Bhitarkanika’s problem of plenty?

Rajat Ghai/Bhitarkanika

The crocodile population in the park has increased many times. The human-crocodile encounters have mostly ended with tragic results for either side.


It is a tiny piece of heaven on the Odisha coast. The Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary is where the world's largest living reptile, the estuarine crocodile, is thriving amidst sylvan surroundings after having been brought back from the brink. But now there is trouble with the reptile population booming, posing a threat to the natural balance.
From a strength of 96 crocodiles in 1976, the population now stands at 1,646. A boat ride in some areas can yield crocodile sightings as frequent as one croc a minute, according to a conservationist.
An increasing number of cases of saltwater crocodiles straying into human habitations have been recently reported from Bhitarkanika, in Kendrapada district about 130 km from the Odisha capital Bhubaneswar.
"In Bhitarkanika, some areas are well-populated with crocodiles since on a boat ride you spot a crocodile every minute. In other parts of the sanctuary, you don't see crocodiles at all," said Bivash Pandav, scientist at the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
The human-crocodile encounters have mostly ended with tragic results for either side.
In the latest incidents, a crocodile that wandered into a village killed a 13 year-old-boy while in another hamlet frightened villagers hacked a 7.8 metre crocodile to death.
It all boils down to space, feels Pandav. "Around 1,646 crocodiles now inhabit nearly 175 sq km of forested habitat in Bhitarkanika. But if you critically analyze their distribution, you will find them densely packed in the Bhitarkanika river system. Abundance of crocodiles is much less in rivers like Maipura and Baunsagada," he says.
Indeed, it is this confinement of the crocs in the 26 to 30 sq km of water bodies in the sanctuary that is leading to conflict.
"The crocodiles regularly stray out of the sanctuary, not because of food but due to overpopulation. There is no problem of food here. This is a very rich estuarine river ecosystem. They are well stocked with fish. Every village near the sanctuary has aquaculture farms and small ponds. The crocodiles usually enter these areas. Conversely, people enter the forest and wade in croc-infested waters and get into conflict with crocodiles," explains Pandav.

Hope takes root in Kerala

S Remadevi/ Kochi

Water and soil conservation efforts have made agriculture sustainable in Kerala. initiative was supported by NABARD.

Agriculture sector in Kerala is reeling under severe crisis. The plantation sector has witnessed unprecedented cases of farmers' suicides in the last five years.
The state with two third of its net sown area under plantation crops is a major producer of cash crops like pepper, rubber, cashew, cardamom, ginger and coconut, in the country. These crops are mainly grown in the undulating midlands and steep highlands of western ghat region of the State. Area identified as high ranges ie 1000M above MSL, account for 5.15 lakh ha. and are mainly spread over in Wayanad, Palakkad and Idukki districts forming 16 percent of the total area. High land areas i.e. 75 M above MSL are estimated to be about 18.71 lakh ha. The production of major crops like coconut, arecanut, pepper, cardamom, cashew, tea, coffee etc. showed wide variation during the last four decades for a variety of reasons such as drought, diseases etc.
The biophysical resources influencing agricultural productivity are land, soil and water. Denudational nature of the major portion of terrain leads to high soil erosion and surface runoff. Weathered and transported soils have low levels of plant nutrients indicated by low pH and base saturation.
The water availability indicators show water deficiency for most of the crops during mundakan and puncha seasons (August to May).
These constraints result in lowering of production of the crops and also sustainability. The constraints of the biophysical resources can be overcome to a considerable extent by adopting soil and water conservation measures on watershed basis.
Considering the importance of soil and water conservation for bringing about improvements in production and productivity as also for maintaining sustainability of agriculture, National Bank for Watershed Development Programmes in Kerala Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) undertook the task of providing financial assistance for soil and water conservation projects under Rural Infrastructure Development (RIDF).
In all 112 projects with RIDF assistance of Rs.28.69 crore have been sanctioned under RIDF, with first three tranche, the details of which are indicated below.
Under RIDF-I, 40 projects were assisted, with a total outlay of Rs.1013.159 lakh and RIDF assistance of Rs.500.97 lakh. The details of sanction are given in.
A techno economic evaluation study of the projects was taken up with objectives of understanding the impediments in implementation and to collect empirical evidences on the impact of the investments.
Of the forty soil and water conservation projects sanctioned, thirty-seven projects have been completed and three projects have been dropped.
The project components include mechanical measures like contour bunds, earthen bunds, terraces, check dam, water harvesting structures and retaining wall as well agronomic measures like agrostological, agro-forestry etc.
Two projects each were selected at random from Kasargod, Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram and one from Wayanad. A total of seven projects were brought under the study. In the absence of data on sedimentation rate, run-off velocity, ground water fluctuation etc. interview with the farmers using structure questionnaire was resorted to capture the impact of soil and water conservation measures.
Twenty respondents were selected at random from each of the watersheds covering 140 respondents. The comparison has been made with the pre and post development situations.
The State Soil Conservation unit under Agriculture Department is the implementing agency for all the projects. The soil conservation works are implemented through field level units of the department, viz., soil conservation unit and overseer unit. The common works like drainage line treatment retaining wall, check dam. WHS etc are implemented by the Beneficiary Committee constituted for the purpose. Works in individual fields are carried out by skilled labour employed either by the beneficiary or by the beneficiary committee.
Adoption of soil and water conservation mearures leads to better use of land, which is measured in terms cropping intensity. Cropping intensity for the various scheme areas before and after implementation of the schemes are indicated. As the cropping system in the area of study are of a mixed nature estimation of cropping intensity has been made based on the area occupied by each crop on the basis of standard crop stand recommended by the package of practice of Kerala Agriculture University.
The cropping intensity has improved during post implementation period in all the scheme areas. The largest improvement in cropping intensity is recorded in Kalvery Mount, followed by Rajamudy at 105 and 98 per cent, respectively. This is due mainly to the fact that the cult arable area in both the watershed were not put to use before taking up conservation measures. Both these schemes are in Idukki district.
The next highest improvement was recorded at Pallickal scheme in Thiruvanthapuram district at 45%.
The major effect of soil and water conservation measures is reflected in improvements to productivity of crops. The changes in productivity of the major crops in the scheme areas was estimated on a per hectare basis as mono cropping does not exist in any of the scheme areas. The productivity change for the major crops.
There have been positive changes in productivity for all crops. The highest improvement in productivity has been recorded by Tea at 121 per cent in Rajamudy followed by cardamom at 107 per cent in Kalvery Mount.
The economic effect of soil and water conservation measures was estimated by valuating the incremental production in the different scheme areas at the farm gate prices indicated by the respondents.
The prices of all the commodities remained more or less the same in the areas. Based on the price realized by the respondents, the net incremental income has been worked out. Incidentally it was noted that the cost of maintenance remained the same during the pre and post development periods.
The highest incremental income per hectare was recorded at Mangalassery scheme, which had predominance of coffee and pepper, which are high value crops. The incremental income from Karivedakam where rubber and coconut occupy substantial area, was found to be the next highest at Rs.20,500. Here it was observed that productivity of most the crops shown substantial gains. The lowest income per hectare was observed in Rajamudy scheme area of Idukki district. The incremental income at Chemmattanchal of Kasargod and Pallickal of Thiruvannathapuram was above Rs.13000. Kalvery Mount Rs.12100 and Arivippuram Rs.19400.
The incremental income generated in all the scheme areas has been substantially high due to better soil and water conservation.
Based on the actual cost of works and the estimates of incremental income generated, the Financial rate of return and the Economic rate of return for the scheme were worked out.
The Financial and economic rates of return for the various schemes taken up for study was above 25 per cent. For four schemes viz. Karivedakam, Mangalassery, Arivippuram and Pallickal it was morethan 100 per cent.

Haryana's low cost 'health for all' scheme stillborn

Sopan Correspondent/ Chandigarh

Plan in limbo due to staff crunch, lack of infrastructure

The much-awaited low cost health scheme conceived by Haryana government is yet to be delivered.
Having failed to get polyclinics across the state operational even after setting up the buildings, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has proposed that the structures be auctioned to the private sector.
The state governments's plans to set up scores of polyclinics across the state was a virtual non-starter with the health department unable to install either the required infrastructure or get the requisite manpower. The result: the move to have health institutions at the doorstep has come a cropper.
In 2009, the state government planned to set up the polyclinics to provide medical facilities free of cost to residents of various HUDA colonies and sectors and adjoining areas across Haryana. By 2011, the buildings were completed, but there was little action after that, with health authorities not taking possession.
And now, HUDA officials have sent a proposal to their headquarters at Panchkula, near Chandigarh, to auction the buildings to the private sector.
The auction proposal originates from Rohtak, home district of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. His son, Deepinder Singh Hooda, represents the Rohtak parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha.
Chander Prakash, HUDA administrator at Rohtak, told IANS: "The auction is likely to be held through an open bid in the month of June and the preparations have been initiated. The reserve price for bidding at the auction is being finalised. The proposal for auction, however, is yet to be approved by HUDA's head office."
Prakash was hopeful of an early approval as senior officers of HUDA were in favour of the decision to auction the buildings.
"Since the polyclinic buildings were not being taken over by the health authorities responsible for making the facilities operational, it was decided to bring them to auction."
Rohtak Civil Surgeon V.K. Gowila retorted that he had asked the health department for providing staff and equipment, but they had not reverted to him till date.
"Since the matter is pending before the headquarters, I cannot say anything in this regard," Gowila said.
Around 40 staffers, including doctors, nurses, technicians and non-technical staff, along with basic medical facilities, are required to properly run a polyclinic.
Medical facilities, including gynaecological, dental, X-Ray, ultrasound and ECG tests as well as a modern laboratory, were to be made available in the proposed polyclinics so that people didn't have to travel long distances to the civil hospital for minor ailments.
HUDA's decision to auction the buildings has not gone down well with residents. Said Azad Singh Ahlawat, a resident of Sector 3: "It would be a major setback to the residents of HUDA if the polyclinic buildings are auctioned. Residents are eagerly awaiting better medical health facilities at their doorstep.
Added Suresh Singal, another resident: "It will be cheating us if the polyclinics are auctioned. These would be instrumental in providing better medical facilities to residents. HUDA should not approve the proposal to auction."

Urbanisatiion or ghettoisation

Sankar Ray/ Kolkata

The country's emerging metropolises are nothing but middle class ghettos. Driven by property developers, these urban hells lack basic facilities or infrastructure

Julien Bouissou's commentary , Middle class ghettos' spreading in India in Le Monde, the premier daily in Paris is a sarcastic description of disturbingly sprawling Gurgaon model which Bouissou rightly says, "symbolizes the new urbanization of India, led by property developers without any planning and public governance". And that's the new India in its dazzling advent. "archetypal of the new middle class ghettos sprouting all over the country: a disorganized gated community of luxury condos, shopping malls and golf courses that's missing basic infrastructure and public spaces".
Contrast this to the other and the real India, dwarfed by the agony of what Andre Gunder Frank theorized as 'development of underdevelopment. Former New York Times and self-taught Gandhi scholar Joseph Lelyveld in his seminal work Great Soul : Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle in India quotes a UN survey report, "55 per cent of the population still defecates out of doors" . The Union minister for sports Ajay Maken disclosed that 19 notices were issued to the management of India Premier League and the Board Of Control For Cricket In India for violating Foreign Exchange Management Act to the tune of Rs 1,077 crores but all this may be fruitless as a monetary fixer and a Congress MP - journalist by profession - on the top brass of BBCI and mediating between the BCCI and IPL to take care of the latter. These strange personalities do not care for 67 per cent Indians, Lelyveld records, are denied access to 'improved sanitation'.
Middle class ghettos that have grown in all the metropolitan cities and their surroundings are reflections of burgeoning spread of 'crony capitalism' that perfectly catches up with the economically detrimental reform, imposed by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, bucked up by the World Trade Organization.
There is a dazzling exterior but a debilitating interior has the potential to turn all this into a mammoth mockery, the French journalist illustrates poignantly, In 30 years, the population of satellite town of Gurgaon in the National Capital Region grew with 1.5 million settlers in posh houses and apartments, with air-conditioned shopping malls around. Apparently, the dwellers have a feel of bliss out of escape from the congested Indian capital. But Delhi ka laddu syndrome remains. Le Monde feature states in a cautionary tone, "In the subterranean of Gurgaon, a catastrophe is about to happen. With over 30,000 illegal wells, the ground-water level is decreasing at an alarming pace, by about one meter each year. Water tables are also contaminated by the infiltration of untreated wastewater stagnating in hidden sight." She quotes a study by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, "The city is drowning in its excreta," preparing the backdrop for "an outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera" anytime. .She goes on in her expose about false development , "Gurgaon is now facing the same problems as a slum. Roads are full of potholes; the electricity works intermittently and there are no pavements- and would be the point of having them anyway? The city doesn't have a single public park, only vast shopping malls surrounded by car parks."
The reflex of luxurious downtown is visibility of golf courses around. They were built in a calculated craze. Golf courses cause depression of water level in groundwater aquifers, repeatedly pointed out by hydro-geologists. But developers, quick-buck makers and engineers call the shots drowning warnings from environmentalists. " It's engineers' racket", says Prof Sunil Munshi, the nonagenarian doyen among geographers.
But the village Chakarpur, laments Bouissou after a visit, Not far from there, in the village of Chakarpur, there has "neither swimming pool nor golf course. The only sport for residents is waiting for the electricity to arrive, so they can pump water from the underground tables. Because cheap labor is necessary to supply gated communities with chauffeurs and servants, Chakarpur was spared by property developers. The help live here, crammed in tiny windowless rooms."
But the ruination is apace and unpreventable, The McKinsey management consulting firm, foresees 68 cities with more than one million inhabitants in India by 2030 with around $ 1.2 trillion investment in infrastructure development. 'Humanity', said William Faulkner in his speech in receiving the Nobel Prize in literature in the 1960s, " has been passing through a gray and desolate time of confusion." The pathetic synonym for confusion is perishing.

Land Bill's bumpy ride

Sangita Jha/ New Delhi

It's not clear if govt will be able to pass the Bill in next session of parliament

In all developed democracies, private purchase of land, not state acquisition is the norm. The Parliamentary standing committee, while submitting its report on the "Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill, 2011" threw the moot question at the government if it should play any role at all in acquisition of land for private companies for profit purposes. This has been at the core of the recent controversies at various places in the country where farmers faced the police to protest acquisition of their land.
"Even for a key infrastructure project that sought to expand Tokyo's Narita International Airport, the primary mode of obtaining land in the surrounding areas was through extensive negotiations and higher compensation packages offered to those who were willing to sell their lands," the standing committee mentioned as one of the example to drive home the point that the government should desist from acquiring land for private companies for profit purposes.
The bone of contention is the inclusion of schedule VIII, which states that the government would acquire land for private companies for production of public goods, in the definition of "Public Purpose". This schedule, experts say and the standing committee concurs, would allow the government to keep acquiring land for all kinds of activities. The standing committee lamented that in place of the definition of the public purpose being specific it is rather quite broad and vague.
Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh did not lose much of the time in rejecting the core recommendations of the standing committee. "No country in the world gives kerosene or LPG subsidy either. India is not developed countries and as a developing nation it would have to play a role in facilitating the economic progress and development," asserted Ramesh. He, however, missed the point that the standing committee had stated "developed democracies" and not developed nation in arguing for the government to limit its role in land acquisition.
The standing committee clearly wanted to say that as a developed democracy India should not be forcefully acquiring land.
The assertions of the standing committee were based on the aftermath of large scale acquisition of land for setting up of Special Economic Zone in various parts of the country. Interestingly, the government has no data base to inform how much of land has been acquired and its resultant displacement on people since Independence.
"An official database of persons displaced by projects is not available. However, some unofficial studies, particularly by Dr. Walter Fernandes, peg this figure at 60 million for the period from 1947 to 2004, involving 25 million hectare, which includes 7 million hectare of forest and 6 million hectare of other common property resources (CPR). Whereas tribals constitute about 8 per cent of the total population, they are 40 per cent of the total displaced/ affected persons by the projects. Only a third of the displaced persons of planned development have been resettled," the standing committee asserted to substantiate its set of recommendations. Clearly, the standing committee should be taken more seriously than what is being suggested by Ramesh, who had taken pride in the fact that he got the LARR Bill, 2011 prepared and introduced in the Lok Sabha in record 60 days. It's a different thing that the standing committee also rapped his ministry for giving inadequate time to seek public feedback, while highlighting that a number of Union ministries were at variance with the Bill, which included Ministry of Power, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, and Ministry of Urban Development. However, Ramesh is again gearing up to live up to his reputation of getting the job done in quick time by asserting that he would get the revised LARR Bill passed in the Monsoon session of the Parliament.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation submitted before the standing committee with the note: "Acquisition of land on requests of private companies for setting up of Special Economic Zone or for any other public purpose should not be permitted." The Metro clearly has high credibility for having put up one of the massive infrastructure in the Independent India.
One of the salient features of the LARR Bill, 2011 was inclusion of the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) clauses in the same legislation. Not only the land owners were to be compensated but also those who lost their livelihoods. The Bill mandated that the R&R clauses would be applicable in the event of acquisition of 100 acres of land in rural areas and 50 acres of land in urban areas. Representatives of the real estate had been livid with this provision. The standing committee has incorporated objections of a number of states, including Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, who have claimed that the Central legislation would hurt the federal principles, while asking the issue to be left for the state legislatures to decide depending on the local factors.
Ramesh clearly does not want to be caught in the Centre-state crossfire and therefore was quick to clarify that the Central law would fix the minimum compensation and the states would be free to improve upon if they think so with their respective legislations. The minister hastened to add that he would like the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call a meeting of all the chief ministers to arrive at a consensus on the contentious issues, while also dropping hints that he would be keen to incorporate reasonable suggestions of the state governments.
Another key issue on which environmentalist Medha Patkar and others have long protested is the extent of land acquired for mega projects like airports. They have contended that with the help of the government the private players acquire thousands of acres of land even though only 10 per cent of them are used for the core activities, while rest of the land is used for commercial exploitation. The standing committee has also thrown this question at the government, while seeking clarity. It sought that not mere 80 per cent consent of the affected persons be obtained for acquiring land but the Gram Sabha in the presence of neutral person must give its consent.
The government maintains that it's in agreement with the standing committee recommendation and capping the size of land to be acquired would be arrived at through the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) in which the Gram Sabha and other local bodies would play key roles.
The standing committee has also made it clear that no land be acquired in the schedule V areas, which are inhabited by the tribal. The government is in agreement on this recommendation.
However, the standing committee, while stressing on the needs to protect the Food Security concerns, has sought that any cultivable land be not acquired. The LARR Bill sought that the multi-cropped irrigated land would not be acquired. However, the issue appears too tricky.
"A number of state governments, including Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, have opposed the move not to acquire multi-cropped irrigated land. We have to see how well we can strike a balance between the needs of agriculture and industrialization and also urbanization," said Ramesh, when asked to comment on the standing committee suggestion.
It very well appears that quite a bumpy road lies ahead for Ramesh to pilot the Land Bill in the Parliament in the Monsoon session. It's to be seen how soon the Land Bill becomes a law, as the standing committee has also sought amendments in 16 other related laws also to make rules consistent with respect to compensation.

Threading the needle

Vikas Sinha

Many villagers in Uttarakhand earlier considered Chir pine as a menace but no more now.

How did you come up with such an innovative idea of getting revenues out of fire?

Pine needle is the major cause of forest fire. If we can somehow clear the pine needle, we will be highly successful in curbing the forest fires and this can only be done if this pine needle is linked to livelihood resources of villagers. Forest department sought expertise of IIFM (Indian institute of Forest Management) and FRI (Forest Research Institute), towards devising a long term planning to curtail the raging forest fires in the state. And finally they came up with a wonderful solution. Now we are planning to produce oil out of it and our forest would be safer as well.
So, should we be assured that these forests are safe from pine needle menace?

Yes of course. As soon as we complete the solicitation with these organizations, they will start their operations. They will use these highly inflammable pine needles for making oil. Besides the safety of these forests, they will be also generating tremendous employment opportunities for people around here.
What is the use of pine needle oil?

Pine needle is a great cure for a number of orthopedic problems like arthritis, muscle rupture etc. Besides that, pine Needle is an energy booster and anti-ageing herb. If used consistently, the human body may experience benefits by taking pine Needle oil. These include reversing the aging process, maintaining good health, physical strength, and vitality. It has protein, Vitamin A, Carotene and Iron, which are all required by the human body to function properly. Rutin, found in Pine Needles, is thought to be the compound that cleans blood vessels.

Umesh Joshi, an ayurvedic physician based at Ranikhet, has treated uncountable patients of joint pains and arthritis through pine needle oil. He says,"Pine needle is blessed with magical powers of healing arthritis and several other orthopaedic problems. It is a perfect pain killer."
"I am a patient of arthritis for more than three years. Initially, I was undergoing allopathic treatment but it was very expensive and I hardly found any relief. Then a friend of mine suggested me about pine needle oil and I am in a much better condition now. Recently I heard that it will be produced at a large scale in our state and will be readily available. Now I don't have to travel to Ranikhet always to buy my medicine," said Mahendra Rawat, a resident of Almorah.
Pine needles have been a major cause behind hundreds of forest fires in the state. Chir Pine's leaf parts are like needles and are highly rich in resins. It falls off during autumn and spreads across the floor of the forest during autumn and is primary cause behind flaring up of fires during summers. Uttarakhand forest department has been in efforts of finding a solution to this problem for a long time. Finally they have succeeded not only in getting rid of this highly inflammable object, but also generating revenue out of it.
While 204 cases of forest fires have taken place in the past one year encompassing a total of 2792 hectares of forest area, there have been constant efforts done by forest department to check the spread of fire. Clearing pine needles was of major concern as it is spread almost everywhere and was hardly of any use.
So finally these pine needles have been proven to be of great constructive use. There is a very thin scope of industrialisation in valleys as most of the industrial affairs come at the cost of environment degradation, but production of pine needle oil will bring industrialization with an incentive of forest preservation. Generation of employment opportunities at a massive scale is also being awaited by the people in the state.

Problem of plenty, Govt at sea

Correspondent/ Chandigarh

The centre should ensure speedy movement of grains. At present, only 4 lakh tonnes is moved a month against the monthly demand of 10 lakh tonnes.

This year wheat collection in Haryana is set to create records as procurement is expected to cross 75 lakh tonnes on back of bumper output, but storage remains a big worry. Haryana had recorded the highest wheat purchase for central pool at 69.28 lakh tonnes in 2011-12 rabi marketing season.
This time, the total procurement is likely to cross 75 lakh tonnes which will be the highest ever purchase in the history of the state, a senior official of Haryana Food and Supply department said. Before the procurement started, the state government had set a target of 70 lakh tonnes. The crop purchase had already crossed at 68.81 lakh tonnes, up 21 per cent.
"The daily crop arrival still ranges between 2-3 lakh tonnes in Haryana. There is a great possibility that new record (of wheat procurement) will be set today itself," an official said.
The state is witnessing heavy arrival of the crop. The state authorities have even banned farmers from bringing wheat from adjoining Uttar Pradesh villages.
Haryana contributes almost 30 per cent to central pool. The state is targetting a record wheat yield in the current season on the back of favourable winter season, with a productivity of 47.50 quintals, the highest ever in the state.
The state has pegged the output at 118.61 lakh tonne, with an area of 25.05 lakh hectares.
However, a likely record procurement has also raised concerns about storage of the crop in the view of insufficient storage space and slow movement of foodgrain stock to other states.
"There will certainly be a problem in storing wheat because of shortage of storage space," the official said. The state authorities feel that whopping 80 lakh tonnes of wheat will need to stored in the open and could get damaged due to the monsoon season.
"We made arrangement for storing 70 lakh tonne of wheat with a great difficulty and now crop procurement surpassing our assessment, it will make our task (storage) further difficult," he said.
The Haryana government would be writing to the Centre to speed up the movement of wheat and rice to foodgrain deficit states.
The state is also concerned about the slow movement of grains -- about 4 lakh tonne of grain is moved a month against the monthly demand of 10 lakh tonne.
The state has covered capacity of 48.79 lakh tonne, while Covered Area Plinth (CAP) is 30 lakh tonne.
Meanwhile, the Central government had admitted a mismatch between procurement and storage and said efforts were on to ease pressure on godowns by encouraging exports and providing foodgrain to MNREGA workers as part of wages.
Answering a question in the Lok Sabha, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted a "mismatch" as godowns lacked storage space when there had been a "record production" of rice and wheat.
He said that earlier 30-40 per cent of the total production of foodgrain used to be purchased by the government and the rest taken care of by the market.
But in the last 2-3 years, due to high minimum support price, procurement had become the primary responsibility of central and state governments and their agencies, he said.
Referring to the shortage of jute bags to store foodgrain, he said to augment their availability, the government was trying to import them, even as two lakh MT of storage capacity has been added.
While plastic bags had been banned, the government was following international norms for packaging of sugar, wheat and rice stored in biodegradable jute bags, he said.
Besides providing several tax and other concessions to create more storage capacity, exports were being encouraged and the Rural Development Ministry was working on providing foodgrain to MNREGA workers as part of their wages. State governments have to be involved in this, he said.
Mukherjee's remarks followed a 10-minute adjournment of Lok Sabha proceedings after members of NDA, Left, RJD and SP created a furore over farmers plight, saying foodgrains were rotting and getting destroyed in rains due to lack of storage at a time of record wheat and riceoutput.

Govt deliberately allowing wheat to rot to help breweries: Farmers

Nimisha / Chandigarh

Centre-appointed Rangarajan panel recommends export of two million tonnes of wheat

Record wheat production in Punjab and Haryana has brought both agony and ecstasy to the farmers and the officials of the procurement agencies. While the two States - the food basket of the country - are celebrating a bumper wheat production, they simply do not know how to store the massive volumes procured this year.
While the scientific storage capacity is limited and at best can store three-fourth of the procurement, the slow movement of stocks out of the region has compounded the woes of the two States.
So far nearly 13 million tonnes of wheat has already been procured in Punjab this season which is the highest procurement in the last few decades. It is already 2 million tonnes higher than the target of 11 million tonnes set by the State Government before the beginning of the procurement season. The Punjab Government and its agencies are wondering where to store the food grain and have hit a wall as the godowns are overflowing and the movement out of the State has been extremely slow.
Haryana is no different and the worry lines are only growing even as the State celebrates a record production. The procurement has touched 8.6 million tonnes against the fixed target of seven million tonnes.
Now that the Food Ministry supported the suggestion of Rangarajan panel to allow export of 2 million tonnes of wheat from Government stocks immediately to ease pressure on storages, the two States are breathing easy. But still the two State Governments want more. For them, the export of wheat would serve two purposes. While the problem of storage would be solved, it will also serve as an incentive for farmers as they can hope for a better MSP next year if the Centre formulates a permanent policy on wheat exports.
The C Rangarajan panel was constituted to suggest ways and means to ease pressure that record food grain production had created on storages across the country, particularly Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in recent years. The panel suggested immediate export of 2 million tonnes of wheat from Government stocks, and additional supply of 13 million tonnes of the grain via ration shops and in the open market.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was the first to raise the demand for exports. He asked the Centre to allow export of wheat from the State, being the major producer of the crop to bail out the beleaguered Punjabi farmers already reeling under debt stress. In his meetings and letters to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in the last couple of months, Badal has been consistently raising the demand for permitting export of wheat.
"Whenever there is an acute shortage of the food grains in the country; Punjab was always reminded of its obligation towards the national food pool. On the contrary, whenever there was surplus food production as of now in the case of wheat, Centre pays no heed to our requests, which tantamount to its sheer discrimination against Punjab," Badal said, hours before the decision of the Centre to allow export.
Officials and agencies associated with procurement of wheat say that decision on the movement of wheat has to be taken on an emergency basis as only a month remains for the monsoon to hit the northern region. "Piles of wheat without any coverage and others where only a polythene sheet has been placed on top of the sacks could easily get rotten and become unfit for consumption after rains. It has happened in the past and the state stares at it again," said an official, who did not want to be identified.
In fact, on the day procurement of wheat began in Punjab, it already had nearly 7 million tonnes in the godowns which was much more than what is normally kept for meeting any possible food crisis. "The movement to other parts of the country was extremely slow in the last 12 months - both Rabi and Kharif crops," an official admitted, adding that the Centre needs to look into this aspect seriously and urgently.
A section of the farmers have alleged that the "policy of allowing wheat to rot was deliberate" as it helps some breweries pick up the rotten wheat at throwaway prices and also the flour mills who mix certain chemicals to whiten the wheat and make it fit for human consumption.
State and Centre officials deny any such practice. They simply put up their hands in despair and say what they can do when the storage capacity is not there, private sector is not coming up in the food storage sector and the food grains have to face the vagaries of nature lying in the open.
All efforts of the Centre and even the state to bring in private warehouses and build private storage capacity have failed. Given the high prices of real estate in the region and the failure of the governments to give any sort of assured guarantee for profits to entrepreneurs, no one is coming for it.
"As the investment is high and only the government and its procurement agencies are the clients, they have to come forward to give a guarantee that they would hire the godowns for at least 15 years or so and would also help initially in the investment. Unless such a policy comes out, no one will invest in warehouses," an entrepreneur of Punjab said.
Food experts say that unless storage capacity is improved, the disparity in the availability of foodgrains in the country will continue.
"It is indeed sad when we see that one part of the country faces shortages while foodgrains rot in some other part. You cannot allow this to happen. Urgent steps are needed and one of them is to build storage capacity in areas where the concentration of population is high and then move the food grains from Punjab and Haryana to these areas," a scientist from the PAU said.

Rotting grains, hungry mouths

Sangita Jha/ New Delhi

Centre should look for other options as there is a mismatch between foodgrain procurement and storage capacity.
A couple of photographs told the story of India’s food mismanagement.No words were needed. Mounds of sacks full of rotting foodgrains being ploughed by some labourrers in the hope, that they find some quantity still eatable splashed newspapers this month. Another photograph had the same story but this time lying in pool of water. Not shocked, Union ministry of consumer affairs and public distribution wanted to question the authenticity of the photographs.
“Why is no one saying that those photographs were taken three years ago,” quipped a senior official of the ministry.
With wheat productions alone set to cross 90 million tonnes this year, the government is caught in a dark tunnel. There are two options for the government; one to let the grains go to the hungry mouths, and secondly export them. The choice is not that easy. First option would entail much higher subsidy burden, while the second would still need export subsidy but the government can recover part of the cost of procuring the foodgrains.
The ministry rushed to the Prime Minister’s Office with a proposal to release 17 million tonnes of wheat through the PDS for people under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) categories. The government bent with subsidy burden constituted a committee under C Rangarajan to look into the issue of “Food Management”, while tasking it to look into the ministry proposal.
In one week’s time the committee submitted its recommendations. Release 10.5 million tonnes of wheat through PDS and export two million tonnes. Total subsidy liability would be Rs 17,000 crore.
“Export is not a wothwhile option, as there are hardly any buyer. International price is low. India has been able to export to only a handful of countries, including Bangladesh, Taiwan and some African countries. Unless export is substantially subsidiesd, there will be no buyers in the international market,” said a senior official of the Food ministry. In fact, ban on export of wheat was lifted in September 2011 but in all only eight lakh tonnes of grain could be exported till date. This sums up the export option story.
Against the likely government procurement of 90 million tonnes of wheat this year, the storage capacity available by all means is of 62 million tonnes only. The piecemeal approach of getting rid of 10.5 million tonnes of wheat, as suggested by the Rangarajan committee, is clearly not in lines with the sound principles of “management”.
“The storage capacity, Covered and Cover and Plinth (CAP) available with the Food Corporation of India as on 01.04.2012 was 336.04 lakh MTs, both owned and hired. The storage capacity with state agencies for storage of Central stock of foodgrains as on 31.03.2011 was about 291 lakh tonnes, including both covered and CAP capacity. Thus, a total quantity of about 627 lakh tonnes of storage capacity was available for storage of Central stock of foodgrains against the Central stock of 527 lakh tonnes as on 1.04.2012. However, some quantities of foodgrains get damaged due to rain, floods and natural calamities,” Union minister of state (independent charge) of public distribution informed the Rajya Sabha this month.
Problem is more acute for the reason that the country is set to witness a record foodgrains production of 252 million tonnes this year. In fact the eastern India is in the grip of the second green revolution. Five states -- Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana – are facing major storage problem. These are the states known as food bowl of the country. The case of Madhya Pradesh is unique, as it does not have enough jute bags to keep the grains.
“Problem of plenty is also for the reason, that consuming states have become producing states. West Bengal, Bihar, Odhisa have come around in a big way as foodgrains producing states,” said Prof. Thomas.
The government in fact informed the Parliament, which discussed the issue of lack of storage capacity, that supply of grains through PDS is enhanced and other welfare schemes linked with grains be launched.
However, the government has committed release of about 55 million tonnes of foodgrains through the PDS. The FCI is of the view that a minimum 75 million tonnes of grains be released through the PDS so that adequate capacity is created for the new crop. The cost of heeding to the advice of the FCI is about Rs 40,000 crore.
The Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee mooted an idea of reviving the old scheme of “Food for Work” through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). Prof. Thomas lapped the idea. However, the ray of hope dimmed just a flood down on the Krishi Bhavan where Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh did not waste any moment to recall “absolutely bad experience” when the “Food for Work” was being executed in some the poorest districts. The idea has been clearly a non-starter. Ramesh even recalled “excessive corruption” to show why he was not pleased.
The PDS grain release is taking place on the basis of 2001 Census. A number of states, including Chhatisgarh, Odhisa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, have sought that the PDS allocation be based on the 2011 Census. “We are currently getting 25 lakh tones of foodgrains, if it is raised to 35 lakh tones Chhatisgarh will be able to cover all the BPL families in the state,” Chhatisgarh chief minister Raman Singh told Prof. Thomas in a meeting this month.
However, the Centre is not rushing in to link the PDS allocation to the states based on 2011 Census. The Centre rather wants to wait for the ongoing Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) to complete to revise its PDS allocation system. But the SECC has missed the December 2011 deadline for completion. It is still nowhere completion. Rather, the SECC has been a non-starter, as barring a couple of states like Maharashtra and Punjab, its progress percentage is in single digit as on March 31. It may even be not completed by this year as well.
Besides, National Food Security Bill is being deliberated upon by the Parliamentary standing committee and is expected to give its report before the Monsoon session of the Parliament begins. However, its fate is itself not clear for the reason that the food subsidy burden will be a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh crore, while the programme would still not be universal as sought out by states like Tamil Nadu.
“The government will have to discourage farmers from producing more by ensuring that there is no hike in minimum support price (MSP), which is paid for procuring the grains. The states will have to take the cue from the Centre and stop the practice of giving bonus on MSP. This is the only way we can get out of the mess in which we are trapped currently,” quipped a senior official of the Food ministry.

वक्त की पुकार है मिलकर चलो

पी वी राजगोपाल

हकीकत में तो ये कोई नहीं कहता है कि मिलकर काम करना बुरी बात है। हर कोई यही बात कर रहा है कि लोग आपस में जुड़े संस्थाएं आपस मेें जुड़े जिससे बड़ी-बड़ी समस्याओं का समाधान निकाला जा सके। मैंने भी अपनी तरफ से संगठित होने के संबंण में अपने विचार रखे हैं और कुछ हद तक मैंने कार्यवाई को आधार मानकर संगठित होने के विचार को बढ़ावा देने की कोशिश की है, परंतु अन्य लोगों की तरह मुझे भी अपनी सीमाएं समझ में आई। क्यों हम मिलकर दरवाजा खोलते है फिर बंद कर देते हैं, इसके कई कारण है। आपसी विश्वास और भरोसा पैदा करना कोई आसान काम नहीं है। इसमें समय लगता है और हमारे पास दूसरों के साथ इस प्रकार मिलका काम करने का समय नहीं है। जिससे हममें आपसी विश्वास पैदा हो सके।

सम्मेलनों और सम्मानों में हमें एक-दूसरे को जानने का मौका मिलता है। परंतु इससे हमें दूसरे व्यक्ति पर विश्वास करने की वजह नहीं मिल पाती है। हमारे पास नेटवर्कों की कई मिसाले हैं जो सेमिनार और सम्मेलनों से आगे नहीं बढ़ पाते हैं। वर्तमान व्यवस्था को चुनौती देने हेतु किसी कार्यवाई के साथ जुड़ने के लिए ऐसे लोगोें की जरूरत पड़ती है जो एक-दूसरे पर भरोसा करते हैं और साथ-साथ जोखिम उठाने की इच्छा रखते हो। जन संवाद यात्रा में मुझे कई व्यक्तियों और संगठनों से मिलने और उनके साथ मेलजोल बढ़ाने का मौका मिला है। कुछ मामलों में हम कई दिनों तक साथ-साथ समय बिताने, मुद्दों पर चर्चा करने, गलतफहतियों को दूर करने और सामूहिक कार्यवाही के लिए रिश्तों को मजबूत करने में सझम हुए हैं। इसमें इतना समय और उर्जा लगाना बेहद जरूरी था जिससे आपसी विश्वास बना सके जो आखिरकार 2012 में सयुक्त कार्यवाही के रूप में एक बड़ी शक्ति का रूप धारण करेगा। हजारों किलोमिटर की यात्रा में रिश्ते बनाने के ये सभी अभ्यास करते समय मैं इस बात पर चिंतन करता रहा कि आखिर साथ-साथ काम करना क्यों इतना मुश्किल है।

कुछ मामलों में यह एक प्रांतीय लड़ाई है। एक ही राज्य मे काम कर रहे लोग एक-दूसरे के बारे में शिकायत करते हैं वहीं वो अपने राज्य से बाहर के लोगों के साथ नेटवर्क बनाने और कार्यवाई करने के इच्छुक रहते हैं। सच में यह बड़ी खतरनाक प्रवृति है। इसमें से हर किसी का बने रहना इस बात पर पूरी तरह निर्भर करेगा कि हम अपने राज्य के लोगों के साथ कितना घनिष्ठ रिश्ता बनाकर काम कर सकते हैं। क्या तमिलनाडू में बचे रह सकते है? जहां तक मुझे पता है, इस बात की बहुत कम संभावना है कि वह उडि़सा या आंध्र प्रदेश की किसी नीति में कोई परिवर्तन कर सकेंगे यह तभी संभव होगा जब इन राज्यों के सामाजिक पात्र साथ-साथ काम करने के लिए एक टीम के रूप में कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर चलें। सैद्धांतिक रूप से सभी इस बात जानते हैं परंतु व्यवहारिक रूप से यह सामाजिक परिवर्तन लाने के काम का सबसे मुश्किल पहलू है। दूसरा कारण यहां इतनी प्रतिस्पर्धा हैः संसाधनों के कारण। यहां ऐसे कुछ लोग है जो अपने संसाधनों को बढ़ा सकते हैं कुछ ऐसे हैं जिनके कुशलता नहीं है। संस्थाओं को काफी समझदारी से अपनी भूमिकाओं का निर्वाह करना पड़ता है। जो संस्थाएं मैं, मेरी संस्था, मेरा झंड़ा, मेरे विचार और मेरा पैसा की सोच से काम करते हैं वे संगठित होने की इस प्रक्रिया में कभी सहयोग नहीं कर सकते हैं। इसकी सबसे बड़ी चुनौती अवसरों, संपर्को और संसाधनों का इस तरह से उपयोग करना है। जिससे राजशक्ति तथा इसकी व्यवस्था को चुनौती देने की संभावनाएं पैदा हो सकें। सामाजिक आंदोलनों और स्वैच्छिक संस्थाओं में प्रतिस्पर्धा का एक बड़ा क्षेत्र मीडिया, पुरस्कार, मान्यता और सरकार में उनकी हैसियत इत्यादि से भी संबंधित हैं। इममें से हर कोई मीडिया में अपने नाम और झंडे को देखने में रुचि लेता है। मुझे नहीं लगता है कि इसमें कुछ गलत है लेकिन हमारे लिए यह बेहद जरूरी है कि हम इसी में न लगे रहें। लोगों को मीडिया को अपनी कमजोरी नहीं मानना चाहिए। मीडिया में हमारा नाम-झंडा आए या न आए हमें, पुरस्कार मिलें या न मिलें, हमारी कोई हैसियत बने या न बने, हमें तो एक मन से उन हाशिए पर पहंुच समुदाओं को न्याय और आजीविका के संसाधन दिलाने की दिशा में काम करना है जो राजनीति दलों का एक लंबे समय से इंतजार कर रहे हैं कि कब वे करोड़ो भारतीयों को न्याय दिलाएंगे। सामाजिक आंदोलन लोगों को संगठित करने आ गया है। जिससे राजशक्ति पर उन बातों के लिए दबाव डाला जा सके जिसका उन्होंने वादा किया था। जितना हम अपनी जिम्मेदारियों को समझेंगे उतना ही ज्यादा हम अपनी बचकानी हरकतों से दूर रहेंगे और अपनी जिम्मेदारियों को पूरी निष्ठा और गंभीरता से पूरा कर पाएंगे। अब समय आ गया है कि हम व्यापक हित में साथ-साथ काम करने की इस महान सोच को अपने जीवन में उतारें।