1 crore Indians starve as grains rot in FCI godowns

Over 10 lakh (1 million) tonnes of food grains worth several hundred crores of rupees, which could have fed over one crore hungry people for a year, were damaged in Food Corporation of India godowns during the last one decade.

The damages were suffered despite the FCI spending Rs 242 crore (Rs 2.42 billion) while trying to prevent any loss of food grains during storage. Ironically another 2.59 crore was spent just to dispose off the rotten food grains.

These startling facts came in reply to a Right to Information application filed by a Delhi resident. FCI informed that 10 lakh tonnes of food grain was damaged in the godowns of government owned agency which is responsible for procurement and distribution of food grains across the country.

It comes at a time when a United Nations report has claimed that 63 per cent children in India go to bed without any food.

The FCI informed that 183,000 tonnes of wheat, 395,000 tonnes of rice, 22 thousand tonnes of paddy and 110 tonnes of maize were damaged between 1997 and 2007.

The FCI said in the northern region -- UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi -- the damage incurred was 700,000 tonnes and the PSU spent Rs 87.15 crore (Rs 871 million) to prevent the loss besides spending over Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million) to dispose off the damaged food grain.

"Keeping in view the amount of money spent by the FCI for preservation of food grains in its go-down, the quantum of damage is huge. Is it not a national shame?" the RTI applicant Dev Ashish Bhattacharya said.

Similarly in eastern India -- Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal – the damage incurred was 1.5 tonnes of food grains while the FCI spent Rs 122 crore (Rs 1.22 billion) to prevent it from rotting. But the damaged lot was disposed off after spending another Rs 1.65 crore (Rs 16 million).

In the southern region -- Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala-- the damage incurred was 43,069.023 tonnes despite spending Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million). This damaged food grain was disposed off after spending another Rs 34,867.

While damage in Maharashtra and Gujarat mounted to 73,814 tonnes, the FCI spent Rs 2.78 crore (Rs 27 million) to prevent the loss. However, this lot was also disposed off later at a cost of Rs 24 lakh (Rs 2.4 million).

In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the damage incurred was 23,323.57 tonnes of food grains and the amount spent to stop the damage was Rs 5.5 crore (Rs 55 million).

The story was no different from other go-downs as the FCI spent Rs 10.64 lakh (Rs 1.1 million) for disposing damaged food grains.

"The data given by FCI seems manipulated. In case of Jharkhand, the food grain damage is 3,699 tonnes which is comparatively low than other states. But the money spent to dispose off the damage is Rs 1.4 crore (Rs 14 million), which is high when compared to the other states," Dev Ashish said.