India. The Paradox of Plenty: Acute And Widespread Hunger Amidst Overflowing Food Stocks

At a time when the India is poised towards a high-growth trajectory, the masses suffer under the debris of poverty and hunger. At the beginning of the millennium, India boasted of a food surplus of 65 million tonnes while 320 million people went to bed starving. What an ironic situation that while the country incurred Rs. 6,200 crore to keep the food grains stacked in the open, it had no means to distribute it to the deprived ones. Moreover, economists have been telling that even if poverty increases in the short term, the price has to be paid for long-term stability and growth. …