Self-sufficiency became the mantra after the British rule ended in 1947. When the use of American hybrid seeds in the 1960s spawned a “green revolution” of more fecund farms, food security became the hallmark of sovereign India, says a report in The International Herald Tribune.
“Now all that appears to be over.
“This year, the country imported wheat for the first time since 2000. And then this week, traders worldwide bid up wheat prices after a startling forecast by U.S. wheat producers that India is set to become the world’s largest importer this year, pulling ahead of Egypt with eight million tons of imports from Australia, the United States and other exporters.
“The figure was about 50 percent higher than analysts had projected.
” ‘I’m quite confident, as are most of the traders, that when the year is over, India will probably import eight million tons,’ Mark Samson, vice president for South Asia at U.S. Wheat Associates, a trade group representing U.S. wheat producers and state governments, said Friday in a telephone interview from Singapore.
“On Thursday, the group’s forecast helped drive the price of wheat to a two-year high on the Paris commodity exchange.
“The increased imports are welcome news for multinational companies like Cargill of the United States and AWB of Australia, which have been shipping wheat to India on a sporadic basis and would benefit from more regular Indian demand.
“But those who produce the bulk of India’s wheat – the two-thirds of Indians who live in rural areas – have benefited far less from the economic boom. Their farm yields are failing to keep up with the demand for wheat.
“The result is that, even as demand for wheat soars, supply is stagnant at about 70 million tons annually, driving prices ever higher.
“At another level, India’s turn to food imports also reflects the complex politics of global trade.
“The United States and other wealthy countries are keen to find markets for their farm output.
“Critics of Indian policy say that India’s government, which is seeking to deepen ties with Washington, is letting the United States dump subsidized wheat in India at the expense of local farmers.
“Specifically, they say India has allowed private companies, foreign and domestic, to buy wheat from local farmers and stock it indefinitely, forcing the government’s food distribution system to buy wheat overseas at higher prices than Indian farmers receive.
” ‘The green revolution is being dismantled,’ said Devinder Sharma, a farm policy analyst and frequent critic of the government. ‘This is the beginning of the end of food self-sufficiency.’
“Supporters of globalization insist that it is in India’s interest to move away from an emphasis on basic food security. Far better, they say, to abandon commodities like wheat in favor of higher-value crops that can be exported.”
The Newsweek International says “the Furnace Australia sailed into Chennai last month carrying a load of wheat and, some warned, ill tidings. India’s first wheat imports in six years marked a reversal in the march toward ‘food independence’ that the country began in the 1970s.
“To M. S. Swaminathan, one of the agronomists credited with sparking the so-called Green Revolution, the return of grain imports should be seen as ‘a wake-up call’ for a country that has in recent years taken its ability to feed its people for granted.
“Though India’s government officially dismissed the return of grain imports as a passing event, Swaminathan and other experts saw it as the latest sign of a long-term decline.
“Now production gains are slowing as the water supply dwindles, overzealous use of fertilizer and pesticides taints the soil and excessive irrigation waterlogs the land along canals in the showpiece states of India’s Green Revolution, like the Punjab and Haryana.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.