This is clearly the height of incompetency of this UPA Government. The Food & Consumer Affairs Minister Mr. KV Thomas is thinking of bringing in a new legislation to curb wastage of food in weddings and social gatherings. The Minister said “There is huge wastage of food at weddings and other social functions. It is a criminal wastage. We are finding out mechanism to bring down such wastage of food,". It is being proposed that vigilance officers are going to be at these weddings to count the number of guests and to charge wealth Tax if guests exceed the 100 count. We all know how this is going to turn out. The bride’s father will now have to pay two dowries – one to the groom and one to the vigilance officer. The food shortage and wastage is a huge gaping wound on the nation and Thomas is proposing putting a band aid on it. Such a proposal is tantamount to dereliction of duty!
But if we do decide to give him some leeway and let Thomas call this Criminal then what would he call the annual wastage of millions of tons of food grain and agricultural produce worth US $ 12.2 billion allowed to rot due to inadequate government-owned facilities? The situation has not changed much since 2008, when Subodh Kant Sahai, minister for food processing, made the startling disclosure of $12 billion in losses of agricultural produce owing to the absence or shortage of post-harvesting infrastructure, such as cold storage chains, transportation and storage facilities.
The Minister KV Thomas further noted that the need of the hour is to stop such kind of wastage in weddings because there are still some percentages of population who get only one time meal. Is the minister not aware that over 63% of children in India go to bed hungry? As per the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one in three of the world's malnourished children live in India, a number more than in sub-Saharan Africa. This avoidable misery continues, year after year, even though India is the world's second-largest producer of food, after China.
The Minister is in consultation with NGOs, and says; the government is mulling setting up a national advisory committee to look into this issue of food wastage in weddings.
While the Indian newspapers are busy covering IPL and trying to find another way to railroad Bhai Narendra Modi, the BBC has published an article which says: Officials say massive quantities of food grains and fuel, meant to be distributed through the public distribution system or to be given to the poor under welfare schemes like food-for-work and school meals for poor children, have been stolen over the years and sold on the open market.
All this is happening in the state ruled by the richest CM in India Mayawati. It is estimated that over a period of ten years, food worth $43 billion has be pilfered (that is in dollars not rupees!). It is clear that the nefarious neta-babu-greedy businessman nexus has stolen food from people who are, in some cases, eating clay to alleviate hunger. I have read that the jails in the US have a hierarchy of respect where robbers are considered to be on the top and the child molesters and other sexual criminals are at the bottom. If molesting a child is a heinous crime even to the worst of the society, then where do you think stealing food from them stands? That is what this neta-babu-greedy businessman nexus stands.
We are supposed to be a civil society where the weaker sections are supposed to be looked after by the system. Clearly, that is not the case in India. In our case we rob the weak of morsels of food. What does it say about us?
Govt mulls over law to curb food wastage at weddings
Terming the food wastage at weddings and social gatherings as "criminal", food and consumer affairs Minister KV Thomas today said the government could bring a new law in this regard and also launch an awareness campaign to curb this.
The minister said although the government has not conducted any study to determine the level of wastage of food at such functions like marriage events, there are reports that wastage is to the extent of 15-20%.
The complete article can be read at:http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_govt-mulls-over-law-to-curb-food-wastage-at-weddings_1511519
India's immense 'food theft' scandal
21 February 2011
The poorest of the poor in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, are at the heart of a major food scandal. The Indian media has described it as "the mother of all scams". A senior official in the food cell says even today 40% to 70% of supplies from the public distribution system are stolen.
"The rot is very deep," a CBI official told the BBC. "In the districts of Sitapur, Balia and Lakhimpur Kheri, our investigation found very clear-cut proof of diversion of grains."
It appears to show elements of the state bureaucracy diverting food from citizens who are right at the bottom of the economic ladder.
The complete article can be read at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12502431
But if we do decide to give him some leeway and let Thomas call this Criminal then what would he call the annual wastage of millions of tons of food grain and agricultural produce worth US $ 12.2 billion allowed to rot due to inadequate government-owned facilities? The situation has not changed much since 2008, when Subodh Kant Sahai, minister for food processing, made the startling disclosure of $12 billion in losses of agricultural produce owing to the absence or shortage of post-harvesting infrastructure, such as cold storage chains, transportation and storage facilities.
The Minister KV Thomas further noted that the need of the hour is to stop such kind of wastage in weddings because there are still some percentages of population who get only one time meal. Is the minister not aware that over 63% of children in India go to bed hungry? As per the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one in three of the world's malnourished children live in India, a number more than in sub-Saharan Africa. This avoidable misery continues, year after year, even though India is the world's second-largest producer of food, after China.
The Minister is in consultation with NGOs, and says; the government is mulling setting up a national advisory committee to look into this issue of food wastage in weddings.
While the Indian newspapers are busy covering IPL and trying to find another way to railroad Bhai Narendra Modi, the BBC has published an article which says: Officials say massive quantities of food grains and fuel, meant to be distributed through the public distribution system or to be given to the poor under welfare schemes like food-for-work and school meals for poor children, have been stolen over the years and sold on the open market.
All this is happening in the state ruled by the richest CM in India Mayawati. It is estimated that over a period of ten years, food worth $43 billion has be pilfered (that is in dollars not rupees!). It is clear that the nefarious neta-babu-greedy businessman nexus has stolen food from people who are, in some cases, eating clay to alleviate hunger. I have read that the jails in the US have a hierarchy of respect where robbers are considered to be on the top and the child molesters and other sexual criminals are at the bottom. If molesting a child is a heinous crime even to the worst of the society, then where do you think stealing food from them stands? That is what this neta-babu-greedy businessman nexus stands.
We are supposed to be a civil society where the weaker sections are supposed to be looked after by the system. Clearly, that is not the case in India. In our case we rob the weak of morsels of food. What does it say about us?
Govt mulls over law to curb food wastage at weddings
Terming the food wastage at weddings and social gatherings as "criminal", food and consumer affairs Minister KV Thomas today said the government could bring a new law in this regard and also launch an awareness campaign to curb this.
The minister said although the government has not conducted any study to determine the level of wastage of food at such functions like marriage events, there are reports that wastage is to the extent of 15-20%.
The complete article can be read at:http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_govt-mulls-over-law-to-curb-food-wastage-at-weddings_1511519
India's immense 'food theft' scandal
21 February 2011
The poorest of the poor in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, are at the heart of a major food scandal. The Indian media has described it as "the mother of all scams". A senior official in the food cell says even today 40% to 70% of supplies from the public distribution system are stolen.
"The rot is very deep," a CBI official told the BBC. "In the districts of Sitapur, Balia and Lakhimpur Kheri, our investigation found very clear-cut proof of diversion of grains."
It appears to show elements of the state bureaucracy diverting food from citizens who are right at the bottom of the economic ladder.
The complete article can be read at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12502431
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