NEW DELHI – CPI-M leader Brinda Karat accused the central government of exporting food grain through big traders for use as animal fodder while keeping people hungry in the country.
“Already the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has sold 25 lakh tonnes of food grains to big businessmen, who would export them for the purpose of animal foodstuff in various countries,” Karat, a Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member, told a large gathering of people here.
“The government has decided to export more food grain when crores of people are starving,” she said.
According to her, over eight crore tonnes of food grain were stored across the country against the stipulated buffer stock of three crore tonnes.
“Food grains being exported, huge stock of foodstuff getting damaged in godowns or outside godowns. People are dying in hunger. Is it a government of the common man,” she said.
She was speaking at a gathering organised here as part of the Left parties’ nationwide rallies and demonstrations demanding a comprehensive food security bill in parliament.
“The faulty food security bill will create food insecurity,” Karat said.
Demanding universalisation of the public distribution system, she asked the government to abolish the below poverty line (BPL) and the above poverty line (APL) categorisation since it further deprived people from getting sufficient food grain from the government supply system.
