Food: the Real Problem

The Conference of State Chief Ministers in Delhi next weekend, from which so much seems to be expected by way of steps to forestall the desperate turn in the food situation which threatens to overtake us in weeks rather than months now, may well prove to be an anticlimax.

The Chief Ministers of Bihar, Kerala and West Bengal, three major deficit States, have already been to Delhi to discuss their requirements with the Centre. There has also been hectic scurrying of Ministers between the State capitals. The Kerala Chief Minister, for instance, has visited both Andhra and Madras, on whom his hopes of getting enough rice to stop the 'informal' rationing in his State from breaking down altogether are largely pinned. In addition, Parliament has had a long discussion on the food situation and in the course of it as well as on other occasions the Food Minister has made many statements on the subject. After all this, it is difficult to see what new can emerge from the conclave of Chief Ministers.