The Indian paradox: Food stocks are abundant but people still suffer from hunger

In India, some 60 million tons of grain are currently stockpiled under plastic tarpaulins in warehouses unprotected from rodents and 11 million tons have been destroyed by the monsoon. This embarrassing piece of information confirms that Indian food stocks are substantial and yet hunger continues to rage. In fact, the nation ranks 66th out of 88 in the Global Hunger Index, and 43.5 percent of children under five are suffering from malnutrition––against seven percent in China. Why then is the Indian food security not assured?

In spite of the 1970’s green revolution and a national production that has kept increasing for the past decades, India is confronted to the political and logistical limits of its system––corruption, a defective stock management system and substandard infrastructures that preclude adequate food supply. Last but not least, nothing has been done to settle the issue of price volatility, both at the domestic and the international trade levels. Confronted with such mismanagement, the current government nevertheless seems to have sized up the urgent nature of the situation, since it has decided to adopt new legislation by year-end.

This is positive news indeed, but it cannot make us forget that, in the current environment of market financialization and globalization of trade, food security is not a domestic issue for nations. Thus, concurrently to national initiatives, it is imperative to initiate a common framework for the governance and regulation of international commodity markets, to stabilize them and control the advent of new crises as much as possible.