The government on Thursday admitted to problems in storage as well as supply of sub-standard foodgrains to the poor after senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat expressed serious concern in the Rajya Sabha over grain rotting.
“I do admit,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after Ms. Karat charged the government with supplying rotten foodgrains to remote tribal areas. She showed samples of spoiled wheat and rice in the House.
“It is a fact that we could not create surplus storage capacity to our requirement. I do admit… rotten wheat,” Mr. Mukherjee said replying to a debate on the Finance Bill later.
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Ms. Karat said: “I challenge, let one big officer eat rotis from this wheat.” She demanded the recall of sub-standard foodgrains from government godowns and their replacement with better quality rations.
“Is there no value for the lives of Adivasis to whom the grain was supplied via government ration shops?” she added.
With Ms. Karat demanding a monitoring agency to check the quality of foodgrains, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan called on the entire House to associate itself with her mention. He assured it that the government would keep in mind the sentiments of the members.
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The former corporate sector executive, A.K. Ganguly (nominated), warned that India was sitting on a grain-bomb as wheat production was expected to cross 82 million tonnes this year.
“The country needs an additional storage capacity of 1.5 lakh tonnes, but only 1 per cent was created in 2010,” he said.
Mr. Ganguly pointed out that while Russia and China were facing wheat crop failure, India was poised to reap a good harvest. “Let us not convert the fortune of plenty into calamity,” he said, with noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan associating himself with the issues raised.