Wheat stock lying at Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouse at Hapur. Large quantities of this stock was reported as damaged by the inquiry conducted by Ghaziabad District Administration Officials.
Rocked by the rot in its granaries,
India has moved several changes in its botched
warehousing policy and sought Chinese help in firming up storage. Half measures, however, may not work.
India could lose nearly 49,000 tonnes of federally held wheat in Punjab alone this year because of lack of space, according to a July 26 HT report.
A Centre-state high-level panel on warehousing has approved a set of changes in the public-private partnership plan for godowns, that was floated to pull private investors. The scheme offered seven years' assured contracts to investors by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the largest state-run grain agency.
Investors, however, viewed it as a control-freak policy.
The country posted the highest ever wheat yield in 2009-10 at 80.71 million tonnes, but does not have space to store all its grains. Nearly 18 million tonnes of outdoor stocks are threatened by rain.
The changes came after consultations with investors, mediated by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), an influential business lobby.
The ministry will also send its managers to China to collaborate on grain storage technologies.
Warehouse rents will be paid within the first 15 days of every month.
Arbitrary powers of agencies, such as the FCI, to de-hire godowns have been softened. Godown owners will have to be served an advance notice.
Norms are being eased to cut down 22 per cent land for private godowns. This will reduce high land acquisition costs.
However, two key demands are yet to be met.
"One is to make warehousing a priority lending sector. Two, substantial tax holidays for investors," P M Sinha, FICCI's agricultural committee chief, said.
Half measures will not do, he added.
(Tracking Hunger is an HT and Mint initiative to investigate and report the struggle to rid India of hunger. You can read previous stories at www.hindustantimes.com/trackinghunger)