DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Govt. Accused of Shedding ‘Crocodile Tears’ Over Hunger

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Jan 5 2001 (IPS) - The Indian government used a prestigious annual science meet here this week to declare it would use modern knowledge to eradicate hunger from the majority poor nation.

But food security activists are accusing the government of not meaning what it says and point to food policy decisions that they say will increase hunger for tens of millions of people in the country.

Opening the five-day, 88th Indian Science Congress Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee launched what he described as a “science-based crusade” to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the country by the year 2007.

“The harsh reality of hunger had burdened the national conscience and overshadowed the achievement of a 206 million-tonne foodgrain harvest last year,” Vajpayee told 3,000 of India’s top scientists at the meet.

The theme of the science conference this year, which is held at the start of every year, was ‘Food, Nutrition and Environment Security’ .

However, Vajpayee’s appeal to the private sector to help in “overcoming starvation and malnutrition”, has led to loud protests by anti- globalisation and food security activists.

“The real agenda of the Indian Science Congress is to aggressively launch the corporate takeover of Indian agriculture and agricultural research as well as push for the introduction of genetically engineered seeds and crops,” said leading food security activist Sunilam.

A parallel ‘People’s Science Congress’ noted in its declaration: “The reality is that India’s food system is in deep crisis with 50 million tonnes of food grains rotting in government godowns while 300 million people are starving.”

“The growing foodstocks do not represent either over- production or lack of storage capacity, but the lack of justice and the political will to defend the food rights of millions of Indians,” added the declaration, signed by several leading activist groups.

It said the situation was brought about by the “deliberate and systematic dismantling of the national food security system and people’s food rights by the government’s implementation of the World Bank/IMF structural adjustment and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s free-trade policies.”

Among other things, this has led to a cut in food subsidies by hiking prices at the government-run chain of ‘fair price’ staple food shops across the country.

Among critics of the new farm policies is Pramod Kumar, director of the Institute of Development and Communication in northern Punjab state, which is described as the ‘granary of India’.

“The WTO regime is marginalising the small farmers of Punjab who made India’s self-sufficiency in food grains possible,” said Kumar.

H.D. Deve Gowda, a former Indian prime minister who is proud of his “humble farmer” origins, said that the new liberalisation policies are depriving small farmers of access to credit.

“At the best of times, institutional credit to farmers never crossed 13 percent –and this is why they are committing suicides by the hundred,” he said.

According to Gowda, India’s signing of the WTO agreement has led to a flood of farm imports, which are hurting Indian farmers.

“The present government failed to impose reasonable restrictions allowed by the WTO and readily allowed dumping,” the former premier said.

Well-known food security activist Vandana Shiva said it was “ironical” that while the Indian Science Congress was founded to ensure food security in India, it was now being used as a forum to dismantle it.

“Commodity prices are falling under the dual impact of withdrawal of government procurement and the failure to guarantee minimum support prices as well as the dumping of artificially cheap and subsidised agricultural products through imports,” she said.

Land reforms — a key to food-security — were never implemented in the country, she said.

Another leading food security activist, Devender Sharma accused the Indian Science Congress of “deftly promoting biotechnology” . He demanded that the government announce a five-year freeze on the testing of genetically-modified crops.

“There is enormous uncertainty whether the proposed testing of genetically-modified crops in the country would help or harm the health of the country and its ecosystem,” he said.

Sharma said there was no crisis on the food front that demanded the application of unproven and unsafe technology.

“The Indian Science Congress is merely playing to the tune of the biotechnology industry at the cost of the country’s food, nutrition and environmental security,” he said.

This will only lead to “profit security” for transnational agribusiness, while worsening hunger and malnutrition in the country, he said.