Seagram is planning to convert maize, sorghum, bajra and millets -- the poor man's food -- into a rich man's drink -- whiskey. Presently the distilleries and breweries in India produce alcoholic drinks from molasses as it is a cheap byproduct of the sugar industry and yields high amount of alcohol -- 230 litres per tonne.

Indian scientists knew all along how to make alcoholic beverage from food grains. But this route was never pursued because of low yield (40 litres per tonne) and the fact, that for a country with millions of malnourished people, it would be immoral to covert food grains into whiskey.

Under the liberalized policy, however, Seagram acquired permission to become what it claims "the only company in India which uses grain and not molasses in the production of its blended whiskies."

"Food surplus westerncountries produce alcohol from food grains out of necessity because they do not have molasses," says HB Mathur, former professor at the Indian Institute of Technology here and an expert in alcohol production and use.

"To do so in India, which has abundant molasses, would be foolish as this may create food scarcity," Mathur warns. But Seagram (India) says it would not touch wheat, rice and any food eaten by people or animals but only use "grains which fall out of human food chain, and waste grain residues."

Seagram has already invested Rs 35 million on its in-house research and development (R&d) centre at Chinchwad near Pune to develop methods for converting bajra, grown by farmers in Maharashtra and ragi in Rajasthan, into whiskey.

"We are going to invest Rs .100 million over the next five years in grain alcohol research using locally grown raw material," Virender Sheroin, director of this centre, said.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) under the ministry of science has alsogiven its support to the grain alcohol project.

A few weeks ago it awarded full recognition to the Seagram R&d centre, making it is eligible for all government incentives like tax benefits and import of duty free equipment.

"I am concerned about this project," says E Siddiqui, formerly deputy director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Icar) and now heading the Icar rice project in Hyderabad.

"There is nothing wrong in making whiskey from grains that are surplus or unfit for eating. But the government must specify the raw material and closely monitor the project, or we may land in trouble," he says.

Asked which grain had been identified, Sheroin said "we are not basing on one raw material but many." Ragi grown in Rajasthan and Gujarat is one possibility but maize would be ideal, he said.

Jagdish Singh, an adviser in DSIR said that crops targeted by Seagram are sorghum, jowar and also maize which is the main raw material for Canadian whiskey. He said the company intends toget the grains produced in farmer fields under contract.

According to Sheroin, the Seagrm R&d centre would work with nearly 10,000 farmers in Nanded, Akola, Parbhani, and Nashik districts of Maharashtra and help them upgrade "the quality and suitability of grains grown by them" for producing whiskey.

"Right now we are focussing on Maharashtra but soon we will do the same in other states," Sheroin said, adding it is too early to say anything about the quantity of grains that would be consumed for whiskey production. According to DSIR, it would not be more than half million tonnes.

Sheroin said grain alcohol programme would benefit Indian farmers as they would get more money selling the grains to Seagram for whiskey making than using them as cattle feed.

This is precisely what is worrying Mathur. "Millions of our landless farmers who still depend on coarse grains will starve if jowar and sorghum -- whose production has already dwindled -- end up in distilleries instead of in provision shops."

Another aspect causing concern among scientists is possible shift in research priorities once coarse grains are looked upon as commercial and not food crops.

"Currently we breed sorghum and millets to increase their protein content from nutritional point," said one Icar scientist." But Seagram, whose aim is alcohol, is interested in increasing the starch content, not protein.

"We would like grains with high starch content," said Sheroin, adding his R&D centre is already looking at possible research collaboration with Indian agricultural institutions and scientists at the international institute Icrisat in Hyderabad which has the largest collection of germplasm of coarse grains and millets.

"Grain alcohol is promoted in India because India, with cheap labour and cheap food grains, offers a great potential to produce whiskey at low cost," says Mathur "It would be a pity if, in that process, the country's poor are left hungry."