In some parts of the country, near food riots kind of eruptions have become a daily occurrence. This shows how a Sensex-happy regime has messed up the food economy of the nation. Little wonder, every one in the government is trying to absolve themselves of responsibility for the widely criticised and now partially reversed decision to import wheat of a quality considered fit for animals. The attempt to bolster buffer stocks by extraordinarily costly import of wheat can justly be described as a Tuglaqesqe decision. Recall the assurance given by the minister of food this February that if the current Rabi wheat output exceeds 72.5 million tonnes, its export would be permitted!

By April it was known that a near record crop of almost 75 million tonnes was harvested but the government floated global tenders to import wheat. It was done though the procurement operations were still on and the public stocks position was not known. These exorbitant price tenders were rightly rejected, but after a few months wheat imports at twice the domestic procurement price imports were contracted. Since the operational stocks of wheat and overall level of all cereals taken together are adequate for the Public Distribution System, one fails to see the urgency over imports. This decision involves an additional foreign exchange outlay of around $800 million over what would have been required to be paid to the Indian farmers for the same quantity of wheat!

Domestic market
In any case the government was competed out from the domestic market, owing to its own decision to permit the local big companies and global grain trade monopolies to enter the farm goods market, for directly buying from the farmers. Nothing could beat such a self-goal policy.

It is important to note that reasonable quantities of wheat stocks are available with the government and private traders taken together. For the sake of food security, therefore a government ought to forego its pro-market, pro-MNC policies. Hence the need for the government to procure compulsorily from, the MNCs and local traders holding huge stocks of wheat and thereby strengthen the PDS. This has been a time tested policy to cope with national contingencies.   But a perusal of the post-facto indefensible defence of imports dished out by the food minister shows how many options were ignored, especially in view of the unaffordable prices. Lately, even the UN Food and Agriculture Office has expressed concern over rising global wheat prices and their impact on food security.

Some essential aspects of the food economy apparently escaped attention of the decision-makers in Krishi Bhavan, though it is difficult to apportion responsibility between the food ministry and the State Trading Corporation. Availability, independent of the price charge can never make sense and even the subsidy bill has ultimately to be collected by the people at large.

Micro food security
The opportunity cost of the massive allocations involved has not entered the calculus of market fundamentalists. They do not seem to care how to translate costly macro food security into household level micro food security. Also relevant is the impact of such avoidable imports on the incentive structure of the farmers.

With public procurement always at a risk of falling short of the safety norms owing to the entry of big trading firms in the market for farm produce, the penchant for imports may take us back to the days of ship-to-mouth existence; besides the risks entailed by the monopolistic games of the seven global trading giants.

Too much trading capital chasing limited marketable surplus intensifies the threat of hunger in a country poorly ranked in the matter at a global level. When there are enough stocks within the national borders, though in private hands, how can one justify costly imports? After all Indian food policy has a long history of compulsory levy for obtaining food for public purposes. Given a plentiful rice buffer stock, good kharif crop prospects, adequate operational stocks and the negative impact of imports at Rs 16 per kg, these imports are without any rationale.

(The writer is a former director on the board of the Food Corporation of India)