Despite its economic growth, India remains a hungry nation. According to the government, almost half of Indian children under five are chronically malnourished. Some economists have called India's inability to adequately feed its women and children “a catastrophic failure with far-reaching implications, not only for the people of India today, but also for the generations to be born in the near future”.
The new Food Security bill is considered by some as the best tool to combat chronic malnutrition and hunger since it seeks to make food a legal right. I will attempt to cover two-thirds of the country's population and provide 5kg of subsidized grain per person per month.
Although this appears to be good news, the proposal has detractors. On the one hand, pro-government critics argue that the plan could upset the national budget if it doubles food subsidies (17 billion Euros). According to them, this will not help India to reduce its fiscal deficit, and they address the food security debate as "a matter of hungry people versus fiscal responsibility".
According to its critics, there are more severe reservations about the plan. One is that it proposes to distribute food through notoriously corrupt ration shops. Several studies of recent years have estimated that between 37% and 55% of subsidized rice and wheat are illegally diverted in these stores and sold in the open market.
Some activists also argue that the process of classification of beneficiaries by the state and federal government is complex and also lends itself to corruption.
Finally, there is the issue of the poor quality of food storage facilities. According to an estimate, India has 60 million tons of food reserves to cover the plan, but much of the food sits rotting in warehouses and open spaces. This has been described as "a situation of hunger in the midst of plenty".
Critics say this is mainly due to a warped food policy: the government buys grain from farmers at too high a price (called "minimum support price"). This reinforces production but reduces demand because of the high price of food, so the government is forced to buy the difference to keep prices artificially high.
It has been said that the bill has been a move by the current government in view of the possibly closely fought 2014 general elections. "Actually," says one economist "is not whether the bill will add to the high subsidies in India, it is a question of the quality of the delivery system and that the food reaches the beneficiaries."
One solution, many say, is to transfer cash to beneficiaries instead of using a creaky system as a means to distribute food. There is no solution in sight. The jury is still out on how to fight hunger in India, and perhaps the Food Security Act is not the magic pill some think it is.
Source: bbc.co.uk
