Till recently India's food stock was 50 million tonnes but it has declined by one third now...
That is the food stock. The Food Corporation of India bought it then as there were no private players. There was also a ban on export at that time.
Large multinational private players have come now. In those days it was only FCI, who bought grains from the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, which forms the heartland of the Green Revolution, which is the saviour of the national PDS (Public Distribution System).
Now FCI has competitors who offer Rs 100 more than what the government gives. That is why the government is unable to buy.
A majority of farmers have no holding capacity, and these small and marginal farmers want money the day they harvest -- the daughter has to be married off, or the money lender is after their life...
FCI drew lot of flak when media reported that stocks in its godowns were eaten up by rats. India then started exporting rice and wheat and it was said that the country was self sufficient.
At that time, because of the criticism that rats were eating grains, the government allowed exports but they allowed it at below poverty line because the world prices were low.
Image: A farmer rides past a cotton field in Sunna village in Vidarbha, Maharashtra. A wave of farmers' suicides has hit rural India over the last few years, with reported estimates of 10,000 succumbing annually due to poor mental health linked to loan repayment difficulties, seasonal discrepancies like droughts and floods which the World Health Organisation attributes to climate change, and rising living costs. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
Also see: From Rs 60,000 to Rs 435 crore!
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