Here are two innovative public-private partnership (PPP) solutions to two problems. One throws up an idea and the other is an accomplished fact. Going through the life cycle of both gives us an idea of the importance of all the stages – conception, design, execution and marketing – which are vital for an idea to come to fruition and serve the purpose for which it was conceived. Miss out on one or more and the idea will either be stillborn or serve no purpose.
First, the idea. Is there a way to solve the dilemma of hunger, food going to waste and enormous leakage in the public distribution system existing simultaneously? There can be. Develop a multi-cereal mix, fortified by, say, soya, of standardised nutritional value, with light spices and seasoning added for taste. It can be processed to give it a shelf life of a year and packaged the way atta is nowadays. All that the consumer has to do is buy it from any grocery shop and give it a single boil, after which it is ready to be eaten as a tasty khichdi. The spices can be varied to suit tastes in different parts of the country.
The technology for this already exists. The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) have developed a number of processes over the years keeping in mind the nutritional requirements of consumers, including children and the poor. CFTRI has developed a product based on carbohydrates, soya, wheat, vitamin and mineral nutrients which is now being supplied through Anganwadi centres in Karnataka by the Karnataka Agro-Corn Products Ltd.
CFTRI was the first to launch the initiative to supply special canned foods for defence forces in forward areas and for the Antarctica expedition. Subsequently, an exclusive laboratory (DFRL) was set up by the Indian government to meet the nutritional food requirements of defence forces in forward areas. Ready-to-eat products developed by DFRL include long-keeping chapaties and sorghum snacks (one- year shelf life) and ready-to-eat soya chunks (six-month shelf life). Its over 60 quick cooking/instant foods include instant khichdi and millet-chapati mix. The knowhow of some of these technologies, like ready-to-eat and ready-to- cook products, has been transferred to 70 firms for commercial use and these products are available in the market.
The staple mix, using the available technologies, can be priced at Rs 2 to 3 per kg like the cereals that are supposed to be available to below-poverty-line folks from ration shops. To develop this product, well-known firms like ITC, Hindustan Unilever and MTR that specialise in packaged foods can be brought in early to help decide what to produce, how to package and how to distribute. Once the product is finalised, public tenders can be invited to manufacture it with grain supplied by the government from cereals procured from farmers. The manufacturers will be charging the conversion cost. The tender participants will compete on how much discount they will be able to give channel partners for sale at the maximum retail price and how much, if any, they will be able to pay to the government for the cereals.
The issue is, since anybody will be able to buy this highly subsidised, nutritious and tasty mix, will the middle class and above also go in for it and render the government’s food subsidy bill unmanageable? Fortunately, there will be savings. The leakage through the supply chain will be non-existent. Since anybody will be able to buy the mix, there will be no scope for resale at a profit. The entire fair price shop network can be disbanded and physical wastage of food minimised since longer-term grain storage will be unnecessary. Since this will come to be known as a subsidised product for the poor, the better off will buy it only initially or occasionally as a novelty. My guess is that given the kind of food subsidy bill that the government is getting ready to commit itself to through the food security legislation, the government will financially be no worse off than what it would have been otherwise and the poor substantially better off.
But for them to be better off, they must want to buy this unknown new product. So a nationwide promotional campaign, aimed at, among others, people who may be illiterate and seldom get to watch TV, has to be launched. For this, celebrities can be roped in. Much like A R Rahman secured their services to make his unforgettable Jana Gana Mana shots, maybe the Bachchan family can be part of the promotion showing Dada, Beta and Bahu Bachchan relishing and asking Dadi Bachchan for second helpings of this khichdi.
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This promotional bit is vital when we look at the Dipbahan, the cycle rickshaw that IIT Guwahati professor Amarendra Das designed and launched in 2004. It gives passengers ergonomic seats, more legroom, luggage space and protection from the direct impact of other vehicles. It has a reduction gear, uses an aluminium and jute composite and is 20 per cent lighter than the standard rickshaw. It is far more efficient in every conceivable way than the standard rickshaw seen across the country and can be the ideal short-distance commute in the age of energy scarcity. It can be on the road with a Rs 5,000 subsidy, which, considering there are five million rickshaws in the country, will need Rs 2,500 crore for total fleet renewal. The rickshaw is now seen mostly in Guwahati when it should be visible across the country. The cereal mix and the Dipbahan can be great successes if all the steps in the innovation life cycle are followed.
(Gouri Satya contributed to this piece)
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