The Narendra Modi-led government announced late last week a ban on the export of wheat. The move was as stunning as it was abrupt and unless you are a careful observer of the news, it is likely you will have missed the move that is not only a significant indicator of the domestic food security situation but also of the state of the present government.
For a bit of context, the Union government announced an immediate ban on the export of wheat -- a move that came barely a few weeks after the Prime Minister, as well as the Commerce Ministry, has been going to different corners of the world to announce that the country was stepping up to meet a global shortfall caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and would help feed the world facing a shortfall of the world’s staple grain. It was a message Modi told the world during his recent visit to Berlin while the Commerce Ministry has sent a delegation to several countries in a bid to indicate India’s willingness to export grain.
But all that changed within a matter of hours leaving the government and their cheerleaders with an egg on their faces. The Indian government claims the move is aimed at cooling domestic prices that have reached all-time highs largely on the back of reduced wheat production in the wake of severe heat waves across the northern plains of the country. That and keeping India’s own domestic needs first is what the Indian government claims have forced its hand in banning the export of wheat.
What the government hasn’t explained is how it decided to go about telling the world that it was willing to meet their needs before first checking whether it had enough wheat to feed itself. Also, how does the government explain to the farmers who were all set to cash in on high global prices (even higher than what the government was willing to buy) that their windfall gains are all set to vanish?
Following this flip-flop, India will now be looked upon as an unreliable global partner to do business with whose abrupt and sudden moves leave partners with a bad taste in the mouth. The government has, no doubt, announced that existing contracts would be allowed to be honoured and government to government humanitarian export will continue, but these will do little to dampen the sentiment towards India.
There’s no doubt that India needs to take care of its own interests first, but as many experts pointed out at the time, India was too quick to announce that it would be promoting the export of wheat without simultaneously keeping a tab on the current harvesting season and India’s own dwindling supplies of crucial grain stocks.
Instead, the government chose media management in place of actual work and has ended up swinging from one extreme to the next. What’s needed is a pair of cool heads in the corridors of power that need to concern themselves with actual policymaking and not just headline chasing. Not every policy needs to be dictated by perception, else we are slowly but surely tumbling from one crisis to the next.
