Government ensures food for rats: Karat

VIJAYAWADA - Slamming the ruling United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) food management policies, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Saturday said the government was ensuring food for rats by allowing stocks to rot.

“The FCI (Food Corporation of India) godowns have 60 million tonnes of foodgrain. Stocks are overflowing and allowed to rot. What they are ensuring is food safety for rats,” Karat said while inaugurating the extended central committee meeting of the party here.

The CPI-M leader said the Left parties have been demanding food security for poor since long “but the government is relentless”.

“The Congress leadership and the government speak hypocritically about inclusive growth when the policies they pursue are designed to exclude the vast majority of the people from access to food, education, jobs and social security.”

He said India presents the “shameful spectacle” of having the world’s largest number of hungry and malnourished people.

He said repeated increases in the prices of petroleum products is one major reason for ever rising prices.

“How the government policy is injurious for people’s interests is glaringly illustrated by the relentless price rise of food and other essential commodities. Government policies are directly responsible for the ever rising prices,” Karat said.

“Repeated increases in the prices of petroleum products is one major reason. Forward trading in foodgrain and other essential commodities is another major factor. The government has weakened and curtailed the Public Distribution System through a targeted system, which excludes much of the poor. Yet the government callously and arrogantly refuses to take responsibility,” he added.

Opposing the government’s pro-US policies, he said the US and Israel are the two essential friends of India during the Manmohan Singh government’s rule.

He also slammed the government for its effort to pass the India-US civil nuclear liability bill in parliament.

“There are no second thoughts on compromising national sovereignty and even the lives and safety of the people in order to fructify this alliance. As part of the commitment made in the Indo-US nuclear deal, the government has brought a legislation in parliament which embodies this subservience.

“After the worst industrial accident in the history of the world in Bhopal, in which the victims got no justice and the perpetrator of the crime - the American multinational - was let off, the government now proposes a law which will make any American company which supplies nuclear reactors to India not liable for even one rupee if there is a nuclear accident,” he added.