Dear Friends..... Request you to pause and give this a little thought Food security and the right to food are the two major political and social issues in India today. The government with the enactment of the Food security act and constant improvements in the PDS setup attempting to play its part. But does it end here? Have we addressed the social part of it? In these time of emerging participatory democracy, have we played our part as an enabler of this venerable idea of a egalitarian India? Lets take a deep look at what the current status of hunger: --It is estimated that the number of hungry people in India today is more than what the countrys entire population in 1947. --On the Global Hunger Index, amongst 79 countries, India ranked 65th. Of the 79 countries, India has the worst record of eradicating hunger --As per the Indian State Hunger Index, 12 out of the 17 surveyed states fall in the alarming category --Had the malnourished of India formed a country, it would have the worlds fifth largest-almost the size of Indonesia. Putting this in perspective, one realises that the task ahead of us humongous and needs great efforts from each one of us. Next relevant question that arises is , What are we to do? We cannot NOT do anything because we as a people aspire to be a liberal democracy and democracy is defined by the choice of its citizenry and I am sure that none of you intend to live in a crippled society. Now are we to turn a blind eye to it? Are we to resign in despair? Are we to quit our jobs and begin a mission of feeding the poor? All these options seem untenable. But we CAN make small choices that bring in a change. --We can waste less food. If we are over consuming we can always choose to share food with the hungry. ---If you feel like helping the mendicants on the street, feed them rather than throwing coins in to their plates. But even this does not seem like a sustainable solutions. We need to play by the strength of the poor. Try and bridge the economic gap by interacting with them in a exchange of goods and services, spread words about their talents which can be converted into novel business ideas. I would like thank Ajai ji and Anita ji for planting this idea in my mind that I buy only #Diyas ( clay #lamps ) this #Diwali which not only sustains the poor but also boosts our own GDP. I am going #Indian this #Diwali....Are you?
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 16:38:11 +0000