security. To name a few, theme for 2008 was ‘World food security: the challenges of climate change and bioenergy
’; in 2009: ‘Achieving food security in times of crisis’; in 2011: Food prices - from crisis to stability; and ‘Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world’, in 2012.
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. The World Health Organization defines three facets of food security: food availability, food access, and food use. Food availability is having sufficient quantities of food on a consistent basis. Food access is having sufficient resources, both economic and physical to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. Food use is the appropriate use of food resources based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care. The FAO adds a fourth facet: the stability of the first three dimensions of food security over time. In fact, food security is the prerequisite for the economic and social stability of any nation. Sustainable food security requires a stable supply of food with robust agricultural growth and properly functioning agricultural markets.
India faces a unique development paradox of being in the front ranks of fast growing global economies, with about 25 percent of the world's hungry poor. Although the country grows enough food for its people, pockets of hunger remain. According to some figures, around 40 per cent of children under the age of five years are malnourished and nearly half of all pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from anemia. Nutrition is crucial for fulfillment of basic human rights and forms the foundation for meaningful human existence with decreased susceptibility to infection, related morbidity, disability and mortality, better learning capacities and adult productivity.
Agricultural growth is crucial for our economic development and Food security. The experience from BRICS countries indicates that a one percentage growth in agriculture is at least two to three times more effective in reducing poverty than the same growth emanating from non-agriculture sectors. Over the years due to concerted efforts of our governments, our country has emerged as a leading producer of some cereals and animal products. Government of India has also launched several schemes to further increase the growth in agriculture and boost farm production to establish sustained food systems in the country. These include schemes such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Development and Strengthening of Infrastructure facilities for Production and Distribution of Quality Seed, National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP), Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM), Gramin Bhandaran Yojana etc. In addition, Government has substantially improved the availability of farm credit; implemented debt waiver; introduced better crop insurance schemes; increased Minimum Support Price (MSP), improved marketing infrastructure, etc.
Although India had long back achieved self-sufficiency in food, the Government of India launched the National Food Security Mission in 2007. The mission was expected to increase the production of rice by 10 million tonnes, wheat by 8 million tonnes and pulses by 2 million tonnes in five years by the end of 11th Five Year Plan (2011-2012). The primary reason for this optimism was that there exists a substantial gap between the current average yields and the potential yields which can be bridged with the help of available technologies.
Further in order to provide food and nutritional security to the people by ensuring availability of food at affordable prices, Government has enacted National Food Security Act, recently. The National Food Security Act is a historic initiative for ensuring food and nutritional security to the people. It gives right to the people to receive adequate quantity of food grains at affordable prices.
Salient features of the act are:
¨ Upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg food grains per month at highly subsidized prices of Rs. 3, Rs. 2, Rs. 1 per kg. for rice, wheat, coarse grains respectively. It will entitle about 81 crore people while under the existing Targeted Public Distribution System only 2.5 crore Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families or about 32.5 crore persons (assuming 5 as the average household size) are getting food grains at these prices. Thus, population getting food grains at these highly subsidized prices as their legal right will increase to 67% from existing 27%.
¨ The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 kg food grains per household per month underAntyodaya Anna Yojana at subsidized prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1.
¨ Pregnant women and lactating mothers, besides being entitled to nutritious meals as per the prescribed nutritional norms will also receive maternity benefit at least of Rs. 6000/-. Children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years will be entitled to take home ration or hot cooked food as per prescribed nutritional norms.
¨ The Central Government will provide funds to States/UTs in case of short supply of food grains from Central pool. In case of non-supply of food grains or meals to entitled persons, the concerned State/UT Governments will be required to provide such food security allowance as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the beneficiaries.
¨ Central Government will provide assistance to the States towards cost of intra-State transportation, handling of food grains and FPS dealers’ margin. This will ensure timely transportation and efficient handling of food grains.
¨ Reforms have been initiated for doorstep delivery of food grains, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end to end computerization, diversification of commodities under TPDS etc for effective implementation of the Food Security Act.
· Women Empowerment-- Eldest woman of 18 years of age or above will be head of the household for issue of ration card, and if not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.
· Grievance redressal mechanism-There will be state and district level redressal mechanism with designated nodal officers. The States will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District Grievance RedressalOfficer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of newredressal set up. Redressal mechanism may also include call centers, helpline etc.
· On the issue of redressing grievances that may arise in implementation of such a massive social justice programme, it has been planned to give an increased role for Panchayati Raj institutions and women’s self help group in programme-monitoring and social auditing.
With this mega scheme of strengthening the food security of the poor, destitute billions, with an estimated annual food grains requirement of 612.3 lakh tonnes and corresponding estimated food subsidy of about Rs.1,24,724 crore, during this fiscal, a new beginning is being made towards welfare of citizens. A Food secure nation can only be economically and socially stabile.
Hunger and Food Security in India
Status of Hunger in India
“About 900 million men, women and children around the world are malnourished. Nearly two billion suffer from iron deficiency and anemia particularly women, pregnant women.” – M S Swaminathan, a Parliament member and agriculturist, known as the father of India’s “Green Revolution” for introducing high-yielding crop varieties to farmers
“Estimates of general undernourishment – what is sometimes called protein-energy malnutrition – are nearly twice as high in India as in Sub-Saharan Africa.” – Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Winner
 Despite the recent high economic growth and its aspirations for superpower status, India alone accounts for 54% of all malnutrition-related child deaths. The sheer scale and scope of India’s malnutrition problem positions the subcontinent as ground zero in the fight to end child deaths from acute malnutrition.
According to the United Nations, malnutrition is more common in India than in sub-Saharan Africa. UNICEF estimates that in India, one in every three children is malnourished, and nearly half of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition. UNICEF studies reveal maximum under-nutrition in the five Indian states: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Orissa.
The problem centers not necessarily on how much people eat, but on what they eat. Millions in India rely on rice and wheat to fill their stomachs, but those staple foods lack crucial vitamins and minerals. Overcoming this micronutrient deficiency, called “hidden hunger”, should be given high priority because enough calories alone won’t help.
To ensure that no starvation death takes place and people are saved from malnutrition as far as possible, the Supreme Court on May 14, 2011 directed the Centre to release five million tons of food grains immediately for distribution in 150 most poverty-stricken districts or other poorer segments in the country.
The Global Food Security Index 2012
 The Global Food Security Indexconsiders the key issues of affordability, availability, and quality across a set of 105 countries. The index is constructed from 25 unique indicators, that measures these drivers of food security across both developing and developed countries. Parameters defining these three key factors are:
Affordability● Food consumption as a share of household expenditure● Proportion of population under global poverty line● Gross domestic product per capita● Agricultural import tariffs● Presence of food safety net programs● Access to farmer financing
Availability● Sufficiency of supply● Public expenditure on agricultural R&D● Agricultural infrastructure● Volatility of agricultural production● Political instability
Quality and safety● Diet diversification● Nutritional standards● Micronutrient availability● Protein quality● Food safety
India has been ranked 66 in the list of 105 countries – much lower than neighboring China (ranked 39) and somewhat lower than Sri Lanka (62) – in the 2012 Global Food Security Index released by the American chemical company DuPont. The Index has been developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and is sponsored by DuPont. Founded in 1946 as an in-house research unit for The Economist newspaper, the Economist Intelligence Unit is part of the Economist Group, which is the leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs.
With India expected to become the most populous country in the world by 2025, feeding the population is likely to be one of the serious challenges that the country will face in the coming decades. India scores somewhat higher in the category of ‘availability’ than in the other two ‘affordability’ and ‘quality and safety’ categories.
In comparison, India is better off than Pakistan (75) and Bangladesh (81), according to the index calculations. High level of poverty, lower income, less public spending on farm research, poor infrastructure, sluggish supply of quality protein are some of the key challenges that India needs to address, it noted. On the positive side, however, the presence of food safety net programs and access to farm credit has helped the country achieve some level of food security.
According to EIU regional Director Pratiba Thaker, “Apart from the challenges of availability and accessibility as reflected in chronic household food insecurity, India also faces a nutrition challenge.
Hunger and Climate Change
Climate change is a multiplier of existing factors causing food insecurity, hunger and under-nutrition, and affects the poorest of the poor most directly. It is estimated that more than 84 percent of natural disasters is climate related, and Asia is the global ground zero for natural catastrophes.
Current projections indicate that unless a concerted effort is made to build resilience among vulnerable communities, 20 percent more people will be at risk of hunger by 2050 due to the changing climate.
Grain glut
With India’s grain mountain set to implode, the government is desperate to push the exports of rice and wheat. However, a global glut and the resulting depression of prices are dimming the prospects of foodgrain exports.
According to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency for grain trade in the country, India is sitting on 34 million tonnes of rice and 36 million tonnes of wheat against the required buffer of 50.9 million tonnes of foodgrain to meet the needs of its public distribution system. The stockpile will spiral with another bumper rice harvest of 100 million tonnes as per official estimates.
Overflowing granaries and stocks of rotting foodgrains in the open for want of storage space had prompted the government to allow the export of two million tonnes of wheat in August this year. But with the minimum price for exports fixed at $300 per tonne (for the current fiscal) against the prevailing global rates of $230 to $260 per tonne, no grain has left the country. This forced the government to reduce the export price of wheat by $40 per tonne.
In November, FCI floated new tenders for wheat export with the minimum price at $260 per tonne. Talking to Down To Earth, an FCI official says, “Since 2011, when India resumed its wheat exports, the average price drawn was around $310 per tonne. So the government reached the consensus for $300 per tonne.” When India had fixed $300 as the export price for wheat in 2012-2013, the global prices were between $330 and $350 per tonne.
An agriculture official explains, “Our requirement for the National Food Security Act is around 65 million tonnes, so export is a viable option rather than storing and allowing grains to rot.” He adds that the main hurdle is the export policy. “When it comes to wheat, rice and cotton, the government thinks a lot. By the time Indian produce hits the global market, prices fall. If our exports are timely, India could earn profits, too.”
He cites an example. “The decision to export wheat came in August, while production estimates became somewhat certain in February-March. Had we exported wheat way back in April, we could have fetched the price of that time. But it took five months to decide and repercussions are lower prices.”
In 2012-2013, economists estimate, cereal exports were around 24 million tonnes. About 50 per cent of it was rice, 27 per cent wheat and the rest were coarse grains like corn, sorghum, barley, oats, rye and millets.
But for economists C P Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh, exporting is not a viable option for a country like India with significant food deficit. “India still has some of the worst nutrition indicators in the world, on par with or below many Sub-Saharan African countries. People in India are faced with food inflation as a result of which food commodities are becoming increasingly unaffordable, even for many of those above the income poverty line...” they say in their research paper titled, “The Political Economy of Indian Food Exports”.
Global scenario
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, stated that the global supply of foodgrains in November was expected to be 2,878.53 million tonnes, of which wheat and rice account for 30.6 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, with the rest being coarse grains.
The report, published on November 8, states that in 2013-2014, global wheat supplies are lowered by 0.8 million tonnes and consumption lowered by 3.0 million tonnes, with reductions in foreign feed (wheat) and food use. Global output of rice has risen by 1.7 per cent in 2013-2014 to an all-time high of 476.8 million tonnes and the consumption has been lowered by 1.5 million tonnes.
In such a scenario, relying on global prices of rice will be a gamble for India. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an economist with an international organisation says, “Wheat prices are likely to be between $265 and $280 per tonne, while for non-Basmati rice it would be between $325 and $350 per tonne. Basmati, a variety of rice with aroma and long grains, may cost around $1,400 per tonne, so if India is able to export wheat at prices above $260, it would be a good bet.”
The FCI official believes Indian cereals can fetch more because Indian grains are of good quality, but says we fail because of the handling process. “Our handling process is not fully mechanised due to which our grains are broken and we cannot bargain much.” This, he says, makes us uncompetitive in the international market.
The main buyers for Indian wheat are South Korea, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Yemen, Thailand and Indonesia, while rice buyers are Bangladesh, Australia, Bahrain and Ethiopia. India is one of the largest exporters of Basmati rice to the Gulf and Saudi Arabia.
Domestic price v export price
In October 2013, India’s domestic price for wheat was between $240 per tonne (Rs 14,710) and $270 per tonne (Rs 16,550), while the global prices were $230-$250 per tonne. The better deal seems to be the domestic market.
Dharam Singh, a grain trader in Asia’s largest grain mandi at Khanna, Punjab, says, “The fast-growing food-processing industry in the country is a better bet than exports. We don’t know why the government is keen on exports when the food-processing industry is ready to give us better prices for foodgrains. They are ready to pay anything from $10 to $20 more than the global prices.” He suggests that the need is to explore options to earn more revenue within the country. “Let India export more processed food. It will give employment as well as revenue,” he adds.
Santosh Kumar Singh, an economist with the US government, in a report for USDA on India, states that the domestic price of rice increased in September/October due to export and speculation on crop damage in the aftermath of cyclone Phailin and floods in eastern India. However, prices are expected to ease with the start of the harvest season.
He says because of the cyclone around one million tonne of rice is estimated to have been destroyed in Odisha alone. This apart, the cyclone led to heavy and unseasonal rains in Punjab and Haryana. So there has been a downfall in rice production by about five per cent from last year’s 105 million tonnes. Singh adds that according to official reports from the Odisha government and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, rice yields are expected to decline in eastern states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam.
More bite, less to chew
First, the mind-blowing figure: 813,373,000 or 813 million to round it off. That is two-thirds of this populous country and the number of people who will be covered by the National Food Security Act once the government pushes it through Rajya Sabha after its victory in Lok Sabha on August 26. A law that makes access to basic foodgrain to such a vast number a legal entitlement—they can claim monetary compensation in case of failure to supply is unprecedented globally, but the fierce controversy it has generated is a misunderstanding of how this coverage is achieved.
The National Food Security Bill 2013 (NFSB), which aims to replace the similarly titled ordinance passed on July 5, is not as radical as it is made out to be. Nor will it punch a hole in the GDP, as its critics claim (see ‘Cost: highs and lows’, p27). What the ordinance, and now the Bill to replace it, promises, is not much; it all depends on which state one belongs to, or which side of the economic and political divide one comes from. The food entitlements it promises to 67 per cent of the population—75 per cent in rural and 50 per cent in urban areas—are national ratios but adjusted proportionately so that the coverage is higher in poorer states. As such, the more populous states which also have the highest poverty rates get coverage that exceeds the national average for both their rural and urban population (see ‘Big gainers’). Uttar Pradesh, notorious for its poor PDS, will have a whopping 152 million of its 199 million people covered under the new law. Correspondingly, a large number of states which are among the better off will see their entitlements snipped drastically.
“For Tamil Nadu, this is actually a Food Insecurity Ordinance. I have strong reasons to suspect that the Central government is deliberately trying to create a food security crisis for the state,” charges Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who has opposed outright the UPA government’s design of food security. The state has been running a universal PDS for several decades now, a highly praised system that is credited with wiping out much of its poverty. According to the latest figures released by the Planning Commission, Tamil Nadu’s poverty rate based on the Tendul kar methodology is just 11.28 per cent compared with nearly 40 per cent for Chhattisgarh and close to 37 per cent for Jharkhand and Manipur. These states, and others like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, get coverage of 80 per cent and higher for their rural population.
Basically, the Bill guarantees every person belonging to “eligible households” or those categorised below poverty line (BPL) five kg of foodgrain every month at highly subsidised rates of Rs.1/2/3 per kg of millets/wheat/rice under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS).
Another 24.3 million of the poorest of the poor families covered under the current Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme would get 35 kg foodgrain per family per month. It is this part of the Bill, the grains allocation from the Central pool, that has generated most heat, while its other aspects which claim to follow a “life cycle approach” have been glossed over.
One reason is that NFSB does no more than consolidate several food-related programmes that have been in operation for decades: the anganwadi scheme that looks after the nutritional needs of children aged 0-6 years, the midday meal scheme that provides hot, cooked meal to children in primary and elementary school (up to 14 years of age). While anganwadis came under the Integrated Child Development Scheme running since 1975, admittedly haphazardly and in select areas, the midday meal scheme has been mandatory since 2001 under Supreme Court orders. Under the new dispensation, children between six months and six years get to either take home ration or cooked meal that gives them 500-800 calories.
Significantly new are maternity benefits. Every pregnant woman and lactating mother is entitled to free meals during pregnancy and six months after child birth, through the local anganwadi, apart from maternity benefit of not less than Rs.6,000 in installments. It is these facets that health experts believe could have some impact on the country’s dismal record in fighting child malnutrition, female anaemia and maternal health. However, the early drafts of the Bill, from the time it was incubated in Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Committee (NAC), included provisions that truly make for food security: special entitlements for vulnerable groups, provisions for the destitute and community kitchens along with markedly strong accountability measures.
What now constitutes NFSB is no more than the minimum measure for subsistence, a fact that cannot be glossed over. Development economist Jean Dreze, who has for long campaigned for a much stronger law, concedes it is “a fraction of what is required to eliminate hunger and undernutrition in India”. However, “You can denounce it as such, or applaud it as a step forward. My concern is to make the best of this opportunity,” says the academic (see ‘Bill will push PDS reform’).
An analysis of how PDS works throws an interesting mosaic of entitlements and rates at which food is given to different categories of those considered eligible for subsidies. West Bengal, for instance, has apart from BPL, AAY and APL (above poverty line) categories, additional quotas with differential pricing for tea garden workers and those living in areas of Maoist insurgency. The new food security scheme, it calculates, will cost an additional Rs.7,000 crore, an outgo that the state government can ill afford given its current financial crisis. Food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick says the chief minister has written to the Centre about its inability to implement the scheme in its present form.
For decades, foodgrain, mainly rice and wheat, have been distributed at subsidised prices according to the type of ration card people possess—AAY, BPL and APL. The bulk of food subsidies are meant for BPL households but the process of targeting these has always been contentious and unreliable. Surveys show that a substantial number, about 50 per cent, does not possess the prized BPL card.
States on their own have rejigged their subsidies, combining Central handouts along with their own schemes, to cover much more of the poor households than are designated by the Planning Commission. As a result, most states provide foodgrain at rates that match what the Bill stipulates apart from giving sugar and kerosene quotas. That’s standard fare. But a clutch of states have spiced up their offerings with protein (lentils), fat (cooking oil) as part of their food security programme.
Madhya Pradesh has leavened its PDS with iodised salt; Punjab has its atta-dal combination. The best offerings, though, come from Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, all of whom offer a complete package that includes cereals, lentils, cooking oil and a mélange of spices (see ‘More than bare essentials’).
In states where PDS is efficient, the coverage, too, is extensive. “We follow the poverty assessment of our social justice (welfare) department,” says Anoop Jacob, Kerala Minister for Food and Civil Supplies. According to the Centre’s estimate, only 15 per cent of the population is BPL whereas as per the state’s assessment it is about 38 per cent. At present, around 98 per cent households in the state are under PDS.
For Kerala, a perennially food deficit state, NFSB spells doom. The state’s annual requirement of rice, the staple food, is about 4.2 million tonnes but it produces only about 0.6 million tonnes (15 per cent). Of this, the state procures just 0.2 million tonnes. After NFSB, Kerala will get only 77,453 tonnes foodgrain per month against the present allocation of 148,233 tonnes, half of what the state is currently distributing through PDS. The monthly shortfall will be 70,780 tonnes.
Jagannathan, commissioner, food and civil supplies department, worries 19.31 million will be out of PDS since BPL or priority household category will cover only 11.32 million people. “That means, about 57 per cent of the state’s population will be excluded from the purview of PDS,” says Jacob.
Although the introduction of TPDS in 1997 by the Centre as part of its econom- ic reforms slashed allocations and confined subsidies only to BPL households, Kerala continued its universal rationing system. It did not exclude APL from PDS since this category comprises farmers, wage labourers and agricultural workers. Although it has differential pricing for APL, the state has to bear the financial burden of the subsidies for this segment.
Kerala does not offer any frills. If there is a PDS heaven in India, where for the most part supplies are more often than not irregular, patchy, sub-standard and often missing in parts, it is in Tamil Nadu. The state gives free rice to all categories, besides handing out a combo of items that eases the food burden on poor households. In addition, Jayalalithaa has opened a string of Amma Canteens that offer hygienically cooked food at unbelievably cheap prices: idli at Rs.1 a piece, meals at Rs.5. The runaway success of these canteens has prompted the chief minister to start sale of fresh vegetable, too, at subsidised rates, giving food security an entirely new meaning.
Not surprisingly, Jayalalithaa is incensed by NFSB and has taken on the Centre on several aspects of the proposed law which, she says, are either illogical or weighted against an urbanised state such as Tamil Nadu which, with an urban population of 49 per cent has the highest level of urbanisation among major states and will be particularly hard hit “by this ill-conceived and invidious discrimination against urban areas”. She has, in her August 24 missive, complained that a newly introduced proviso in the bill that gives the Centre discretion to fix price of foodgrain will put an additional burden of Rs.1,000 crore on her government. The state already spends Rs.4,900 crore on its food security network, setting aside Rs.2,525 crore for the free rice alone.
Given the fiscal impact on the states, Tamil Nadu has sought “a legally binding assurance” that the difference in quantity between what has been assured through the newly introduced proviso and what is eligible under earlier clauses will be supplied to the states at the price of Rs.3 per kg or at least at the current price applicable for above poverty line families of Rs.8.30 per kg.
As states and the Centre spar over prices and assurances as the NFSB heads for its denouement in Parliament, a number of states are holding their breath over the outcome. While these states had to fall in line perforce, there is huge unease over what the future portends. An official of the civil supplies in Andhra Pradesh says, “Once NFSB is implemented, 34 million people will be excluded from PDS. To include them in PDS, the state will face an additional financial burden of Rs.2,000 crore.”
Then there is Chhattisgarh which, with its exemplary Food Security Act (CFSA), is waiting for the final amendments to NFSB to come in before taking a position on it. The only state to have passed such a law, Chhattisgarh makes it a serious offence to deprive anyone of their food entitlements and officials involved will face penal provisions. It defines a new category, “particularly vulnerable social groups”, which includes households headed by terminally ill persons, widows or single women, physically challenged persons, all households headed by a person aged 60 or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support, and a person freed from bonded labour.
In short, it goes way beyond what NFSB does. Vikas Sheel, secretary, Chhattisgarh food and civil supplies department, told Down To Earth there are four major differences between NFSO and Chhattisgarh. First, CFSA is based on households while NFSO is based on per capita consumption thus allowing each household to 35 kg foodgrain. “This apart, we provide salt and pulses. Most importantly, we do not have a cap on beneficiaries as the Central law does.” The state claims to cover 90 per cent of its 25.5 million population but clearly, there are problems in reaching food to people in the Maoist insurgency areas as Down To Earth’s earlier investigations have shown.
What is clear though is while a handful of states boast of universal PDS coverage with a basket of goodies to go with it, NFSB is likely to nudge the laggards to do better and improve the efficiency of the food distribution systems.
Govt plans nat'l food grid to rein in prices
To Transport Surplus Food To Deficit Areas
The government is working on a national food grid, connecting deficient areas with producing regions, as part of a plan to reduce wastage of fruits and vegetables while ensuring stable prices that can help tame stubborn food inflation, food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said.As part of the plan, the government is developing a food map and a national cold chain grid. The plan is expected to be put for PM Narendra Modi's approval before being formally announced.
“We have decided to make a food map to help us have a better picture of what is surplus in which state and where it is grown. It will help us in creating the infrastructure at the time of harvest in these areas to stop wastage and ensure processing,“ Badal told TOI in an interview on Tuesday. “Eventually , you make a food grid across the country like electricity is connected through a power grid. If onions are in surplus in Nagpur and prices are rising in Kerala, how do you transport the onions to Kerala,“ she asked. Badal said online real time data of availability of essential food stocks, perishable fruits and vegetables, poultry , fisheries, dairy livestock would be available on the food grid for faster decision-making in times of any price spike. A study had estimated that food products worth nearly Rs 44,000 crore are wasted annually due to lack of adequate processing. Barring milk, just around 4% of overall produce is processed. The government has identified development of food processing as a key focus area to rein in inflation. Badal said her ministry has suggested that govern ment offer benefits, such as in terest subsidy to mega food parks. She, however, indicated the concessions would be ince ntive-linked with a preference for those states that amend the Agricultural Produce Market ing Committee Act. “I am going to tweak the whole thing and turn it around because I want to make these agri-clusters. So for that I have to give an incentive that if you put it inside the park you get something additional that you don't get if you put it outside. We are working on it,“ she said, adding that the mega food park scheme has not yet taken off as only two out of 40 such parks were set up. States will be taken on board and state agro coopera tives would be encouraged to play a vital role to develop such parks. She said plans would also be developed to set up mega marine parks to tap into the potential for marine products. Foreign firms would be welcome to set up such parks to bring better technology and management practices. The government will encourage state agro cooperatives to engage in contract farming to develop food clusters and help create infrastructure in critical areas. To develop marketing and packaging standards, the ministry has also proposed setting up of a packaging and marketing board. “Why is my sarson ki saag from Punjab not available in Tamil Nadu and why is his idli not available for Punjab or Gujarati khakra. Punjab agro food should be available in Assam and J&K apples should be available somewhere else and then we need to build a brand for India and tap the demand from NRIs.“ 
GRUB THAT DIDN'T REACH THE PLATE
While Leaders Discuss Food Security, Docs Find New Cause Of Malnourishment
The Targeted Public Distribution System launched in 1997 seeks to provide highly subsidized grain to the really poor. The system is operated jointly by the Centre and states. The Centre, through FCI, procures, stores and transports grain.
States are responsible for identifying eligible families, issuing ration cards and functioning of fair price shops. About 652 lakh below poverty line families are entitled to subsidized grain. These apart, it is estimated that about 5% of people in India sleep without two square meals a day. These 2.4 crore people, the poorest of the poor, and households headed by widows, terminally ill or disabled persons and persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support are covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Data shows in 2013-14, the grain lost in transit, storage and so on could have been enough for the monthly PDS ration of 17% of BPL families or 45% of those under AAY 
Vouchers for poor? UN in talks with govt on zero hunger goal
World Food Programme executive director Ertharin Cousin said she is in talks with the Indian government and states to explore food vouchers for the poor facing starvation and malnourishment.Cousin said vouchers are important in taking food to those who face shortage.
“We are talking to India on how food vouchers can be used to make food available to the vulnerable groups,“ she told TOI on the sidelines of the B-20 Australia Summit that has brought big business together in a lead-up event ahead of the November's G-20 Summit of the government heads. The comment from the head of the world body adds another dimension to the Right to Food (RTF) that awaits implementation. RTF was passed by UPA-2 in Par liament and is likely to be rolled out soon by the Narendra Modi government. Subsidized food vs vouchers is a debate that was thought to have been settled with the Food Guarantee Act, a polarizing issue among the civil society . Cousin refused to be drawn into an either-or situation but stuck to vouchers by arguing that different modalities could be employed in the course of achieving food security , with zero hunger being one of United Nations' key Millennium Development Goals. She said that the world faces problems of food shortage and also of food being available but being out of the reach of certain weak communities. “In certain places and with certain communities, the vouchers, we believe, can be the right idea and can serve the purpose of helping the vulnerable groups,“ she said. Cousin has been invited to the global business gathering for discussions on how the food security converges with business growth. Referring to the stress on food security in India, Cousin said that the country was an example for the world. “We have a lot to learn from India that recognizes that economic growth was not being felt across all social groups,“ she said. Addressing reporters at the B-20 summit venue, she said economic growth does not automatically guarantee the end of hunger and that top economies like the United States have “safety nets“ and programmes to buffer the vulnerable groups. She told reporters that China has benefitted the maximum from WFP efforts while India, despite the massive economic development, has the largest number of children facing malnourishment. Cousin said no government or organization alone can achieve zero-hunger and there is need for help from private sector, which has to go beyond providing money to technological capabilities.
India's poor sanitation linked to malnutrition
He wore thick black eyeliner to ward off the evil eye, but one-yearold Vivek had nonetheless fallen victim to malnutrition. His parents seemed to be doing all the right things. His family had six goats, access to fresh buffalo milk and a hut filled with hundreds of pounds of wheat and potatoes.So why was Vivek malnourished?
An emerging body of scientific studies suggest that Vivek and many of the 162 million other children under the age of 5 in the world who are malnourished are suffering less a lack of food than poor sanitation. Vivek and his family have no toilet, and the district where they live has the highest concentration of people who defecate outdoors. As a result, children are exposed to a bacterial brew that often sickens them, leaving them unable to attain a healthy body weight no matter how much food they eat. “These children's bodies divert energy and nutrients away from growth and brain development to prioritize infection-fighting survival,“ said Jean Humphrey , a professor of human nutrition at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “When this happens during the first two years of life, children become stunted. What's particularly disturbing is that the lost height and intelligence are permanent.“ Two years ago, Unicef, WHO and World Bank released a report on child malnutrition that focused entirely on a lack of food. Sanitation was not mentioned. Now, they believe otherwise.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD - What's Gnawing Away at the Indian Dream
The rationale for embedding nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programmes in a development agenda is compelling. And yet, strangely , it has been ignored. Planning and implementation of such programmes require collaborative, consistent and aligned effort across multiple sectors.
Currently , we have a myopic vision to pursue narrow agendas.Transformational change requires tackling one of the most obdurate challenges: malnutrition. This blight has a large human impact and a larger economic impact that is not measured and largely ignored. According to the 2014 United Nations Millennium Development Goals report made public earlier this week, one-third of the world's extreme poor live in India, making the country home to the largest number of impoverished. The World Bank estimates that India loses 2-3% of GDP primarily because of poor nutrition, leading to lower productivity and loss of economic value. Malnutrition -protein-energy and micronutrient deficiency -is one of India's most serious development challenges as it impacts growth, development and cognitive abilities in children, health in women, and immune functions and productivity in all. The deplorable state of India on basic social and human indicators is all too evident. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), India ranks 63rd among 78 countries in the Global Hunger Index. United Nations Development Pro gramme (UNDP) figures point to India being 136th among 186 countries in the Human Development Index. The 2012 World Health Organization report ranks India 112th among 190 countries in universal access to public health. The Economist's 2013 where-tobe-born index (the old quality-of-life index) ranks India an abysmal 66 among a total of 80 countries. With its endemic poverty , the case for improved nutrition is especially critical in India. Inadequate nutrition leads to lower productivity and increases cost of doing business; encumbers the poor with lower immunity , making them more susceptible to illness, lost working days and disproportionately higher expenditure on healthcare; and stresses a healthcare delivery system already stretched for resources and basic infrastructure. Despite the existence of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) since 1975 and midday school meals shortly thereafter, one in three children is born underweight (around eight million each year) and are physically and cognitively challenged for life. Also, around 61 million children are stunted and, of the 2.5 million that die every year, malnutrition is the underlying cause for half of these deaths. About 3,500 children die in India every day . That's the equivalent of fatalities in ten Boeing 737 crashes. Rather than make statistics on under-nutrition a contentious issue, we must accept that the quality of life for most people is unacceptable. There is ample evidence to show that improvements in nutrition lag far behind income growth, and families with enough income for adequate food also suffer from high rates of under-nutrition. Five initiatives must be considered to convert the burden of our population to an economic dividend: Implement a single-point programme comprising multi-sectoral strategies tailored to specific causes. This has to be backed by political will and public-private partnerships, and must include supply-side factors (increased access to potable water, sanitation, primary healthcare, fortified food) and demand-side factors (women's education, sensitivity to child and maternal health, income growth). Ensure greater focus on hygiene and sanitation. Child mortality is up to seven times higher in countries with poor sanitation and lack of access to safe water for drinking, washing and cooking. Ensure that existing programmes like ICDS and midday meals are significantly overhauled. Learn from the success of iodised salt which virtually eliminated diseases like goitre, and conduct largescale staple food fortification. Develop nutrition metrics for credible and timely nutrition data and track them with the same fervour as economic or stock market data. |
Friday, 25 July 2014
FOOD SECURITY and FOOD PROCESSING
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