Imbalances in India’s cereal economy need more than a short-term fix -Jean Dreze

-The Indian Express

The need of the hour is to expand distribution under the PDS. Failing that, the country is heading towards another round of wasteful stock accumulation even as poor people struggle to feed their families.

The paradox of “hunger amidst plenty” has haunted India for a long time and shows no sign of going away. On the contrary, it reached a new plane in 2020. On the one hand, the economic recession precipitated by the COVID-19 crisis and national lockdown exposed huge numbers of people to food insecurity. Many household surveys point to reduced food intake in both quantitative and qualitative terms. The latest survey, Hunger Watch, suggests that food insecurity continued well after the lockdown. The government is trying to create an impression that the crisis is largely over, but for informal-sector workers, hardship is likely to continue for a long time.

On the other hand, excess cereal stocks (mainly rice and wheat) have reached unprecedented levels and are all set to grow further in 2021. Bloated stocks reflect a growing imbalance between procurement and distribution. According to the official Foodgrains Bulletin, cereal procurement was around 70 million tonnes in 2017-18, 80 million tonnes in 2018-19, and close to 90 million tonnes in 2019-20. This year, it may cross 100 million tonnes. Meanwhile, cereal distribution under the public distribution system (PDS) and other welfare schemes has stagnated at around 60 million tonnes. Procurement and distribution do not match because they are driven by independent forces — procurement by minimum support prices (MSPs), distribution by the norms of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

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