WHY WE CAN'T FEED OURSELVES

The question that might have crossed the minds of some Indians, during the recent Commonwealth Games in Delhi, is probably, how on earth our country with a relatively small population, only 5% that of India and with world class athletes is not able to run away from pervasive hunger by being food sufficient!
The Green Revolution, which took place in India in the "60s is chiefly credited to the eminent Agricultural scientists, who used their knowledge to introduce and propagate new crop cultivars which made their country, a once net importer of food to become food sufficient and feed its population of 800 million souls. What may be lost to some observers,  however, is the role played by the second Prime Minister of India, Lal Badur Shastri, who gave the necessary political goodwill and appealed to the nation to support the project. Unfortunately, Shastri died in 1965 in USSR in suspicious circumstances before the full impact of the project he had committed himself so much to see through. You may also need to know that Shastri like Mahatma Gandhi, well known for his socialist policies, who abhorred accumulation of personal wealth at the expense of others is said to had only 4 Rupees in his bank account at the time of his death. Try telling this to  the current crop of African political leaders and they will most likely  run you out of town!
Unless, our country is able to get a reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Shastri, we are likely to remain food deficient in the foreseeable future. Let's briefly consider our present state.
Firstly, commodity trade has for a long time been used by those in political power and their associates to enrich themselves at the expense of the country. Thus, importation of fertilizers, rice, maize, wheat and sugar is done in such a manner that artificial shortages are created in the country by fiddling with the tenders for importation such that the prices to the farmer and consumer are made exorbitant thereby interfering with production and economic parameters. Secondly, it's well known that export flowers and horticultural crops bring in a lot of foreign exchange but due to a complex scheme that involves under-invoicing, the country loses a lot of money. Thirdly, we all  know that Coffee and Tea are prime exports but unfortunately, they compete for arable land with food crops even though we have no control of their returns.
Therefore, nobody should cheat us that we cannot feed ourselves because we lack rains, arable land, technology, etc. That's all trash! The only good reason why we can't feed ourselves is due to lack of political goodwill, the present system of capitalism and pervasive corruption. That's the painful truth.