gÉÉŌ A.]ÉŌ. xÉÉxÉÉ

03.08.2010
We have to know some basic facts. What is the reason for the rise in prices in this
country? One can blame the Government especially the Party in power will
always be blamed. I can understand this psychology. Today, we have weather
based farming in our country. In Kerala monsoon starts from 1 st June and we have
now completed two months. If you take the average rainfall there, it is short by 23
per cent. If the monsoon fails, naturally the production of a country dependent on
the weather-farming is affected. Artificial scarcity occurs in this country when the
production is affected either by flood or drought. Left Members always want to
establish that India is a poor country and it cannot progress.
I remember, after Independence, in the fifties and in early sixties for food
grains we were depending on the Western countries. When I was a student we
were all engaged in the food agitation. With the begging bowl we used to go
before the big countries of the world. We were accepting food grains from them
under agreements like PL-480 and various other conditionalities. Today, after the
Green Revolution, India is self-sufficient. In spite of the problems being faced by
us today, we are able to produce 230 million tonnes of food grains. I disagree
with many of the, I would say, political views of Ajnala Sahib but I salute the
farmers of Punjab. Today, 230 million tonnes of food grains are being produced
because of the farmers of our country.
What is the stock position today? Today, 60 million tonne of wheat and
rice are being procured by the FCI. It is true that food grain is rotting in Punjab
godowns. There are no sufficient godowns to store the food grains because we
have an all time record production. We do not have the space to store 60 million
tonnes of wheat and rice. What is the shelf life of food grains stored under
tarpaulin? We are pained, if it gets rotten. I have no hesitation in criticising the
Government and saying that it is a failure on the part of the Government. But, we
are happy that the FCI and the Food Ministry have started building up more
storage spaces. Private initiative is being encouraged and private enterprises are
being invited to build up more storage space. A country of India’s size - our
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