The problems in India’s food security system are becoming hard to ignore. The government’s Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme has grown rapidly, but this comes at a serious cost to food security. Rice availability for ethanol this ESY is likely to be of the order of 64 lakh tonnes, since the Centre allocated 52 lakh tonnes in ESY 2024-25, of which 32 lakh tonnes was used. The government claims savings of over ₹1.97 lakh crore in foreign exchange by replacing 316 lakh tonnes of crude oil imports. In 2024-25, FCI sold over 25 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market (OMSS).