Apropos the editorial “Stoking inflation” (May 8), the food security Bill is a giant retrograde step of the worst kind. Amartya Sen has said it would be ethical to pass the Bill. It is not ethics at all; it is pure economics. Food security cannot be created by legislation. It has to be achieved by increased production and a good system of redistribution. By entitling 67 per cent of people for food subsidy, apart from subsidies for fertiliser, oil and other things, will make almost 75 per cent of people depend on subsidies. This will cost the central government around Rs 1.31 lakh crore. And 80 to 90 per cent of this will be eaten away by middlemen and leaders. Moreover, what happens to the direct cash transfer (DCT) then? Surely, both cannot be made to run together. The whole idea of DCT was mooted, supported and partially implemented to replace the leaky public distribution system (PDS). The ill-effects of the food security Bill can be summarised as following: (a) It will increase fiscal deficit beyond limit; (b) It will stoke inflation; (c) It will add to a dysfunctional PDS; (c) It will ruin other reforms by starving them for funds; (d) It will be anti-poor since it will not increase production; (e) It will be a permanent “redistribution of poverty”; and (f) It will keep everybody dependent on dole.
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Sukumar Mukhopadhyay New Delhi
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number