Date: 23 August 1947
Location: South Block, New Delhi
---
Morning sunlight had barely broken through the monsoon haze when the circular room of the Planning Committee filled with the scent of steaming chai and damp khadi. The discussions from the previous night — about nutrition, hunger, and dignity — had not ended with parliamentary applause. They had spilled into the dawn, and now the result was taking shape on paper.
Anirban Sen sat at the head of the oval teak table, his voice calm but commanding.
"Gentlemen, and Lady Saraswati," he began, glancing at the still-tired faces of the cabinet, "we will not allow another famine to scar this country. This Commission cannot only monitor. It must build."
Saraswati nodded. "A body that feeds, not just advises. Food sovereignty must begin with infrastructure — the heart of survival."
Beside her, Ambedkar added, "It must not become another bureaucratic leech. It must operate like an enterprise — accountable, technical, modern."
Anirban's pen scratched across the page. He wrote a single word in bold Devanagari:
'अन्नपूर्णा' (Annapurna) — "the giver of nourishment."
---
🏭 The Conception of Annapurna
By 11 a.m., the framework of India's first Public Sector Undertaking was being finalized. Unlike a statutory board or ministry office, Annapurna Corporation of India would be a hybrid — a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) under joint supervision of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal husbandry, Dairying and the National Nutrition and Food Security Commission.
It would have a singular mission:
"To safeguard the nation's food chain from seed to stomach."
A memorandum drafted by the Ministry of Industries laid down its functions:
1. Grain and Oil Storage — Creation of national reserves insulated from monsoon or war.
2. Processing & Logistics — Building mills, silos, cold storages, and supply corridors.
3. Warehousing Technology Research — R&D in preservation, pest control, and automation.
4. Public Distribution Coordination — With state cooperatives and village panchayats.
5. Safety & Regulation — Setting national standards for reserve quality and handling.
Saraswati insisted on one more clause —
"Annapurna will prioritize employment for women, widows, and displaced families from partition zones. No family should be hungry, and no hand should be idle."
Ambedkar smiled faintly. "A social enterprise before the term even exists."
---
📻 Public Reception — The Airwaves of Hope
By the afternoon, the All India Radio newsroom buzzed with activity. Typewriters clacked; telegrams arrived from London, Karachi, and Singapore.
At 5:00 p.m., the announcer's voice crackled through the radio waves across India:
> "The Government of India today announced the formation of Annapurna Corporation, a national enterprise for food and grain management. The new organization will ensure food security and nutrition for all citizens, symbolizing India's commitment to eradicate hunger…"
In small homes across Calcutta, Madras, and Lahore, people stopped to listen.
At a government quarter in Delhi, Mr. Suresh Chatterjee, a railway accountant, leaned closer to his Murphy radio.
His wife, Asha, was cutting vegetables on the balcony.
"Suresh, did they say pension and food both?" she asked with curiosity.
"Yes," he replied, smiling faintly. "A pension for the mind, and food for the body."
Their son, Arun — a Delhi University student majoring in economics — joined in:
"If they manage to stabilize procurement and pricing, this could change everything. We'll finally stop being afraid of drought or speculation."
Asha laughed softly. "So maybe one day I can buy rice without waiting for ration cards."
Outside, the radio continued with patriotic orchestra music — Vande Mataram softly playing in the background.
---
📰 Press Reaction — The Next Morning
By the dawn of 24 August 1947, every major newspaper carried headlines:
The Hindu: "New India's First Enterprise: Annapurna Aims to Feed a Nation"
Amrita Bazar Patrika: "From Hunger to Harvest — A Socialist Dream in Practice"
Times of London: "India Launches Food Corporation Within Days of Independence — Nehru Cabinet Surprises with Economic Ambition"
New York Herald Tribune: "India's First Act After Freedom: Food for All"
Even skeptical editors admitted — this wasn't just welfare. It was strategy.
---
🌾 Closing Scene
That evening, Anirban Sen looked out over the darkening horizon from his South Block balcony.
Below, clerks carried files stamped "Annapurna — Confidential."
Rain clouds gathered again — the monsoon refusing to relent.
He whispered quietly to Saraswati beside him,
"If this works, no child will sleep hungry in this country again."
She replied softly, "And if it fails, they will remember that we at least tried before anyone else did."
Thunder rolled across the Yamuna valley as India's first PSU was born — not in a boardroom of profit, but in the Parliament of compassion.
Annapurna had begun her work.