Maharashtra ended famine forever by passing an Act that deleted the word ‘famine' from all laws of the State.
Maybe the government, the National Advisory Council and other assorted enthusiasts of the Food Security Bill can learn from Maharashtra about moving towards ending hunger altogether.
In 1963, the government of Maharashtra ended famine forever in the State. It did this without adding a morsel to anyone's diet. It did so simply by passing an Act in the Legislature that deleted the word ‘famine' from all laws of the State. No kidding. This was called ‘The Maharashtra Deletion Of The Term “Famine” Act, 1963” (And was dug up after decades by an independent researcher from Bangalore.)
The basis for this? Let the Act explain itself. It asserts that “there is now no scope for famine conditions to develop.” Why so? Because “the agricultural situation in the State is constantly watched by the State government.” And “relief measures as warranted by the situation are provided as soon as signs of scarcity conditions are apparent.” Goodbye Famine.
The next para says the term ‘famine' “has now become obsolete, and requires therefore to be deleted” (emphasis added) from “other laws on the subject in their application to the State.” It decrees that “for the words ‘famine or acute scarcity' the word ‘scarcity' shall be substituted,” in all laws of the State. Lucky Maharashtra — it can't ever have acute scarcity either.
By slaying famine and acute scarcity on paper, a government kills its own responsibility towards citizens, mainly poor and hungry ones, in times of crisis. Its burden becomes less. It can concentrate (especially in Maharashtra) on boosting the Indian Premier League and its billionaires.
This approach essentially defines a problem out of existence. You can't fight famine — so abolish it. It's a proud tradition the State still hews to. Can't stop farmers' suicides, so redefine who a farmer is. Then redefine what a suicide is. Maharashtra has done both. Why not have a law banning the word ‘farmer' or ‘suicide' or both? Solves an annoying problem in a State that has seen, in official count, over 44,000 farm suicides since 1995.
This is an Act in a State with a gosh-awful record in food production for years. That includes a 24 per cent fall in 2008-09. A rich State that has seen far more child hunger deaths than many poorer ones. A State that added greatly to its hungry with 2 million people losing their jobs between 2005-06 and 2007-08. That's over 1800 each day — and that's before the global meltdown of September 2008, according to the State's own economic survey.
The 1963 Act casts its shadow to this day. By legal definition, we cannot have a serious crisis in Maharashtra. So when there is one, we respond to it on a much lower scale than needed. No matter how deadly the crisis, relief work will never be up to the mark because it is not required by law to be so.
The Union government and the NAC can learn from this. Why not just abolish the word ‘hunger' by law? Replace it, maybe, with ‘a mild craving for calories' (mild, not ‘acute,'). Or words to that effect. End of hunger. We've started down that road. The NAC's idea of ‘universal PDS in 150 districts” is similar. It re-defines the word ‘universal.' Death by definition has been routine for decades in India — consider the poverty line debates, for instance.
Meanwhile, say the ‘experts,' the millions of tonnes of grain rotting in open yards present a “golden opportunity” for India to export this in bulk “and seize on the high prevailing global prices of grain.” That is also what the government hopes to do. Its affidavit in response to a slap from the Supreme Court speaks of liquidating the excess stocks by open market sale (read exports).
Leave aside for a moment the appalling insensitivity of exporting grain when there are, as the Supreme Court says, many “admittedly starving people” at home. Just look at the logic of it. You have a gigantic pile up of grain. You have these admittedly starving people. You say the production is not enough to go for a universal system in PDS — even while boasting we have so much grain, we can cash in on high global prices. Remember that the government has bragged of “recording the highest ever production of about 235 million tonnes of food grains in 2008-09 …” So much so that we cannot store half of it and it is rotting.
Who will you export it to? Are there good global prices for rotting grain? Grain that even when in best condition was not of superior quality? What you will do is flog it at rock bottom prices to traders who know you won't consider any other option — like letting the hungry eat it — and can knock your prices through the floor. And then the traders can export it as cattle feed — like India has done before in this very decade. About the only thing Iran and Iraq could agree on in 30 years was that the grain exported to them from India was unfit for human consumption. Both rejected shipments early this decade. But there are always, never fear, European cattle. Talk of sacred cows — these will be subsidised by some of the hungriest humans on the planet.
The government knows this is how it will end up — and is not at all averse to that happening. Apart from the juicy avenues of corruption it presents to many connected to the Food Ministry and the trader lobbies linked to them, it makes “sound economic sense” in their worldview. One in which the hungry count for little. The National Democratic Alliance did the same thing in 2001-03 and paid the price for it in 2004. The United Progressive Alliance feels confident the elections are far off. And there are no pesky Leftists to restrain them in this innings. This is the time to ram through ‘hard decisions.'
Meanwhile, even as we talk of ‘exportable surpluses,' we look around for ways to make up our production shortfall. Indian companies are buying land in parts of Africa to grow foodgrain. This finds approval with the Working Group on Agricultural Production set up by the Prime Minister and chaired by Haryana Chief Minister B.S. Hooda. Its report says “We should seriously consider these options for at least 2 million tonnes of pulses and 5 million tonnes of edible oil for 15-20 years.”
Indeed, the Hooda report wants us to spread our net further. It says “Indian companies can be encouraged to buy lands in countries like Canada, Myanmar, Australia and Argentina for producing pulses under long-term supply contracts to Indian canalizing agencies.” (Thereby eyeing four continents besides Africa). So even as we convert more and more food crop land to cash crop or to non-farm use at home, Indian companies (doubtless with handsome government support) will buy land and grow grain in poorer countries (which is where it will mainly happen). Why? So we can create worse food crises in even poorer nations? But what if the locals get restless? They might resent the food they hunger for being shipped to India? No worries. What are we building a Blue Water Navy for, anyway?
A dismal debate all around. Yet, in the next few weeks, the government, the NAC, Parliament, and the judiciary will all be called upon to take major decisions, even vital steps, on the food security of the Indian people. They might want to remember that there is existing legislation to draw from. Legislation far superior to and of a very different kidney from the “Maharashtra Deletion of the Term ‘Famine' Act, 1963.” That is, the Directive Principles of State Policy — that give us the vision and soul of the Indian Constitution.
Of course, the moment we speak of the Directive Principles, up pops the point: “but these are not enforceable!” Yet, the very line of the Constitution which says they are not enforceable goes on to say they are “fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws.” How the state — and others — perform their duties will be on display in the next fortnight.
Will the courts say anything about the notion of shipping grain abroad when millions go hungry at home? Will the government say something other than ‘no' to the needs of the hungry? Will the NAC rethink its stand on a universal PDS? Will Parliament accept fraudulent definitions of food security? Will anyone speak for the Directive Principles of State Policy and how policy must work towards strengthening them? It would, of course, be silly to expect a government of this sensitivity to care a fig for the Directive Principles. But perhaps we can hope that the Supreme Court does?
Correction
The last sentence of the second paragraph of the Edit Page Main article of the same day, "Food security - by definition," referred to a 1963 legislation by the Maharashtra government. The full nomenclature of the act is "The Maharashtra Deletion Of The Term `Famine' (From Laws Applicable To The State) Act. 1963. (Mah. Act No. XL of 1963). In the same article, there was a sentence which said, "Legislation far superior to and of a very different kidney from.," leading to a query from one of the readers. It means "of a very different kind."
Keywords: Food Security Bill, famine, Maharashtra, Supreme Court, National Advisory Council, Food Corporation of India
..hope our PM defines what the so called 'inclusive growth' is...
It's very shameful to read this article. Indian democracy is really an oligocracy.
Masses should think that Mr.Manmohan is against the free distribution of grains and poverty.
Although I agree with you that the Government is negligent in taking care of our farmers and their produce properly, I do not agree that the solution is to ensure that the Government will take care of them. I would prefer if the farmers are protected from the government of the day and local party politics. Such a protection would invariably involve empowerment of our farmers with latest information and unhindered access to markets and market information. I think, if allowed, the farmers can make much better decisions about their produce and lives than the governments, political parties, you, or I. Governments primary responsibility may be to ensure free flow of information for its citizen. Would you not agree?
I think that the farmers have more mundane interests like growing their produce and tending to the needs of their families than about megalomaniac thoughts like I-am-the-best-patriot-and-you-are-not and billionaires-are-bad-because-I-am-not-one.
unless the Govt acts fast, sorry! the Judiciary acts fast, many souls will be liberated( can we call 'death'this way?)due to mild craving for calories.....I remember studying in my Indian Economy class during graduation, that if all the cultivable lands in India are cultivated rightly, it can take care of the entire food needs of the world.. imagine we have such a dismal picture now here....
brilliant article!! keep it up Sainath!I am from Kolkata. West bengal also has started seeing farmers' suicides.,(or any latest terms for these words) Will our Food and Agriculture Minister spare a few minutes to read this article????"mild craving for calories" made me think....
The politics in Maharashtra is appalling. Most chief ministers (Sharad Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Vasantdada Patil, Yashwantrao Chawan) the state has seen have come from the farming dominant south western Marathwada region. And they all come from rich farm land owning families. How their blood never boiled on seeing close to 1,00,000 farmers (people supposedly of their own brethren) commit suicide defies reasoning and logic. I come from the Vidharbha region which has always been politically ignored by the government because Mumbai,Pune and Marthwada are more attractive politically. Vidharbha is a great cotton producing belt if managed even with a little concern for the good of farmers and the land. We were historically one of the richest and most prosperous states in India, but the last I knew, the government had created a deficit of 1,00,000 crore rupees! And they still keep fighting over regional and language issues while our poor people die. Shameful for all of us.
Hard to believe how India still is a land of paradoxes, on one hand the world see's us as an emerging economic power and on the other hand the governance is so poor that half of Indians go without basic necessities. We are the IT superpower yet more than half of India does not have access to even basic computing. We have invented the low cost computing devices, yet our students in rural area have no access to the same, let alone grumble about our sorry state of municipal schools and poor teacher-student ratio.
Where are we headed as a Nation. What have these so called leaders done to our Motherland. Let all us Indians unite to bring back honour and respect to our Motherland and let us spread the awareness through such articles and blogs. Lets say it when we see it happening and let us appreciate good work and pull up people for their insensitivity.
Thanks Sainath, your efforts are inspiring me and I am encouraged to share this with all the students I teach, to make them more sensitive towards problems in India, and will surely encourage them to think of solutions.
You have made us all stand up and think on what we could do to help this situation.
Unputdownable.........
A very informative but disturbing article. The scheme of buying land in another country for farming seems farfetched. Ofcourse india is not the only country going hungry to feed European animals! This has to be stopped.
Thank you Mr. Sainath. What a revelation!
A very thought-provoking report of the dismal facts! A country which boasts of having some of the richest billionnaires, where tonnes of foodstuff go waste and millions of people either sleep or die hungry, what else can we expect but such an irresponsible, insensitive and heartless Government?
This is so shocking,
how a bunch of politicians and in the backdrop the bureaucrats can do such a foolish thing and even after so many years, its still there staring at us, in the 21st century where India is dreaming to become a superpower.
The author excels himself in this exceelent piece of writing. We have MPs who enact in the decorous house, street fight scenes to stall Parliamentary proceedings, when 300 per cent hike in their salary has been unacceptable to them.
Who will think of the common people who struggle to make the ends meet? Who would bother about the urchins scavenging the garbage bin to subdue their pangs hunger. Oh, hunger is a misnomer! It is nothing but a syndrome that develops when the digestive enzymes attack the inner layers of the stomach. Food is not required to treat this syndrome. One can consign down the alimentary canal some crass graas to do the job. Coming events cast teir shadows before. Portents and prodigies point to such eventualities.
..wel i realy like this article as m preparing for civil services and i never knew that Maharashtra had amended its law regardind famine conditions in the state...thkz
Indigestible truths. I still did not understand how India was shining. The insensitivity is alarming. Thank you for the info. This is what every educated Indian should know, apart from all the 'glory' the country proclaims.
Food security will remain a slogan only our grains are not distributed to hungry people .We must follow the Supreme Court's direction without second thought.
The author has rightly said that it would be silly to hope from the govt. which is run by the insensitive people. In India the Politicians have only to think and find the ways to loot the public exchequer, be it hike of salary of parliamentarians,preventing of qualified personnel from entering in public services by asking for more and more reservations for their vote banks, stopping such persons to enter into parliament or state legislative assemblies who are literate enough to understand the problems of the people.The policies are framed in a manner only to benefit rich and powerful.
By far the best article I have ever read and I checked almost every other fact Mr. Sainath had mentioned hoping that the author would've exaggerated. Unfortunately each and every fact is true, just that they were all conveniently complex and purposefully ambiguous. Indian government recorded the highest ever production of wheat in the year 2007- 08 and its the same year India bought 800000 tones of wheat at a price of $11/bushel (approx and incl of freight charges) when the market price itself was just $8/bushel (approx and incl of freight charges). This move of GoI dint just push the international wheat trade into "full-panic-mode" but also gave a chance for the unscrupulous domestic traders to increase its price exponentially. From then on the price trend had never come down and this hits every Indian financially hard. In a world of globalization where the media is keen on tracking only the rich's India, journalists like P.Sainath make a huge difference. May be his views are ignored by the Government but surely it leaves a big impact in the minds of younger generation.
My sincere congratulatios to Mr.Sainath who tells the truth with such convincing power.Hope the powers that be will read this article and stop kow-towing to IMF "experts" who measure human progress in terms of GDP growth.I hope they will also , some times at least, remmember Gandhi's dream of wiping every tear from every eye
Very well written, with lot of information and awareness about the pathetic condition in our motherland.
what one can expect from a state where BPL/ration cards are distributed only to gain political benefits.there seems to be absence of caretaker for a state-congress government in state is busy in making Gandhi's happy and sena MNS are interested in vandalizing.
i think Maharashtra is the only state where most rich and most deprived ,poor people live at a time.while cities like mumbai,pune and up to some extent nashik are developed ( though in a very unorganized manner ), villages are struggling with electricity, roads, water and shift of pollution oriented companies from urban to rural areas.
a state where nations first rojgar hami yojana ( employment guarantee scheme ) started during famines of 1970, is struggling to with unemployment.states co-operative network was rated best in India , is now struggling with debt and bankruptcy.
What solution does the writer has it is easy to point fingers but please also write the options which can be executed on ground and by the way the corruption is by people like you and me and you suggest the mechanism so that we ensure proper implementation of Food security issues which still has not come in vouge.
absolutely forthright and revealing.
Another excellent article sir. It is highly appalling to see the state of events. It was well known that even after a surplus grain production the poor was not still sleeping empty stomach; however, after reading the above, the reality seems much more dismal. I sincerely hope the govt. checks its means.
The real nature of a any human being is to share the food. But now I'm skeptical about that sharing character due to the prevailing politics with the food for hungry people. It remains me to rephrase the quote " Rich grows richer and poor becomes poorer " to " Rich can become richer while hungry ones can starve to death".
A superb presentation of some bare facts. It is high time the UPA government stopped using the PDS only for its political ends. food is a very basic need and without looking into this very need no government can be lauded for its efforts for governance.
A very powerful read.
I had no idea about the 1963 Act. How shameful, and shameless, we can get! With each passing day, I find I am less proud to be an Indian.
Yet another scathing write-up! An ordinary reader is bound to be ashamed of the country's 'heavily burdened' food minister, insensitive Agricultural ministry and greedy bureaucracy.
Hi Sainath,
Really a good article. This article gives an holistic insight in to the burning food problem of India. It is the need of an hour to work w.r.t the food regulation. The food index is showing so high, all the food grains prices are shot up. Along with poor, even middle class section of population also can not bear the heat of price rise.
If anyone GOVT consider Directive Principles while formulating laws, our country would have been high in HDI. Our politicians are so corrupt, I do not understand why are they so greedy. Even if they want to eat money(max 20%), alteast 80% they have to work solely for the development of our people and country right. But our politicians main motto is "MAKE MONEY"
Thought provoking .....
instead to criticise govenment use of differnt word why dont we pay attention to implementation of any policy. the first importance should be given to people not govt. tis is our first drawback. even if they use word scarcity instead to famine why dont they pay attention that if really we face scacity of food or scarcity to implementation of any govt programme.
In the same vein, we should redefine "death" to mean "passing away to a better realm". That should make things even easier for our law makers. In fact things like suicides, death due to hunger etc will become a welcome thing and encouraged.
Hip hip Hurray to our legislatures . They really need still higher wages for the public work they are doing. The poor legislatures of our India.
Appalling.
I really don't know when we are going to elect a government. How can we expect something like this from those who eat a five star hotel food. Do we Indians really facing the scarcity of true public servants.
What is so complicated over the issue to think.....if we got so much grains just distribute our hungry people...... we lack commonsense too
it is so ironical to see that represntatives of hungry indians are overfed and pampered politicians. the issues of importance to them are hike in their salaries by almost 200%(plz dont raise the issue of other sources of money, as all of them are dead honest..!!), fighting for the lowering of multiplex rates for marathi films... who bothers for hunger, when they all survive on freebies. i thank our media that its vigilance atleast keeps the miseries of Mango People...(common man), abuzz, atleast it gives, if not food, but Food For Thought. May God Bless those in vistas of Parliament with some genuine Care n Love for their electors.
Brilliant! Paid news and now this... great work Sainath. Keep it up.
Hello Mr. Sainath,
I just like to point out that you write with much authority and I feel you have your signature all over your articles. And I also like to appreciate the researcher who dug through files to come across this law. It just makes me wonder if 1963 saw such laws that were passed what we will find if we start going through the current files.
It just makes me wonder though if it was sheer confidence with which the state was being governed at that time or just plain stupidity. Because the harder I think about it the more silly it feels to even type such an Act.
Please Email the Editor