The Food Security Host -- The Sinner's Venom !

“An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.”

― Albert Einstein

“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Now that the Saint has trashed the National Food Security Bill   (NFSB) to smithereens, let me try and pick up the pieces and look at whether it is indeed the real devil ! To do that, I had to first understand what the hell this Food Security Bill is all about. (confession:  I am a bit shallow in topics like this !) Hence, I turned to the only entity who does not judge my stupid queries and is forever ready with multiple answers : Google!

After reading through many, many pages of gibberish offering points and counter-points, various economic and social indicators, various political party stance on the NFSB, I was finally able to understand, without, any doubt, NFSB is not bad, not at all !  So let me first give you a snapshot of what the bill entails in the first place.

-          The Government will provide Food entitlement to 75% of the population in rural India and 50% of the population in cities.

      -          Each eligible household will get 5kg of grains per person per month.
      -           The grains will be available at Rs 3/- Rs.2/-, Rs 1/- per kg for Rice/Wheat/ Coarse grains        respectively.
      -          Aanganwadis to provide age-appropriate meals to children aged between 6 months and 6 years

-          Mid day meal scheme will provide food to children from 6 to 14 years of age

-          Breast feeding to be promoted to children below 6 months

-          State Food commissions to be created that will monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Act as well as redress grievances.

       -          Central and State governments will undertake PDS( Public Distribution System) reforms
       -          The Central govt. will provide the food grains ( or, failing that, funds) to the State govts. at prices specified, to implement.
       -          The actual implementation of the scheme, thereafter, is the responsibility of the State governments, who will identify eligible households.
( Source : Forbes Magazine)

Now, I can’t find too many faults with that Law at the surface level. What it essentially means is that, if, implemented well , ( now that’s a different argument altogether), this law will possibly wipe our country of hunger and maybe malnutrition. Yes,  you read it right ! We contribute 40% to the world’s overall maternal, neo-natal, infant and child deaths. We have half the world’s undernourished children. Fifty-four per cent of our women suffer from anaemia. Take a deep breath ( I just took one!)

We are supposed to be no longer a third world country, we are, in fact, supposed to be one of the fastest growing economies . We are supposed to be an emerging world power centre, largest workforce in the world, one of the biggest consumer market etc.
 India’s growth story has a flip side.
 Present levels of malnutrition result in a 2-3% decline in GDP. It causes delays in education, triggers learning disabilities, and affects the overall physical and cognitive development of children at an early age. Every year, India loses 1.3 million children under the age of 5 due to under-nutrition and non-availability/inaccessibility to basic healthcare. The resources generated through growth should go towards the wellbeing of all people. Not to subsidise corporations.

Professor Arjun Sengupta, in his report on the unorganised sector, mentions that 77% of India’s population survives on Rs 20 a day. On the other hand, NNMB (National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau) figures show that 76.8% of the population does not receive the prescribed amounts of nutrition! 

There is an argument that it would be better for the government to focus on productivity enhancement rather than on doling out subsidies at the expense of taxpayers. But these two things are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary. India is not a food-deficit country; we produce surplus food grain, we throw it in the sea, we export it. But, for various reasons, it does not reach our hungry people.                                                                    ( source : Sachin Jain in  Infochange India )

Now since we are in the area of subsidies, let me share some numbers ( what the saint can do, so can I too) .

      -          We are already spending Rs 67,310 crore on food subsidies annually.

-          The National Food Security Bill will increase this by only Rs 30,000 crore, just 4% of the corporate taxes that are being booked as revenues foregone .

-          The likely additional annual expenditure on account of the NFSB will be just about Rs 30,000 crore, a fraction of the annual total claimed by subsidies -- Rs 2.6 lakh crore.

-           Fuel subsidies -- largely enjoyed by the rich -- alone claim Rs 1.6 lakh crore.

-          Fertiliser subsidies account for another Rs 66,000 crore.

Even more enormous are the various tax write-offs and exemptions for rich people, industry and exporters. The last budget sacrificed revenues of Rs 5.74 lakh crore on this count -- a sum larger than the entire fiscal deficit. The gold and diamond industry alone got Rs 60,000 crore in tax breaks!!
And what will that do? It will restore the dignity of the people of India.

-           It will help feed the 77 crore people sleeping hungry.

-           The Government of India will only be giving a subsidy of Rs 1,188 per person per year, or Rs 3.25 a day.

And still we have ministers, economists, policymakers and consultants who are unhappy with the idea.
Now let me spew some venom on the Saint’s post. I am afraid my dear friend bases his arguments on a few big assumptions.

Assumption one : India will have to buy grain from world market. Now, it clear that we are not a food deficit country. If anything we have surplus that we don’t know how to handle. It rots and is wasted with no benefit to the farmers or consumers. The PDS system is at fault here and not the bill! The bill in fact addresses PDS reforms.

Assumption two: My pious friend’s misplaced chagrin at the UPA government’s apparent populist mentality. Well , let me tell you , the NFSB is not something that was pulled out of a hat recently. The Food Security Bill is being deliberated since 2002 ! It was one of the election manifestos when they won the elections in 2009. The Bill won a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha, with a margin exceeding 100, because non-UPA parties including the Janata Dal-United, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( DMK) and even the Shiv Sena felt they had no choice but to support it. It sailed through the Rajya Sabha too.

Assumption three : The food security bill, single headedly,  will drill a big hole in our economy driving it deeper into shit ! No sir, wrong again, if you look at the total subsidies meted out in previous year’s budget, it exceeds 5.64 lakh crores. The NFSB will add a mere 30K crore to that.

So, the sinner’s call. Let us give it a chance. If somebody amongst us is going hungry, it is our responsibility to make sure they are provided with food. We can squabble over financials later.

I would love to know your views. Do write in.