How a plan to feed India's poor went wrong

The poor in India are victims of state indifference and corruption; somewhere between a quarter and a half of all subsidized food meant for them, for example, is stolen by corrupt government officials.  And yet if one asks the poor what jobs they would like their children to have the number one answer is to work for the government.

The so-called “fair price” shops, which are state-owned, have been for decades the only source of provisions and food at low prices for families in Rajasthan’s Kotkasim region. In the past couple of years the number of fair price shop in India reached half a million. The Jakopur Village Cooperative Society, which is based in a cement warehouse, services near 685 seemingly poor households.   

New York Times editorials on raising the minimum wage:1. From 1987, "The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00":

By Plan B Economics:With UBS's recent upgrade of ConAgra Foods (CAG) from 'neutral' to 'buy', many investors are again looking at the viability of food stocks as a way to profit from potential food inflation.Many economists believe food prices are rising for several reasons:

“…I don’t like working. I do the absolute minimum that is necessary to reach a decision. There are many people who love working. They amass an inordinate amount of information, much more than is necessary to reach a conclusion. And they become attached to certain investments because they know them intimately.