Rotting foodgrain: Supreme Court seeks Govt response

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reacted to Hindustan Times’s report on grain rotting in the country for want of storage facilities saying it was a crime to waste food in a poor country. Special

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reacted to Hindustan Times’s report on grain rotting in the country for want of storage facilities (‘India lets grain rot instead of feeding poor’, HT, July 26) saying it was a crime to waste food in a poor country.

Reading out portions of the report, a bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari sought a response to HT’s investigation from the government, declaring that grain should never be allowed to rot but be distributed among the hungry. It also directed its commissioner to submit a report on the rotting of foodgrain in six states.

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Colin Gonsalves, counsel for the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, in a public interest litigation case relating to right to food, brought the HT report to the apex court’s attention.

“If you cannot store the grain, give it to the people to eat,” the judges told additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran, representing the Centre.