Wheat shortfall in India, UPA tense

New Delhi: There's a run on wheat with stocks running short across the country. The UPA Government is importing almost 55 lakh tonnes of wheat, but just whats causing the shortfall?

This essential foodgrain is running out and it's scaring the Government. Wheat stocks are down to alarming levels because the Government's procurement process isn't working.

The Government is now importing wheat - all 55 lakh tonnes of it - so when the UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, mentioned the wheat crisis at the Chief Minister's conclave in Nainital, it didn't come as a surprise.

"There has been a shortfall and we are importing," she said.

Shortfalls lead to rising prices and the people most affected are the ones who do not have access to private supplies. These are the people who are the UPA's important grassroot vote base - its aam admi (common man) - and that's what has the UPA worried.

But that necessarily is not bad news for the Indian farmer. The import is not going to hurt him beacuse his crops have already been sold.

With the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act amended in many states, private buyers are also in the market and that means farmers are getter better prices for their wheat.

Says Agricultural Economist, Dr Ramesh Chand, "Entry of private players has actually helped the wheat farmers as they give more money for the same product."

But next year, big corporates like the Mittals and Ambanis, will be coming in as well and then the Government will be faced with a bigger challenge to procure wheat for the public distributuion system and its various programmes.

As of now here are some of the measures that the Government is taking to tackle wheat scarcity in the country.

The Government is replacing wheat with coarse grains like jowar, bajra and ragi

Wheat has been replaced with rice in public supplies in the NorthEast

Traders have been told that they cannot stock supplies of wheat for more than 6 months

There has been a cut back in wheat allocation in all Government programmes

Futures trading might be scrapped by Standing Committee on Food.

The Prime Minister has already directed the Agriculture Ministry and the Planning Commission to prepare a package to revive wheat production, but for now with farmer benefitting from the entry of private players, it's a delicate balance that the Government needs to ensure for public procurememnt of wheat not to go down.

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