At the culmination of the five-day dharna on food security organised
by the Left parties in New Delhi from July 30 to August 3, 2012, the
leaders of the Left parties – Prakash Karat (General Secretary, CPI[M]),
S. Sudhakar Reddy (General Secretary, CPI), Debabrata Biswas (General
Secretary, AIFB) and Abani Roy (Secretary, RSP) – met the Prime Minister
on August 4 and submitted a memorandum to him on the need for an
amended food security legislation to be brought in the Parliament.
The text of the memorandum is given below.
Dear Dr. Manmohan Singhji,
The Left parties have held a nationwide campaign on the issues
concerning food security. This phase of the struggle ended with a five
day sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar attended by thousands of people from
all over the country. Representatives of different States presented
their experiences and highlighted the adverse impact of relentless food
inflation on the lives of common people. There was a unanimous rejection
of the draft Food Security Bill presently before the Parliamentary
Standing Committee. We write this memorandum to draw your attention to
what we consider are the critical issues.
1. India produces enough foodgrains to ensure a food security system
which covers all sections of the people. The targeted system introduced
as part of the so-called economic reforms from the decade of the
nineties has proved to be a failure. Large sections of people who
require subsidized foodgrains are excluded. It has been shown that in a
country like India, with a large majority of the workforce in the
unorganized sector with no fixed income, the errors of exclusion far
outweigh those of inclusion in a targeted system. With the largest
numbers of hungry people in the world, India requires a comprehensive
and inclusive food security system, which can only be provided by
scrapping the targeted system and replacing it with a universal system.
2. With the relentless increase in prices of food items, a universal
public distribution system can also help to keep market prices down.
Dal, edible oil and other essential commodities should be supplied
through the public distribution system. Many State Governments using
their own funds, however limited, are providing foodgrains at one or two
rupees a kilo. The central food security system therefore must keep the
prices of foodgrains down to a maximum of two rupees a kilo. We
therefore believe that it is only reasonable that a minimum of 35 kg of
foodgrains at a maximum price of two rupees should be provided.
3. The experience of targeting is not just in poor implementation but
more fundamentally linked to the estimates of poverty converted into
daily poverty lines and State wise quotas by the Planning Commission.
You well know of the national outrage against the poverty line figures
given by the Planning Commission to the Supreme Court of Rs. 26 for an
adult in rural India and Rs. 32 for an adult in urban India at 2010-2011
prices. We have learnt that yet another committee has been set up to
look at poverty estimates afresh. We strongly oppose the linkages
between Planning Commission estimates with either food security or other
welfare rights and schemes. The present questionnaire for the BPL
census also raises many questions as it is designed to exclude rather
than include the deprived. This further underlines the urgent necessity
for universalizing the right to food.
4. India can have a successful food security programme only if the
kisans of India are protected from the volatility of market manipulation
by powerful lobbies. In this connection the recommendation of the
National Farmers Commission is for an MSP based on the actual cost of
production, which is constantly rising given the increase in the prices
of fertilizer, diesel, pesticides, seeds, electricity and other inputs
plus a 50 per cent profit margin. This is an important aspect of
providing food security.
5. At present the Government is holding around 5 crore tonnes of
surplus stocks of foodgrains. In the name of “liquidating the stocks”
the Government has decided to export the grains. Already 25 lakh tonnes
have been exported. The grains are given at subsidized prices to private
traders. Substantial amount of this grain will be ultimately used as
cattle feed in developed countries. We believe that the grains should be
distributed universally. Particularly at a time when India is facing
one of its worst droughts, export of foodgrains is shortsighted and will
only benefit big agribusinesses. We are against exports at this time.
6. All these issues should be reflected in the Food Security Bill.
Instead it is unfortunate that the Bill seeks to push the so-called
reform process further by linking the APL subsidy to acceptance by the
States of certain objectionable conditions such as introduction of cash
transfers, AADHAR cards etc. Cash transfers at a time of high food
inflation will erode even the present inadequate allocations apart from
other factors such as possible diversion of the funds for other pressing
needs. In any case such conditions are an attack on the federal
character of the constitution and an encroachment on the rights of the
States. The Bill gives overriding powers to the Central Government. The
present Bill also legalizes targeting in a new form by introducing three
categories of general (APL), priority (BPL) and automatically excluded
sections. We find this highly objectionable. We believe that the Bill in
its present form will legalise food insecurity and must be radically
changed so as to include:
Minimum allocation of 35 kg of foodgrains of reasonable quality per family at the maximum price of two rupees a kilo.
This should be a legally enforceable universal right, scrapping APL/BPL divisions.
Conditions such as cash transfers should be eliminated.
The Food Security Bill should be suitably amended and presented in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
We hope that you will consider our views and take appropriate action.
With regards
Prakash Karat, General Secretary, CPI(M)
S. Sudhakar Reddy, General Secretary, CPI
Debabrata Biswas, General Secretary, AIFB
Abani Roy, Secretary, RSP
