Not by threats alone

UNION Agriculture Minister C Subramaniam’s warning that the Government might reverse its food policy if the traders do not improve their procurement performance is unlikely to end the present mess. Early in the wheat season, the wholesalers had assured the Food and Agriculture Ministry that if allowed re-entry, they would be able to procure 5 to 6 million tonnes of grains for the Central pool. Taking them on their word, the Government abandoned last year’s wheat trade takeover. But the policy reversal has not proved an effective remedy. Less than 2 million tonnes have so far been procured. With the plea period over, the achievement of even 60 per cent of the target appears highly unlikely. Subramaniam is sorely mistaken if he believes that his expression of “unhappiness and disappointment” over the letdown by the traders will bring about a switch in attitudes and solve the food problem. The one-week notice which he has given for improving the position will soon lapse, without the traders doing anything concrete to fulfil the responsibility they had agreed to discharge. Subramaniam has said the Government cannot “take any risk with food, nor can it give up its responsibility for public distribution of foodgrains”. But what precisely does it intend to do in the circumstances? The understanding with the All-India Foodgrain Dealers’ Association was informal and had no legal basis. Blaming it for the failure of the scheme serves little purpose, especially when its representatives turn round and hurl counter-charges against the Government — the administrative inefficiency, the delay, often deliberate, in issuing licences and permits by the state governments and the preemptive action by official agencies.