Verghese Kurien: End of an era of milk-sufficiency

He came, he saw the plight of farmers, and crafted a highly successful cooperative ladder to bail them out. His vision, his marketing skills, and more importantly his courage to defy any kind of political meddling, turned Amul into a household name. But that's not the end of it. The passing of Dr Verghese Kurien, the milkman of India, certainly brings down the curtain on the era of milk self-sufficiency.

Verghese Kurien died unhappy.

Ever since he left National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) after being its chairman for 33 years, and passed on its reins to his own prodigee Dr Amrita Patel, Kurien realised that it was the beginning of the end for the dairy cooperatives. The women he groomed to take over from him, and all the efforts to get her installed despite stiff opposition from bureaucracy to pass on control to yet another IAS officer, Kurien was in for a shock when he found that Amrita Patel was beginning to undo what he had done all these years. But that's a story for a different day.

He stepped down from NDDB at the age of 76. And within the next few years, he was eased out from the board of Indian Rural Management Institute (IRMA) and also the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation. His nomination to the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India was also rejected.  

Like many in India, I too had been a Kurien admirer. But I never got an opportunity till then to meet him. It was only after an article I wrote some decades back for the Business Line -- Kurien ko gussa kyon aata hai -- that I was delighted to hear from him. Thanking me for what I wrote, I recall his words: "I don't remember having met you ever. But I follow and admire you. I know you are a lone crusader. I know you are fighting a bigger battle. Come, let's have a meal together."

That was certainly music to my ears.

Knowing a little bit of Kurien, and as someone who had continuously been on the trail of both the revolutions -- White as well as the Green -- I think what makes Kurien stand out was his ability to see through the destructive power of foreign aid. He knew that cheaper aid (or free aid) only increases dependence and is a deterrent to self-sufficiency. So when European Community offered massive supplies of butter oil as gift, and knowing well that India will eventually accept the free offer, Kurien carved out a strategy to utilise the butter oil quantity under Operation Flood II in a manner that it does not dampen the domestic dairy production ability. European Union was simply dumping its surplus onto us. Dumping destroys the domestic capabilities by depressing prices to producers. I had to do something as quickly as possible", he had once told me.

Accounting for 17% of the global share, India is the largest producer of milk in the world. The per capita availability has almost doubled from 117 gms to 220 gms per day.

"No one is happy with our being the top milk producer," he told me a couple of months back. All out efforts are now being made to destroy the very foundations of milk self-sufficiency. "Looking at the ongoing negotiations under World Trade Organisation (WTO) and now the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with European Union, Australia and New Zealand, I can see the end coming," he went quiet for sometime. I tried to look into his eyes, but he avoided me.

I tried to reassure him that the spirit of self-reliance will never be defeated. There would be people who would stand up and oppose the takeover of the dairy industry. I am sure some of the political leaders would see through the design and stall any such move. It had happened in case of WTO. After all, even after 17 years of WTO coming into effect, the Agreement on Agriculture is still not complete. He only smiled and wished me well. Even though I was trying to put up a brave front, I dreaded the thought. I knew he knew it, but had probably not wanted to stretch it any further.

What actually worried Verghese Kurein was the slow and subtle take over of the cooperative dairy industry by the private sector. It was the autonomous liberalisation being pushed through joint collaborations, and the reduction in import tariffs, that actually gave him sleepless nights. This is what had caused a wide open split with his successor, Dr Amrita Patel.   

"United States tells India that it must shift from oilseed cultivation because it is not cost effective," he would cite the example. "World Bank also supports this argument. But what they are not telling us is that the US provides more subsidies to its oilseed growers than the total output of India." Not that he was against trade, but he opposed the unethical and unjust trade rules that the developing countries were being forced to accept. 

The White Revolution that everyone talks about did not happen on its own. Verghese Kurien had planned it well. In fact, the strategy he adopted ensuring that the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri understands the importance as well as the need for setting up dairy cooperatives, reflected his political maturity. He had arranged a visit of Lal Bahadur Shashtri to a village in Gujarat. But planned it so meticulously that the Prime Minister had little choice but stay overnight in the village. He arranged the Prime Minister's stay with a progressive farmer, and knew very well that Lal Bahadur Shashtri would spend a lot of time talking to farmers.

It happened exactly as he had planned. Lal Bahadur Shashtri not only met a large number of farmers who had come to see him but also sat through quite late in the night listening to them. In the morning, Lal Bahadur Shashtri asked Verghese Kurien as to why not set up dairy cooperatives as a way forward. This is exactly what Kurien had wanted to hear. And once Lal Bahudar Shashtri endorsed the idea, the seeds of the milk cooperatives were sown.

I am sure if Kurien had tried to convince the bureaucrats in the State and Centre, called on dairy experts to seek their expertise and spoken to the political leaders, there would have been no milk revolution by now. Whether we like it or not it was his political sharpness that made him organise the visit of the then Prime Minister. The rest is history. #

Are farmers children of a lesser god?

Expressing alarm at the rising suicides by Army soldiers,  Defence Minister A K Anthony has called for a brainstorming session with the three vice-chief of services, the defence secretary and the head of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) so as to initiate steps that can curb rising suicide tendencies among the lower ranks of the armed forces. 

Since 2003, on an average about 100 Army soldiers have been committing suicide every year. Approximately 1000 soldiers have committed suicide in the past 10 years. The Defence Minister is worried, and this is indicative of his concern to improve the working conditions of the lower ranks. 

Defence Minister A K Anthony’s initiative is certainly laudable. But when I look at Food & Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s complete indifference towards the massive spate of farmer suicides that sweeps the country, it dismays me to think that farmers are nothing but children of a lesser god. In a country where ‘jai jawan, jai kisan’ has been a popular slogan, for all practical purposes farmers remain a forgotten species. 

Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat had recently told parliament that between 1995 and 2011 as many as 290,470 farmers had committed suicide. This averages to about 17,000 farmers every year taking the fatal route to escape the humiliation that comes along with mounting indebtedness. Nothing can be more tragic to know that every hour 2 farmers end their own life somewhere in India. 

Not only for Sharad Pawar, the continuing bloodbath on the farm fields is too serious a crime to be ignored by successive governments. There is no reason why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should not have called for a series of meaningful dialogues and discussions among policy makers, agricultural scientists and economists. Members of the Planning Commission should have been directed to spend at least a month in the suicide hot spots to understand and ascertain the extent of agrarian crisis. 

On the contrary I find the Central as well as the State governments completely apathetic and callous, following a casual approach towards the biggest and the worst of human tragedies in India. Planning Commission had sometimes back sought the screening of Aamir Khan’s feature film Peepli Live to understand what had gone wrong in the countryside. It had even invited widows of the farmers who had committed suicide to Yojna Bhawanto listen to their part of the story. 

As per news reports, Chhatisgarh has found a novel and imaginative way to eliminate farmers suicides. Coming under sharp criticism for recording the highest number of farmer suicides in 2008, 2009 and 2010, the State government fudged the figures to report zero suicides in 2011. In West Bengal, both the CPM and the Trinamul Congress governments have tried to play down the farmer suicides. Reports have indicated how district officials in Burdwan, the State’s rice bowl; have been seeking statements from the families of the victims saying that the deaths were not because of agricultural distress or indebtedness. In Maharashtra, which still maintains a national record, even the definition of ‘farmer’ is being altered to report fewer suicides. 

More than 20 expert committees have submitted reports and equal numbers of studies have been done to know the reasons behind the spate of farmer suicides in the Vidharbha region. According to Kishore Tiwari of the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Simiti: “In 2006, the CM-PM package of Rs 5000-crore was followed by a massive loan waiver in 2008. As part of the Rs 70,000-crore debt waiver, Vidharbha region got a share of Rs 6000-crore. In 2009, the State government extended the loan waiver facility. Planning commission experts also visited the region and submitted their report. In effect, a dozen such committees have studied the farm crisis in Vidharbha. But a lasting solution to make agriculture sustainable and economically viable has evaded the authorities so far.”

In Punjab, another emerging suicide hot spot, State government has in the budget 2012-13 set aside Rs 500-crore to be distributed as compensation for farmer suicides. Besides relief and compensation, State governments are at a loss to know why the death dance on the crop fields shows no signs of ending. 

Farmer suicides have also been a perfect playground for politics. Sometimes back, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu sat on an indefinite hunger strike in Hyderabad. Seeing this, former Congress MP Jaganmohan Reddy too had launched a 48-hour hunger strike against “leaving distressed farmers in the lurch.” Both of them demanded an enhanced compensation package for farmers who lost their crops because of natural calamities. It is however another matter that many farmers had launched a crop holiday in Andhra Pradesh almost at the same time.  

Whether it is crop failure, high cost of inputs, exploitation at the hands of the middlemen, or the slight hand of the markets, the story is the same. While the number of farmer suicides adds on to the statistics, innumerable number of farmers who sell their body organs and simply abandon farming to join the growing ranks of landless labourers goes into oblivion, remains unnoticed. That is why Indian agriculture continues to be in throes of a terrible agrarian crisis, and yet no one seems to be remotely perturbed. 

How long will the government go on setting high-level expert committees is not certain. But what I know for certain is that it has never shown the urgency and seriousness that is required to eliminate farmer suicides. If Defence Minister A K Anthony can seek immediate corrective steps for stopping suicides among soldiers; if the Prime Minister can for all practical purposes assign Commerce Minister Anand Sharma for the past three years or so to create suitable conditions, including political agreement, for the approval of the controversial FDI in retail; there is no reason why the same level of urgency can not be shown towards mitigating agricultural distress. It's all a question of priorities. 

 

The hidden cost of hamburgers

Americans eat on an average 3 hamburgers a week. Now this may appear to be nothing big and serious, but the damage it does to environment is something that has rarely been understood. Cows on the other hand release more greenhouse gases than the 22 million cars in the United States. Now, you will ask me as what is the relation between eating a hamburger and the greenhouse gas emissions by cows. 

Well, that is why I thought of uploading this excellent video: The hidden cost of hamburgers.

Has Team Anna's foray into politics served a death warrant for social movements?

It may take some time for the implications to sink in. More than whether the decision by Team Anna to go political is correct or not, what worries me is the dangerous fallout it will have on social movements in future. Is it the beginning of the end of social movements and peoples' struggles? Will it lead the powers that be to exercise the same contempt and rudeness towards citizen protests?

It is indeed worrisome.

The 10-day fast at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi by three members of Team Anna (and joined by Anna Hazare himself the fourth day) did not move the UPA II to even take notice and be bothered. While the health of my colleagues deteriorated (I am part of Team Anna, and in fact am one of the founding-members of India Against Corruption), the decision to culminate the fast by announcing the formation of a political party was certainly abrupt. Nevertheless, while the responses and reactions in the media (including the newspapers) as well as the social media is largely angry and blasting, I am more concerned about the fate of people's struggles.

As someone who has been associated with several social movements, including farmers struggles, across the country I can visualise the dangers Anna movement against corruption has now created for the struggles being waged by people across the country. Whether it is the all powerful farmer movements or people's opposition to big projects like Narmada, hydal dams, nuclear plants, land acquisitions, and similar regional and local issues, what worries me is how the governments will now be responding. Will the government indifference to the much-hyped Anna movement and the way it ended become a precedence in future? Will the government scoff at every protest in future, remain defiant and finally ask the protesters to form a political party if they are so agitated?

These are questions that you cannot simply ignore or dismiss.

When a few of us launched the campaign against what could have been India's first GM food crop -- Bt Brinjal, and the way the small campaign galvanised into a national movement, the government responded by first ordering seven national consultations, and then imposing an open-ended moratorium. As someone who was on the forefront of the Bt Brinjal campaign (which incidentally was the only successful peoples' campaign in the past 4 decades), I am so relieved to say that the moratorium had come before even Anna and his team had launched the campaign against corruption. Had it been after the culmination of Anna's latest fast on Aug 3, I shudder to think what the response of the government would have been.

Has Team Anna therefore served a death warrant for future peoples' struggles?

While you debate this question, it is high time the civil society comes to grips with the severe and serious implications of Anna Hazare's  announcement to form a political party. I am not against the move, but to announce it after a 10-day fast has raised more questions and problems. Moreover, it has turned fasts -- the ultimate instrument and expression of resentment -- look redundant and irrelevant. Anyone sitting on a fast now will not evoke the same kind of attention and urgency on the part of the government (as well as the people). I am sure even Mahatma Gandhi must be regretting the manner in which Team Anna has turned his ultimate and powerful weapon, which he used so effectively against the British, into nothing but a laughing stock.

What is ironical is that Anna Hazare himself had used fasts so effectively in the past in his relentless fight against corruption.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh knows what is good for America. He will soon allow FDI in retail, Mr Obama.

There is something in India's decision making that I can never understand. For over a year, intense discussions have followed the proposals under the upcoming National Food Security Act. The Plan A included provisions of 35 kg of subsidised foodgrains per family for the below the poverty line (BPL) category and allowing those above the poverty line (APL) an entitlement of 15 kg at a relatively higher prices. 

Feeding the hungry by providing them legal entitlements comes at a time when policy makers remained glued to opening up for FDI in retail. Amidst the continuing debate whether FDI in retail is good for India or not, US President Barack Obama throws his weight pitching for a new wave of economic reforms. After the TIME magazine came out with a cover story calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 'underachiever' (which ostensibly was to provoke the PM to go in for FDI in retail), it was surprising to see President Obama telling India what is good for us.

But then, President Obama knows what is in America's interests. He stopped outsourcing (even if it hit Indian companies) of jobs because he wanted to protect US jobs. And now since he goes into elections with nothing to show, he is actually banking upon India to bail him out of the terrible economic crisis that he is faced with back home. Manmohan Singh has therefore deputed Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to go around and build up a political climate in favour of FDI in retail. No one is surprised when Anand Sharma says that the opposition to multi-brand retail is less intense now (See the lead story in Economic Times, July 16, 2012 http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-18/news/32730673_1_russian-economic-entities-russia-s-sistema-investments).

Any sensible economist, and for that matter any nationalist, would ensure that the hungry in India are first well fed. What may appear to be a welfare activity, and is supported by government subsidies, also makes terrible economic sense. Feeding the hungry millions, on a war footing, is a sure recipe to an inclusive growth. I had thus expected the Indian PM to pitch in for an early implementation (and not wait for the 2014 elections) of the National Food Security Act. A news report in Indian Express (Food Bill: Govt looking at flexible plan, may exclude 33 % population; link - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/food-bill-govt-looking-at-flexible-plan-may-exclude-33-population/976392/) tells us that an alternative proposal is now being drafted, which will lower the food entitlement from 35 kg to 25 kg per family, and also do away with the two categories -- BPL (priority) and APL (general).

I don't understand how can the Plan B (as it is called) envisage an additional expenditure of only Rs 7,000 crore over and above the Rs 1.11 lakh crore of legally binding food subsidy. It should be much lower considering that 33 per cent of the population stands excluded, and the legal entitlement has been reduced for bulk of the hungry population. Nevertheless, jugglery with figures is something that the government regularly indulges in to keep the nation misinformed for all times to come. We as a nation rarely question the figures that are doled out to us.

I thought the Prime Minister would know what is crucial for India. Feeding the nation, and that too after we failed for 65 years, should be the sole priority. However, he doesn't mind excluding the percentage of population to be fed, by 33 per cent but has focused all his energies to bail out President Obama instead. he knows that by allowing FDI in retail he is actually going to add on to hunger by displacing lakhs of people working in the local stores. Such a magnitude of displacement will only add on to growing hunger.

But then, we are aware that Manmohan Singh knows what is good for America.  

Feeding the hungry is not the only area where Indian Prime Minister is least interested. He would have given a damn to food security if it were not for the UPA President Sonia Gandhi's insistence. Earlier too, if you recall, when MNREGA was launched, Manmohan Singh, and the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram, had strongly opposed the move. If it were not for Sonia Gandhi, the poor unemployed wouldn't have got any relief in the form of a guaranteed employment even if it is only for 100 days.

Manmohan Singh is not the only bureaucrat-turned-politician who feels, and works for the American interests. Besides the ambitious-looking bureaucrats (who crave to join MNCs after they exit government service), economists and management consultants are of course on the payrolls. But what about the Indian media? Why is the Indian media playing to the American tune? Well, I don't have to explain it to you. You know it much better. It is all about money, my dear. Who cares for the hungry?

Brazil is the biggest exporter of Indian breeds of cows. Gir cow now records over 62 litres/day in Brazil..

This majestic cow is from Brazil. Belonging to the Gir breed of Gujarat, this cow -- named She-ra -- clocked 62.033 litres of milk in a 3-day milk competition at the 40th Expaja in Brazil, beating her own record of 59.947 litres. While Indian cattle breeds are doing exceptionally fine abroad, the fascination of our own policy makers for exotic breeds seems to be never ending. Meanwhile, Brazil has emerged as the biggest exporter of Indian breeds of cows. Recently I wrote: "newspapers in Punjab reported that an American company -- World Wide Sires Ltd -- is planning to provide high quality semen to dairy farmers. Some days back, I had heard that the Kerala minister for Animal Husbandry was thinking of importing some improved cattle breeds from Denmark for cross breeding with local cows." [See my blog post: Holy Cows -- acclaimed abroad, despised at home. http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.in/2010/09/holy-cows-acclaimed-abroad-despised-at.html].

A few weeks back, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal announced the setting up of an advanced institute for dairy farming in Mohali. This will be a joint collaboration with an Israeli firm -- Dairy Farming Solutions -- and will impart latest technology to farmers to improve the milch cattle [Punjab to have advanced institute of dairy farming, http://post.jagran.com/punjab-to-have-advanced-institute-of-dairy-farming-1341507876].

Not only in Brazil, Indian cattle breeds have also been improved upon in the United States and Australia. In the US, the breed is called Brahman. Recently, after a study visit to Malaysia, Sagari Ramdas, the co-director of Anthra in Andhra Pradesh, wrote in the Down to Earth magazine: "On our visit to Malaysia, we were intrigued when we came across a cattle breed, which the farmers kept referring to as “the Brahman”. This was a complete mystery to us. Which Brahman came to Malaysia and named these cattle the Brahman?"

"On our visit to the government’s Department of Veterinary Services in the state of Selangor we saw photographs of the Grey Brahman, the Red Brahman and the Nellore—all part of a poster on cattle breeds of Malaysia. Not to mention that the Jamunapari goat also featured in the poster as a goat breed of the country. This intrigued us even further, but none of the veterinary officers could explain how the Nellore from Andhra Pradesh and the Jamunapari from Uttar Pradesh happened to figure in a poster on the breeds of Malaysia."

She came back and researched. "Brahman breed is a product of biopiracy of several Indian breeds, which occurred over 100 years ago, when India was a colony of the British Empire, when “pirates” of today’s “Empire”—and modern day “Brahman”, the US—spirited out a nucleus of approximately 266 bulls and 22 females of several Bos indicus (Indian cattle), imported them to the US between 1854 and 1926, and developed the breed.

According to the literature, the Brahman is the progeny of four Indian cattle breeds: the Kankrej and Gir from Gujarat, the Ongole (earlier known as the Nellore) from Andhra Pradesh, with the fourth breed being the “Gujarat”. But no such breed exists in the list of Indian cattle breeds.

The Brahman has become the most popular beef cattle breed in the southern parts of the US and in South America, Asia, and Australia because of its excellent adaptability to sub-tropical climates and its production abilities.

Brahman-type cattle were, in fact, imported to Australia from the US, and today the Australian Brahman is the mainstay of the northern beef industry of Australia. The Brahman in Malaysia has primarily been imported from Australia, which has a virtual monopoly in exporting the breed to several south-east Asian countries. So much so that Malaysia’s beef cattle industry is completely dependent on continued import of the Brahman from Australia [You can read the full article The loss of our breeds, Down to Earth, 2012-7-15. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/loss-our-breeds]."

This brings me back to the question I have been asking again and again. When will we begin to recognise our desi breeds of cows? Why is it that planners are averse to our own domestic breeds?

What is also little know is the fact that Indian cows and buffaloes produce a more nutritious milk than the exotic breeds like Jersey and Holstein-Friesian. A recent study by Karnal-based National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) showed Indian cows have a rich A2 allele gene which helps them produce healthier milk. The frequency of this A2 allele in Indian breeds is 100 per cent whereas in exotic cattle breeds it is less than 60 per cent. Imported breeds posses A1 allele, which is considered to be associated with diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases [Indian Cow, Buffalo breeds give healthier milk. http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=725938]. Why do we want the future generations to be sick with lifestyle diseases?

Delayed monsoon keeps the country on edge.

Once again the rain gods are playing truant. With 31 per cent shortfall in June, and with an expectation of only 70 per cent of the predicted 96 per cent rainfall for the July- August months, crucial for farming operations, kharif crops face a real threat.  

 

In June alone, Ministry of Agriculture has calculated the shortfall in paddy transplanting to be around 26 per cent in the frontline agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana. Sowing of maize, bajra, jowar have been much low in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.  Although the Ministry claims that the sowing of pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane has been near normal, any further delay will have a serious repercussion on kharifproduction. Even in Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the standing crop is coming under pressure with every passing day. 

If the rains get delayed by another week or so, all estimates will go topsy-turvy. It will then be time to press the panic button. 

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is trying his best to play down fears of an impending drought. Coming at a time when the annual growth has slipped to 6.5 per cent, any indication of an expected shortfall in agriculture production will send the markets soaring. While any loss in production following the dry spell will further hit the growth story, it will also push up food inflation thereby inviting a lot of drubbing for the government. “We are fully prepared to meet any rainfall deficiency situation, and all states have been directed to be ready with the farm ministry’s contingency plans,” he said. 

What makes the monsoon forecast a matter of concern is the prediction that El Nino – warm ocean currents in the Pacific region that causes severe droughts in Australia, Southeast Asia and India – might appear in September. The US-based International Research Institute for Climate and Society as well as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has predicted the possibility of El Nino striking in the latter half of the year. Our own meteorological department thinks the chances of El Nino appearing in September is around 36 per cent. If that happens, it will mean a drier September which would certainly result in production loss at the time of grain formation in standing crops.  

How serious is the impact of El Nino factor can be gauged from the fact that the previous five droughts in India were all because El Nino had appeared in a significant form. Globally, if you examine the meteorological data of past 110 years, of the 21 major droughts 15 were caused by El Nino. The fury and intensity of El Nino cannot be simply glossed over. 

It isn’t easy to make correct long-term predictions about the behaviour of monsoon. Not only the Indian Met department, even internationally the predictions have not been sharp and correct. This year the predictions by some of the best known institutes abroad for monsoon range from complete failure to normal. Over the years, the IMD has moved away from the statistical method to a more improved dynamic model but to expect that the predictions will hit the bull eye is still far away. In fact, the Met Dept has not been able to predict drought in the past 130 years. 

In 2009, the country faced one of the worst droughts in recent times. The Met Department had predicted 96 per cent rainfall in the long-term average. The actual rainfall was short by a whopping 23 per cent resulting in a loss in paddy production to the tune of 12 per cent. This year too, the Met Department has predicted monsoon to be in the range of 96 per cent, and there has already been a delay of about a fortnight in over 70 per cent of the geographical area. 

Even if the deficient monsoon turns into a drought, the redeeming factor is that the country is saddled with a record 82.4 million tonnes of wheat and rice. There is no danger of an impending famine in case production slumps from an impending drought. With such comfortable food stocks, the government should be able to judiciously distribute it among needy states and at the same time make open-market releases so as to bring price rise in staple food under control. Also, there will be no need to look for food imports considering the sufficient stocks lying within the country. In any case, international wheat supplies too is expected to slump following a severe drought in the midlands region of US, comprising the wheat production belt.   

This is why India must spurn the G-20 directive which makes it obligatory for member countries to export any surplus food. Although the G-20 objective is to ensure that the global food prices don’t harden in wake of short supplies, India cannot afford the luxury considering its huge population and the need to maintain enough foodstocks at all times for precariously balancing its food security needs. Domestic policies therefore have to take precedence over international obligations. Allowing the export of skimmed milk powder just a month before the monsoon begins too is not a worthwhile decision knowing well that milk production drops in summers. A prolonged dry spell is first going to hit dairy production. #