Will the Food Security Bill proposed by the Congress a bail out to the hunger of India

What is food … Without mingling in the scratching of politics lets us think a bit simpler.”Food is something we love to defend”. So why do we defend? We defend to protect something dear to us , something our own. We protect our houses, our position, our faiths, belief as it stands in line of our honor.  This passion to protect is unknown and undecipherable.

When something crosses our line of defense we rebel. For instance, the first sign of rebellion I showed for and with food was way back in childhood when I stood hungry the entire day as I was not given my favorite ice cream. Even staying hungry, I believed that what I defended was right to me.

 Things change, people subject themselves to the real world to find what is good for them what will make them survive. But what stays similar within the realms of a good human and a good animal is that he knows how to do the worst and the best of feats for food. Food is something that makes us survive. Food for thought, a fire to ignite and water that drench the souls are and were the three elements that made a human being what he is and will always be the same controller. A man in power controls his own thoughts and a man who controls a collective opinion  is a bigger power of authority. For some, food defines religion and for some religion defines the food .If we forsake these themes the genuine instinct of a human to surrender to a greater power is ultimately going to happen. Let us look at the bond between food and power that looms large on us now. Get the people passionate about something ‘spicy’, ’icy’ or just a ‘y’ and people do not get bothered not by what they feel but what they see. A celebrity big brother makes headlines while the deteriorating    conditions of the adivasis in the heartland of the country are restricted. Its all for food that we defend. If anyone feels a problem  with the context of what I feel to defend ,feel free to argue ,to charge of what I say.

But please do not offend your line of judgment, your true religion to defend.

A number of thoughts might come to every mind why would  a food security bill cause such a fur ore among the masses of India. The Food Security Bill guarantees 5 kg of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per individual at a fixed price of Rs 3, 2, 1, respectively, to nearly 67% of the population. The government estimates suggest that food security will cost Rs 1,24,723 crore per year. But that is just one estimate. Andy Mukherjee, a columnist with Reuters, puts the cost at around $25 billion. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices(CACP) of the Ministry of Agriculture in a research paper titled National Food Security Bill – Challenges and Options puts the cost of the food security scheme over a three year period at Rs 6,82,163 crore. During the first year the cost to the government has been estimated at Rs 2,41,263 crore. In order to properly understand the situation we need to express the cost of food security as a percentage of the total receipts(less borrowings) of the government. The receipts of the government for the year 2013-2014 are projected at Rs 11,22,799 crore. Food protection at whole sale prices is not guaranteed by the security bill. Food security and food protection are completely separate yet a very important analysis to the entire process. Regularization in food security is considering the system at large which is bound to have many loop holes while food protection is a practical projection of the total quantity the country is likely to have at large in hands and keep the upper ceiling of expenditure for resources produced in India to be kept with the people and for the people   of this country.    A higher expenditure will mean a higher fiscal deficit. Fiscal deficit is defined as the difference between what a government earns and what it spends. The question is how will this higher expenditure be financed? Given that the economy is in a breakdown mode, higher taxes are not the answer. The government will have to finance food security through higher borrowing. It is something like this if system needs to feed ants a small heap of sugar can be provided to the ants and they can themselves carry the load when they need .On the contrary if a system needs to feed a group of elephants a heap or a bundle of food needs to be kept .Some of it will be eaten up  at large and most may waste. The biggest fallacy of the scheme of food security is that it is open ended. There’s no expiry date no sunset clause as what are the constraints under which the ant will be able to befit from the security cover. It covers around two-thirds of the population—even those who are not really needy. This means that the outlays will have to increase as the population grows. How, the government creates more surplus of money or in clear words printing money to finance the scheme. But how will the government supply the creation .It was and remains easy for the government to obtain money by printing it rather than taxing its citizens. Money printing will lead to higher inflation. Prices will rise due to other reasons as well. Every year, the government declares a minimum support price (MSP) on rice and wheat. At this price, it buys grains from farmers. This grain is then distributed to those entitled to it under the various programs of the government. The grain to be distributed under the food security program will also be procured in a similar way. Assured procurement will provide for  alternate incentives to farmers to produce cereals such as rice and wheat on a large scale rather than diversify the production-basket…Vegetable production too may be affected – pushing food inflation further. Higher food prices will mean higher inflation and this in turn will mean lower savings, as people will end up spending a higher proportion of their income to meet their expenses. This will lead to people spending a lower amount of money on consuming good and services and thus economic growth will slow down further.
In a particular year when the government is not able to procure enough rice or wheat to fulfill its obligations under right to food security, it will have to import these grains. But that is easier said than done especially in case of rice. Rice is not easily available as a commodity for export, with only about 7 per cent of world production being traded and five countries cornering three-fourths of the rice exports. Buying rice or wheat internationally will mean paying in dollars. This will lead to increased demand for dollars and pressure on the rupee. The weakest point of the right to food security is that it will use the extremely “leaky” public distribution system to distribute food grains. With the subsidy on rice being the highest, the demand for rice will be the highest and the government distribution system will fail to procure enough rice. As they devise so will the private players recognize the absolute subsidy per kilogram is the largest in rice, the eligible households would stand to maximize the implicit transfer or rationing to themselves by buying rice and no other grain from the public distribution system. By reselling rice in the private market, they would be able to convert this maximized in-kind subsidy into cash…Of course, with all eligible households buying rice for their entire permitted quotas, the government distribution system will simply fail to procure enough rice for the actual needy. So as private players come into the foray what changes are likely to take place. A private player will set up infrastructure to maximize the production of a certain cereal while it might ask other traders to hoard .Take the instance of Monsanto, who left nothing   untouched in US: the mustard, the okra,  oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. One will have to depend on the food crop based on the seeds supplied by them.  If they control seed, they control food, they know it – it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. It has already been found that due to  intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. If US business was profitable, India will be a diamond matrix (Check Rihanna song Cockiness(Love It) ) to enter  and exit. The same is being led in our country a Sharad Pawar of ‘shame culture’   politics. The government does not ensure subsidies to the farmers who produce maximum crop ,it subjects everyone under a cover of food security which is just charged against the taxpayers money. Monsanto didn't even have to bankrupt any economies or leech billions of dollars off taxpayers. It just provides a cover GMO(Genetically Modified Organism) for food security. A quick search of "GMO" will turn up all sorts of scaremonger websites, with all sorts of frightening claims that when you eat a Monsanto-developed crop, you're consigning yourself to a short, sickly life of gastrointestinal (or just general) agony. Cancer, allergic reactions, liver problems, sterility, and even the unnatural modification of your genes -- these are just the claims found by the curious users on the website of the Institute for Responsible Technology, which purports to be a leading anti-GMO advocacy group. I won't go into some of the anti-Monsanto conspiracy theories you'll find bandied about on less reputable corners of the Internet. But when we think what might be  a stage when GMO crops may be the need of the hour for  the bulging middle-class of India. More drugs, more hunger more illness and a lot more poverty, a boom for pharma companies to sell patented drugs for the unruly masses. Monsanto company has forged a new partnership with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company whose primary focus seems to be on figuring out how to best crack the genetic code so as to manipulate the way genes inherently express themselves to prevent the production of proteins in the body that will produce diseases. And based on the agreement the two companies have made publicly with one another, it appears as though Monsanto is planning to utilize Alnylam's proprietary gene-silencing technologies in its emerging agricultural pursuits. Reason being, as we know that lakhs of tons of grains are allowed to rot in government warehouses which are sold to liquor industries at much cheaper prices (80 Paise/per Kg.). So we may not have to increase the production of grains in order to meet the requirement if these grains are not allowed to rot and properly managed and distributed (but I don’t know how would our government then appease or convince the liquor lobby).

There is no doubt that this FSB will create bigger holes in our already drowning economy and hence will deteriorate it further. As a result we’ll have to print more money and it’s effects you have shown in your article are irrefutable.

In the end we share the same opinion on GM food and Monsanto(food terrorists).

India is getting younger but will they stay healthy as they mature with age a question many might fail to even realize. Ultimately, this is probably good for farmers, but bad for everyone else. Not only are you going to pay for foods that will wreck your health, but you're also paying twice as much for the privilege of medicine pills. Agriculture can be so cruel. (Yes, that was tongue-in-cheek.).My studies may be far fletched to some authorities , some may inspire anger .Some will inspire opportunism. But the sole purpose of what I say is there will be such situations which will make us think and when we may be in deep pain. There can be results however to the different parties of the food security bill or deal to be precise :”The situation paid off, secondly the work was done to a less extent or the situation just pissed off”. As it was rightly said “Do not fight corruption by glorifying it “ by Haruna Atta as the “chakki keeps rolling”  and “ghar ka chula” goes dry , let us wait for those days when price of cereals may plunge to levels and the public still does not know what to do.

Nature of a Leader and What it means in Hindu Spirituality

Every Nature is a Step towards a Super-Nature. We have to transcend Nature but it follows a no path as we have to take advantage of Nature by filling in a line which nature is trying to open to us that we ought to proceed.By yielding to ordinary nature we fall away from Nature and from God. by transcending nature we at once satisfy her strongest impulse fulfil all the possibilities and raise ourselves to the God. The human first can touch the divine to be the divine. The person needs to beleive that he is a leader. A leader does not excude warmness, he excudes vitality, A leader does not excude remorse, he brings the dejected to the path of vitality. A leader is someone who beleives in Self through Service. A leader expects others to judge him.  A Hindu is a person who beleives that leadership is not born out of the cloud but grows like a tree....

 The interpretation a Hindu has been so very constricted over centuries that we tend to forget that a Hindu meaning as a ‘belief system’ that is not based on dogmas but based on knowledge and direct experience. It is open to scientific validation. It is possible to know that this manifold manifestation is permeated by one energy or awareness. So the Hindu claim that all including the human being is divine, because all is ultimately Brahman is in all likelihood true. “Tat tvam asi” or in English, ‘you are God’, is however fiercely rejected as heresy by the Abrahamic religions.  A Hindu does not proclaim he knows everything about himself. He seeks to experience and believes that Truth is the only path for greater Good.

To be a leader requires knowing what to do, and why to do it. Enthusiasm, motivation, skill, and knowing how to do things right is not enough; we have to know whether it is the right thing to do. For that, moral leadership is required. Moral leadership has two central aspects: understanding our true Self and serving others. True leaders need knowledge that gives access to an inner moral compass that guides our activities and gives direction to those who follow us. A clear and simple directive has come to us through the ages:”Know Thyself.”

 Leadership is about who we are and what we do. Along with learning to act as a leader, we must possess the characteristics, behaviour, and habits of mind and heart of true leaders. True leaders have the courage to confront the meaning of existence. They have the courage to live in a manner that offer meaning to others. Such leadership transcends organisational leadership and also moral leadership. It is life leadership. Such leaders  become connected to the limitless spiritual power within and radiate unmatched strength of character and will. Yet they are the most humble and compassionate of leaders. True leadership is not acting a certain way; it is a reflection of who we are within. 

 
Dve vidye veditavye para caivapara ca para tad aksaram adhigyamate

Two kinds of knowledge exists one is lower and other is higher that which is aksaram the immutable can be experienced .

 Many focus on the routines of life, such as waking up, getting dressed, eating, driving, earning a living, coming home, and repeating the cycle the following day. We go through life growing up, having a job, raising a family, retiring, and then passing away. We wonder if that is all there is to human existence. Those who raise this question cannot rest until they find answers. They conclude that there is a higher power within that guides us. That inner spiritual power is the source of morals, virtues, power, and life, whatever name we call it – God, consciousness, soul – that power within, enlivening each of us.

 

Once we contact the eternal spiritual power, we connect with the source of the qualities of true leaders. We automatically and effortlessly inculcate the virtues and characteristics associated with great leaders. 

The second aspect of leadership is service. Service before self is the key to a full and rewarding life. A leader must be a servant first. It is by serving others that we earn the right to lead them. We may act as leaders, but we must be servants to lead meaningfully. How is it possible?

 Those who are spiritually aware see the same power enlivening all creation. A life of service is based on deep spiritual and moral principles that are understood and internalised when we connect with the Truth within. Intellectually understanding service does not provide the conviction we need when we are tested, by people and circumstances.

 

Becoming a true leader is about becoming a true human being. Leadership is a product of deep, ongoing self-analysis. It is about choosing a life committed to spiritual growth and service. If we tap into spiritual sources within, we will become leaders whose lives will inspire others to follow and who will be a blessing to those we meet.

We need dedication and perseverance to achieve anything. For those who turn to the spiritual path, moral leadership will come naturally. We do not need to act or pose. Our moral leadership and spiritual strength will flow from our words and actions and will reach the hearts of others as naturally and inevitably as a stream flows towards its source.