THE "AUTHORITY" SPEAKETH - HOLD YOUR BREATH!

Playing around with words with out meaning any thing serious, is a favorite past time for many administers and government managers, probably for instant gratification through the images projected by the media covering their acclamations and proclamations. That these statements do not mean any thing at the ground level is borne out by hundreds of instances when citizens are left wondering about the rotten system which only promises but rarely delivers. Here is a case with which consumers in India can feel happy to hear but keep his fingers crossed waiting for the "plan" for food industry development to materialize.

"To ensure quality food and safety standards in the food sector besides introducing a better surveillance mechanism, the government plans to tie up with agricultural universities, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other institutions that have food-testing laboratories. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an autonomous statutory body administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is ready with a plan wherein it can carry out research and development (R&D) in the food sector with minimum investment. Since the authority itself doesn't have many laboratories at its disposal and neither the expertise for food testing, it will seek help of institutions which have food-testing facilities. "We have already identified 20 universities and institutes, including state agricultural universities and IIT-Kharagpur, to start with. Gradually, we wish to take the number to 500," FSSAI chairman P I Suvrathan told Business Standard. FSSAI will involve institutions/universities, public-funded organisations and recognised R&D laboratories both in public and private sectors and non-government organisations and provide financial assistance to these for the purchase of essential equipment, equipment accessories, consumables and other expenditure".

With the power of dispensing funds to projects relevant to food technology development and growth of food processing industry, these agencies are playing the classical "cat and mouse" game with the fund seekers with undeserving and influential organizations cornering bulk of the development funds. It is a tragedy in this country that knowledgeable and expert people have to "plead and convince" non-technical bureaucrats with no insight into the subject for getting funds from GOI, that too with strings attached. Even those who get the nod for their projects find it hard to get the funds released or disbursed in time, without "bending backward" and accommodating the whims and fancies of the the fund "managers".

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com