The soaring up food crisis

Modi had bragged about ‘Achhe din’ that would be coming along after his BJP government came to power and his ‘Man ki baath’ promises that have never seized to stop.

The BJP government with its well known corporate affinity, has been adopting several ‘measures’ for the growth and development of the country along with carrying out the saffronising agenda across the nation. But it has failed to fulfill even the primary responsibilities towards its citizens. The skyrocketing prices of the various pulses are the latest issue of concern for the BJP government with the costs of these essential commodities crossing over Rs 200 per kg within a short span of time. The cost of pulses which has been a staple food for the majority particularly the poor sections of the society is surging up all across the nation. The prices of pulses are even higher than that of chicken depriving the common man of their daily food. The Modi government has failed to control the price hike of these commodities and is trying hard to curb the inflation as it may directly impact the looming Bihar elections. India is the largest producer as well as consumer of pulses in the world importing tons of food grains to meet the ever increasing demand. Given the tight scenario, the government has come up with a series of measures to check the price hike which again, has offered no relief. An attempt to find a solution foreseeing the current price rise that might occur due to the setback in the agricultural sector was not seen on the part of the government. Now that the crisis have aggravated, seeking instant solutions is likely to make things worse. The inflation and the moves to curb it show the inefficiency of the Modi government.

The storage and distribution of essential commodities not just come under the state governments but is a collective responsibility that is related to import policies of the central government as well as the storage of commodities and distribution techniques. Subsidy as well as steps to check hoarding could be carried out by the state governments. But the price rise wouldn’t be solved with these moves alone. There are drawbacks in the suggestions from the Centre as well which can’t be neglected. Hoarding being the reason for the price hike, the Centre amended the Essential Commodities Act to curb inflation by cutting down the pulses’ stock limit up to 300-350 tons. In the raids that followed, carried out in 13 states, the government claimed to seize 74, 846 tons of pulses. The mill owners and importers have come forward questioning the move. The anxiety over how to tackle the food crisis in future if the whole of the stock is made available at the markets is also escalating. The food mills that produce 10-100 tons of pulses every day wouldn’t be able to stock the commodities even for ten days. The imported pulses coming up to 0.5 lakh tons would have to be made available in the markets even without reaching the warehouses. One has yet to see how the next harvesting season would be handled. The Centre should have carried out an extensive revamping after a proper analysis of the harvesting in last May and the planting of crops that followed along with the government assistance provided for the purpose. The present government should be seeking solutions to provide the common man with his daily meal rather than focusing on the impending polls. It’s not the victory in polls but successful governance that proves that efficiency of the leader as well as his party in power politics.