India! The Paradox of Plenty: Acute And Widespread Hunger Amidst Overflowing Food Stocks

At a time when the India is poised towards a high-growth trajectory, the masses suffer under the debris of poverty and hunger. At the beginning of the millennium, India boasted of a food surplus of 65 million tonnes while 320 million people went to bed starving. What an ironic situation that while the country incurred Rs. 6,200 crore to keep the food grains stacked in the open, it had no means to distribute it to the deprived ones. …

…of raising MSP every year. Moreover, instead of only focusing on quantity of production, we should emphasize on value and kind of crop we produce. The focus should shift on cash crops and horticulture. This entails a balanced approach of providing incentive as well as agro-climatic approach to agriculture development. The key, therefore, lies in balanced and sustainable development, rather than artificially high subsidies and procurement prices resulting in deciding 'who will grow what, where'?