"The elections are a few months from now. Our government is being dressed down by everybody, everywhere - the opposition, the media, the rich and the poor alike. Our scams are surfacing left, right and center. Above all, threatening our safety on the one hand is the Mango Man with his thought-provoking posters pasted all over auto-rickshaws, and on the other, the Rambo, of whom the lesser said the better. Yikes, we're so screwed. What do we do, what do we do? Oh, wait, I know! *Eureka moment* Let's pass an ordinance! Let's give the people another law, another legal right to something that is already rightfully theirs. Poor people are fools, they'll be satisfied with the mere promise of food security and will bring us back to unchallenged power. Yes, that's the solution. Let's do it!"
And so they did. You see, it is actually that simple for some people to make decisions. It isn't their money, so it isn't their responsibility. All that is ever thought of is power. Whether their policies and schemes actually serve any real purpose or are just another wastage of lakhs of crores of public funds, is a thing best left for hapless media-persons and the intelligentsia to ponder and shout over. The three honorable people currently heading our country are least bothered, as are their petty minions.
The controversial and highly opposed Food Security Bill was lying in the pipeline for four long years. And then, out of the blue, it comes into the limelight and in the face of strong opposition from many quarters, it is hastily passed in the form of an emergency ordinance towards the end of the government's 5-year tenure. Now I will not overtly criticize the provisions or the intentions of the bill ordinance as I am too small a fish. But some questions need indeed be asked. Why was it not brought into focus earlier? What was the rationale behind the unnecessary dilly-dallying of the issue for so long, even when there was no internal resistance against it all throughout? Why did it suddenly get all that important to enforce the law, even if at the cost of it being passed as an ordinance? An archetypal case of a political gimmick in a hurry, I hear you say.
The government's commitment to the real cause of food security is unclear. The Public Distribution System is already in place in the country and millions of tonnes of food grains are in stocks. If the government is so concerned about the cause, why not try to revamp the existing system and put it to good use, instead of passing another food security law? The PDS, however, itself is characterized by high levels of corruption, leakage and siphoning off of food grains, lack of storage capacities, black marketing and what not. It is surprising then to see that the new scheme relies on the PDS for its implementation. What's the rationale behind the promulgation of a new law at all? If it is not merely a political move, I fail to understand the logic behind it.
There is presently a moral urgency of helping the poor and hungry, which is being greatly twisted and taken advantage of by the current government to stay in power. Supporters say UPA has a vision. How far a vision is adequate in filling the stomachs of the poor, creating employment, reducing poverty and eliminating corruption has been seen over the last few years. The economic situation of the country is dire. Our fiscal deficit and inflation are mounting. The Rupee is consistently plummeting. Our sky-high current account deficits are being financed by short-term foreign capital inflows, which might even have started to flow out of the country now. Some estimates say that the bill ordinance, so far the largest of its kind in the world, will cost 3% (or 0.3% or 2% - estimates vary) of India's GDP in its very first year if implemented honestly. Is our country really in a position - economically or structurally - to implement such a scheme?
It remains to be seen what unfolds in the months to come. Mayhem has only just begun.
