SMEs,
as major drivers of growth engine, are destined to play pivotal role in
ensuring food security. SMEs with a fund of infrastructure can provide adequate
storage facilities in towns adjacent to agriculture-rich areas, open retail
distribution outlets for quality seeds and fertilizers for the farmers in
cooperation with local banks and cooperatives and also provide transportation
facilities for the movement of food grains and other edibles. SMEs sector has a
great potential for translating the national agenda of securing safety for the
hungry into practice. Besides, SMEs are also potent instru
ment for being a
catalyst for water-energy-food nexus approach.
The
present dispensation at the Centre rushed to put the National Food Security
Ordinance (NFSO) 2013 into effect on 5 July 2013. This move was perhaps spurred
by the success of the MGNREGA, which was passed in the teeth of substantial
opposition, and was hailed as an example of a positive social legislation that
worked. The UPA reaped good electoral indents at the 2009 hustings and whether
the NFSO will prove an even bigger game-changer in the forthcoming 2014
elections is yet to be seen.
It is worth mentioning here that the National Food
Security Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 22 December 2011and since then
an elaborate debate on its merits and implications have ensued. However,
despite the considerable time spent on these discussions, the parliament failed
to arrive at a consensus. Media reports make it discernible that the new food
security bill, which will heavily subsidies basic food for about two-thirds of
the population, is sparking nation-wide questions over the wisdom of such an
expensive ordinance.
The
NFSO is claimed to be a measure designed to benefit the people in general. It
hopes to do so by legally entitling roughly 67 percent of the country's
population to five kilograms of food grains per month at a highly subsidized
rate. The price of rice, wheat and coarse grains has been prescribed to be
three rupees, two rupees and one rupee per kilogram respectively.
The NFSO, which appears set to become law
nonetheless, has been variously criticized for low food entitlements, inadequate attention to nutrition, too much
discretion to state governments in identifying beneficiaries, a poor grievance
redressal mechanism and providing scope for substituting the Public
Distribution system (PDs) with cash transfers. No one knows what impact it will
have — economic, political, and social.
Cost
of Implementation
Those associated with the framing of National Food
Security Bill have little idea how much implementing the Right to Food will
cost. In the current financial year, Union Finance Ministry has allocated only
Rs 90,000 crore towards the food subsidy, of which Rs. 10,000 crore is the
additional amount for implementing the Food Security Bill. The food ministry
estimates that the subsidy bill in the current year is likely to cross Rs 1.3
lakh crore.
And even this is inadequate, according to a paper
by the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices, which puts the cost at Rs
2.41 lakh crore in the first year of implementation. Over three years, it says,
the outlay will be Rs 6.82 lakh crore, including the Rs 1.1 lakh crore required
for up scaling food production. Whatever the figure, the fact is that the food
subsidy bill has gone up more three times in the same period, from Rs 25,181
crore to Rs 85,000 crore. This is because handling and storage costs have gone
up as well.
Malnutrition
The Food Security Bill (FSB) fails to address the
problem of malnutrition, especially among the children. On the one hand,
India's economy has been growing at 6-9% for over decade now; on the other
hand, under nutrition among children has dropped a mere 1% in the eight-year
period 1998-99 to 2006. Should we accept a token 0.1% decline in childhood
hunger per year? There is a need to understand that underfed people are unable
to contribute, even if provided with opportunities, because of lack of
capability. Therefore, there is need to build an environment of empowerment
with nutritional security.
Prevalent 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.
All these factors are at the root of hunger.
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!
The existing Integrated Child Development Services
programme aims at spending Rs 80,000 crore in the next five years; the midday
meal scheme is already in place. There is a 17 crore under-6 child population,
45% of which is undernourished. But barely Rs 1.62 is spent per child per day
on their growth and nutrition.
India contributes 40% to the world's overall
maternal, neo-natal, infant and child deaths. It has half the world's
undernourished children. Fifty-four per cent of women in the country suffer
from anaemia. There is need to end this 'domestic variety of colonialism' where
corporations rule over our farmers and labourers and traders indulge in the
business of education and health services and keep people deprived of the very
basic services in the name of growth. The resources generated through growth
should go towards the wellbeing of all people. Not to subsidize corporations.
SMEs
Source: http://www.smeworld.org/story/top-stories/politics-of-food-security.php
