India's parliament passes cheap food law for 800 million people

[Guynextdoor2]

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. But the congress and other political parties think otherwise and have their eyes only on the vote banks. To hell with the nation.

The amount going to be sunk in this populist project has been calculated by economists to cost a whopping $ 100 billion in the next 3 years!!! It would certainly have been far better to invest that amount on agriculture, improving the demand-supply chain, building infrastructure and industry etc so that millions could benefit by providing them jobs and improve their standard of living and most of all, make them learn to stand on their own feet.

But then, it's all about those votes. The middle class should now be prepared to shell out more as taxes to fund this grandiose scheme that will give out freebies to even those who don't deserve it. If, according to official stats only 23% are below the poverty line, why give doles to 65% of the population?

Few want to work nowadays due to the doles. A laborer who used to be happy with Rs 100 a day a couple of years ago now demands Rs 600 a day!!! Take it or leave it. If he doesn't get work never mind. He's getting free/subsidized food anyway! So it doesn't matter if he works or not! We are soon becoming a nation of the lazy and lethargic.

What's the other name for Indian politicians? A$$holes!

Rs. 100 a day- means 24 days in a month he'll earn 2400 per month- so your problem is that laborers are no longer interested in working at starvation wages and want a decent life?

 

[PeaceGen]

The amount going to be sunk in this populist project has been calculated by economists to cost a whopping $ 100 billion in the next 3 years!!! It would certainly have been far better to invest that amount on agriculture, improving the demand-supply chain, building infrastructure and industry etc so that millions could benefit by providing them jobs and improve their standard of living and most of all, make them learn to stand on their own feet.

A fraction of that money would allow you to pump water from flooded areas, when they flood, to areas that are too dry to farm on now, but can be farmed with irrigation-from-afar (water to be stored near to where it will be used).

 

[livingdead]

Why not spend the money to improve productivity in the economy, so there is a bigger cake to divide up.

Rather than cutting ever smaller slices out of a small cake.

Or Hell, just improve the infrastructure so that half of all the food grains don't rot.

both need to happen.. this is a short term solution for extreme poor.. over the years it will come down..
people are caught in a cycle of poverty and ignorance.. and govt is just trying to help them a bit.
the tricle down effect did not work as fast as expected...

 

[Sashan]

It is a subsidized scheme not a dole out. Let the poor have a decent meal on tax payers expense. It is better than our money going to corrupt politicians.

Poor is around 400 million as per the World bank defined standards which India follow as well while the FSB is meant for 800 million people. Basically pulling a wool over the Indians for votebank reasons. And people who pay taxes are less than 3%. India need to fix that before doling out subsidies while there is already a deficit budget. Basically ruining the economy while making the people lazy.

 

[Thorough Pro]

Does that mean, that 66.67% of their population lives below poverty line? (800m/1.2b)

India's parliament passes cheap food law for 800 million people

India's parliament passes cheap food law for 800 million people

NEW DELHI, Sept 2 | Mon Sep 2, 2013 4:15pm EDT

(Reuters) - India's upper house of parliament on Monday approved a $20 billion scheme to distribute subsidised wheat and rice to 800 million people, backing an anti-malnutrition drive that investors fear will mean missing the fiscal deficit target.

The Food Security Bill is seen as a vote winner by the ruling Congress party as it prepares for elections due by May next year. But investors reacted negatively to the plan when the lower house approved it last weak, on worries the government will struggle to contain the cost of subsidies.

The scheme has now been passed by both houses. Before becoming law it must be signed by the president, a formality. (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

 

[my2cents]

Poor is around 400 million as per the World bank defined standards which India follow as well while the FSB is meant for 800 million people. Basically pulling a wool over the Indians for votebank reasons. And people who pay taxes are less than 3%. India need to fix that before doling out subsidies while there is already a deficit budget. Basically ruining the economy while making the people lazy.

Food law is supposed to cost us around $20 billion dollars annually. There are many approaches to plug the gap and it is not insurmountable in my opinion.

Are we not spending twice that amount for our arms on an yearly basis already?? We are the biggest importer of arms in the world. We can cut down on the arms expenditure by $10 billion annully.

We can disinvest in unproductive PSU which is bleeding the govt. upto $10 billion dollars annually.

I gave just two examples and there are many other options. I am sure our govt. will explore these to reduce the impact on our deficit.

 

[Sashan]

Food law is supposed to cost us around $20 billion dollars annually. There are many approaches to plug the gap and it is not insurmountable in my opinion.

Are we not spending twice that amount for our arms on an yearly basis already?? We are the biggest importer of arms in the world. We can cut down on the arms expenditure by $10 billion annully.

We can disinvest in unproductive PSU which is bleeding the govt. upto $10 billion dollars annually.

I gave just two examples and there are many other options. I am sure our govt. will explore these to reduce the impact on our deficit.

You want to cut down the arms spending? Haven't we learnt from the history? Even when India was rich few hundred years back, India was invaded several times. When India did not spend money for arms, it got its *** kicked as well in 1962. There is no option other than India taking care of her own defences with other hostile neighbours.

As for the PSU disinvestment, the money shouldn't it be spent on education and research or other productive reasons or to tide the fiscal deficit?

 

[my2cents]

Why not spend the money to improve productivity in the economy, so there is a bigger cake to divide up.

Rather than cutting ever smaller slices out of a small cake.

Or Hell, just improve the infrastructure so that half of all the food grains don't rot.

if all the grains are distributed then what is the need to have storage infrastructure?? It is still not clear yet what kind of storage is needed??

 

[my2cents]

You want to cut down the arms spending? Haven't we learnt from the history? Even when India was rich few hundred years back, India was invaded several times. When India did not spend money for arms, it got its *** kicked as well in 1962. There is no option other than India taking care of her own defences with other hostile neighbours.

As for the PSU disinvestment, the money shouldn't it be spent on education and research or other productive reasons or to tide the fiscal deficit?

Well have we not moved ahead and improved our defense after the 1962 war???

You are looking at only negative impacts and not thinking positively.

If we can reduce the malnutrition and hunger in our country we will benefit immensely. India loses 4% of its gdp because of health costs due to malnutrition which comes to $70 billion. So we are reducing our GDP by that amount annually because of loss of productivity.

Past 20 years we did not see inclusive growth because of liberalization and reforms. Lot of people were left out and this is a game changer in my opinion.

People still have to work to buy these subsidized food. You cannot educate a child on an hungry stomach and we have millions of families who send their children to school because they cannot afford one decent meal for them.

 

[Sashan]

Well have we not moved ahead and improved our defense after the 1962 war???

You are looking at only negative impacts and not thinking positively.

If we can reduce the malnutrition and hunger in our country we will benefit immensely. India loses 4% of its gdp because of health costs due to malnutrition which comes to $70 billion. So we are reducing our GDP by that amount annually because of loss of productivity.

Past 20 years we did not see inclusive growth because of liberalization and reforms. Lot of people were left out and this is a game changer in my opinion.

People still have to work to buy these subsidized food. You cannot educate a child on an hungry stomach and we have millions of families who send their children to school because they cannot afford one decent meal for them.

I am not looking at the negative impacts alone - One question is why it is not 400 million people who would really need this and why it is 800 million or 2/3rd of the population? The poverty reduction in India started after 1991 when the market was liberalized. And India is well on target as per World bank to meet the poverty reduction target date of 2021. The urban middle class has grown from almost nothing to about 300 million in the last 22 years. That is a significant achievement.

So what made the Powers at the top come up with a socialist welfare scheme for 800 million instead of concentrating on further reforms to sustain the near 10% growth?


And what you state about many people got left out of the growth story is flawed - As I said 300 million urban middleclass from nothing is a success story and more are being pulled out of the poverty. You can't expect miracle to happen when the 1.2 billion population will be pulled out the poverty in a single day.

 

[my2cents]

I am not looking at the negative impacts alone - One question is why it is not 400 million people who would really need this and why it is 800 million or 2/3rd of the population? The poverty reduction in India started after 1991 when the market was liberalized. And India is well on target as per World bank to meet the poverty reduction target date of 2021. The urban middle class has grown from almost nothing to about 300 million in the last 22 years. That is a significant achievement.

So what made the Powers at the top come up with a socialist welfare scheme for 800 million instead of concentrating on further reforms to sustain the near 10% growth?


And what you state about many people got left out of the growth story is flawed - As I said 300 million urban middleclass from nothing is a success story and more are being pulled out of the poverty. You can't expect miracle to happen when the 1.2 billion population will be pulled out the poverty in a single day.

You want people to wait for another 20 years to come out of poverty?? Why not help them now??

That 800 million figure comes up because they set the target at 1 lac income per family. Right now the govt does not want to exclude anybody because of election year and I see overlap of different schemes which are already in place.

 

[Sashan]

You want people to wait for another 20 years to come out of poverty?? Why not help them now??

That 800 million figure comes up because they set the target at 1 lac income per family. Right now the govt does not want to exclude anybody because of election year and I see overlap of different schemes which are already in place.

Where did you get the number of 20 years? The poverty reduction date what World bank states is 2021 - another 8 more years. Help them now but not the 800 million but help the 400 million. Every year the government claims 40 million are pulled out of poverty. Don't you think the numbers covered under FSB should go down each year? Is there a provision for that? No. It is like another reservation.

 

[my2cents]

Where did you get the number of 20 years? The poverty reduction date what World bank states is 2021 - another 8 more years. Help them now but not the 800 million but help the 400 million. Every year the government claims 40 million are pulled out of poverty. Don't you think the numbers covered under FSB should go down each year? Is there a provision for that? No. It is like another reservation.

As I said it is election year and it is vote bank politics. Maybe your numbers are right and additional 400 million are being appeased.

For example in my home state of Andhra Pradesh with population of 8.5 crores, 2 crore ration cards (for below poverty line) have been distributed. Assuming 4 people per family then we get 8 crore beneficiaries. That means we have 88% below poverty line. The system is flawed and we should improve present system of ration cards and remove the bogus beneficiaries.

I am glad that you are not totally opposed to the program but you have reservations on the number of beneficiaries.