Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's words on August 8 that "people must be prepared for a further rise in prices" is shocking, coming on top of a continuous spiraling in the prices of rice, wheat, dals, sugar and vegetables. The Prime Minister further explained his warning words by pointing to the prevailing drought in 141 districts and the shortfall of six million hectares under kharif paddy. It is far from reassuring that the Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture and Food came to this conclusion that prices are going to go up even further, and even less comforting to hear an empty promise that "in no case will we allow citizens to grow hungry"!

It is not the first time that the official recognition of a calamity that is already being experienced by the people comes so late and the proposed action sounds so empty and bereft of any conviction. It is more than common sense that a good monsoon is critical to agricultural production in our country, that the first and slightest hint of a shortage in sowing of the key food products - rice, wheat, pulses (dals), oilseeds, sugar, onions and potatoes - will send the prices soaring, and provoke rampant hoarding and speculation. Yet, the government has done nothing so far on this issue, except warn the people of worsening conditions! The government further refused to admit a discussion on the issue in the Parliament in response to the opposition demand on July 28.

The neglect of the situation and allowing  it to deteriorate this far is a criminal act by the government and utterly condemnable. It is so because ensuring availability of food at affordable prices must be one of the key concerns for the government. It is something that any government which puts the welfare of its citizens at the centre can achieve with all the resources at its command. If it is a matter of scarcity where the domestic production plus the carry over of stock is not sufficient to meet the demand, imports can always fill the gap. Food prices have been steadily increasing over the last 3-4 years largely due to speculation through futures trading in food articles and the profiteering by traders through holding back stocks in anticipation of a rise in price. At present, prices of dal have risen to Rs.100/ kg, sugar to Rs.40/kg and no vegetable costs less than Rs.30/kg! Yet, the central government refuses to take responsibility by shifting the same on to the state governments - the Agriculture and Food Minister has declared that "the Centre would not be able to control prices unless the States take action against hoarders and speculators!

It is a fraud of this democracy that almost every party in its campaign for the General Elections raised the issue of prices of essential commodities and many of them, including the Congress, promised food grains to every family living below poverty line at Rs.3 or Rs. 2 or Re.1 per kg! Yet, between the time the new government assumed power on May 22 and till date by the end of the first week of August, there has been no sign of fulfillment on its promise of rice or wheat at Rs.3 a kg or the "Food Security" that it had promised to deliver as a key action.

Even the "food security" promised by the government must be understood for what it really is. In 1997, with the replacement of the universal public distribution system (PDS) by a targeted public distribution system (TPDS), the entire population was divided into below-poverty-line (BPL) and above-poverty-line (APL) categories based on the poverty line defined by the Planning Commission. The effort has been to narrow this definition so much that even families falling under the official poverty line have been considered ineligible for receiving a BPL card under one or another disqualifying condition. Studies on exclusion from TPDS reveal that in a majority of the poorest states, a large proportion of households in the lowest expenditure class have been excluded. Many thousands of households with monthly incomes of as little as Rs.2001 have been declared over the poverty line (APL) and denied access to essential grain, sugar, oil and cooking fuel under the government managed public distribution system.

In its concept note on the Food Security Act, the Central Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution presents its objective behind the proposal to enact this Act as: "In order to provide food security to all citizens of the country, especially the BPL households, it is proposed to enact a National Food Security Act". The experience of the TPDS and the further elaborations in the said concept note reveals that the Act will provide 25 kgs or 35 kgs of rice or wheat and some coarse grains (this is still to be decided) at Rs.2/kg to BPL households only. The fact that a household will have growing children, expectant and nursing mothers, and members who work more than 10 hours a day and will need vegetables, pulses and oil at the least, is ignored.

Further, the ability of a majority of households to obtain essential food items in the open market has to be measured in the context of a fairly stable market condition. But when prices are so unstable that they can increase by more than Rs.5-10/kg in a matter of weeks, is it conceivable that an average household with 4-6 members can afford to buy essential food items in the open market? Such a measure of poverty for qualifying for access to the PDS is a travesty of justice and truth and any pious talk of ensuring that "no citizen must be allowed to go hungry" must be roundly exposed and condemned for the fraud that it is! A government that truly believes in this aim must ensure that essential food items of good quality are available at stable and affordable prices to all people; further, it must provide special assistance to those who are in greater need.

People must demand immediate and practical steps that will arrest the further increase in prices. People must demand that the Centre takes immediate action to put an end to futures trading in food and other essential items, stop any private profiteering through hoarding and speculation, time-bound implementation of a modern universal PDS that will cover all essential food items including the distribution of vegetables, meat and eggs. People must demand nothing less than state guaranteed availability of all essential food to all citizens at affordable prices and punishment for any official or private party that seeks to violate this Right to Food. Such a right that is universal, unconditional and justiciable is the demand of the people.