Hunger Amidst Plenty—Tragedy Continues 75 Years After Independence -Subodh Varma

-Newsclick.in

As India celebrates its 75th Independence Day, there is a record harvest of foodgrains; but why are so many people hungry?

India has reaped an all-time high food grain harvest for 2020-21 of nearly 309 million tonnes (MT), or nearly 31 crore tonnes, according to latest estimates by the agriculture ministry. This was propelled by record harvests of wheat (109.5 MT), rice (122.3 MT), nutri/coarse cereals (51.2 MT) and pulses (25.7 MT). In addition, production of nine oilseeds too registered a record of 36 MT while sugarcane production clocked in at second best ever at 399 MT.

For a country that suffered from mass hunger and even starvation 75 years ago when it won independence from the British rulers, this is indeed a remarkable achievement. For the past few years agriculture production has risen steadily spurred by reasonable rainfall and the increasing yields in several states. [See chart below] It is a testimony to the dogged hard work of the farmers and their employed labourers who produced this output despite suffering from abysmal returns and rising costs of inputs.

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