New Delhi, January 7
The UPA government’s decision to cut Rs 4500 crore food subsidy will force the people below the poverty line to starve. That’s the government, which came to power with the slogan “Congress ka hath, aam admi ke saath.”
By its own admission, the government has stated that it is the faulty implementation of the scheme that the families under the BPL category are not getting the benefits and the middlemen are siphoning off of the grain meant for the hungry stomach.
“During 2003-04, out of an estimated subsidy of Rs 7,258 crore under targeted public distribution scheme (TPDS), Rs 4123 crore did not reach BPL families. Moreover, Rs 2579 crore did not reach any consumer but was shared by agencies involved in the supply chain,” according to the Mid-Term Appraisal of 10th Five Year Plan 2002-2007.
Ironically, only 57 per cent of 260 million hungry poor are covered under the food subsidy programme, it said.
The data indicate that over 11 crore families are already outside the purview of any state-sponsored food subsidy scheme.
Nobel economist Amartya Sen in his much-acclaimed writings has warned that hidden hunger in India is more widespread than it is believed to be, and more dangerous than famine. The worst off are children: a disgracefully high number (over 50 per cent) in India suffer from malnutrition, double the figure for sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the FAO, 11 million people are under the brink of starvation in the Horn of Africa.
The government has cut the subsidy at a time when the country is under a severe agrarian crisis with little investment in the agriculture sector, fall in productivity coupled with rural indebtedness and increasing number of suicides.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was moved by the starvation deaths in Andhra Pradesh had promised to the weeping families that the UPA government would bring solace to their grievances.
Agriculture experts are of the view that more grains could have gone to the belly of the poor, had the government made an effort to plug the big holes in the food subsidy programme.
The Planning Commission has found that over 36 per cent of the total budgetary subsidies, estimated Rs 20,000 crore annually, is “siphoned off” in the supply chain and another “21 per cent of the subsidies reach the APL families.”
“In Punjab, as much as 76.50 per cent of total highly subsidised foodgrains meant for below poverty line (BPL) families through the public distribution system is diverted to the market, in addition to 13 per cent reaching the above poverty line (APL) families, followed by 55.65 per cent leakage in Haryana and 38.97 per cent in Uttar Pradesh,” stated a report “Performance Evaluation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) conducted by the Planning Commission.
While the government is cutting the supply to the needy poor, the wheat prices have begun to firm up in the market and are almost touching Rs 1000 per quintal.
It won’t be surprising if the rising foodgrain prices and the limited supply through PDS programme lead to hunger deaths in the country, they said.
The Cabinet yesterday decided that for the Antodaya scheme meant for the BPL families, there would be no change in the effective price but the quantum would be lowered to 30 kg from 35 kg hitherto, as in the case of BPL families. It also increased the issue price for APL by 70 per cent of the economic cost and for BPL by 50 per cent of the cost.
