The Economic Survey has highlighted the need for better management of food stocks as well as serious policy initiatives to be undertaken by the government to increase agricultural production to at least 4%.
There is much food for thought on the mismanagement of the food stocks in the country by the ministry of food, consumer affairs and civil supplies, which have led to the highest food inflation witnessed in three decades.
Sharad Pawar has faced flak for exacerbating inflationary pressures by making dire predictions about the kharif crop, which encouraged hoarding. The agriculture minister also came in for criticism for delaying the release of imported raw sugar stocks.
While many political pundits will read into this the worsening status of the relations between the NCP and the Congress, the reality is that the Economic Survey (2009-10) has been more than charitable to the food ministry.
When the overall performance of the food sector is contrasted with the nutritional outcomes and the status of hunger in the country, this mis-management is tantamount to a criminal neglect of the food sector.
For instance, consider the per capita availability and consumption of cereals and pulses in the country. There has been an unacceptable decline in the availability of cereals and pulses from 510.1 grams per capita per day in 1991 to 436 grams per capita per day in 2008. Contrast this with the fact that in the same year that food inflation dominated the national headlines, the net exports were in excess of 14 million metric tonne. This trend becomes clearer when one looks at the export figures across the years that we have been steadily exporting food grains out of the country, even when the stated policy in many of these years has been that of an export ban.
Vested commercial lobbies and interest groups manage to ensure that the bans are ?relaxed? for specific periods each year and large quantities of food grains exported out of the country. Even during the decade, which has seen one of the sharpest falls in the per capita availability of cereals and pulses. Incidentally, the decline in availability is mirrored by the decline in consumption in the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data.
It is not surprising that India occupies 66th place out of the 88 countries surveyed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in the Global Hunger Index and the situation in India has been described in the IFPRI report as ?alarming?.
India also enjoys the dubious distinction of having one of the highest burden child malnutrition, twice that of Sub-Saharan Africa, which has virtually remained unchanged at 46%.
The concern of the Economic Survey on the declining agricultural production is not misplaced.
But the rot that runs deep in our food management system is far more systemic and even if we manage to improve agricultural production, the present basket of policies which favour an import-export regime is unlikely to significantly reduce hunger in the country. Unless this rot is stemmed, there will be little cheer for farmers or consumers.
(The author is the principal adviser to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court in the Right to Food Case. The view expressed here are personal)