Hunger is one of the most negatively publicised item about India. as the movie Munnabhai MBBS scene shows, I want to see poor people, hungry people..... Our own moms held hunger as example of what would happen to us if we didnt study well and get a good job. Hunger is a red herring built into Indian psyche.
Now coming to the point, India has set a target to reduce CO² emissions by 30%, and biofuels are 1 way towards that goal. Plants absorb the CO² in the atmosphere and when we use fuel based on them, (not burning as firewood though) they are carbon neutral, no net addition of carbon into the atmosphere, unlike coal, crude oil...
India has experimented with different biofuel raw materials, most famous being the Jatropha, every Tom Dick and Harry invested in this boom. It was supposed to grow on any type of land, needs no fertiliser, rain to grow. Well, grow it did, the seed output was based on the fertility of the land it grew in. BP had started a huge program in India, a world famous project, but silently washed its hands off.
The other program was ethanol from corn, as done in the United States, 1-box systems were developed there, add corn on one side, ethanol flows out from the other... U could make it in ur backyard.. But the falling oil prices made them useless.
There was talk about using corn, rice, wheat in India to make ethanol, but immediately shot down by the jholawallas as food v. fuel conflict. Lakhs of ppl die of hunger and U want to use foodgrains to make automobile fuel?
Only alternative left was molasses, which India produces in plenty, but most of it is used for liqueur or chemicals.. those areas are renumerative. None wanted to sell ethanol for blending. Thus, bio fuel program languised for a decade...
Till it was revived by NaMo Govt. They radically changed the approach, lets use the lakhs of tonnes of food grains which eventually rot in FCI godowns, and make ethanol.
The question arises, why do food grains rot in FCI godowns?
MSP! Govt promises to buy food grains from the farmers at a promised price: to set a floor level for the prices, and also to build stock of food grains to feed 1.3 billion Indians, if crops fails for any no. of reasons. Prevent hunger, u see.
All in f(g)ood faith, but u see, as with every other govt agency, FCI holds a stellar record for not working well. The grains bought from the farmers are left in the open, for lack of space in FCI godowns, no trucks to transports, or simply becoz the babus don't want to... And once in the godown.... they are stored for atleast 3 years under improper conditions, infested by rodents, mold, rot, finally to be declared unfit for humans, in reality by any living being!
These arent my assumptions. these are declared by FCI and Govt... lakhs of tonnes are destroyed, burnt, to prevent misuse. NaMo Govt proposed to use these grains to make ethanol and blend with gasoline.They also proposed to use excess stock of grains left behind after distribution to PDS. There is a significant amount of grains left behind, and that eventually ends up being burnt.
Now, the hunger vultures entered the arena.... Numerous claims about how this could spark off a food v. fuel conflict and deprive poor people of essential food. The rich will use that to drive thier big motor luxury motor cars, blah blah blah...
Why are people hungry in India?
India once exported exotic foodstuuffs to all over the world. How did we come to this state? Many reasons. there are different explanations about monsoon failure, how food grains were exported to feed the soldiers fighing the 2 worldwars etc etc.
Balh blah blah, as the teenage eco warrior says.
Reality is India is one of the biggest exporter of rice and sugar.... If we are a hungry people, why are we exporting?
Coming to sugar, India offers subsidy for every kg of sugar exported to keep the production price competitive in the global market. This is Govt.s own admission and promised to remove subsidy as per WTO agreement. Well, we wanted valuable foreign exchange, so we starved ourself and sold the food... granted.
Now, why are the damaged food grains burnt by FCI? Obviously, to prevent misuse, stupid. But what use, forget misuse, will any1 have of foodgrains unfit for human consumption?
In the early part of 2010's a huge quantity of rice was discovered at Chennai port, destined for export to SE Asian countries.. The export of rice was banned. (My colleagues where were transferred to Japan for 2 years couldnt carry 100kg of rice with them) Ban was to prevent further increase of rice price from ₹80/kg ( it rose from ₹20/kg in matter of weeks). The most surprising part of this discovery was the packing... still in original FCI packing. How come? Whispers of how food mafia was stealing from FCI godowns etc etc, and the entire thing was hushed up like it never happened..... This is the reality.... The food grains distributed by PDS are of the quality even animals cant eat, but there is a backdoor via which good quality grains reach the open market. Meaning, the grains meant for poor hungry ppl never reaches them.
Meanwhile, we taxpayers pay twice for the same product. 1st time when Govt. buys these grains at MSP, using our tax money, and 2nd, when the same is sold back to use at 2x price in the open market......
Now, can u understand why so many articles about food v. fuel conflict, hunger, poor under nourished people.. India's low rating in the Global Hunger Index?
GoI wants states to use the spoiled grains lying with FCI, but some states want to use their own paddy stocks? Why so? Wont using fresh edible stocks of food grains spark more hunger, than using stale rotten food grains?
Think a bit more, ur grey cells will give u the answer.... We all know it, but feign ignorance!!!!
