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).
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.
