Deprivation in India-Are the latest census figures realistic?

India is always considered a country of paradoxes. This is reinforced further by the census figures released recently highlighting the contradictions inherent in the growth of the country. It is unbelievable that more than two thirds of the rural households possess cell phones while the government wants to give heavily subsidized cereals at throw way price to 3 out of the 4 households under its National Food Security Act! If the figures trotted out are really true all the development programs to uplift the poor from poverty were wasted with no significant impact! Can this be true? It is hard to believe that really poor people would spend their precious resources for a cell phone which costs at least a few hundred rupees, in stead of on essential things in life. With government schemes like MNREGA income earning opportunities do exist in rural areas and according to some reports in many states there are few takers for this earning scheme. It is really hard to believe that rural population is languishing from lack of money for buying their essential needs to such an extent. If planning is based on these figures more subsidies can be expected from the government to address "poverty". Read further to get some idea about the implications emerging out of the set of figures put out by the government agency. 

Over two out of every three rural households own a mobile phone, the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 has found. At the same time, 36 per cent of rural Indians are illiterate, only 10 per cent households have someone with a salaried job and only 8 per cent households earn Rs 10,000 or more every month. The SECC findings, released last Friday, bring out statistics reflecting the state of poverty and deprivation in rural India as well as crucial social trends such as ownership of assets, gender dynamics, marital status, educational and employment. The mobile phone statistics contrast sharply with those for landlines. While only one per cent of rural households own a landline phone without a mobile, a whopping 68.35 per cent have mobiles as their only phone(s). In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 86 per cent rural households own no phone but mobiles. Households with both landline and mobiles constitute an additional 2.72 per cent of the rural population, with Kerala the highest among the states at 28.33 per cent. That leaves nearly 28 per cent rural households without any phone. In Chhattisgarh, this is particularly high at 71 per cent, mainly due to lack of connectivity and mobile towers, a reflection of the lack of development in the state, which has witnessed large-scale Naxal violence. The average size of a rural Indian household is nearly five members — 4.93 — the highest being in Uttar Pradesh at 6.26 and the lowest in Andhra Pradesh at 3.86. An overwhelming majority of households is predictably male-headed, but nearly 13 per cent do have a female head. In Rajasthan, around 91 per cent households in rural areas are headed by men, while in Kerala 26 per cent households are women-headed, the highest among the states. While divorces are a relatively common phenomenon in urban India, they remain almost rare in the rural landscape. Only 0.12 per cent of the rural population have been divorced, the highest in Mizoram at 1.08 percent. The findings list 41.64 per cent rural people as never married (the highest being in Nagaland at 56 per cent) but do not spell out the age group of these unmarried people. Educational levels remain dismal, with over a third of rural India illiterate. The proportion of those passing through the primary, secondary, senior secondary and higher secondary stages drops at each successive level, from nearly 18 per cent to 5 per cent, while only 3.45 per cent are graduates or above. The highest proportion for graduates is in the National Capital Territory and Delhi, at 9.6 per cent; among the states, Kerala tops at 8 per cent. Rural India remains largely dependent on self-employment or the unorganised sector. Less than 10 per cent households are dependent on salaried jobs, of which the majority are in government jobs. Also, 0.09 per cent of rural households are houseless, compared to 0.15 per cent in the urban areas.

There is no doubt that poverty does exist in pockets, if the term means inability to buy essential needs like food, medicine and others out of one's own earnings. Farmers' suicides which are happening in the country with sickening regularity have often been cited as the manifestation of poverty but these are happenings because of indebtedness caused by crop failures and other reasons. It is an established fact that what is needed is providing employment and earning opportunities in stead of handing out doles year after year as being practiced to day in modern India. The bundle of figures contained in the report does tell a story which highlights the uneven distribution of wealth in the country due to government's ineffective policies during the last 7 decades. Unless the agricultural sector is made dynamic through large scale injection of modern technologies and integration of nonviable fragmented land holdings, nothing much dramatic can be expected to improve the present situation in our rural landscape.

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

Food Security Act-A "Tuglakian" venture?

India is a country of entitlements of different categories to various people and government is happy splurging public money to cater to these claimants whether they really deserve them or not. Latest addition to the entitlement landscape in the country is doling out almost free food grains to 67% of the population from the granaries of the government. The so called Food Security Act which confers on the designated population the "right" to receive practically free food grains like rice, wheat or coarse grains was hastily thought of by the previous government without much thought to the heavy burden put on future governments to harness sufficient resources to meet these commitments. Interestingly the government provided an escape clause in the Act if it is unable to procure adequate grains for supplying to almost 800 million people who were designated to receive the entitlement, though God knows what criteria were used to identify the beneficiaries. In lieu of supplying grains at the rate of 5 kg per person government intends to compensate the beneficiaries with cash transfer from the public exchequer at a certain calculated rate. Here is a gist of the scheme under which cash compensation is paid. 

"If a beneficiary under the National Food Security Act does not get his or her entitlement, then he/she would get an allowance of 1.25 times the difference between the government's Minimum Support Price (MSP) for that grain and the prescribed rate under the law. This is according to the recent rules framed by the Centre in this regard. The current MSP of wheat is Rs 1,450 a quintal and so, an individual beneficiary will get Rs 80.60 a month for not getting the entitled five kg. The allowance will have to deposited in the bank account or given to him. "Suppose a beneficiary has not received three kg of wheat in a month due to non-availability at the ration shop. The state government will have to ensure he or she gets the allowance as laid down in the rules," a senior official said. The Act, passed in the tenure of the earlier government, gives a legal entitlement for cheap grain to almost 67 per cent of the population. All entitled beneficiaries will get in a month as much as five kg of wheat, rice or coarse cereals at Rs 3 a kg for rice, Rs 2 a kg for wheat and Rs 1 a kg for coarse cereals. Once implemented, the Act is expected to cost the exchequer about Rs 130,000 crore a year. Around 11 states and union territories have implemented the Act and others are in the process of doing so. The Centre has extended the deadline several times. The Centre has said a nodal officer will have to verify at the end of each month the amount of grain available in the ration shops, the status of supply to entitled beneficiaries and the reason why grain could not be supplied. "The food security allowance in lieu of grains will have to given to the beneficiary by the end of the third week of the month for which grains could not be supplied to him." However, a beneficiary will be eligible for the allowance only if he visits the ration to claim the entitlement."

It is a tragedy that under the so called food security program, the right to receive heavily subsidized cereals is conferred only to some while other citizens are deprived of the same. Is it not a type of discrimination where some are given the benefits while others are denied it? Legally is it tenable? It is another matter that many citizens would voluntarily give up this right because of their conscience not to put unnecessary burden on the exchequer and avoid wasting public money. It is possible that most of the people who receive these grains have the wherewithal to pay for the grains at rates used to be charges under the earlier Public Distribution System. With the MNREGA scheme guaranteeing job for 150 days at the rate of Rs 150 per day there may be very little justification to provide grains at throw away prices. If the nation is serious in providing succor to really poor people, the government must create a data base identifying such people through scientific surveys. Probably there might not me more than 10-15% of the population in the country who deserve such helping hand from the government in providing basic foods at affordable prices. .It is nothing but suicidal for the present day government to commit precious resources of such a magnitude, estimated at almost Rs 130 billion every year which could have been better invested on the creaking infrastructure in the country!

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

THE FOOD "DOLE OUT" SCHEME-NEW GOVERNMENT HAS NO COURAGE TO CHANGE!

Election time rhetoric is very misleading can be gauged from the fact that a new government, boasting of its own majority without being hamstrung by "coalition dharma", is continuing the "food doling" program enacted under the misleading name of Food Security Act by the earlier government bleeding the country of its financial resources. Every body knows that not even 25% of the targeted population of 81 crore need such magnanimity by the government but the central government does not seem to be bothered about these incongruities in giving extensions after extensions to state governments to implement this misplaced subsidy heavy cereal distribution scheme to all and sundry without verifying their financial status. It is still not clear as to why the earlier PDS machinery was overlooked,having built it brick by brick over the last 3-4 decades. If there were pilferage, they should have been plugged and the pilferers taken to the gallows for such heinous crimes! The reported news that the new food minister seems to be pressurizing those state governments who have doubts about the need for such heavy subsidies, is disturbing to most citizens in the country as it is their hard earned money given to the government as part of their taxation obligation which is being frittered away in the name of equity for all.

"The Central government has decided to give states an additional six months to implement the National Food Security Act that gives two-thirds of the country's population the right to highly subsidised food grains.  This is the second extension given by the Narendra Modi government to the states. A three-month extension given earlier has expired on October 4. More than 6.1 crore tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals are expected to be distributed to 81 crore people, covering 75% rural and 50% urban population, under the programme. So far, eleven states - Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Chandigarh - have implemented the law, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday. States have to prepare the list of beneficiaries, issue cards to them "..

Helping the poor with low cost food is a noble cause for which every honest citizen in the country would stand up and support but doling the same to people with reasonable income to buy their grains from the open market or getting them through the old ration card system cannot be justified under any excuse. Same is true regarding subsidized cooking fuel or for that matter any subsidy program without identifying the eligible beneficiaries. It is not realized that with to day's income levels the budgetary outgo for food for a family is not more than 50% of the family income for majority of the citizens in the country and providing 5 kg per person of cereals at Rs 1-6 in a month does not help them much. Recent reports indicate that there not many takers for the much touted job guarantee scheme of the government paying Rs 150 per day for 100 days. Does not this mean that there is a substantial population earning much above this. Against this background the heavy out go to the extent of almost Rs1.5 lakh crore year after year till perpetuity on this doling program is uncalled for. Will the new government ignore the electoral compulsions and politics of expediency and scrap this program forthwith? Future generations will not pardon them for this profligacy in a nation that cannot be called rich by any yardstick.

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

PASSING THE BUCK-THE NEW BLAME GAME!

In Kashmir there appears to be a schism between senior food officials and the field staff entrusted with detecting adulteration in foods marketed in the Valley if recent reports emerging from there is any indication. FSSAI wanted to corner all the "glory" in shocking the nation by proclaiming from New Delhi that the extent of adulteration in milk and other common foods is alarmingly high and the implication is that preventing such frauds is not its responsibility! Close on this comes the Kashmir report which should make every Indian hang his head in shame realizing how incompetent the food safety assurance system in this country is. If the field staff finds that the samples picked up by them for testing are not properly dealt with because of inadequate infrastructure and technical personnel or due to sheer indifference of higher officers in charge or for favoring the adulterators for pecuniary considerations, whatever little morale left is bound to evaporate making the situation more grave at the ground level. Here is a take on this issue.  

"After the shocking revelations by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India that 83 per cent of milk produced and consumed in Jammu and Kashmir was contaminated with components like salt, detergents, caustic soda and several other harmful substances, the Drugs and Food Control Organization, Kashmir, Friday asserted 30 per cent of food items in the Valley were "highly adulterated," while Kashmir alone consumed 75 per cent of contaminated milk. "Kashmir consumes 30 per cent of adulterated food items - spices, biscuit, edible oil, salt, and many other eatables, which is shocking. Besides, the Valley people alone consume 75 per cent contaminated milk being produced by local companies," public analyst/ designated officer, Drugs and Food Control Organization, Hamidullah Dar, alleged while talking to Kashmir Observer. He said the food safety officers had been working in different districts and sub districts to check the menace of contamination and they had been collecting samples of milk from time to time, for which they had already sent reports to higher authorities to take action against the companies involved in adulteration. "We collected samples from every corner of the valley and during their testing we found that out of eight samples, six were adulterated with starch, detergent and some synthetic substances," Dar said, adding "In many other food and edible items, our experts found that turmeric and chili powder, sounp, sweets, ghee, pickles, oils, salt had been adulterated with toxic colors, starch with other harmful substances". He said his team had done the sampling and prepared the report before FSSI. Asked why he did not take action against the companies involved in contamination, Dar said, "As a concerned officer, my job is to frame the report and highlight the areas and companies involved in contamination and my work remains restricted to laboratory only, rest is the job of higher authorities." Reliable sources in the Drugs & Food Control Organization said contaminated products were a source of income for various law enforcement officials and other unscrupulous elements. "Contamination is possible only when concerned administration officials adopt a non-serious approach towards the companies involved in the crime. Although lower rung officials do their job like sampling, testing and reporting their findings to the food commissioner and other authorities who, on their part more often than not prefer to look the other way. The chief minister should order appropriate action in the matter," said a well placed official, wishing anonymity. Refuting claims of the commissioner, Food Safety, that food inspectors had been asked to collect samples, sources revealed their earlier reports had been ignored. "On August 5, 2011, we started sampling in different areas and all the food inspectors worked very hard, and then we found most of the products, milk as well as other eatables contaminated. We sent the report to the commissioner sahib, what happened to that, please ask him," said the official.

Probably food adulteration may be the only area where India beats China hollow and in deciding whether one wants to cry or laugh at this "achievement" is a matter of choice for the consumer. Ironically if the Health Minister of this country is to be believed there are no serious food poisoning episodes "reported" in the country during the last year and hence every thing should be fine! With a non-existent reporting and documentation system about food poisoning episodes, is it ever possible to know how many people are affected by food adulteration? Ignorance is bliss and an ignorant government is fooling itself by imagining that its food safety management system is functioning well! Whether in controlling the spiraling prices of processed foods or deterring the processors and traders from indulging in food adulteration, the citizen has no doubt that the governments at the state as well as the central levels have miserably failed him!

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