It is not unknown to people that
food grains rot in the godowns or farms in India due to inadequate storage
facilities for food items. At a crucial time when Parliament wishes to pass the
food security bill which will benefit crores of Indians, a RTI reply has
reveled at least 17,546 tonnes of foodgrains was damaged between 2009-10 and
July 2012 in Food Corporation of India godowns.
Every year more than 25 lakh
people die in India due to hunger, so many people are malnourished in the
country but still there have been no measures to built infrastructure
facilities to safeguard food items. On 23rd August, the food processing
minister Sharad Pawar told the Parliament that inadequate storage
infrastructure resulted in wastage of fruits, grains and vegetables worth Rs
44,000 crore every year.
Food Corporation of India in a
RTI reply to a activist on details of damaged foodgrains in its godowns in 23
states and Union Territories. The data reveals that government has a tough task
at hand, though there is a decline year-wise in damage of foodgrains. During
the said period the maximum loss was of wheat at around 7,185 tonnes while rice
damaged was 6,905 tonnes. According to World Health Organization, minimum of
250 gm foodgrains is required per person per day to survive. The damaged food
grains could have fed at least seven crore people. Suggesting no loss of grains
the activist said government should provide 3 months grains at a time to each
family so that each family can store grains at home rather than storing them at
FCI godowns where they often get damaged.
Wastage in West Bengal was the
highest in the same period with a loss of around 2,300 tonnes of damaged rice.
However, Punjab have reduced the loss drastically from 2,223 tonnes in 2009-10
to only 37 tonnes during 2011-12. The opposition in the Parliament cornered the
government by pointing out that till June 12.5 million tonnes of foodgrains was
lying in the outside with another 6 million tonnes lying open in Haryana. In
Punjab, 2.5 million tonnes of this was lying in the fields. If the nation wants
to feed its people there has to be appropriate storage facilities. Countering
the reply of the food minister's reply that 6 million tonnes storage capacity
will be added this year, the opposition said that its illogical when 18.5
million tonnes of wheat was lying in the open in just two states.
