Hunger and PDS

India is a hungry country. The Food and Agriculture Organisation Report on Hunger 2006 pegs the number of malnourished in India at 212 million and estimates that between 20 and 34 per cent of our population is malnourished. Despite the implementation of the Public Distribution System for several decades and Targeted PDS for the last one-and-a-half decades, it is estimated that more than 50 per cent of the children in rural areas suffer from malnourishment; with 21 per cent suffering from severe malnutrition. The irony is that these dismal facts and statistics coexist with record production of foodgrains. So, why is it that there is such deprivation amidst such plenty?

Green Revolution

More than 65 per cent of the Indian landmass is semi-arid. The agriculture that evolved under these regions is adapted to low rainfall and poor soils. The agricultural systems here are characterised by the practice of mixed farming. Whether it is the Saat Dhaan of Rajasthan or theBaraah Anaaj system of Uttarakhand or the Pannendu Pantalu system of Andhra Pradesh, one sees a multitude of crops being cultivated; and such systems ensure the survival of rural communities, even under the harshest of conditions.

The Green Revolution brought about fundamental changes in the paradigm of Indian agriculture. It offered purely technical solutions to the food crisis that was prevailing. Improved, high-yielding and hybrid seeds were introduced; farmers were pushed to use chemical pesticides and fertilizers; mono-cropping was introduced; all with an intention to augment food production; and augment it did. One cannot dispute the fact that the Green Revolution resulted in an increase in the production of certain foodgrains; and it did lead to the prosperity of farmers in certain pockets of the country. But in the long run, the policies pursued under the Green Revolution greatly undermined Indian agriculture.

Rural communities lost control over the seeds they were sowing in their lands, and became dependent on traders and extension services for most of the agricultural inputs; the progressively high doses of pesticides and fertilizers led to poisoned soils; the cost of cultivation shot up; agricultural bio-diversity was decimated, with several endemic land-races completely disappearing; and nutritional deficiencies got further accentuated, especially in rural India. All these factors together precipitated an agrarian crisis that saw more than 200,000 farmers, mostly in arid and semi-arid regions, committing suicide.

A closer look at existing PDS

PDS was created with an intention to provide the people of India — the poor especially needed to lead a dignified life. Analyses have indicated that rice, wheat and sugar account for 75 per cent of all items purchased from PDS outlets in rural areas. The vast majority of the rural population depends on cereals for most of the calorific and nutritional requirements — 68 per cent of the calorific needs and 67 per cent of the protein needs of the rural population are met through cereals alone. And yet, there has been an overall decline in both calorific intake as well as protein intake especially among the poor. This clearly points to the poor quality of cereals that are being consumed by the rural populace (NSSO data indicate that PDS rice and wheat are inferior to millets and endemic foodgrains in terms of nutritional content). This also indicates that the decimation of mixed farming systems that comprised a variety of crops undermined the nutritional intake of the rural households. Since nutritional needs could not be met from within their villages and lands, rural households were compelled to meet them from markets; with the result, more than 55 per cent of the monthly per capita expenditure incurred by rural households is towards food. This is where the current PDS has fallen short.

In the PDS as it exists today, large quantities of grains are procured from one part of the country, stored in warehouses, and moved to other parts. Despite spending millions on these processes, we have not succeeded in reaching every nook of India; nor have we been able to curb corruption that has become endemic to this system.

Finally, the availability of cheap rice and wheat at PDS outlets has dissuaded many a rural household from trying cuisine that evolved out of the environmental and socio-economic conditions in a given area. These local cuisines were cost-effective, used local ingredients thus minimising the need to depend on external sources, and were designed to meet the nutritional needs of people in the most effective way.

In the light of these arguments, we advocate the need for decentralising the PDS. The decentralised Public Distribution System is PDS reimagined; one that is democratic and involves rural communities at every stage of planning and implementation.

The concept of decentralised PDS rests on the principles of localised procurement, storage and distribution. The emphasis is on the participation of people — especially the marginalised and women — and on a holistic approach that integrates biodiversity, natural resource management, rural livelihoods and empowerment. The inclusion of local knowledge and expertise at every stage would make such a PDS truly participatory. Such a PDS would focus on the food crops that are locally produced. In some locations this might be millets, while in others it might be endemic varieties of rice and wheat. Being made a part of PDS would enhance the demand for these foodgrains and augment their production, thus reviving traditional agricultural practices. The storage of these grains would also be undertaken by the local communities, at village or panchayat level, thus reducing storage and transport costs, and generating employment for a few rural households.

Revival of traditional systems

The revival of traditional agricultural systems would mean that a diverse range of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and vegetables would be available close on hand to the rural communities. The combination of such crops would ensure that the nutritional needs of the communities are locally met at a reasonable price. This is likely to enable rural households to spend less on food and use the money thus saved for other purposes. The fact that such systems are hardy and do not need pesticides and fertilizers would also help farmers to bring down the cost of agriculture. Further, the in-built risk-mitigation properties of such agricultural systems enhance the capacities of rural households to cope with the phenomenon of climate change.

Together, these benefits would enhance incomes and savings of rural households, and strengthen the rural economy; and hold the potential to decrease distress migration. Further, decentralised PDS and reviving the traditional systems would restore women's place in the drivers' seat, as far as the production and distribution of the foodgrains are concerned; give them an opportunity to develop entrepreneurial and organisational skills and break stereotypical gender roles in relation to division of labour in agriculture.

Thus, a decentralised PDS not only ensures that the rural communities have access to adequate food and nutrition, but also empowers them to seek that nutrition in their midst. It places the control over food and farming back into the hands of the rural populace and re-establishes the prominent role of women in agriculture; not to mention the prominent ecological and economic costs that would be accrued by the communities.

Food Security Bill & PDS

The National Food Security Bill that has been tabled in Parliament seeks to enhance the food security of the poor, but provides for measures that are grossly inadequate. Many RtF activists, including the Deccan Development Society (DDS), have been demanding the inclusion of millets and the implementation of a decentralised PDS. However, the Bill accepts only the former. Considering the small quantities of millets that are presently produced (18 million tonnes), handling them centrally would be unviable in the long run. Further, a centralised PDS would sideline local knowledge and food cultures and thereby undermine the well-being of the rural masses. Therefore, for long-term food sovereignty of India and for the nutritional security of its rural communities, it is absolutely vital that a decentralised PDS be made part of NFSB and vigorously implemented.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article3255934.ece

Economic Review 2011-12

Just ahead of the Union Budget and the Reserve Bank of India's scheduled interest policy review meeting — both in mid-March — there has been a succession of lacklustre news on the growth front. Although, by no means, unexpected, the bunching of not-so-favourable official statistics in a short time further reinforces the strong perception of a downward drift in the economy.

The advance estimates pegged GDP growth at 6.9 per cent for 2011-12 compared to 8.4 per cent for 2010-11. The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) has projected only slightly higher at 7.1 per cent. It may be argued that growth rates of around 7 per cent are not unimpressive by themselves and do compare favourably with many other countries. However, in India's case, expectations were unnecessarily raised from the beginning of this year: a GDP growth of around 9 per cent was believed to be achievable. It took the government a long time after other official forecasters and almost all private ones to become more realistic about its growth prospects. Such a delayed reaction, for whatever reason, has ill-prepared the government to receive the latest instalments of bad news.

Data released on Monday last showed India's GDP growth at 6.1 per cent for the third quarter of the current fiscal, the lowest in any quarter since 2009. Moreover, each succeeding quarter has clocked a lower rate than the previous ones. At this rate, it will be well-nigh impossible to meet the growth projection set by the PMEAC or even the advance estimates.

Bleak picture

The bad news appears to be even worse once the sectoral breakdown of the GDP numbers are analysed. Manufacturing continues to present a bleak picture with just half a percentage point of growth recorded in the third quarter, compared to 7.8 per cent in the same last year. In fact, the sector's performance has steadily declined in the earlier quarters for this year.

A revival in manufacturing alone holds the key to boosting employment and equally importantly for ushering in broad-based-economic growth.

Of particular concerning, manufacturing is the fact that there has been no pick up in the investment rate. Gross fixed capital formation, as a percentage of the GDP, has steadily declined during the first two quarters of this fiscal. At 30 per cent in the third quarter, it is more than two percentage points below what is was a year ago

Mining has contracted for the second quarter in a row. The neglect of this sector will have serious consequences for other crucial infrastructure industries such as electricity. Most disquieting has been the deceleration in services, a sector, which till now has bolstered the overall GDP growth.

Month of policy announcements

The month of March is going to be extremely critical for economic policy announcements. The Union Budget and an interest policy review by the RBI are scheduled back-to-back. Then, there will be the Economic Survey and the Railway Budget. All these, individually as well as collectively, give the broad direction of economic policy. The global environment is still not conducive to growth. Increased global uncertainty in the wake of the eurozone crisis has weakened external demand and has been a principal contributor to declining exports from India. Compared to Europe, the U.S. economy seems to have perked up somewhat but economic growth there is still below potential. Thus, in varying degrees, India's two principal export markets are showing signs of weakness.

Pressure on CAD

An immediate consequence for India is the deterioration in merchandise trade deficit. The widening trade balance, also caused by rising oil prices, puts pressure on the current account deficit (CAD), which, according the PMEAC, is slated to rise to unprecedented levels. The challenge is to encourage foreign institutional investors and foreign direct investors to build a comfortable cushion in the country's external sector. Plenty will depend on the policy stance here. On the one hand, the government has demonstrated pragmatism by relaxing rules for non-resident investment and increasing the cap for external commercial borrowing. But on the other hand, it has not been able to implement big-ticket reform such as multi-brand FDI in retail.

There are other acute policy dilemmas to be faced. For instance, given the urgency of fiscal consolidation, it has been prepared to restore the service tax and central excises to their pre-crisis levels of 12 per cent to yield about Rs.35,000 crore to the Central Exchequer. But with manufacturing in doldrums, such a policy will not be commended.

On the other hand, without a road map for fiscal consolidation, the Indian economy will lose its lustre in the eyes of investors, whose confidence levels are reportedly not high even now.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-business/article2961697.ece

Forest Fire

The destruction wreaked by a massive forest fire at Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka is the worst in recent years, and is a major setback to conservation efforts in this prime tiger and elephant reserve.

The 643 sq km national park is contiguous to Bandipur National Park in Karnataka, Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala and is part of the famed Nilgiri Biosphere reserve.

The fire, which was first noticed last Sunday, blazed through the core area and reduced vast swathes of jungle to cinders. The official figures of 600 hectares of forests being lost to fire, is disputed by wildlife activists, but the park managers agree that devastation in the core area comprising Marapannakatte (Marappanakere) in Compartment 4 of Nagarahole is total.

After it was first noticed on February 26, the fire raged for four days. It was put out after considerable effort by tribals in the area and forest guards but not before widespread destruction to the ground vegetation, innumerable insects, nesting birds and rare species like the Malabar giant squirrel.

Contrary to popular belief, most forest fires do not occur spontaneously. They are unwittingly or otherwise triggered by humans. While these fires are an annual occurrence in national parks, what is significant about the recent fire is its duration and intensity: it raged for almost a week in the core area of Nagarhole which, due to its moist grasslands, was untouched for 45 years. This was the favourite browsing place for herbivore animals like deer, sambhars, gaurs, etc., that constitute the prey base for carnivores such as tigers, leopards and dholes, Indian wild dogs.

Nagarahole has one of the highest prey densities in the country, a fact established by independent scientific studies and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). “Given the prey density, the tiger population increased over the years and the entire Bandipur-Nagarahole-Mudumalai-Wayanad complex supports an estimated population of 350 to 400 tigers,” Praveen Bhargav of Wildlife First, Bangalore, told The Hindu . “It is also home to about 7,500 elephants making it one of the prime elephant and tiger landscapes in the world and the best hope for their long term conservation.”

“With such a valuable meta population of two charismatic but highly endangered species, this landscape with four major reserves and connecting forests deserves to be protected far more intensively from the known threat of forest fires,” he added.

A GPS-based survey has shown that 509 hectares of core area of Nagarahole has been devastated in the fire apart from affecting Metikuppe and the Anechowkur range, Kalalla, D.B. Kuppe and Veeranahosahalli.

In the adjoining Bandipur National Park, the fire burnt through A.M. Gudi, Kalkere, Gundre, Moolehole and reached Muthanga in Wayanad in Kerala. Moolapura near the Kaniyanapura elephant corridor of Bandipur and areas near Nayihalla in Gundre, the link between Bandipur and Nagarahole for elephant movement, too were affected by the fire and will take years to recover.

The long term loss to wildlife and conservation efforts which stems from habitat degradation is immense, according to Sanjay Gubbi, member, State Wildlife Board. “If the ground fire destroys the vegetation, the forage for herbivore is destroyed, unedible weeds like Lantana and Epatorium take over the forests and the population of prey animals dwindles, which impact the carnivore population. In addition, smaller mammals, ground-nesting birds, insects, slow moving reptiles and other wildlife species are destroyed and valuable leaf litter accumulated on forest floor that acts as natural manure for trees and plants are burnt, leading to fodder shortage in forests”.

Although Nagarahole, like Bandipur, Mudumalai and Wayanad, is prone to forest fires, the intensity of the recent fire was made worse by the failure of showers in December-January. The national park was like a tinderbox that burst into flames at the first spark. The forest department should have been on a state of high alert with fire spotters posted to detect forest fires.

Controlled burning of fire lines during winter is critical to fighting forest fires and should have been completed by mid-January, when there is moisture in the vegetation. But NGOs say this was not done this year and was one of the reasons for the fire.

K.M. Chinnappa, president, Wildlife First, said the forest department was “apathetic” about carrying out such preventive measures even though there was no dearth of funds.

Mr. Bhargav pointed out that prevention of fires, vital for forest and wildlife conservation, is best achieved by reaching out to local communities and hiring sufficient number of people as fire watchers.

Aside from clearing fire lines, actual deployment of fire watchers with forest staff at strategic locations at watch towers, constituting response teams to put out fires are at the core of a preventive strategy.

Not only is dousing forest fires extremely difficult but it takes a very long time for the habitat destroyed by them to recover.

B.J. Hosmath, Field Director, Project Tiger, said a lesson should be learnt from the fire to ensure that such damage does not recur. The main lesson is that forest fires are best prevented because it is difficult to control them. Nagarhole had major fires in 1999 and again in 2004 but the 2012 fire shows that this lesson has not been learnt.

Source - http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article2961703.ece