Television and print media have been awash with pictures of stacks of sacks of rotting foodgrain. And played in an almost infinite loop, these pictures become obviously powerful. They can become a call to urgent and revolutionary action. This perhaps accounts for the emotive appeal of the Supreme Court’s recent intervention on distributing this grain, and to keep procurement commensurate with available storage facilities. It does not, however, explain the opposition’s reflexive criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s comments on the case. In a media interaction on Monday, he said that while he understood the sentiment behind the court’s words, he “respectfully” submitted that “the Supreme Court should not get into the government’s realm of policy-making”.

That something as basic as storage facilities has come to be debated in the apex court is, of course, a reminder that successive governments have failed to get the policy right on food procurement, storage and distribution. It is a mess that escapes one-shot solutions. But getting the policy right and delivering on it is the government’s mandate. On the same day that the prime minister made those comments, the government said it had decided to allocate an additional 25 lakh tonnes of grain at BPL prices for six months. It also filed a 19-page affidavit in the Supreme Court explaining how its order could impact food security. Food security is, in part, a factor of availability and productivity. The food ministry pointed out in the affidavit that, were the government to limit procurement to its storage capacities, during peak harvests farmers could be left to the mercy of a buyer’s market, propelling them to move away from food crops. It also put forth steps being taken to enhance storage facilities. The judges hearing the case said “they were very happy to note the government’s comprehensive affidavit”, but the arguments in court must also be seen in the context of a larger debate on food security.

There is legitimate concern about the economics and morality of the government, in effect, hoarding grain. In a working paper available on the finance ministry’s website, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu argues that the government needs to refine the mechanics of releasing grain in small quantities, so that offloading surpluses does not skew the market. But the larger framework of the debate is on the proposed food security legislation. Passions are raging in the National Advisory Council over universalising the availability of cheap grain, instead of primarily targeting BPL families, leading to fears of policy paralysis. Perhaps copies of that 19-page affidavit should be circulated in the NAC too.