Sangrur, Punjab:
Putting food on the family's plate is an everyday battle for Kashmir Kaur. This happens in a state where at least 10 lakh metric tonnes of surplus wheat, is rotting outside government godowns - grain that should have been fed into a weakening public distribution system.
Kaurs have a below poverty line ration card that entitles them to 35 kilos of wheat, at a very nominal price every month.
They have not received the full quota, even once this year as ration shops cite a shortage in supply. Worse, instead of wheat, ration shops are selling flour at three times the price.
"The wheat doesn't last a whole month, barely 8-10 days. After that we either borrow or go hungry," says Kashmir Kaur.
The latest 2010-2011 wheat crop should ideally go to the consumer as it's still fit for consumption, but has landed up in an open storage space in Sangrur. It can remain there for few more months, but it won't remain fit for human consumption if it is stored in the open.
Such incidents have drawn a strong reaction from the Supreme Court which says, not a single food grain should be wasted, and if food grains are rotting and the government can't do anything about it, then distribute it among the poor.
Yet in the bread basket of the country, the irony of waste amid hunger continues.