Government Rebuts Opposition Criticism On Use Of Surplus Rice For Sanitisers, Fuel

The government today reacted sharply to opposition criticism of its decision to convert excess rice in central godowns into ethanol to make hand sanitisers and to add to petrol to reduce emissions, which was reported by NDTV on Monday. The move is seen as controversial with millions on the brink of starvation since the country went into lockdown last month to fight the rapid spread of coronavirus.

"After all, when will India's poor wake up? You are dying of hunger and they are busy cleaning the hands of the rich by making sanitisers from your portion of rice," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted in Hindi, tweeting NDTV's story. 

"Hygiene should not be the sole preserve of those who can afford it," government sources shot back, asserting that the decision would bring down prices of what is the need of the hour in India's fight against COVID-19.

Converting extra rice to ethanol is a legal process and there was three times more rice in Food Corporation of India godowns than needed, sources said, reacting to the taunt. Supply to states had also increased under the public distribution system, they said.

"Hand sanitisers are also the need of the hour. Ramping up production of ethanol will bring their cost down and make them available to the poor as well."

Also, in an agricultural year, the sources said, when there was a projected oversupply, there was a provision to allow the move. 

Quoting the National Policy on Biofuels, which allows the conversion of surplus foodgrain into ethanol, the government on Monday said the decision was taken at a meeting of NBCC (National Biofuel Coordination Committee) chaired by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Mr Pradhan had said that the committee has allowed the conversion of a "small fraction" of excess foodgrains stock into ethanol. 

Since the coronavirus lockdown was announced last month, there has been huge controversy over reports that many of India's poorest were going hungry because of the lockdown, even though the godowns of the Food Corporation of India have been full.

A number of migrant workers who were stranded in cities because of the lockdown, homeless and jobless, have said they fear dying not of coronavirus but of hunger.