Sameer C Mohindru and Sidharth Kanungo New Delhi of Press Trust of India says, noted economist Malthus had enunciated the theory of nature taking its own toll if corrective measures are not taken to control population.

The theory is now discredited but is quite relevant in context of India's foodstocks in 2002 in the wake of the worst drought of the century. Nature may now take its toll as for the first time in years, there has been a 12 per cent fall in stocks to 515 lakh tonnes this month.

Though the stocks are still on the higher side and the recent fall has more to do with exports, nevertheless importance of "nature" cannot be undermined particularly when recurrent drought in coming years are possible due to global warming.

If this happens, mountains of grains will be reduced to a trickle proving India's agri-surplus to be a myth but as of now it is a Rs 50,000 crore reality confounding brilliant minds in the country.

A group of such diligent brains under the Chairmanship of Professor Abhijeet Sen sat down to evolve sound means of grain management and what emerged was a voluminous report, at present perhaps gathering dust in one of the dark and dingy cabins of "Krishi Bhavan".

The lesser said about ironies of the country's food system the better. There is a huge food subsidy of Rs 18,500 crore but a major part of it goes not to the poor consumers, as one would have presumed, but into storage or carrying costs which average at a massive Rs 211.21 per quintal.

Another paradox is that overflowing granaries are waiting to be emptied but states simply do not have the wherewithal to lift stocks allocated to them for servicing PDS and wheat-rice offtake is paltry 20.2 and 26.4 per cent respectively.

Consequently, the government had no option but to sell grains to exporters at subsidised rates and being a sound business proposition, it worked.

This, however means nearly 22 and 32 per cent of wheat and rice moving out of government stocks is exported, even as reports pour in of starvation deaths from various states.

In a nutshell, India feeds rest of the world while its own populace goes to sleep or rather spends sleepless nights in hunger. Interestingly, only last month modalites were finalised for 10 lakh tonne Indian wheat-aid to war-ravaged Afghanistan as highly nutritious biscuits!! Adding to the worries is the fragile PDS involving more than 4.5 lakh fair price shops with allegations of rampant corruption, diversion of grains, bogus ration cards even as authentic ones have to be mortgaged by the poor.

To compound the problems, states like Andhra Pradesh get 'paddy' allocated for food for work programmes which allegedly is diverted to millers and once dehusked is again procured by the authorities as 'rice'. This zero-sum game without naming any state also found mention in the first ever mid-year review of the economy this year.

A significant part of the stocks having rotted was disbursed as cattle feed, what with drought having resulted in critical shortage of fodder in the country.

The run-up to preparation of the Abhijeet Sen Committee Report on the subject threw up a whole range of solutions to the problem which had been defying solutions, but none could be implemented, Mahendru informed.