India asleep over asbestos risks

By Krishnendu Mukherjee
23 Apr 2010

World over, for long, asbestos is known as being dangerous to human health. However, India, a dumping ground for asbestos, has no effective protection or restitution available.

Vasu Narayan Pujari worked for Hindustan Ferodo Limited for forty years. When he retired he was given a certificate commemorating his long service with the Company and asbestosis with an eighty percent disability. Asbestosis is an incurable disease affecting the lungs of people exposed to asbestos, a mineral which because of its unusual properties has widely been used globally in the manufacture of diverse materials from cement to textiles.

Exposure to asbestos can also cause malignant lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer strongly associated with asbestos exposure. Vasu Pujari is one of over a hundred ex-workers of Hindustan Ferodo Ltd, a former brake-lining company in Mumbai which closed in 2006, who are claiming compensation for asbestos-related diseases. If settled, it will be the largest asbestos claim in India's history.

Whilst this is certainly welcome news for the affected workers themselves, the figures illustrate the woeful lack of compensation provided for asbestosis-related diseases in India. A 2005 study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, estimated that there are nearly seven thousand workers with asbestos-related diseases in India. However, given the lack of proper monitoring by statutory authorities, the healthy worker effect (where those who have difficulty in working because of illness are simply dismissed), and the large number of undocumented workers working with asbestos, the figure is likely to be much higher.

Over one hundred thousand workers working with asbestos in India are likely to be at risk. A recent application under the Right to Information Act 2005, filed by the Corporate Accountability Desk, reveals that over the last twenty years only fifty-three workers have been compensated for asbestos-related diseases under the Employees' State Insurance Act 1948, the statutory scheme for the compensation of low-paid workers for personal injury or disease derived through employment. This clearly indicates the huge gap between the number of workers who sustain asbestos-related diseases through the negligence of their employers, and those who are ultimately compensated.

The legal provisions for compensation themselves may also shed some light on these figures. The Employees' State Insurance Act is a piece of welfare legislation which was enacted in the post-war period, on the lines of similar laws in the UK at the time, in order to provide protection to workers. Asbestosis and lung cancer were added as occupational diseases, for which compensation could be claimed, under the Act in 1985. The Government, however, failed to amend the Act so that those who had left their employment with a company, in addition to those currently employed, could also claim compensation. In the case of asbestos-related diseases this is a major injustice. Asbestosis has a normal latency period of 10-20 years, whilst mesothelioma has a latency period of 20-40 years. Therefore, many workers will have left their employment either voluntarily, or as part of the "healthy worker effect", without these diseases being diagnosed.

Further, under an alternative scheme for obtaining compensation under the Workers' Compensation Act 1923, a claimant can be embroiled in the labour courts for many years in his/her struggle for compensation against the previous employer. For instance, a case lodged in 2004 in the Bandra labour court against Hindustan Composites Limited, the successor to Hindustan Ferodo, has been blighted by delays with no end in sight. Notwithstanding the Supreme Court holding in the case of Consumer Education & Research Centre v Union of India, that companies would be strictly liable for causing asbestos-related diseases to their employees, most companies are going scot-free.

Whilst the use of asbestos has been banned in many countries, including the European Union since 2006, India is importing and using asbestos in higher quantities, with the number of factory units using asbestos rising steadily. A related issue, is the fact that there is very little monitoring being done by statutory authorities on where imported asbestos is being used, or the effects of its use on workers.

The Rotterdam Convention 2004, which India bought into force in 2005, has prescribed five forms of asbestos which should undergo the Prior Informed Consent procedure. This procedure requires Convention signatories to provide national risk evaluations and any information on regulatory actions taken. However, in reply to a Right to Information Act request filed in October 2009 to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (the regulatory Ministry from the importation of asbestos), the Ministry admitted to: "not maintaining the list of importers of asbestos, country of originator of asbestos, and manufacturer of asbestos etc". Correspondingly, it is apparent that without such information no proper risk evaluation, nor decisions on regulatory action, can be undertaken.

All this can only lead to one, rather depressing, conclusion. India has become a dumping ground for a substance which has been known to the world since the 1930's as being dangerous to human health, and there is still no effective protection or restitution available. As Vasu Pujari knows, as he gasps for air at every step, a country which ignores its "asbestos time-bomb" today, will repent at its leisure.

Reduced to a ritual

By Pandurang Hegde
21 Apr 2010

The true spirit of Earth Day is to live in harmony with nature as older civilizations have lived for thousands of years.

On April 22, 2010 millions of people around the world will take pledge to protect Earth and participate in numerous activities to help rescue the wounded Earth. This massive public action is bound to raise awareness about the grave condition of the planet that gave birth to human beings and continue producing and providing for innumerable other species. While many people may get involved in personal actions to save Earth through direct actions, however, the political and business leaders would only pay lip service, like every year, towards rescuing Earth.

A long time conservationist and US senator Gaylord Nelson launched the idea of Earth Day in 1970. The main objective was to demonstrate nationwide concern for environment protection and to shake the political set up to initiate action.

The idea of Earth Day originated in a conference held in Seattle. Ironically the initiators of the idea had no clue that a representative of the original inhabitants of the United States, the Red Indian Chief from Seattle pronounced the testament to protect the Mother Earth two centuries before the idea originated. He said "Earth is our mother, not an enemy to be conquered. The white man treats his mother, Earth and his brother sky, as the things to be bought, plundered and sold like sheep. His appetite will devour Earth and leave behind only a desert."

Unfortunately, the wisdom of the Red Indian Chief has been ignored time and again and we continue to pillage Earth to meet our greed and leave behind the deserts through our unending appetite for materialistic development.

For those who are part of the ancient civilizations that survived for several thousand years, every day is an Earth Day in which the respect for the nature was the foundation for all the actions. The ones who neglected these basics could not survive for long. We have ample examples from Mohenjo-daro and Harappan civilizations to Incas. In contrast to these ancient civilizations that survived for several centuries, the industrial civilization has not even passed the test of three centuries. Within such a short lifespan it has created immense problems with global implications, threatening the existence of other life forms on Earth, including that of the human being.


Earth Day indicates the global celebrations and commitment to conserve environment. It has been able to satisfy the need to evolve a new ritual to celebrate, to elicit response from common people towards protecting nature. In the four decades of its existence, it has also been endorsed by the industry and the worldwide media. In the process, it has got reduced to a symbolic act. In reality, the political implications of decision making to destroy the natural resources take precedence over this symbolic act.

The epidemic of "affluenza" has engulfed the better off sections form both developed and developing countries. The high GDP growth, projected as a panacea for underdevelopment, is leading to unprecedented levels of material accumulation and over consumption leading to environmental and social disintegration. The overemphasis on economic growth model of development requires extracting increasing amount of natural resources. According to an estimate, it is 60 billion ton annually, or like consuming 112 Empire State Buildings every day! More than half of the extraction of the resources takes place in Asia, causing major social and environmental disruptions. The recent upheavals in the resource rich hinterland of Bastar and Odisha indicate the pillaging of natural resources for sacrifice at the altar of economic growth.

These glaring facts do not move the common man to act; neither do they motivate the world leaders to find a sustainable path to development. The failure of Copenhagen is a clear indication of parochial mind of our leaders, the fixation they have to continue extracting natural resources to meet the needs of the affluent sections and nations.

Under these circumstances, it seems Earth Day launched four decades back has had very little impact at the highest political levels, both where it originated as well as in other parts of the world.

This also indicates how globalisation invents new rituals like Earth Day, to replace the culturally rooted traditional rituals like "Bhoomie Hunnimme", Earth Day celebrated in some parts of Karnataka on a full moon day in which the farmers worship Earth for bountiful harvest. Similarly in Bastar region, the tribals perform "Surhul" or "Mati Puja" means Earth Worship. As we become global netizens, we find new ways to celebrate, and with media blitz, it becomes a trend, where eliminating older rituals is a non-issue.

The true spirit of Earth Day is to live in harmony with nature, attempting to tread carefully, with the minimal ecological foot prints to leave behind. However, those indigenous societies who practice this ideology are termed and treated as "primitive" and their beliefs are getting shattered by the high consumption models of development. The first step to protect Earth is to live simply. Can we take a pledge for that on this Earth Day?

(The use of the phrase 'the earth' has been avoided so as not to give an impression that we are separate from Earth: Ed.)

Portfolios of the Poor

A book review by Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma

Poor know how to survive

Else, there would be no poor in the world. The fact that there are poor and that their number is consistently growing has been systematically diagnosed in Portfolios of the Poor. From household maid to young car washer and from ubiquitous rickshaw puller to malnourished watchman, there are any number of them around us who survive on less than $2 a day and constitute about 40 per cent of the world's poor. The authors contend that if you've never had to survive on an income so small, it is hard to imagine how they do.

Over a period of six years, the authors maintained annual financial diaries of some 300 households in villages and slums in India, South Africa and Bangladesh to unravel the financial complexities of the lives of the poor. The diaries reveal that most poor households do not live hand to mouth because they rarely consume every penny of what they earn, knowing well that they don't literally earn $2 every day.

The book brings out incredible financial wisdom of the poor. Not having enough money may not be bad, not able to manage whatever money they have is worse. The hard evidence collected through diaries dispels several common notions on poverty, mocking at policy planners who do not see poverty beyond the conventional cause-effect paradigm. No wonder, the anti-poverty strategies have rarely worked to alleviate poverty.

Through painstaking research, Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch and their co-authors Staurt Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven provide fresh perspective on looking at poverty alongside new methods to fight it.

more book reviews@http://www.d-sector.org/readGraf-next.asp?catid=8&id=170

Not so well-intentioned welfare

By Sudhirendar Sharma
12 Apr 2010

In Well Done Abba, Shyam Benegal deals with the serious issue of political economy in an entertaining way and leaves the viewer thinking about the manner our welfare machinery works.

'Well Done Abba' is a satire on govt machinery and its welfare activities

The art of film making may have gone through dramatic transformation but Shyam Benegal continues to use the medium to narrate aesthetically embroidered versions of real life incidents. Since his directorial debut with Ankur in the early seventies, Benegal has used the license of fiction to reflect life's pleasures and pains on the celluloid ever since. Transforming himself into a raconteur, Benegal now applies comic capital to meaningful cinema that he has stood for all his life. The end product is Well Done Abba, his latest film that is ingeniously crafted into an authentic narrative.

If Ankur was a study of multilayered human relationships, Well Done Abba examines ruthless political hierarchies. While Ankur detailed the brutal face of the feudal system, Well Done Abba unfolds the political economy of development. There are glaring similarities in the two narratives, as both focus on power and privilege albeit their misuse. Benegal uses hard hitting satire to take on the entire government machinery - politicians, bureaucrats, engineers, cops - but avoids going overboard with hysteria. The script is paced on real life, gentle but persuasive.

Millions of poor who seek sops may have gone through what Armaan Ali (Boman Irani) experiences as he attempts to build a well on his own land under a government 'below poverty line' scheme. Sucked into the system before he even realizes, Armaan submits to its nefarious designs only to find that the 'well' exists on paper and that it's 'water' has been tasted sweet by none other than the village sarpanch who happens to be a 'woman'. Isn't this a familiar tale of the systemic malaise that precludes the percolation effects of development that are primarily targeted to woo the electorate?

Familiarity does breed contempt but not when Benegal narrates a breezy comic story on screen. The characters are indeed colorful and vibrant, be it Armaan's funky firebrand daughter Muskaan (Minissha Lamba) or his slithery sister-in-law Salma (Ila Arun); and be his unfunny twin-brother Rehman (Boman Irani) or a decent local mechanic Arif (Samir Dattani). The characters, troubled or shattered by their past, vibrate with life whenever they begin to relate to each other. The rest of the ensemble cast is unexpectedly drawn together in recreating a microcosm of the nation in the village.

The well, which exists in false documents and fake photographs, is reported as stolen in a bizarre sequence of events. It creates a political storm with its gutsy winds sweeping the corridors of powers. The knee-jerk reaction does get the elusive well dug overnight where none existed but not before a political capital is made out of it. As in real life, no cog in the well-oiled wheel of development is reprimanded for the stolen well. Instead, the self-perpetuating system shamelessly showers recognitions on each of its members for restoring normalcy albeit temporary.

The film is a sheer delight, a must for urban multiplex audiences who somehow believe that all is well with the poor and that the dichotomy between 'India' and 'Bharat' is a work of fertile imagination. The welfare bits of welfare pronouncements rarely if ever reach the real people. Benegal's characters go through the daily ordeal of getting their legitimate share of development, only to be confronted with all that's absurd, weird, dishonest and ironic in officialdom. However, the film stops short of being preachy; leaving the viewer to imagine the implications.

Shyam Benegal uses the potent force of symbolism to convey compelling messages. 'Today they have stolen our well, tomorrow we'll be robbed of our rivers only to survive on bottled water,' pronounces perky Muskaan. Situation like the one in Chikatpalli village alone can fuel the proverbial water war! In a contrasting sequence, the socio-psychology of materialistic aspiration is unleashed by unrelenting wife on the honest cop. Each of the characters in Well Done Abba thus confronts duality of the situation, one within and the other outside. The sub-plots and sub-themes are engrossing.

Set in rural Andhra Pradesh, the film unfolds like a gentle symphony - allowing its characters to evolve and respond to the emerging challenges. The script nurtures each character to grow up and contribute to the desired change. For revolution to occur, each individual must first rebel against self and its entrenched surroundings. The father-daughter duo of Armaan Ali and Muskaan perform their roles to perfection, combining their individual rebellion to bring about transformation. Though Well Done Abba tests the patience of its proponents, it doesn't allow pent-up frustrations to flare.

Nephew of the legendary Guru Dutt and a former Ad Filmmaker, Benegal keeps the ribs relentlessly tickling as he narrates the crises in planned development with creative finesse. Well Done Abba is wholesome entertainment, conveying contemporary challenges on the canvas of meaningful cinema. Only a master craftsman like Shyam Benegal could take a subtle pot shot at the system.

Non-alignment with violence

By S. G. Vombatkere
06 Apr 2010

As war between Maoists and government forces intensify, it is not a crime to underscore the futility of violent methods to agitate and to curb agitations.

Between the violent paths chosen by the State and the Maoists,
there lies a non-violent option
In a charge sheet against Kobad Gandhi produced by the Delhi Police in the Tees Hazari Courts, New Delhi, on 18 February 2010, besides naming few individuals, some organizations like People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) are named. It is quite strange that governments treat members of PUCL and PUDR as members, collaborators or sympathisers of Maoist, Naxalite or other militant groups.

This possibility needs to be examined in terms of whether it is possible for a socially responsible position to exist, which supports neither the militancy of certain groups of people, nor the government response to militancy with the use of police and military fire-power.

It cannot be ignored that a high-power committee set up in 2006 by the Planning Commission of India, ascribed growing Naxalism to people's discontent and failure of governance, and showed a direct relationship between extremism and poverty. It also recommended that "public purpose" for land acquisition should be limited to national security and public welfare. Clearly, that opinion and recommendation have found a place in the capacious waste bins of government, because the RR Bill and the LA Amendment Bill do not reflect those concerns.

It is well known that the lands and forests occupied peacefully by tribal people are rich in minerals and that MNCs have an eye on exploiting that mineral wealth. At the same time, that exploitation, willy-nilly combined with exploitation of the occupant tribal people through their forced displacement, adds to the nation's GDP, and puts India on a 'growth path' to become a "regional superpower". Forceful displacement and exploitation is nothing but economic violence being wrought upon hapless tribal people.

It is pertinent to note that while there are no official figures, Dr. Walter Fernandes, a noted scholar, gives some idea of the magnitude of displacement. He indicates that between 1947 and 2004, about 60 million people were displaced forcibly and 40% of them are people of the Scheduled Tribes. Compared to 50 million Africans displaced over 200 years by slave-trading Europeans, 60 million Indians displaced in 59 years and that too within and by an independent, democratic nation in the name of development, is shameful beyond description.

Violence begets violence. When governments wreak economic violence upon people by displacing them for industrial projects causing loss of land and livelihood, they cannot resist or respond with economic force since they have none. They protest, agitate, demonstrate and physically resist the occupation of their land by the industry. These protests do turn violent when their point of view is not properly considered or even heard. Whether the protesters or the police started the physical violence, the first cause is economic violence by government that has led to the situation.

The perpetrators of economic violence are primarily corporate interests which have enormous and proximate influence in the highest levels of governments. These interests ensure that they receive official go-ahead for their projects which, in almost all cases, involve the acquisition of land for a "public purpose", land on which poor and marginalized people subsist. These project-affected families (PAFs) have little or no means to argue or represent their case in the corridors of a geographically distant and corporate-favouring government. It is commonly observed that elected representatives, whether or not they are from the ruling party in government, rarely if ever take up the cause of PAFs. In recent times PAFs have been frequently led by some educated members of their group or by intellectuals motivated by notions of social justice or human rights.

However, the involvement of intellectuals is not only for PAFs, but extends to social or physical violence by "upper castes" against dalits, atrocities against women, attacks on religious communities, child-exploitation, etc., under the rubric of human rights or civil liberties. There are organizations that have been formed to uphold and protect the constitutional rights and privileges of all sections of people, especially human rights and civil liberties. These organizations have been formed under the constitutionally granted right of freedom of speech and expression and freedom to form association under Article 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(c) respectively, and they function under the constitutionally prescribed fundamental duties under Article 51A(e) to promote harmony and Article 51A(i) to abjure violence.


Gandhiji preached and practiced non-violence and is recognized internationally as its apostle. He demonstrated ahimsa by example in his personal life, with the conviction and courage of truth (satya), often through satyagraha. He did not restrict his idea of ahimsa to the physical plane but generalized it to other spheres including the economic and political. In today's India there are people who, though they may not be followers of Gandhiji's doctrine of ahimsa, believe that violence is wrong and counter-productive. And they speak against all forms of violence - social, economic, environmental, political, physical - since ultimately it is the weak who are the victims.

It is unfortunate that governments do not understand the oft-repeated position of human rights and other social activists, that standing against violence does not mean sympathy with or support for militant groups, that there is a third position which is equidistant from both sides of the conflict, and that the position of "if-you-are-not-with-us-you-are-against-us" is deeply flawed in the common law and social senses.

Equally unfortunate, speaking against violence and in favour of peaceful negotiations is interpreted by government as opinions of misguided peaceniks at best, or as overt or clandestine collaboration with militants. Today, governments are openly adopting policies of up-scaling police and military fire-power based on intelligence using the latest hi-tech from the military-industrial complexes of the world.

In matters such as the militancy and terrorism that are presently rife, many people fear that governments' policy that militancy (caused by decades-long neglect and misgovernance) should be crushed by the use of police and military firepower, will make presently bad situations worse. Such people take the so-called third position, standing apart from the "if-you-are-not-with-us-you-are-against-us" position, and in favour of peace and harmony.

Naturally, the third position is all about finding solutions of the problems within constitutional framework and with non-violent and peaceful negotiations. But as casualties from both sides rise in the ongoing operations, voices for peace will get obscured under the cacophony of gun battles.

Challenges increase as WSF turns ten

By d-sector Team
05 Apr 2010

Social activists all over the world are celebrating completion of ten years of the World Social Forum (WSF) that was launched in June 2000, at the Alternative Social Summit in Geneva, and had its first meeting from 25 January to 30 January 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

To continue with its tradition of de-centralisation of the movement, in its tenth year the WSF will have series of events spread over 12 months, with activities being held throughout the world.

The idea for the WSF germinated out of the desire to organise a meeting of anti-globalization social movements, parallel to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, an annual meeting point for the beneficiaries of the capitalist model of economic growth and development. The WSF was conceived as providing alternatives to the guidelines of the WEF.

Since 2001, UNESCO has been a regular participant in the WSF and views it as a "prime opportunity for dialogue and a laboratory of ideas for the renewal of public policies" through "critical reflection on the future of societies we want to create and for elaborating proposals in search of solidarity, justice, peace and human rights".

In terms of popularity and participation, the WSF has been going from strength to strength since 2001. However, in the last ten years, the world and its many concerns have changed and the WSF has far greater challenges before it, but lesser political and media impact.

To read complete article follow the link.
http://www.d-sector.org/article-det.asp?id=1148

Overhaul policies that acerbate hunger

By Devinder Sharma
31 Mar 2010
India has several programmes to fight hunger but none has been effective. Unless we change the policies responsible for poverty and spread of hunger, National Food Security Act would become another piece of legislation incapable of making any difference to those who live in hunger and penury.

Hunger is more widespread in India than its middle class believes

In 2009, IFPRI ranked India 66th in Global Hunger Index for 88 countries. Hunger multiplied at a time when we had the bogus Public Distribution System operative, made more efficient by the addition of the prefix 'targetted', and we also had the office of Food Commissioner (set up in response to a petition in Supreme Court) monitoring the food distribution supplies. Hunger and malnutrition grew at a time when we had more anganwadis set up, and more schools being provided with mid-day meals.

Now, the government is proposing a National Food Security Bill to ensure that every poor family gets a minimum of 35 kg of foodgrains at Rs 3/kg. But, can we remove hunger by distributing cheap ration among poor through PDS? The answer is a big NO.

Hunger needs more than PDS ration, and that is where we are failing to focus on. Even the Right to Food campaign has failed to see beyond the entitlements, and its approach is no different from what the bureaucracy in the Ministry of Food has been recommending. Unless we remove the structural causes that acerbate hunger, and most of these relate to agriculture and management of natural resources, India would not be able to make any significant difference in reducing hunger.

Failure of delivery system

Hunger is basically outcome of our wrong policies and our inability to accept that the delivery system is not delivering. At present more than 20 government programmes exist to fight hunger and to provide food and nutritional security. These programs run by various Ministries range from Mid-day Meal Programme to National Food Security Mission, and Antyodaya Anna Yojna to Annapoorna Yojna.

However, despite such impressive programmes already running, and increased budget allocation for these every year, the poor still go hungry. The number of hungry and impoverished has increased with every passing year. UNICEF tells us that more than 5000 children die every day in India from malnourishment.

Therefore, to add another couple of schemes to the existing lot is certainly not going to make it any better for the hungry. Nor a mere tinkering of the approach will help. Replacing the ration cards for the PDS allocations with food stamps is one such misplaced initiative. If we persist with such borrowed ideas, hunger will continue to multiply.

I am a strong supporter of the right-based approach to fight hunger. But another piece of legislation that enshrines Right to Food as the basic human right is not going to make any difference to those who live in hunger and penury, and to the millions who are added to this dreaded list year after year. Right to Food cannot be ensured by simply ensuring on paper half the food entitlements (which has even failed to reach the needy) that a human body needs for normal human activity and growth.

Knowing that the existing programmes and projects have failed to make any appreciable dent, it is high time the opportunity provided by the proposed National Food Security Act be utilised in a realistic manner. It is a great opportunity, and we will let down the nation if we fail to bring about a radical overhaul of the existing approach to fight hunger. The entire debate has to therefore shift from the hands of a few bureaucrats and self-appointed experts who have monopolised any decision-making on hunger. It has to be taken to the nation, through a series of regional deliberations.

Poverty line

First and foremost, the time has come to draw a realistic poverty line. The Tendulkar Committee has suggested that 37 per cent of our population is living in poverty. Arjun Sengupta Committee had said that 77 per cent of the population (or 836 million people) is able to spend not more than Rs 20/day. Justice D P Wadhwa Committee has now recommended that anyone earning less than Rs 100 a day should be considered below the poverty line.

Knowing that India has one of the most stringent poverty line in the world, I think the fault begins by accepting the faulty projections. During Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's tenure, Planning Commission had even lowered the poverty estimates from 37 per cent to 19 per cent. Poverty estimates were restored back when the new Planning Commission took over. I am sure if we had persisted with the same poverty line of 19 per cent (in the beginning of 1990s), India would have banished hunger in official records by now.

But the tragedy is that none of the numerous committees, economic surveys and even the Supreme Court's advisory body on Right to Food had highlighted the dire need to change the poverty line to a more meaningful figure if the issue of growing hunger has to be nipped in the bud.

It doesn't help in continuing with faulty estimates. I therefore suggest that India should have two lines demarcating the percentage of absolute hungry and malnourished from those who are not so hungry. The Suresh Tendulkar Committee suggestion of 37 per cent should be taken as the new Hunger line, which needs low-cost food grains as an emergency entitlement. In addition, the Arjun Sengupta committee's cut-off at 77 per cent should be the new Poverty line.

Once we have set these criteria, the approach for tackling absolute hunger and poverty would be different.

Zero Hunger

Like in Brazil, the time has come when India needs to formulate a Zero Hunger programme. This should aim at a differential approach. I see no reason why people should go hungry in the villages, which produce enough food for the country year after year. These villages have to be made hunger-free by adopting a community-based localised food grain bank scheme. I agree with Ela Bhatt when she says that the village needs should be met from within a 100-km radius.

In the urban centres and the food deficit areas, a universal public distribution system is required. The existing PDS system also requires to be overhauled. Also, there is a dire need to involve social and religious organisations in food distribution. They have done a remarkable job in cities like Bangalore, and there are lessons to be imbibed.

Food for all

It is often argued that the government cannot foot the bill for feeding each and every Indian. This is far from true. Estimates have shown that the country would require 60 million tonnes of foodgrains (@35 kg per family) if it follows a Universal Public Distribution System. In other words, Rs. 1.10 lakh crore is required to feed the nation for a year.

The proposed National Food Security bill actually reduced the family food intake that has to be supplied through the public distribution system (PDS) from 35 kg to 25 kg per family. To the BPL families, the 25 kg of foodgrains will be supplied at Rs. 3 per kg, which means in actual terms the government has very cleverly reduced the food subsidy.

From the projected allocation of Rs. 56,000 crore for 2010-11, the expenditure on food will come down to an estimated Rs. 25,428 crore. What a shame! In a country, which fares much worse than sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to hunger and malnutrition, the government is trying to save money instead of fighting hunger.

The government somehow gives an impression that the country does not have the money to feed the hungry. Nothing can be further away from truth. If the government could provide Rs. 3.5 lakh crore as economic stimulus to the industry (actually the industry did not need it), and also provide for Rs. 5 lakh crore as revenue foregone in the 2010-11 fiscal, which are the sops and tax concessions to the industry and business, how can the government say it has no money. The annual Budget exercise is of roughly Rs. 11 lakh crores. Which means, the government is subsidising industrialists almost 50 per cent of it by way of direct sops, in addition to the what is provided in the Budget itself. The support by way of 'revenue foregone' is basically 'under the table' payment, since it lies outside the Budget allocations.

I suggest that Rs. 3 lakh crore from the 'revenue foregone' be immediately withdrawn. This should provide resources for feeding the hungry, and also for ensuring assured supply of safe drinking water plus sanitation. In addition to wheat and rice, the food allocation should also include nutritious coarse cereals and pulses.

Policy changes

But all this is not possible, unless some other policy changes are introduced to put the emphasis on long-term sustainable farming, and to stop land acquisitions and privatisation of natural resources. We need policies that ensure food for all for all times to come. This is what constitutes inclusive growth. A hungry population is a great economic loss resulting from the inability of the manpower to undertake economic activities. The debate on the proposed National Food Security Bill provides us an excellent opportunity to recast the economic map of India in such a way that makes hunger history.

Are we ready?