One of the most burning problems facing the majority of people in our country is that of unaffordable food prices. They have been rising for several years now, and have shot up especially rapidly in 2008. Prices of not just wheat and rice, but of dal, vegetables and other items of daily consumption have risen to unprecedented levels. Working class families are unable to purchase and consume as much food as they did a few months ago.

Government of India claims that it cannot do much about this because it is an ‘imported’ problem. This is a bogus argument. The same Government of India has taken numerous steps to protect corporate profits in the wake of the financial crisis. Was the financial crisis not an ‘imported’ problem? When this government has shown rapid action to protect the interests of big capitalist corporations, why should workers not demand rapid action to address the problem of food prices?

There are a number of measures that can be taken to immediately bring down food prices, and to ensure that their prices remain protected and stable in the future. Workers and peasants must demand that these measures are taken without fail, and fight for a government that would actually do so.

First step is to impose a permanent and complete ban on all kinds of speculative trade in food items, including futures trading of all kinds. This is because the recent spike in prices is mainly the result of speculation. Not only are traders and trading companies hoarding food products to reap maximum private profits. In addition to this age old problem, there are now giant corporations and financial institutions that are hoarding future claims on food. They are betting on future food prices and gambling with the fate of millions of toiling people who are being pushed deeper into poverty.

The Manmohan Singh government introduced a temporary ban on futures trading in some food items. This is clearly an admission that futures trading is harmful. Why then should the ban not be extended to all food items and on a permanent basis? To allow profiteers to bet on food prices, to make money by speculating with wheat, rice and other food articles – is against the interests of providing adequate food at affordable prices to the people. It must therefore be banned, not just for the time being but forever.

Second step is to halt and reverse privatization and liberalization in the field of food production and distribution. Facts show that the liberalisation and privatisation program has aggravated the problem of people losing access to food. The fields of wholesale and retail trade in food have been opened up to big giant corporations, Indian and international. These corporations are the biggest speculators and profiteers. State control over foreign trade has also been lifted, expanding the space for private profiteers in the export and import trade in food. Reversing this direction means to bring food production and distribution under social regulation and control.

Third step – which follows closely from the second – is to extend the Public Distribution System to cover all essential consumption needs and all people without exception, make it efficient and place it under people’s control in every local area. Liberalisation and privatization have been accompanied by steps to dismember the PDS and reduce its coverage. The PDS created in the sixties was limited in coverage to begin with. It provided only wheat and rice but not dals, edible oils and other necessities. Since the nineties the coverage has been further limited, by splitting the working people into ‘Below Poverty Line’ and ‘Above Poverty Line’ families, and by restricting subsidized supply only to the first category.

The weakening of the PDS has been carried out by the capitalist reformers, using the fact that the system was inefficient, wasteful and corrupt. The reason why it was inefficient, wasteful and corrupt lies is because it was based on a limited concept and managed by the corrupt bureaucracy.

The old PDS was based on a concept called ‘food security’ – which meant security for the ruling bourgeois class against foreign imperialist pressure using food aid, and from mass food riots and the threat of revolution. What is needed today is a modern system based on the principle that the Right to Food belongs to all human beings and it cannot be violated under any pretext. Food is a vital human need and not a commodity from which to reap private profits.

There is need for a mechanism to ensure availability of all essential items of consumption at affordable prices and in adequate quantity and quality for all members of society. This means a modern PDS that is efficiently organized and universal in coverage, both in terms of who can benefit from it and in terms of the various items of essential consumption. Social organizations and committees of the people at the local level can and must be empowered to oversee the functioning of the PDS outlets, to ensure non-corrupt functioning of the system at the base.

The solution lies in restricting and eliminating the space for private profiteers and speculators to manipulate food markets and food prices. It lies in establishing a system of social control and regulation over food distribution and food markets.