Blame it on Capitalism

Brinda Karat erroneously blames privatization for the current dismal food security scenario. This is just a case of using a pet theory to explain everything on earth.



The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : Food economy under the UPA government

n contrast, the Central government is eroding the country's food security by dependence on wheat imports while weakening the PDS through a policy of creeping privatisation. The government has already indicated its decision to go in for imports this year, even as it wilfully weakens the procurement system through promotion of private procurement of foodgrains. This year too big companies such as ITC and Reliance and MNCs such as Cargill have cornered the wheat as they did last year.

For better understanding of how the UPA Government missed the bus, have a look at this article by TVR Shenoy on www.rediff.com



India's stretches out its bowl again for daal-roti

On April 30, the Government of India finally found the time to issue a tender to import one million tonnes of wheat. This is the second year in a row that this happened. Following the experience of 2006, a truly prudent ministry would have moved long before. Now, I fear we are just a bit late.

The benchmark for commodities trading is set in Chicago. At the beginning of April, wheat was trading at US $4.12 a bushel. By April 30, when our economist prime mpinister and his crack team finally realised the danger, the price of wheat had risen to US $4.9555 a bushel.

In other words, the Indian taxpayer has already been hit for millions of dollars.