Who says Indians are hungry?
It will be not correct to say that any Indian die of hungry. Even if a few die of hunger, they are microscopically few and hence negligible.
But it is undeniably true that many Indians die of malnutrition and die of poisonous food they consume, die of poisonous wine they consume.
Food items sold in the market are not without adulteration. Mid-day meal supplied to children in schools is of inferior quality resulting in many cases of illness to children. Public distribution system is not active and effective. Food grains supplied or sold through PDS system are more often than not rotten. The qualities of food grains poor people are getting are perfectly unhygienic and dangerous for the health of the eater.
Farmers who produce food grains may eat good food and remain healthy . But the food grains produced by them and bought by the government are kept in open places or in unsafe places to rot. Government of India does not have enough funds to construct enough warehouses and cold storages to store food grains safely produced by hard labour of farmers. Even if there is Food Corporation of India ,FCI to store such food grains for future use,the employees of FCI are so much corrupt, inactive and ineffective that they cannot ensure safety of food they store.
Government is talking of Food Security Bill. It is a clear cut ridiculous and ill-motivated. One who is well acquainted with PDS system or red card system cannot dream of good food being made available under Food security bill.
Rather government of India should enforce existing laws to ensure sell of unadulterated and hygienic food gains items, sweets, edible oils etc in the market. GOI should promote organic farming and punish farmers who use chemicals to boost up farm produce at the cost of quality of food. Those traders who indulge in adulteration or who sell poor quality food must be taken to task without any delay or any mercy.
Middle class families or rich class families are having adequate money to buy adequate food. But unfortunately people belonging to these classes who can afford good food are also victim of foreign culture and are sick of junk food they consume., wine they take, and food habits they are addicted to.. GOI will have to control hotels and restaurants who serve bad foods and who serve poisonous wine or who sell Gutkas and tombacoo.
There is no scarcity of water in India. Three fourth of India’s land is full of water. But it is pity that even after 65 years of freedom, Government of India or state governments have not taken adequate steps so far to ensure availability of pure water in every nook and corner of the country. This is why sell of Bottle water is increasing day by day. People, who can afford, prefer spending Rs 10 to 15 for buying a bottle of water than to drink impure water.
In rural areas people used to depend on well water, but now a days, in rural areas too, wells are not constructed and boring water is preferred. People depend more on boring water which is though natural and better than pond or supply water but without treatment it may also cause may ailments. In urban areas too, people depend on boring water. System of supply of water through government established water supply system has almost collapsed in most of towns and cities. Even if water supply is undertaken in some of the towns; there is no guarantee that water supplied by such system will be always pure There is complete negligence. Urban people depend on water stored in tanks and filled with underground water. But unfortunately, most of these tanks are not cleaned periodically.
As such people in general are constrained to drink impure water and it is due this ground reality that people become victim of many diseases as a consequence of impure water and unhygienic good grain they consume.
UPA’s Food Security Bill: There's no good economics, only illogical populism---------Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiya
The Food Security Bill presumes that India suffers from food insecurity. Yet, that is clearly false. True, NSSO surveys show a steady decline in calorie consumption per head over the last few decades, and Leftists like Utsa Patnaik have interpreted this as lack of food. However, the same surveys also ask the question, "Have you been hungry in some or all months of the year?" The ratio of people saying they are hungry was 15% back in 1983. It fell in 1993-94 to 5.5% in rural and 1.9% in urban areas. It declined further in 2004-05 to 2.6% in rural and 0.6% in urban areas.
Hunger for Superior Diet
So, hunger has largely disappeared. And, if people are not hungry, it is no tragedy that they consume fewer calories: they want better, not more, food. Surveys suggest that all income groups, even the bottom 30%, are shifting from basic foods (like cereals) to superior foods: fats, tea, sugar, eggs, meat, pulses, vegetables and fruit.
The per-capita consumption of superior foods is rising even as that of cereals (and calories) is dipping. And, at every income level, people are consuming more non-food items, which shows rising prosperity. India still has substantial poverty, but has largely conquered hunger.
Now, the 2% of hungry Indians comes to 25 million people, as many as the entire population of many countries. Providing them with food security entails the relatively minor task of identifying and reaching these 25 million unfortunates. It does not mean giving subsidised food to 800 million people (three-quarters of the population).
Least of all does it mean subsidising cereals, from which consumers are shifting to superior foods.
Persistent Food Inflation
Strong evidence is now cited by three eminent institutions — the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the Reserve Bank of India and the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council — to show that most of our persistent inflation in the last three years has been on account of food inflation.
The biggest price increases have been not for cereals but for superior foods: eggs and meat, milk, fats, fruit and vegetables. The CACP finds that 98% of food inflation can be explained by three factors: the fiscal deficit, high global prices and rising farm wages. Rising real farm wages means the poorest people — landless labourers — can buy more food, including superior foods, reducing still further the rationale for a Food Security Bill based in cereals.
The CACP discovery of a strong link between fiscal deficits and food prices is intriguing. It implies, ironically, that a Food Security Bill whose cost increases the fiscal deficit by, say, Rs 50,000 crore will end up raising food prices, mainly of the superior foods increasingly in demand from a populace with rising aspirations. A rising fiscal deficit will especially hit the price of protein-rich and iron-rich foods, which are most important for combating malnutrition. This will be a misguided subsidy for malnutrition, not food security.
The CACP estimates that as much as Rs 60,000 crore can be saved by switching from subsidies for food and fertilisers to cash transfers to the needy. This may not be feasible immediately, but once the Aadhaar scheme extends everywhere — this may take some years — cash transfers will be entirely feasible. They will provide security to the needy even while shrinking the fiscal deficit, hence lowering overall food prices.
There remains a case for a separate scheme to tackle widespread shortages of iron and protein in Indian diets, leading to large-scale anaemia and other ailments even in the richest 30% of the population. A recent survey revealed anaemia rates of 51-74% in women and small children. Of children under three, 47% were underweight and 45% stunted by global standards.
Hunger for Superior Diet
So, hunger has largely disappeared. And, if people are not hungry, it is no tragedy that they consume fewer calories: they want better, not more, food. Surveys suggest that all income groups, even the bottom 30%, are shifting from basic foods (like cereals) to superior foods: fats, tea, sugar, eggs, meat, pulses, vegetables and fruit.
The per-capita consumption of superior foods is rising even as that of cereals (and calories) is dipping. And, at every income level, people are consuming more non-food items, which shows rising prosperity. India still has substantial poverty, but has largely conquered hunger.
Now, the 2% of hungry Indians comes to 25 million people, as many as the entire population of many countries. Providing them with food security entails the relatively minor task of identifying and reaching these 25 million unfortunates. It does not mean giving subsidised food to 800 million people (three-quarters of the population).
Least of all does it mean subsidising cereals, from which consumers are shifting to superior foods.
Persistent Food Inflation
Strong evidence is now cited by three eminent institutions — the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the Reserve Bank of India and the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council — to show that most of our persistent inflation in the last three years has been on account of food inflation.
The biggest price increases have been not for cereals but for superior foods: eggs and meat, milk, fats, fruit and vegetables. The CACP finds that 98% of food inflation can be explained by three factors: the fiscal deficit, high global prices and rising farm wages. Rising real farm wages means the poorest people — landless labourers — can buy more food, including superior foods, reducing still further the rationale for a Food Security Bill based in cereals.
The CACP discovery of a strong link between fiscal deficits and food prices is intriguing. It implies, ironically, that a Food Security Bill whose cost increases the fiscal deficit by, say, Rs 50,000 crore will end up raising food prices, mainly of the superior foods increasingly in demand from a populace with rising aspirations. A rising fiscal deficit will especially hit the price of protein-rich and iron-rich foods, which are most important for combating malnutrition. This will be a misguided subsidy for malnutrition, not food security.
The CACP estimates that as much as Rs 60,000 crore can be saved by switching from subsidies for food and fertilisers to cash transfers to the needy. This may not be feasible immediately, but once the Aadhaar scheme extends everywhere — this may take some years — cash transfers will be entirely feasible. They will provide security to the needy even while shrinking the fiscal deficit, hence lowering overall food prices.
There remains a case for a separate scheme to tackle widespread shortages of iron and protein in Indian diets, leading to large-scale anaemia and other ailments even in the richest 30% of the population. A recent survey revealed anaemia rates of 51-74% in women and small children. Of children under three, 47% were underweight and 45% stunted by global standards.
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