The Indian National Food Security Bill 2013 which was passed at the Lok Sabha quiet recently aims at providing food grains at highly subsidized prices to approximately 2/3rd of India's 1.2 billion people, i.e about 80 million people. This ambitious bill is estimated to take away more than 1 Lakh Crore Rupees of our tax payers money every year.
As I was pondering on this, I had mixed thoughts as to how good
or how bad this idea is. I personally felt, I have not gone to bed with an empty
stomach and therefore I do not deserve to comment, as to how much these schemes
are helping a poor man. However my concern was if food is going to be fed to each
person's mouth, from where will the motivation to work come?
Abraham Maslow - a famous psychologist best known for his
theory of the “hierarchy of needs” states that a person's motivation is in direct
relation to his needs. He states food as the basic need and a primary
motivation of man to work. Right from the Stone Age, man has toiled hard to
survive by hunting and gathering food. This basic instinct to go in search of
food has played a vital role in human development. In this new scenario, the
Government is going to make sure that the food reaches every person's mouth without
any effort. Now the question is, “Where is the motivation for man to work?”
Shortage of labour is a common problem, we hear everywhere,
which means that there is literally no unemployment. It is just that people
prefer to be unemployed as they are getting more than enough at the comfort of their
home. To work or not to work, has become a matter of choice rather than a matter
of necessity. People have come to think that taking care of their personal
needs is the Government's responsibility and not their own. With less than 3%
of country's population paying Income tax, the rest of the countrymen are
enjoying the benefits. If people are going to be happy with this state of mind,
where then can we find a spirit of enterprise? Where do we find the scope for
our country to become a developed nation? This is a truly pathetic situation.
I am aware that poverty in the country is real. There is no
denying that. It is a plight to see people not even getting a
square meal a day. According to a Planning Commission estimate for the year
2012-13, the percentage of Indian population, who are Below Poverty Line (BPL)
is about 22%. The country has toiled really hard over the years, to reach this
level from the BPL level of 50% in 1990's. Now having risen so far, the Government
should take initiative to develop competences, build infrastructure and
generate jobs for this 22% of our population. Instead, the Government plans to
bring 67% under the Food bill, which indicates that we are putting our economy
on a reverse gear. In others words, instead of freeing more people from the clutches
of poverty, we are welcoming more people into the circle of dependence.
Election year politics is nothing new to us. Politics and hunger
eradication campaigns, have been a winning combination, since time immemorial.
No matter which
Government, has come to rule they have played this arena safe,
so that they do not rub on the wrong side of the vote bank. However, looking at
the extent to which the government has gone with the Food Security Bill at a time
when the economy is battling with slowdown is quite shocking. Our current
account deficit is approaching nearly $90 billion, trade deficit has kept widening,
the rupee is sliding to new lows. At this moment there is an urgent need to cut
down expenditure, but the food bill has made all talks about fiscal
consolidation sound ridiculous. Free food may sound as a good political
strategy but by doing so we are breeding a nation of lazy citizens.
Happy Reading,
D.Senthil Kannan
Article Dated Oct'2013
