The "Chicken is coming to roost" for FSSAI-Industry up in arms against this reckless "Authority" with no accountability

When Government of India conceded the demand from the food industry to consolidate the functions of different food regulatory agencies under its wings for reducing the red tapism and delays encountered by them hampering its growth, there was relief all around that better days were ahead for them. Alas, this hope has been totally belied if one goes by the actions and omissions of the new entity created in 2011 under the exalted name of Food Safety and standards Authority of India (FSSA) which is headed by bureaucrats right from the beginning leaving out technical experts who could have made a lot of difference in its functioning. This Blogger published almost half a dozen articles questioning the credentials of the new set up during the last 5 years and now comes the clinching support for his stand from the Supreme Court and the the industry captains as reported recently. Read further: 

"Angered by the autocratic functioning of Food Safety & Standards Authority of India which regulates food business in the Country, eleven leading national organisations related to food business under the banner of National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) have demanded a CBI inquiry in to the affairs and irregularities of the Authority. " The Authority with its self style functioning much beyond the rules & regulations has caused substantial damage to food industry in India​ in past few years​ and has acted like an activist rather than a regulator tasked with smooth working of the industry​ and facilitating services for its growth but it has utterly failed"-said NJAC at a Press Conference held at New Delhi, which will soon file a charge sheet against the Authority with Union Health Minister.  Supreme Court order of 19th August, 2015 which held issuance of advisory of Product approval as unlawful, is a depiction of autocratic working of FSSA​I.​ Repeated extensions since year 2011 ​for​ obtaining registration ​by​ Food Business Operator​s​ under FSSAI Act is yet another example of nepotism in FSSAI. Non-consultation with stakeholders and non-inclusion of actual representatives of trade & industry in Central Advisory Committee of FSSAI indicates undemocratic​ & non-transparent​ working of FSSAI. The high handed method of working and lack of transparency has led to the current situation which has led NJAC to take the task of impressing upon the Government to ​release it from the clutches of rampant corruption & individualism.​ It is deeply regretted that right from the announcement of product approval process in year 2013 till it was struck down by apex court, FSSAI had blocked any scientific process and approval was made on whims and wills of officials. As pr the advisory every FBO was suppose to obtain product approval from FSSAI after paying Rs.25,000-00 for approval of each product. NJAC believe that such amount is in the tune of Rs.80 crore. No account has been rendered as to how this money was received by FSSAI without any permission in the Act or rules. It is also learnt that Comptroller & Auditor General of India had denied permission to use this money as it is not through a sanctioned way of collection of money. It is further learnt that FSSAI has made fixed deposit of this money without any proper sanction. Is their any beneficiary for making this fixed deposit ? It is a disturbing fact that because of lethargic attitude and illegal product approval advisory the food industry suffered loss of hundreds of crores of rupees, production of large number of items were forced to be stopped, exports draw a big jolt and enormous loss of revenue occurred to Government. Should the liability of the officials will be fixed by the Government ? It is most surprising that FSSA​I​ spent Rs.11 crore for creating an online process and a bulk amount of this money was paid to National Institute of Smart Governance. Whether any sanction was obtained prior to paying this money and why no accounts were submitted in FSSA​I​ meetings for three years.Huge amount of money was spent on international travel for various officials without any panel recommendation. Under the circumstances, the NJAC has demanded a CBI inquiry into affairs of FSSA​I​. It has sought time with Union Health Minister J.P.Nadda and Health Secretary to apprise them with the factual position and demanding action against erring officials. It has also demanded refund of Rs.80 crore collected on account of product approval. The NJAC has also demanded the Health Minister to constitute a Special Task Force comprising ​of ​senior officials of Ministry and representatives of stakeholders to make an in-depth study of rules and regulations of FSSAI and to suggest amendments in a time bound period​ which has been pending since long resulting in sufferings of food business operators who are facing harassment and corruption at the hands of officials across the Country."

One of the foolish acts of FSSAI has been banning the marketing of a particular brand of noodles without any foresight regarding its consequences and it is history that it had eggs all over its face by the Supreme Court order. Here is a babu oriented organization in this country with absolutely no clue regarding the dynamics of food processing sector riding roughshod on the industry just because it is drunk with power. Is it not ridiculous that a paper tiger like FSSAI with no infrastructure of its own to carry out its functions except "ordering" and its plush air conditioned office complex in Delhi inhabited by babus with exalted opinion about them selves, trying to to be "vigilante" for the consumer who any how has no faith in it? Is it not unfortunate that the new government in Delhi is as unconcerned as the previous one about the well being of the citizen who is groaning because of sky rocketing prices of foods while safety and quality are suspect with most of them, giving a free run to adulterators and fraudsters? When is the country going to wake up from its deep slumber and force the government to take action to ensure the safety and health of future generation? We cannot leave every thing to God, as most of us with a fatalistic philosophy have the habit to do, to sort out our problems and it is time that concerted action is taken now to protect our future. 

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

THE FOOD SECURITY "APATHY"- IS THERE NO ACCOUNTABILITY?

It is only recently that India is being viewed as a potential economic power because of the sustained GDP growth brought about by the opening up of the economy to global changes. The manufacturing and service sectors have contributed greatly to this reasonable boom though agriculture is increasingly being marginalized adversely affecting the fortunes of millions of farmers in the country side. Unbiased critics may be right in pointing out that the visible signs of development, excluding more than 70% of the population residing in the rural regions, has no meaning because the fruits of current development are getting concentrated in few hands with no percolation effect. The country is over dependent on imported edible oil and pulses in spite of massive investments on agriculture during the last two decades. Under such conditions wastage of food grains, what ever be the excuse, cannot be condoned as the number of hungry people in the country is substantial if recent reports by reputed international agencies are to be believed.

"RODENTS, MONKEYS and dogs eating away the food grains; poor food storage conditions and rain water flowing from the sacks of wheat in the godowns of Food Corporation of India are a disgrace to the nation. We have seen such pictures on different news channels. Many months have passed since a news channel first aired such reports but the situation has not improved. On the contrary, the Agriculture MinisterSharad Pawar and other officials are accusing media of repeatedly showing the same footage and exaggerating the issue. In Allahabad, more than one lakh wheat sacks are left in the open despite enough space in the godown. The godown is spread in nine acres of land. Similar situation is prevailing in Patna and Katihar godowns. Food grains are left in open without any care. In Haryana itself three lakh sacks of wheat got wasted in a warehouse due to floods. The Met department had issued flood warning to Punjab and Haryana before the arrival of monsoon. However, the precautions were not taken and the foodgrains continued to lie in open and low-lying area. Flood water entered the warehouse and damaged the food grains. Similarly, 4.5 lakh sacks of wheat estimated to be worth over Rs 25 crore were damaged due to rains at the FCI godown at Hapur in Ghaziabad. But when the media-persons contacted the FCI offficials, they quickly denied the impact of rain. The stock was meant to be picked up by the Uttar Pradesh government but it failed to do so in time. Foodgrain storage is a major issue in India as a large part of it gets wasted due to poor storage conditions. Every year it is the same story. Even Pawar admits that we need 140 tonnes of extra storage capacity. But the question arises why it has not been done till now".

Is there no accountability in this country with a great historical past, ruled not by cruel kings but by people's own elected representatives? If corporate management principles are applied probably no one in the administration will escape indictment or punishment for the negligence, callousness and insensitivity to public funds. Symbolic resignations or temporary admonition followed by rehabilitation of the tainted officials cannot be accepted and deterrent action of severe nature will only be understood. There must be an accountability mechanism before which all these inefficient, corrupt and good for nothing officials must be prosecuted for the unpardonable food "crimes" they commit in allowing valuable foods go waste.

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

YES, MINISTER, PLEASE DO IT, COUNTRY IS WITH YOU

Public Distribution System, generally known by its acronym PDS, has been the backbone of India's food security till a decade ago and was being grossly neglected while the GOI was engrossed in economic liberalization policies. There was a time not in the too distant past when most of the population had ration cards for drawing food grains and sugar at subsidized rates and the ration card doubled up as a family identity document acceptable for many official purposes. Over a period of time most of the card holders stopped patronizing the ration shops because of poor quality of grains sold by these outlets, most of them housed in dilapidated structures and managed by inefficient cooperatives or "not so honest" small scale traders. According to sociologists, more than 60% of PDS grains are siphoned off by unscrupulous pilferers with the blessings of corrupt politicians and petty bureaucrats. To day the system has degenerated into a "poverty eradication" tool for distributing food grains at ridiculously low prices of Rs 2-3/ kg to the so called "Below Poverty Line" population, with more that 70% of the country's citizens having no card at all. It is any body's guess as to what proportion ultimately reaches the intended beneficiaries.

"Computerisation of the entire network of targeted public distribution system (TPDS) operation is a must and should be completed in a time-bound manner," Pawar said speaking at a conference of food secretaries here. He said the government has already initiated the process of computerisation of PDS network up to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) delivery point. "It is essential that our efforts in this direction to be accelerated so as to cover the entire distribution chain from the procurement process and ending with retail distribution at fair price shop level," Pawar said while adding, states should also simultaneously take up such networking at their end. The minister said, use of technologies such as global positioning systems for tracking of movement of PDS commodities, bar-coded ration coupons, digitisation of ration card database and smart cards would also help in bring changes in the system and it need to be taken up. "The time has come to have a re-look at the way it has been functioning and introduce reforms so as to make our TPDS more efficient and responsive to the changing socio-economic milieu," Pawar said.

The Minister for Food and Agriculture is a busy senior politician with added responsibility of administering the International Cricket Council based in Dubai as its President and must be congratulated for his policy declaration which has far reaching implications. That he found sufficient time to "air" his thoughts is a good augury and if implemented as proposed by him, there is a distnict possibility that a substantial portion of the resources now being "looted" could be saved. But there are imponderable factors that can still thwart the scheme and the die-hard corrupt breed in India have their own way of circumventing any well laid out fool proof plans and hijack public money. Use of modern computer technology including bar coding, RFI Tagging, Global Positioning etc is well thought of to keep track of commodity storage, transportation and retail distribution net work. The desire to transform Ration Shops into modern type of retail stores is also welcome and if these modernization efforts succeed, covering the entire population, there could be no more need for a unique identification number for which GOI is spending a fortune.

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