Food Corporation of India corruption: Every government is responsible for providing a reasonable price to farmers as well as cost-effective grains to citizens. To that end, the central government purchases grains at MSP and distributes them to the people for almost zero. With that welfare ideology, the government carried out the world’s largest food supply chain under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna (PMGKAY).
In that welfare scheme, too, there are some bureaucrats who exploit the share of the poor. The Indian government has geared up to deal with these traitors of the poor.
Operation Kanak
On January 11, the CBI launched “Operation Kanak” to investigate the alleged corruption at the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The CBI conducted searches at almost 50 locations in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. One DGM-level official was also arrested in Chandigarh. As per the reports, the CBI ran an undercover operation for six months and arrested as many as 74 accused.
While addressing the inaugural function of the 59th Foundation Day of Food Corporation of India (FCI), Piyush Goyal, the Union Food Minister, called the CBI investigation “a wake-up call.” Goyal was insisted about transforming, reforming, and reinventing FCI’s entire ecosystem.
In doing so, the whistleblowers should be awarded, and the officers of Food Corporation of India (FCI) should report any case of corruption in the department. He told me that the government is following the “Zero tolerance” policy against corruption in the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
The CBI filed an FIR in the case in which it reported that Food Corporation of India (FCI) officers involved in corruption were running an organised syndicate. They took a bribe from the private mill owner in the range of Rs. 1,000–Rs. 4,000 for unloading the low-quality food grain at the warehouse. The CBI blew up the entire distribution of bribes at every level.
Food security and bureaucratic failure
Since the beginning, India has suffered from food insecurity. Despite being agriculture based nation, low productivity and the accumulation of large agricultural land in the hands of a few have exacerbated the food crisis. The government initiated grain distribution, but corrupt and torpid officials became a major impediment to it.
Using the government job as the means of their never ending debauchery, they snatched the right of the unpriviledged needy poor people. They accepted bribes to allot the distribution counter and enjoyed endless food grains. And, resultantly, the shopkeeper also extorted people mercilessly.
Also read: FCI – The Food Corporation of India is another white elephant that needs to be razed to the ground
The system of the FCI opened all its doors to extract money. During the direct procurement of grains, the officials always paid a lower amount to the farmers. An organised crime syndicate then worked from the loading of the grain to its unloading at the warehouse.
The dishonest officials decided everybody’s cut and distributed it honestly among themselves. With the allocation of contracts to shopkeepers and ration cards to people, FCI officers received kickbacks from every point. As a result of that, most of the people returned barehanded from the shops.
Previous political corruption and recent reforms
The entire system was hotbed of corruption. Obviously, the entire syndicate could not have operated without political support. The record of past governments in the field of corruption has been unparalleled. Instead of being a deterrent to corruption, the previous government strengthened it. However, it is not the first time that the corruption of Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been revealed.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha in 2016, then-Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan stated that 23 bribery cases had been reported to the FCI in the previous three years, with the majority of cases coming from Punjab. Even last year, the CBI booked a case in Bhopal that unfolded many layers of corruption. An assistant-grade clerk used to lend money at 2%. The CBI seized Rs. 3 crores in cash from his home during a raid.
Though there have been cases of corruption in Food Corporation of India (FCI) that have been reported on occasion, things are different this time. Firstly, the government has digitised the distribution, due to which the food security rights of the needy are preserved, and lastly, the CBI is looking more vigilant to deal with corrupt officials. The arrest of the DGM rank official demonstrates that, for the first time, the government is taking FCI corruption seriously.
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