Hear this professor from Benares Hindu University who has a valid point regarding the usefulness or otherwise of the food security ordinance recently promulgated by the President at the instance of a lame duck government! He has a perfectly valid point when he has the courage to ask the "mighty" government at Delhi as to why it is prevaricating on the food safety act which is being implemented halfheartedly across the country? What is the hurry in enacting an ordinance for an ill planned doling scheme that entails drain of more than Rs 1, 25, 000 crore of honest taxpayers' money for a doubtful cause? If FSSAI, the so called Authority on food safety in India, is to be believed more than 60% of milk in the country is adulterated while millions of citizens are being cheated and injured by consuming adulterated and poisoned foods in the country, the government being a silent/ disinterested observer on the sideline! Here is the gist of the argument of this heart broken academician.
"High drama is on in political circle regarding food security bill that ensures cheap grain for one-third population of the country. Congress is adamant for the bill as game changer and other political parties are considering it as vote bank politics. "As an academician and university teacher, may I ask these policy makers about some facts. Who will take care of implementation of FSSA, which was made to ensure service to the masses (poor as well as prosperous), regarding food available in market, either ready made, ready to eat or raw form," he said. Why policy makers are not ensuring the best services to commoner by strict implementation of provisions of FSSA 2006 amended in 2008, 2010 and 2012 for better services to every section of society. Why they are eying only vote bank that may be an easy target?"
Has he not a point in asking why the various provisions of the food safety act are not being strictly enforced in spite of passing the act almost 7 years ago? Without bothering to evaluate the impact of previous policies, enacting new acts is meaningless and inappropriate. This country is not short of good laws but it is at the implementation level that government falters very badly with inefficient management, a shirking work force and utter insensitivity! It is unlikely that such inconvenient questions will ever be answered by a government who is bent on bribing the electorate through promises which can never be fulfilled with the available resources without adversely affecting the national development agenda.
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