The sky over Chhattisgarh is the starriest of any place in the country. On a warm summer night, you can see all the celestial formations as the clear sky engulfs you like a planetarium dome. The earth below has some of the richest minerals underneath it and above it, we have the best natural forests. Yet as a kid, I noticed friends in my village, Kawardha, looked emaciated and often slept without dinner. Much later, as a practicing doctor, I would treat cases mainly related to malnutrition and diseases caused by under-nourishment. It only strengthened my resolve to do something about food for all. After all, there is not much point living on a rich land but on an empty stomach.
Even as a nascent state, we account for 13 per cent of the total mineral output of the country—16 per cent of its iron ore, 19 per cent of its coal and 25 per cent dolomite. We have immense possibilities of producing the best diamonds in the world; yet a third of our population had no means of getting at least one square meal a day. I had to remedy the situation. As soon as our Government came to power in 2003, our first decision was to implement food security for all. It started with Amrit Namak—a basic necessity not available to our tribals for centuries which has had severe genetic effects. It is now the only state in the country where you can get iodised salt at 25 paise a kg when in most other places you would perhaps never actually get to see a 25 paise coin.
Our most ambitious scheme—the chief minister’s food security scheme—was launched in April 2007. It envisages rice for every BPL family, irrespective of caste and community, at Rs 3 a kg. Initially, 12.14 lakh SC/ST families were brought under its ambit but from January this year, we have been able to provide 35 kg of rice at Rs 3 for each of the 33.02 BPL families in the state.
Policy planners now tell us that costs of subsidies like these are immense. I don’t have an argument with them but I have seen that the costs of not giving these subsidies are far higher and have such spiraling effects on the entire population and economy that it literally sets us back by centuries. The government has set aside Rs 837 crore...
