The Shanta Kumar Committee on ‘Reorienting the role and restructuring of the Food Corporation of India’ was submitted earlier this month. It pushes forward the government move towards direct cash transfer with litle focus on improving the public distribution system (PDS). Despite large scale diversion and leakage of supplies, the much-maligned PDS remains the sole lifeline of millions of people living below poverty line. Asian Development Bank estimates that if the existing poverty line is raised from $1.25 a day to just $1.5 (just Rs 90 a day), India’s poverty line would rise to $84 million or 47.7 per cent of the population, Let us examine the key areas the committee looked at. There are five key questions: QI. Does the report meet the main objective of National food security legislation, NFSA? ‘The Shanta Kumar panel report seems more an exercise to help the central government trim its, ballooning food subsidy bill by Rs 30,000 crore rather than help tackle the national challenge of reducing hunger and malnutrition which afflicts more than 50 per cent of the children. Its recommendation to reduce the coverage from 67 per cent to 40 per cent once again rests on how to identify the poor and deserving. A study by the Steering Committee of the Right to Food Campaign reveals that in Delhi as against 44 per cent coverage proposed under the NFSA, only 26 per cent of the population will stand to benefit. In Bihar, the percentage drop will be from 82 per cent to 49 per cent, a disaster in waiting, The disbanded Planning Commission had failed to come up with a yardstick that was acceptable to socio-economic development experts and healthcare activists. It will take time for the new NITI Aayog to come up with its recommendation. A worrying aspect of the report is the recommendation that price of the foodgrains supplied through PDS and other schemes be raised to 50 per cent of the minimum support price (MSP) instead of the Rs 3/2/1/kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains. This will raise affordability issues. On the other hand, the recommendation to raise the quota from Skg per person in priority household as envisaged under NFSA to Tkg is more realistic Q2. What are the changes proposed under the Food Corporation of India, FCI, restructuring? While looking at streamlining procurement, proper storage and handling of foodgrains and supply through PDS, the report is banking on the states to take over the procurement with the private sector being roped in to handle the storage. It is something which has been tried in the past with mixed results as most states are unwilling to undertake the responsibility. A key recommendation, which if implemented well, would considerably improve the FCI management, ‘would be computerizing the records of every transaction and movement within the system. More importantly, there is need for more accountability to fix the responsibility without which leakages and spoilage of foodgrains will continue. Another important system proposed is a mechanism under which the FCI will be able to automatically offload any excess stocks beyond the fixed buffer stock norms. This wouldfacilitate better handling of foodgrains including through exports. The proposal to reduce FCI overheads through change in its HR practice is worth a look, including better remunerations for contract employees who have been found to be more hardworking Q3. Will the farmers benefit under the new FCI structure? The recommendation that FCI should look beyond the six major foodgrain producing states — Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to procure from other states, as well as shift focus from big landlords to small farmers, offers hope to farmers. In the absence of government intervention, majority of farmers in the states where FCI does not do any procurement feel there is no pressure on buyers to pay the government-fixed MSP. Q4. Will the buyers, including the government agencies stand to benefit? The recommendation to have a uniform mandi tax of 3 to 4 per cent instead of the wide variable from 2 per cent in Gujarat and West Bengal to 14.5 per cent in Punjab would definitely help to bring down the government procurement costs sizably and make it more attractive for smaller private buyer to compete instead of only the big buyers. Farmers too will stand to gain. QS. Will the foodgrain wastage and pilferage be reduced? Better accountability and monitoring through computerization, as recommended, should help provided the states agencies and the private warehouses cooperate in ensuring proper storage and distribution of foodgrains through PDS, an important ink which seems to be an area of neglect in most states. The recommendation that the PDS beneficiaries be given their foodgrain allotment on six-monthly basis, instead of on monthly basis, together with good storage containers seems impractical as many of the poor families remain on the move in search of jobs while innumerable families don’t have proper dwelling to stock the ration safely. Of course, some states like Punjab offer government employees the option and even extend credit to procure sufficient stocks for their household directly from farmers during harvest