100 days is too little time to provide food to the millions of hungry. Importantly, there is no point trying either.
This boils down to the fact that the whole thing is nothing more than a goof-up. There is no coordination amongst the concerned ministries and there is no proper planning as to how the supply and execution will take place. Says agriculture expert, Devendra Sharma, “Even countries like Brazil and Mexico have come up with zero-hunger programmes. Brazil which had to feed only 4.4 million poor people took one year to implement the programme properly while Mexico took two years just to make a blueprint of the execution process. And we with a plethora of loopholes want to get things done in mere 100 days. That is impossible.”
What is the solution?
Experts believe that besides waiting for a proper plan to be in place, distribution should be done through smart cards rather than the traditional ration cards. Besides adding to the extra cost, smart cards would also need a permanent addresses which majority of the BPL families do not have. There can also be a situation where grains like wheat will be produced and consumed by the government only and it will leave less for the private players to consume and the farmers will have to sell at minimum support price.
Though it would have to be said that some resistance can be expected from farmer lobbies who have much to lose should the new arrangement come into place.
The government must understand that the elections are over and that coming up with such populist measures with no practical base is more of a problem than a solution. The UPA government already has a big fiscal deficit to fulfill and programmes like the NREGA, while paying great political dividends, are an unknown commodity as far as the economics of NREGA are concerned.
What is the solution?
Experts believe that besides waiting for a proper plan to be in place, distribution should be done through smart cards rather than the traditional ration cards. Besides adding to the extra cost, smart cards would also need a permanent addresses which majority of the BPL families do not have. There can also be a situation where grains like wheat will be produced and consumed by the government only and it will leave less for the private players to consume and the farmers will have to sell at minimum support price.
Though it would have to be said that some resistance can be expected from farmer lobbies who have much to lose should the new arrangement come into place.
The government must understand that the elections are over and that coming up with such populist measures with no practical base is more of a problem than a solution. The UPA government already has a big fiscal deficit to fulfill and programmes like the NREGA, while paying great political dividends, are an unknown commodity as far as the economics of NREGA are concerned.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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