The National Food Security Bill, now placed before a Parliamentary Standing Committee for approval, is an “absolute disaster” in a context where there is a “perpetual state of famine” with 37 per cent of the Indian population malnourished, said social activist Binayak Sen.
Delivering the sixth Henry Volken Memorial Lecture at the Indian Social Institute here Friday on ‘Equity, Well-Being and Public Policy', he said 37 per cent of Indians have a body mass index (BMI) of below 18.5, a clear indicator of malnourishment.
Dalits worse off
The scenario is worse among the socially and economically deprived, with 50 per cent of Scheduled Tribes and 60 per cent of Scheduled Castes and a large section of the minority communities falling below the BMI standard of 18.5.
While the Public Distribution System (PDS) was already in disarray, the categorisation and targeting proposed by the Bill were “absurd”, Dr. Sen said.
Pointing to the irrationality of the country's budget allocation, he said while the Government would have to spend Rs. 1 lakh crore to provide sufficient foodgrains universally, it spends Rs. 5 lakh crore towards tax rebates for corporates.
‘Democracy threatened'
The policies of economic liberalisation were leading to the state “parcelling out natural resources” to corporate interests, resulting in alienation of people from common property resources as in the case of Orissa's mineral-rich belt.
The state stood “guarantor”, either through civil or military intervention, for appropriation of natural resources by the rich elite. This was threatening the fibre of democracy and the promise of the Constitution.
Crushing dissent
Dr. Sen said that the phenomenon of suppression of dissent was spreading all over the country. He cited 50 cases being foisted against the anti-POSCO leader Abhay Sahu and the atrocities of Salwa Judum, the state-armed militia of Chhattisgarh to counter naxalism, as cases in point.
“Democracy cannot be reduced to a series of elections or a system where we outsource governance,” he said, adding that social mobilisation has to be a “constant theme running through democracy”.
‘Apathy unfortunate'
Apathy among the youth to political activism and denigration of political involvement among the middle class was unfortunate as “a democratic system does not drive itself”.
