4.5 LAKH SACKS OF WHEAT in Uttar Pradesh, estimated to be worth Rs 25 crore, were damaged due to rains at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown in Ghaziabad, while more than 1 lakh sacks were left in the open despite enough space available in the Allahabad godown

3 LAKH SACKS OF WHEAT in Haryana were destroyed in Sirsa warehouse due to floods. Despite flood warnings from the weatherman, no precautions were taken and the food grain continued to lie in the open and low-lying area

56,000 SACKS OF GRAIN in Gondia district of Maharashtra are left to rot in the open despite plenty of space available inside the FCI godown. According to officials, the grain was stored outside the warehouse because there was a space crunch when the shipment arrived in May

The government acknowledges that food worth nearly Rs 60,000 crore is destroyed every year due to poor and insufficient storage facilities. This lost food is keeping millions of Indians hungry. To add insult to injury, the government spends about Rs 2.6 crore of the tax payers’ money to get rid of food grain that has rotted during storage.

When the shocking figures of grain loss came to light last year, Pawar told the Parliament that he would set up a committee to examine the matter. A year later, he has been crowned the Prince of the ICC, but not a single cubic foot of additional storage space has been built. Nor have those who routinely oversee the destruction of the country’s food harvests, been questioned, let alone punished.

Mountains of grain, collected over years, are stored in the open in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, covered by plastic sheets. They get wet in the rain and rot. In Punjab, the rotting grain is enough to feed three lakh people. When states appeal to the Centre to release the food stocks so that the poor have food, the government’s economists stop this, saying it would be bad economics. So the grain is allowed to rot, the people get hungrier, the youth in the hungry heartland get enraged and their anger gets seduced by the gun. India’s innards are exploding to the sound of grenades as the economists discuss inflationary pressures and the agriculture minister complains about poor storage facilities, as though it was someone else’s problem to fix.

Even in warehouses where grain is stored indoors in gunny bags, the damp gets to them because the construction is below par. When the moisture creeps in during the rainy season and the bags get wet, fungus destroys the grain, making it inedible. In addition, there are rodents that not only eat up large quantities of stored grain, but also leave behind their excreta to further poison the food. Together, fungus and rodents account for nearly 20 million tonnes of food grain lost every year, which is about a tenth of the country’s annual production.

STORING GRAINS in warehouses is a bad idea. The bags stored in the first phase lie at the bottom, rotting because they cannot be taken out first. So the bags on top, the most recent ones, get taken out when food has to be sent out. The cardinal principle of storage, ‘firstin- first-out’, is violated by the warehouse method.

There is a blindingly simple answer to this problem — grain silos. These vertical structures of steel allow grain to be poured in from the top and taken out from below. It is waterproof because the structure is lifted off the ground and the metal does not allow seepage and damp. There’s no room for rodents either, nor their excreta. Just clean dry grain, ready to be taken out and transported wherever it is needed.

Damage caused by fungus and rodents accounts for 20 million tonnes of food grain lost every year

When states plead with the Centre to release food stocks, economists say it will trigger inflation. And the hungry heartland gets hungrier

Is the government taking steps to introduce this solution? No it isn’t. When MS Swaminathan and the National Commission on Farmers made this recommendation, the government response was to set up a committee, after a long delay, to examine its cost and effectiveness. Nothing has come of that so far, but plans are afoot to send a delegation to China to study how they tackle their storage problems. Many plates of Peking duck and lots of plum wine later we will have a report on how the Chinese manage their business, but we may not have a grain silo.

Parts of India could suffer a drought-like situation even as the rest of the country gets normal monsoon.

While the Indian Meteorological Department on Friday tried to allay fears of a failed monsoon even in the regions that have suffered massive monsoon failure, the picture for the eastern region looks grim.

Jharkhand has so far suffered a 46% deficiency in the rainfall, Bihar 20%, East UP 32%, Gangetic West Bengal 31%, East Rajasthan 20%, and West Madhya Pradesh 26%.

Central and north-western parts of the country are expected to get normal rains while the south peninsular region is likely to receive slightly higher rains but the eastern parts even with normal monsoon over the next couple of months would suffer at least 10% deficit for the entire monsoon period.

The national picture that covers up regional variations though painted a better picture with the IMD predicting that monsoon would be normal overall and would pick up in August and September.

In the second half of the monsoon period, IMD suggested that 107% of the long term average rainfall would be achieved.

"There has been no depression over the Bay of Bengal in the first two months of monsoon, which is an anomalous feature reported this time. This has led to scanty rainfall in the northeast. Rainfall is likely to be deficit in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand," Tyagi said.

Malnutrition is emerging as a major threat to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to Nepal.

As many as 41 out of 75 districts are reeling under acute food deficit and the rest have marginal surplus of 10 percent, thanks to poverty, says a Food Security Monitoring Task Force report.

According to Sunday's The Himalayan Times, 31 percent population lives below poverty line, 41 percent people consume less than minimum calorie requirement and more than half of the population can't find full dietary intake of 2,144 calories per day, mentions the report, adding Nepal suffers the highest malnutrition rate in the world.

Vice Chairman of National Planning Commission Jagdish Chandra Pokharel was quoted by the daily as saying that the micro-nutrient deficiency could not be abolished till 2015 which would make Nepal unable to meet the MDG.

Acute poverty prevails in eight Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, together accounting for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African nations combined, a new 'multidimensional' measure of global poverty has said.

The new measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support.

It will be featured in the forthcoming 20 th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report.

An analysis by MPI creators reveals that there are more 'MPI poor' people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).

The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.

The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the Multidimensional Poverty Index were made available today at a policy forum in London and on line on the websites of OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report.

The MPI assesses a range of critical factors or 'deprivations' at the household level: from education to health outcomes to assets and services.

Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures, according to OPHI and UNDP.

"The MPI is like a high resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households," said OPHI Director Dr Sabina Alkire, who created the MPI with Professor James Foster of George Washington University and Maria Emma Santos of OPHI.

Poverty-stricken children, below the permissible employment age of 14, are being made to work in the tea gardens of Siliguri

At present there are 300 tea plantations in the Terai Doars region of northern Bengal, and the people of the tribal community called Madeshis are employed as workers in these gardens.

“Our parents can’t teach us and send us to school because they are paid very less here, in the tea gardens. That is why they send us to work here,” said Preeti Oraon, a ten-year-old girl working in Sukna Tea Estate.

Employing child workers proves beneficial for the owners as they are made to work nearly as much as an adult, but for a much smaller wage.

“Small children have left their school and are now working here in the tea gardens. The manager of the estate is getting his work done by these kids because of which they will never be able to study. The child labourers work at daily wages of 28 rupees and the money tempts these children to continue working at the tea estate. We are protesting against this,” said Sambhu Toppo, leader of the Tea Gardens Trade Union in the region.

Toppo said that more than 100 to 150 underage children work with their parents in the Sukna Tea Estate alone. This trend is becoming quite visible in numerous tea estates of the region.

Officially, India has 12.6 million child workers, the world’s highest number, but activists suggest the figure is at least five times more. (ANI)

In my opinion, fair trade is a cleverly crafted marketing ploy designed to monopolize certain commodities and markets.  Fair trade items makes more profits and have better margins. Darjeeling Tea is no exception. The fair-trade markets opened up for Darjeeling Tea since the beginning of the millennium.

There are many fair-trade organizations selling Darjeeling Tea like Twin trading USA, Equal Exchange Trading, Clipper teas, Choice organic teas, Oxfam, Alter Eco, Artisans du monde etc.

But, I must say that the workers of Darjeeling Tea estates using fair-trade labels deserve more.

I am not trying to make a point that the fair trading partners from Darjeeling and their counter parts from the developed countries are exploiting the workers (as they are exploited anyways), but needed to inform my readers about the level of transparency of the beautifully drawn agendas of fair-trade like payment of a fair price, safe and healthy working environment for workers and gender equity.

A small chunk of fair-trade money is always kept aside (at site in the local bank) for the managing committee to brawl about the new projects and schemes that they would be implementing in the estates. For information this money is the general premium money which is accumulated by fair trading partners by exhibiting the poverty and the conditions of the workers in the estate.

Safe and healthy working environment- Tea is an agricultural as well as industrial food commodity, which requires 90% manual labour. Government labour commission is there to take care of this matter, except that most of the inspectors who visit the estates on behalf of the government are well rewarded for their visits and taken well care of by respective companies who run the estates.

Most corporate houses like Goodricke group, Williamson Maygors, Duncans e.t.c have maintained the norms laid down by the government of India, and I feel our government has done a good job, it is up to the organization whether to respect or disrespect the norms laid down.

About other matters like Safe Drinking water, Health and Electricity (Power) the lack of liaison between government bodies and the management of the tea estates is the main cause. Today, Government of India and our state government respectively have enough funds to provide basic essentials.

Tea garden worker Bikram Lohar, right, carries his five-and- half- year- old blind son Anup as his emaciated wife Champa Lohar looks on at a tea garden in Kathalguri, some 150 km from Siliguri. Anup is said to have lost his vision after an undernourished Champa was unable to breast-feed him after the closure of the garden in July 2002 which left the family destitute. (AP Photo/Tamal Roy)

For the tea estate workers of West Bengal, it is a double tragedy. Not only have they been losing their jobs without any compensation, but the Marxist-ruled state has also proved to be more callous than other states where starvation deaths have been reported. They have simply turned a blind eye to the problem for the past six years. Despite screaming newspaper headlines that periodically announce a new set of fatalities, despite the intervention of the Supreme Court, despite the best efforts of workers’ unions and human rights organisations, little has been done to help the most hopeless of the workforce.

The genesis of the problem is 1998, when the first wave of closures began. That’s when the tea garden workers started to fall off the map. Some of the plantations reopened subsequently, only to close down again in 2002. Since then, 3,000 to 4,000 tea estate workers and their dependents are estimated to have died of starvation. That’s a shocking figure by any yardstick and a blot on any civilised society. But the CPM-ruled state has proved a hard nut to crack, impervious to both judicial interventions and public outrage.

The casualty figures were put together by the health department after it undertook a survey of 16 closed gardens in Jalpaiguri, a region bordering Sikkim and Bhutan. There were some grisly revelations in the report. Among those who had died were 46 children below the age of 10. Most of the victims (465 of the 571) had died at home, unable to make the trek to primary health centres or the district hospitals.

But it turns out that the state government has been grudging in its admission. A Supreme Court-ordered survey says at least -and this is the operative word -700 people had died in the same period. A news agency report quoted Anuradha Talwar, the West Bengal adviser to the Supreme Court on the people’s right to food case, as saying that although the state may choose to portray the deaths as disease-related, “the fact remains that workers have starved to death and many are waiting to die”.

The problem is serious and a conservative estimate puts the figure of those out of work at 10,000. However, a survey by the Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samiti, a farm workers’ union, says 21,000 permanent workers and 95,000 people have been affected by the distress in tea plantations. The union found people were surviving on as little as 200 calories per person per day compared with 1,000-2,900 before the estates closed down. The minimum prescribed is 850 calories.

With no alternative employment available for these workers, the situation has been grim for them, specially children who are grossly malnourished and suffering from a host of ailments. Although the sector is generally believed to have some of the best regulations for worker protection, the survey found that employers had defaulted on wages and supply of rations - tea estate workers are entitled to foodgrains at a concessional rate along with free water and electricity - for months before they abandoned the plantations.

Kolkata, June 4 (IANS) The cup that cheers is bringing woes to the thousands who work in West Bengal’s tea gardens, with poverty, malnutrition and starvation deaths making life a living hell for plantation workers in the state’s northern parts. Trade union sources estimate that abject poverty has driven 1,800 tea garden workers in north Bengal to death in the last three to four years.

Aloke Chakraborty, general secretary of the central committee of the National Union of Plantation Workers, says 50 percent of the 318 gardens in the Terai and Dooars region in the state were sick, with 14 even closing down.

“The problems in the tea estates of north Bengal have been brewing for a long time. Around 1,800 people died during the last three-four years,” Chakraborty told IANS.

There are altogether 8,709 tea gardens in north Bengal, but only 311 are spread over an area of 10 hectares or more. All others are small. The districts that have tea gardens are Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and North Dinajpur.

“People are dying of starvation. The effects of malnutrition have made worker communities vulnerable to anaemia, tuberculosis, anthrax and severe dysentery,” Chakraborty said.

Chandra Kumar Dhanuka, chairman and managing director of Dhunseri Tea and Industries, also painted a bleak picture for the industry.

Porous borders along Nepal and Bangladesh have fuelled the growth of cross border trafficking in and around the tea estates in Darjeeling. And here intense poverty and unemployment, a deadly cocktail, has forced many to the flesh trade.

The Maichi Bridge on the Bengal-Nepal border witnesses late hour rush as visitors on both sides rush back home before the borders shut down for the night.

And security personnel are the usual clients.

A few kilometers away is Khalpara, Siliguri's red light area where many teenagers from tea estates end up earning a livelihood for themselves and their families.

''In north Bengal mainly Jalpaiguri most of the tea gardens are closed which has lead to poverty. Children also see others of their age coming from Delhi and earning so much and get attracted to that and try and go that way. And in this situation dalaals take them to brothels,'' said Mrinal Ghosh, member, Child Welfare Committee.

But the money isn't so good there; the best options are tourists. With tourism picking up once again in the region, the onset of spring brings many young people to the hills.

Udaynagar, Jalangi: When the monsoon sets in, from May to July, River Padma flows in full spate wreaking havoc for all those who ive along its eroding embankments in the Jalangi area.

Udaynagar Khanda Mauza, comprising the villages of Udaynagar, Suryanagar and Thakurnagar situated on the eastern banks of the river, were inhabited by more than 3000 people. But due to uncontrolled erosion since 1990, 1785.65 acres of land was swallowed up by River Padma and presently lies beneath the water surface. In fact, the devastation caused by the devouring Padma, has left thousands of villagers displaced, resulting in the loss of homes, livelihoods and lives. Entire villages are suffering from poverty. Fear and desperation are written largely on people's faces.

Additionally, the criminal apathy shown by the District Magistrate (DM), Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), Block Development Officer (BDO), Block Relief Officer (BRO) and insensate political corruption of members of the Communist Party of India (CPI-M) especially the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Panchayat functionaries supporting the party, have aggravated the problem.

According to Mr. Biswas even the BDO Nakhul Chandra Mahato—who was accompanying the District Magistrate—claimed he had recently been transferred to Jalangi, so he did not know about the situation of the villagers. Hence he had lamely assured them he would look into the matter and try to get some relief for the villagers. But to date, little or nothing had been done.

Another villager, Anando Kumar Ray said: “We even met our Member of Parliament (MP), Mannan Hussain, and apprised him of our problems. We told him, merely distributing ten kilograms of rice or wheat won’t solve the problem.  You see, the food grain is disbursed to BPL (below poverty line) families under the Annapurna Yojana Scheme. However, in the resettled villages of Udaynagar, Suryanagar and Thakurnagar, only 14 families benefit from this relief Scheme”. He added: “Even then, all the families benefiting from Annapurna Yojana are affiliated with the CPA(M) and have political clout. Actually some of these families are economically stable, for example Janardhan Mandal, a CPI(M) activist and beneficiary of the Scheme, has appropriated the ration of three families living in Billogram—in the Nadia district” Mr. Ray said.

An area resident Mangal Chaudhuri, said: “on November 30, 2005, a Gram Sansad (village parliament) was held in our village. Here, we proposed that Rs. 2,50,000 out of Rs. 5,40,000 should be utilised for carrying out anti-erosion work by dumping boulders near the river bank so that river erosion can be checked. But our Panchayat Pradhan (leader) and CPI(M) activist, Bhanumati Sarkar, rejected the proposal outright, without even discussing it.”

Faced with unemployment and starvation, 66 families migrated to other cities such as Delhi, Siliguri and Mumbai in search of livelihoods. Even women, who accompanied their husbands obtained work as domestic maids to lessen the economic hardships.

Siliguri is arguably the economic hub of the region. The market of Siliguri caters to a large hinterland of Dooars, Darjeeling the entire state of Sikkim, parts of the Kingdom of Bhutan as well as parts of the North East India.

Naturally trading has been the traditional mainstay of business in Siliguri. Apart from trading, the three T’s i.e Tea, Tourism and Timber has been major economic produce. Timber merchandise has reduced substantially over the years due to increasing concern about the environment.

On the other hand, the tourism industry is looking as promising as ever, and it is playing a major role in mitigating the negative effects of the stagnant tea industry on the economy. The people of North Bengal can see hope amidst all the misery because the tourism industry in the region is growing at a fast pace. Of late, the North Bengal region, with its great variety of flora and fauna, beautiful landscapes, and the magnificent Himalayan range is fast becoming a preferred destination for domestic and international tourists.

Although, the economy of the North Bengal region is largely dependent upon the tea and tourism industry, it is not the same with Siliguri. The business machinery in the city mainly consists of retailers, wholesalers, dealers, distributors and small scale entrepreneurs. Siliguri is also well known for its handicrafts like cane artwork and furniture; decorative items made of clay etc. It also has two state government owned cooperatives: Kanchan Food Processing Cooperative and the Himul Milk Processing and Diary Cooperative. Siliguri has a regulated market for fruits and vegetables. It is also well known for its poultry and chicken farming industry. Siliguri is also the main place for marketing Horticulture, Floriculture products, as well as Oranges, Cardamoms, Ginger and Broom leaves from the hill areas of North Bengal. There is also growing demand for handicrafts made out of wood, cane, jute and bamboo by the local artisans – and handicrafts from the hills like embroidery, woven shawls, bags and other items is popular all over the world.

There are ambitious plans for the future development of Siliguri and economic infrastructure is being developed at a rapid pace to realize this dream. Flyover, bridges and underpasses are being built at strategic location around the city, while satellite townships and mini towns are coming up at the outskirts of the town to reduce the concentration of population inside the city. Also, the state government is planning to build a Software Technology Park in Siliguri to the likes of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Siliguri, being a centre of trade and commerce in the region, has great prospects for the FMCG and consumer goods industry as well. Industries like bakery and confectionary, biscuits, sports goods, incense sticks, mineral water, soaps, chalk and pencils, digital clocks etc., can have a huge market and even small entrepreneurs can take advantage of this opportunity. There is also a good market for steel utensils, leather shoes, ready-made garments, tin containers, plastic articles, kitchen wares, electrical accessories etc.