Political Aspects of Indian Food Policy

Abstract

A MONG THE MANY PROBLEMS confronting India today none have received greater attention or caused greater alarm than the precarious balance between food and population. In long range terms the solution is disarmingly simple-India must limit population growth and increase food production. For the immediate future, however, a slight swing of the balance may engender chaos and a great deal of skill and energy must be expended in maintaining the equilibrium. It is the development of these skills and the mobilization of this energy, the political aspects of food policy, which form the subject of this article. A brief statement of the dimensions of the food problem will put the topic in perspective. During the decade i95i-6i the population of India grew steadily at a rate of 2.i6 per cent a year and by i966 it had passed 498 million. The production of foodgrains (the principle constituent of the Indian diet) on the other hand, has fluctuated considerably from year to year. In i963, the Central Statistical Organization reported confidently that the rate of increase in food production since i950 had exceeded the rate of population growth by i6 per cent.1 The following year, grain production reached the all-time high of 88.9 million tonnes, only to fall i8.8 per cent below this level in the i965-66 crop year. This is not to deny the substantial improvement in the supply position since independence, but to point out how unpredictable production is in a country where only i6 per cent of the arable land is irrigated and the rest is subject to the vagaries of flood and drought.2 The variations in production would not be so significant were it not for the fact that India operates near the margin of subsistence in even the best years. Professor Dantwala of Bombay University has estimated that the minimum daily requirement of foodgrains for an adult is I7 ounces. Taking into account the demographic characteristics of the population, India could probably manage with a daily supply of 13.5 ounces per capita.' Four times since