📰 PM Modi moots free trade agreement for BIMSTEC
Ministry of External Affairs says India will be the ‘security pillar’ of the grouping
•India will be the “security pillar” of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), an official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday at the conclusion of the grouping’s summit in Colombo.
•Addressing the meeting virtually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for strengthening the BIMSTEC and welcomed the unveiling of the Charter of the organisation that connects the littoral countries of the Bay of Bengal.
•“Today we have adopted the Charter of BIMSTEC. This is an important step towards creating an institutional architecture of BIMSTEC,” he said in Hindi. The Charter had given the BIMSTEC a new orientation and concrete goals. Under this Charter, the members were expected to meet once in every two years.
•Mr. Modi called for a Free Trade Agreement among the member countries. He mentioned the necessity for coastal shipping ecosystem and electricity grid interconnectivity, as two of the necessary components of the evolving shape of BIMSTEC.
Master Plan for Transport Connectivity
•The summit saw the declaration of the Master Plan for Transport Connectivity that would provide a framework for regional and domestic connectivity, said the MEA official.
•Rudrendra Tandon, MEA’s Joint Secretary in charge of the BIMSTEC and South Asian region, stated, “the signing of the Charter was the main outcome of this summit. With the Charter, the BIMSTEC now has an international personality. It has an emblem, it has a flag. It has a formally listed purpose and principles that it is going to adhere to. It represents significant evolution of the grouping. From our perspective signing of the Charter was the most important outcome.”
•He announced that In line with the development of the organisation into a formal structure, the leaders of the member-countries have agreed to divide the working of the grouping into seven segments, with India providing leadership to the security pillar.
Myanmar’s presence
•The summit, held in the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis, also drew attention because of the presence of Myanmar, a country ruled by the military, which is a leading violator of human rights in the world.
•Mr. Tandon justified the inclusion of Myanmar as it is part of the Bay of Bengal Community. “BIMSTEC is a multilateral regional cooperation platform and the aim is to focus on economic and development cooperation to do activities that genuinely deliver value to people. Members on this platform are countries who are geographically littoral to or dependent upon the Bay of Bengal. For the success of this platform, we require all countries to be present. Myanmar is an important constituent member of the BIMSTEC and it has a very important geography,” he observed.
How did the two States reach an agreement? Will it help to solve other border rows in the northeastern region?
•The story so far: Two months after signing a draft resolution on January 29, Assam and Meghalaya partially resolved a 50-year-old dispute along their 884.9 km boundary. An agreement in this regard, termed historic, was signed between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on March 29. The agreement is expected to pave the way for resolving disputes in the remaining sectors of the Assam-Meghalaya boundary and similar areas of difference between Assam and three other northeastern States.
How did the boundary dispute start?
•Meghalaya, carved out of Assam as an autonomous State in 1970, became a full-fledged State in 1972. The creation of the new State was based on the Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act of 1969, which the Meghalaya government refused to accept. This was because the Act followed the recommendations of a 1951 committee to define the boundary of Meghalaya. On that panel’s recommendations, areas of the present-day East Jaintia Hills, Ri-Bhoi and West Khasi Hills districts of Meghalaya were transferred to the Karbi Anglong, Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup districts of Assam. Meghalaya contested these transfers after statehood, claiming that they belonged to its tribal chieftains. Assam said the Meghalaya government could neither provide documents nor archival materials to prove its claim over these areas. After claims and counter-claims, the dispute was narrowed down to 12 sectors on the basis of an official claim by Meghalaya in 2011.
How did the two governments go about handling the issue?
•The two States had initially tried resolving the border dispute through negotiations but the first serious attempt was in May 1983 when they formed a joint official committee to address the issue. In its report submitted in November 1983, the committee suggested that the Survey of India should re-delineate the boundary with the cooperation of both the States towards settling the dispute. There was no follow-up action. As more areas began to be disputed, the two States agreed to the constitution of an independent panel in 1985. Headed by Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, the committee submitted its report in 1987. Meghalaya rejected the report as it was allegedly pro-Assam. Following more disputes and resultant violence, the two governments agreed in January 1991 to jointly demarcate the border with the help of the Survey of India. About 100 km of the border was demarcated by the end of 1991, but Meghalaya found the exercise unconstitutional and refused to cooperate. In 2011, the Meghalaya Assembly passed a resolution for central intervention and the constitution of a boundary commission. The Assam Assembly retaliated with a resolution to oppose the move. But the Centre made the two governments appoint nodal officers to discuss the boundary dispute to minimise the points of difference. In 2019, the Meghalaya government petitioned the Supreme Court to direct the Centre to settle the dispute. The petition was dismissed.
How was the ice broken?
•In January 2021, Home Minister Amit Shah urged all the north-eastern States to resolve their boundary disputes by August 15, 2022, when the country celebrates 75 years of Independence. It was felt that the effort could be fast-tracked since the region’s sister-States either had a Bharatiya Janata-led government or that of its “allergic-to-Congress” allies. In June 2021, the two States decided to resume talks at the CM level and adopt a “give-and-take” policy to settle the disputes once and for all. Of the 12 disputed sectors, six “less complicated” areas — Tarabari, Gizang, Hahim, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pilingkata and Ratacherra — were chosen for resolving in the first phase. Both States formed three regional committees, one each for a district affected by the disputed sectors. These committees, each headed by a cabinet minister, were given “five principles” for approaching the issue. These principles are historical facts of a disputed sector, ethnicity, administrative convenience, willingness of people and contiguity of land preferably with natural boundaries such as rivers, streams and rocks. The committee members conducted surveys of the disputed sectors and held several meetings with the local stakeholders. On January 29, the two governments signed a draft resolution prepared on the basis of the recommendations of these regional panels. This paved the way for the March 29 closure of the six disputed sectors.
Will the partial settlement impact border disputes elsewhere in the Northeast?
•According to the partial boundary deal, Assam will get 18.51 sq. km of the 36.79 sq. km disputed area while Meghalaya will get the remaining 18.28 sq. km. There is no clarity yet on the villages or uninhabited stretches that would be divided, but some political parties and community-based groups in Meghalaya are unhappy about acceding any part of the disputed areas to Assam. Reactions are similar in Assam, where the opposition Congress and local organisations said the agreement boiled down to how much land Assam could save from “aggressor” Meghalaya. But officials in Assam said it was better to let go of areas where they did not have any administrative control rather than “live with an irritant forever”. However, residents in the other six disputed sectors — Langpih, Borduar, Nongwah, Matamur, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, and Khanduli — feel the “give-and-take” template could spell disaster for them. The fear is more among non-tribal people who could end up living in a “tribal Meghalaya with no rights for us”. The apprehension is similar for residents of Assam in disputed areas along the border with other States. According to a paper tabled in the Assam Assembly in August 2014, six neighbouring States control 77,531.71 hectares of Assam land. Apart from Meghalaya, the other States are Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and West Bengal.
📰 ISRO to step up tracking of space debris
New radars and optical telescopes under NETRA project being deployed
•With space junk posing increasing threat to Indian assets in space, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is building up its orbital debris tracking capability by deploying new radars and optical telescopes under the Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) project.
•A space debris tracking radar with a range of 1,500 km and an optical telescope will be inducted as part of establishing an effective surveillance and tracking network under NETRA, ISRO chairman S. Somanath told The Hindu. The government has given the go-ahead for the deployment of the radar, which will be capable of detecting and tracking objects 10 cm and above in size. It will be indigenously designed and built, he said.
•Radars and optical telescopes are vital ground-based facilities for keeping an eye on space objects, including orbital junk. ''We plan to have two such radars deployed 1,000 km apart for spatial diversity. At present, we have a Multi Object Tracking Radar at Sriharikota range, but it has a limited range. To protect our space assets, we need to augment our capabilities,'' Mr. Somanath said.
•Data released by the ISRO last week point to an increasingly grim scenario. For protecting its space assets, the ISRO was forced to perform 19 collision avoidance manoeuvres (CAM) in 2021, of which 14 were in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and five in the geostationary orbit, according to ISRO's Space Situational Assessment for the year. The number of CAMs jumped from just three in 2015 to 12 in 2020 and 19 in 2021.
•Last year, the space agency monitored 4,382 events in LEO and 3,148 events in the geostationary orbit where space objects closely approached Indian assets. Fragments from the Fengyun-1C satellite (part of the anti-satellite test (ASAT) by China in 2007) and the Cosmos 2251-Iridium satellite collision in 2009 accounted for the maximum number of these threats. The observations also covered 84 ‘‘close approaches of less than one km’‘ between Starlink satellites and Indian assets.
•Space junk or debris consist of spent rocket stages, dead satellites, fragments of space objects and debris resulting from ASAT. Hurtling at an average speed of 27,000 kmph in LEO, these objects pose a very real threat as collisions involving even centimetre-sized fragments can be lethal to satellites. ISRO's efforts towards space situational awareness (SSA) is coordinated by the SSA Control Centre in Bengaluru and managed by the Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management at the ISRO headquarters.
•ISRO officials say the volume of debris is likely to go up in the coming years with the increase in space missions globally. Globally, 2021 saw the highest space object-to-launch ratio, the ISRO report noted. ''In other words, more space objects are placed in orbit per launch. In 2020, 522 objects were placed in space with 102 launches compared to 1,860 objects in 135 launches in 2021,'' it said.
📰 Identity and privacy: On Prisoners’ identification Bill
Prisoners’ identification Bill, which raises privacy and data safety concerns, requires deep scrutiny
•The Union government’s latest proposal to enable the collection of biometric and biological data from prisoners, besides the usual physical measurements, photographs and finger-prints, raises serious questions about its legal validity. Such questions are inevitable in an era in which people look at official efforts to gather personal data with suspicion. The practice of recording the photographs and fingerprints of prisoners is more than a century old in the country, backed by a colonial law dating back to 1920. The Union government now proposes to expand the idea of taking “measurements” to cover “finger-impressions, palm-print impressions, foot-print impressions, ... physical, biological samples and their analysis”, besides “behavioural attributes including signatures [and] handwriting”. The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, which embodies this goal, has been introduced in the Lok Sabha. Some Members have argued that the Bill went against the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment declaring privacy as a fundamental right in K.S. Puttaswamy. Some contended that the Bill enabled coercive drawing of samples and possibly involved a violation of Article 20(3), which protects the right against self-incrimination. There are other concerns too, such as the means by which the data collected will be preserved, shared, disseminated, and destroyed. The Bill allows the records to be preserved for 75 years, and to be destroyed earlier if the person is discharged or acquitted.
•The concern over privacy and the safety of the data is undoubtedly significant. Such practices that involve the collection, storage and destruction of vital details of a personal nature ought to be introduced only after a strong data protection law, with stringent punishment for breaches, is in place. The 1920 law enabled the taking of measurements from convicts sentenced to a prison term of one year and above, and anyone arrested on a charge that attracts such a prison term; and thirdly, one who has furnished a bond for good behaviour and peace. However, the present Bill includes all convicts, and anyone arrested under any law in force or detained under any preventive detention law. There is a provision by which an arrested person, not accused of an offence against a woman or a child, or one that attracts a prison term of seven years or more, may disallow the taking of samples. Not all detainees may know that they can indeed decline to let biological samples to be taken. And it may be easy for the police to ignore such refusal and later claim that they did get the detainee’s consent. The Bill is controversial, as the tendency to arrest activists, protesters and even innocent people and invoke grave charges is on the rise. It would be in the fitness of things if it is referred to a Standing Committee for deeper scrutiny before it is enacted into law.
📰 Race to the bottom for gig workers
The food delivery sector is heading towards ‘quick delivery’ of food but is risking the safety of the delivery partners
•The recent announcement by Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal of its plans to deliver food to customers in 10 minutes has raised a small twitter storm, forcing the CEO to put out a clarification. This raises several questions on the nature of delivery platforms, and the impact on delivery workers.
•Platform industry is all about grabbing market share. This is done by introducing innovations to increase “efficiency”, which in the case of food delivery implies cost reduction and speed; both directly impact the platform worker, or “delivery partner” as he is euphemistically termed. It is the earnings of workers that represent the only variable cost element; cost reduction finally pinches his earnings. It forces him to “run twice as fast just to stay in the same place” to quote Alice in Wonderland.
•Mr. Goyal in his clarification claimed, “We do not put any pressure on the delivery partner to deliver food faster.” Well, in the platform world where the customer is the king (or queen), it is the delivery partner who will face the wrath of the customer for late delivery. There are enough anecdotal experiences from platform workers of the wrath turning ugly with customers even refusing to pay leaving the partner at the mercy of the platform, which often is insensitive to the grievances of the workers.
•The Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu, Karti Chidambaram was probably the most articulate among the Twitter responses. In a follow-up letter, he raised, among other queries, average earnings of the gig workers employed in food delivery, and average daily hours worked. The Centre for Labour Studies at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) addresses these very questions in a recently completed study on food delivery platform work in the city of Bengaluru.
Major problems
•First, on earnings of the platform worker – the numbers generally put out by platforms are the potential gross earnings a worker might earn. In a system where all costs are borne by the worker, including fuel, asset cost including cost of maintenance and depreciation, all taxes and levies, the real earnings are substantially lower. At a time when fuel prices have been skyrocketing, some attention has been given to the impact of fuel on earnings in this sector. However, the other cost elements are generally not discussed in popular reports. Between the two big daddies of the food delivery sector, Zomato and Swiggy, they claim creating employment for around five lakh “delivery partners”. They claim that these “partners” can earn a decent daily wage, with freedom to log on and off at will. However, our study estimated that the net earnings for the worker was only around 40% of the total gross earnings from delivery pay-outs and incentives, with 30% eaten up by fuel costs and another 30% on various capital costs and levies. What this meant was that the worker could make the platform worthwhile, with some money in the pocket after meeting all fixed cost obligations only if he stayed on the platform for really long hours. There was no question of the freedom to log on and off at will.
•This leads to the second question of work intensity. Our study showed that over a window of a week, the worker averaged up to 13 hours per day, covering over 190 kilometres each day. Mr. Goyal, in his responses, explained the 8-principles around which Zomato was building its instant delivery platform — the seventh principle was delivery partner safety. Well, at 13 hours and 190 kilometres travel on a two-wheeler through busy city traffic, it is surely impossible to ensure delivery partner safety.
Human value
•Mr. Goyal was candid to state that innovation was the only way to survive and thrive in the food industry. His company has surely thrived, with current market prices giving the company market capitalisation of close to ₹1 lakh crore! The question is whether his “delivery partner” has been a partner in this prosperity? The contribution of the platform to technology and lifestyle improvement cannot be denied, particularly during the course of the pandemic. However, there is also the human involvement, providing the last link to make the platform an efficient delivery machine. Surely this link is equally important to the ultimate success of the industry. Maybe the MP from Tamil Nadu can also get some answers to his queries through this study’s findings.
📰 A parliamentary Bill the ICAI needs to take note of
If done well, the changes proposed will strengthen the ICAI’s accountability, governance, and administration
•The Lok Sabha on Wednesday approved a Bill to amend the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, the law that governs the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). It also amends the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 and the Company Secretaries Act 1980. Introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17, 2021, and titled the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the key changes it proposes are: Discipline: the ICAI’s disciplinary committee and board of discipline will be chaired by non-chartered accountants (CA), and its elected council members will no longer be in a majority in them. And then, governance and administration: the term of the ICAI’s Council will be raised from three to four years, and the maximum number of consecutive terms for its elected members will be reduced to two from the current three; the ICAI’s Secretary will replace the ICAI’s president as its chief executive and perform the functions to be specified; the ICAI will appoint its auditor from the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India’s panel of CA firms; and the Government will form a coordination committee for the ICAI and the Institutes of Cost Accountants and Company Secretaries of India.
•If done well, these changes should strengthen the ICAI’s accountability, governance, and administration. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has endorsed these changes and has further recommended an end to the ICAI’s monopoly in certification.
Training, disciplinary record
•Exams and articleship are the rites of passage for CA aspirants. The examinations are reputedly hard to crack. The three-year articleship gives hands-on training. That said, senior industry managers bemoan that many CAs do not have what it takes to succeed in the corporate world, i.e., analytical ability, critical thinking, appreciation of the business context, grasp of technology, and communication and presentation skills. CA students do not have in-class interaction. Also, the coaching is focused on cracking examinations rather than facilitating understanding and application. Of course, the unpredictability of examination outcomes does not help. Further, today’s school leaver thinks about ‘cool’ careers such as pursuing an MBA, law, AI/ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning), data science and web design. So, it is no surprise that CA student enrolment in 2021 was a third lower than in 2010.
•The ICAI’s record in disciplining its members is even more problematic. There have been persistent complaints that the ICAI is lax in acting against errant members. On the occasion of Chartered Accountants Day on July 1, 2017, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was critical of the CA community for its lack of quality and integrity. It was a serious indictment of the ICAI’s self-regulation. In 2018, the Government had set up the National Financial Reporting Authority as India’s first independent regulator of accounting and audit. The proposed changes in the composition of the ICAI’s disciplinary arms will further limit its role. As a result, the ICAI will be effectively reduced to an examination board.
Historical baggage
•Chartered accountancy is an odd fusion of medieval, colonial and licence raj institutions and practices. Articleship is a source of cheap, and tame, labour for some practitioners. The idea of training by members of a trade association goes back to medieval guilds. Much of the work that CAs do and clamour for is a remnant of the licence raj. Many businesses and professions have changed beyond recognition as a result of the economic reforms initiated in 1991. The demutualised and technology-driven National Stock Exchange of India has transformed stock-broking. Indian IT and pharma companies now compete successfully with the best in the world. India’s entertainment industry has a worldwide audience. Even in a licensed profession such as law, the five-year degree has become a sought-after qualification.
•In contrast, CA has not kept pace with the changes in India’s dynamic economy and changing society. The ICAI was set up in 1949, largely as the Indian version of the U.K. institute. Its evolution since then has mirrored the rise of the licence raj that was characterised by uncompetitive capital, product and labour markets, worthless form-filling and box-ticking, and incredibly high tax rates. The focus of Indian business back then was on how to make money by beating the system rather than by improving efficiency, relevance and competitiveness. CAs greatly benefited from that system. They kept beseeching the government for mandatory work such as issuing import utilisation certificates, tax audit, public sector bank branch audit, concurrent audit, and so on. Most of such work is of dubious value. Ironically, among CAs, “professional development” does not mean skill upgradation but is a code for getting low-value work from government entities. Elected council members have no reason to rock the boat. This is not sustainable.
•AI/ML is already playing a significant role in medical diagnosis and legal drafting and case analysis. Accounting and auditing are more amenable to the replacement of humans by technology. AI, robotics, and other technological advances are likely to reduce the need for human intervention in accounting. Also, recent administrative reforms aimed at enabling ease of doing business and ease of living, such as faceless tax assessment, easy filing of tax returns, prompt refunds, rising threshold for tax audit, and abolition of Goods and Services Tax audit have greatly reduced the availability of captive, government-mandated, make-work business for CAs. Puzzlingly (or perhaps not), overseas accountancy qualifications such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) are gaining popularity in India, perhaps because they are recognised worldwide, are more relevant to current and future needs, and are accepted even in India by global companies and global accounting firms.
Having IIAs
•The Parliamentary Committee’s suggestion to set up a string of Indian Institutes of Accounting (IIAs) on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) is innovative. The IIAs will offer a five-year full-time and broad-based degree in accounting, auditing and related areas and their graduates. At one level, they will end the ICAI’s statutory monopoly over certification. More competition should result in better quality and higher standards of conduct. Though the ICAI and the IIAs are different, they have to compete for the same talent pool. At another level, the IIAs can greatly enhance the quality of education with a wholesome curriculum. By broadening access, they can make the accounting community more inclusive and socially diverse.
•Accounting institutes in other countries including the United Kingdom have changed. The Bill and the Parliamentary Committee’s report can be seen as efforts to drag the ICAI to the contemporary world, kicking and screaming if needed. The ICAI’s leadership needs to ponder and explain the reforms to its membership. It would be wise to read the proposed changes as a warning and respond maturely.
📰 India’s food response as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’
Its journey from chronic food shortage to surplus producer partnering the WFP has lessons for the developing world
•Global hunger is on the rise, driven by the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic shocks, conflicts, poverty, and inequality. Millions are living in hunger and many more do not have access to adequate food. More people are living in hunger than in 2015 when the member states of the United Nations, including India, agreed to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
•In 2019, 650 million people around the world suffered from chronic hunger — 43 million more than in 2014. Since the onset of the pandemic, the number of people on the brink of starvation has doubled from 135 million people, pre-COVID, a year ago to 270 million.
India’s outreach
•The title invokes the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, ‘Earth is One Family’, from India’s traditional philosophical outlook that has gained huge relevance over the past 75 years since being cited in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to underline the collective nature of the crises and a matching response that is needed.
•At the core of the concept is ‘ Vasudha’, which means the planet earth, and describes how different nations form one collective and cannot escape the common connection of concern and humanity.
•In his 2014 UN General Assembly address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India’s traditional outlook sees the world as one family and that is linked to its Vedic tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” — underlining its relevance not just for global peace, cooperation, environment protection but also for humanitarian response including rising global hunger and leaving no one behind.
•The number of people in need of urgent food assistance — estimated at 270 million in 2021 — because of the pandemic will grow significantly with the crisis in Afghanistan and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The fallout of the war is driving food and fuel prices that will add to the burden to the millions (especially the poor and marginalised) who are struggling.
•Sadly, the global burden of malnutrition remains enormous, with almost 150 million children stunted, nearly 50 million wasted, and every other child — as well as two billion adults — suffering from micronutrient deficiencies.
Helping Afghanistan
•India’s recent and ongoing humanitarian food assistance to the people of Afghanistan, through the United Nations Food Programme (where half of the population needs urgent food assistance to avert a famine) is an example of its commitment and commendable steps towards humanitarian crises.
•The 50,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of food assistance in the form of wheat committed by India is being sent in instalments to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, through Pakistan. The first consignment, part of India’s in-kind contribution to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), was flagged-off on February 22 in a ceremony at Amritsar’s Attari border crossing, by India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India Farid Mamundzay. I was honoured to be a part of the historic and timely support by India.
•It is important to put this assistance in the context of the need in Afghanistan. Over 22.8 million people — half of the population — are projected to be acutely food insecure in 2022; this includes 8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions. Nearly 4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women are at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022. All 34 provinces are facing a crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity.
•The WFP in Afghanistan has in place a massive supply chain and logistics infrastructure, with hundreds of trucks and staff ensuring that food assistance reaches those who need it the most and no one is excluded. This makes each contribution and partnership with the Government of India, a lifesaving one for children, women, and men in need.
•India has been a strong ally of the Afghan people, traditionally, and has extended over a million metric tonnes in the past, including 75,000 metric tonnes last year in partnership with the WFP.
•In the past two years, India has provided aid to several countries in Africa and the Middle East/West Asia to overcome natural calamities and the COVID-19 pandemic. I have been a party to India’s support to Yemen and Zimbabwe in the past.
From sufficiency to assistance
•India has made enormous progress in food production over the years, with an inspiring journey towards self-sufficiency in food production, marked by the Green Revolution. In 2020, India produced over 300 million tonnes of cereals and had built up a food stock of 100 million tonnes. The country has registered record harvests over the last few years, with several enabling policies and incentives to farmers. In 2021, India exported a record 20 million tonnes of rice and wheat.
•As India’s foodgrain surplus continues to grow, along with its footprint as a key humanitarian food assistance player, underlining its partnership with the WFP, it is also important to highlight the story of its transition from receiving food aid to now providing food aid to those in need.
•The long journey from chronic food shortage to surplus food producer offers several valuable lessons for other developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in land reforms, public investments, institutional infrastructure, new regulatory systems, public support, and intervention in agri markets and prices and agri research. I witnessed some of this transformation as an agronomy student at the Punjab Agricultural University around four decades ago. We also saw this aspect being highlighted through the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 process.
Safety nets
•One of India’s greatest contributions to equity in food is its National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 that anchors the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Mid-Day meals (MDM), and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Today, India’s food safety nets collectively reach over a billion people.
•Food safety nets and inclusion are linked with public procurement and buffer stock policy. This was visible during the global food crises of 2008-2012, and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic fallout, whereby vulnerable and marginalised families in India continued to be buffered by TPDS which became a lifeline with a robust stock of food grains.
•The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) introduced in 2020 to provide relief to 800 million beneficiaries covered under the NFSA from COVID-19 induced economic hardships has been extended by another six months up to September 2022. The total PMGKAY outlay so far adds up to ₹2.6 trillion.
•India’s support to its neighbours and other countries that struggle with food emergencies and food insecurity must continue its growth trajectory.
•For instance, in Afghanistan itself the need is immense. Over half of all Afghan people — 23 million — now need emergency food assistance. The latest WFP food security data show that 95% of Afghans consume insufficient food, with the number rising to almost 100% among households headed by women. Two-thirds — 66% — are resorting to desperate coping measures such as borrowing money or skipping meals to feed their families, a six-fold increase since August last year.
•Humanitarian food assistance and partnerships that help create robust policy innovations by way of food safety nets and resilient livelihoods, will contribute towards global peace.
•It is not just important to respond to the hunger and the food security needs of communities affected by conflicts but also to consider addressing them as a global community to avoid human suffering and the massive humanitarian assistance needs that it creates.
A peace catalyst
•Research undertaken by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) points to WFP programmes contributing to creating conditions for peace in four areas including ‘bolstering social cohesion, strengthening the link between citizen and state, and resolving grievances within and between communities’.
•The Nobel Peace Prize to the WFP in 2020 cited the WFP’s role and the importance of access to food in maintaining peace.
•India has made major progress in addressing hunger and malnutrition, but a lot needs to be done and we must continue this path as the trailblazer in access and inclusion through public policies and systems. For over five decades the WFP has been partnering with India and seen its transition from being a recipient to a donor.
•However, we must take note of the fact that India can do more and is doing more on delivering the goal of Zero Hunger and equity globally.
•As the world’s largest humanitarian agency, the WFP, and India, as the largest democracy, can leverage this partnership to contribute to addressing food emergencies and strengthening humanitarian response, embodying the spirit of ‘leave no one behind’ and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
•Bishow Parajuli is Representative and Country Director to India, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
