When around seventy years ago, our forefathers brought forth upon this continent our great nation, they knew that a time will come when we will be made to change- change not for change’s sake, but change to endure- and today that time has indubitably arrived.
India has made unprecedented processes in the seventy years of its independence. After being left completely robbed of its charm in the hands of the Brits, our nation was thought to be nearing apocalypse. Moreover, our uncanny experiment with democratic ideals compelled the world that India doesn’t need any antagonist it will self-pulverize itself. However, the clairvoyance of great economic, social and political pundits was purged when India stamped on their prediction to appear into the limelight as the pioneer of this new epoch.
The nation has certainly exhibited a paradigm progress in its term as an independent country, but unfortunately, the societal chasm in our nation has also widened to a greater extent. Though our advancements are exemplary, still we have been unable to prune the great divide in our country which has been conducive to the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. One of the worst faces of this thrutch has been ‘hunger’.
Such a pity it is that the nation which is home to the fourth largest population of millionaires also shelters 15% of its population which is not even able to feed itself two times a day! Hunger in this nation has always been a major issue. Notwithstanding our big strides in all the directions, this problem has consistently been a problematic issue for the nation. It has been a heartrending fact that the colossal economic progress that we have made has not been able to engender substantial transmutation in the respective scenario of the nation.
Every year 16th October is treated as the “World Food Day”. The world gathers to pledge many novel initiatives in order to tackle the problems of malnutrition and hunger but unfortunately after a few day that craze fades into oblivion and nothing changes. Our careless attitude towards such a grave problem leads to the death of 3000 children every day in our own nation. The disheartening figures here limpidly exhibit the current state of so many people around the nation and certainly, it is high time that we realized that we are currently in a situation of “either do or die”.
Whenever a harsh problem strikes our door and there seems no way out, a great revolution is needed to transform things for better. There used to be a time when our country’s agricultural and milk products were unable to feed the growing population of the nation. The agricultural and dairy equipment, as well as the methodologies that we had been using, were antiquated and in spite of veracious efforts, our produce was meager and abysmal. A humongous abyss was created between the demand and supply and anything fruitful remained elusive. When nothing worked, two great people came forward- Mr. M.S. Swaminathan and Dr. Verghese Kurien and we got our Green and White revolutions which changed the nation for forever. The ginormous extent of progress turned the once deficient nation into a surplus one. This problem too needs to be dealt in the same fashion. A radical change with a stiff approach to get the work done is the only way ahead. When more than 192 million people are stuck in this vicious problem, when more than half the pregnant women in the nation are anemic due to malnourishment, only a great upheaval can take the nation forward. It is difficult to even envisage the condition of a family that is not able to even afford a two-time meal; it shatters our heart to even imagine the great plight these people are in. It is their right to live, the right to sustain themselves and hence it’s our onus to effect a revolution for the sake of these people who can’t help themselves.
How can we bring in a revolution?
The basics of hunger have always been wrongly understood in our country. Surprisingly, there is enough food to feed everyone in the world. If the food resources are distributed equally around the world, there will be plenty for everyone, with enough to spare. Today the world produces 10% more food than is needed, but unfortunately, 30%-50% of the produced 1.2-2 billion tonne food is wasted and as a result of this the poor are not able to feed themselves. Despite being blessed with enough resources to feed the whole world, our own injudicious use of our food resources has led to the genesis of various problems. The need of the hour is not to produce more food; it is to save the already produced food. Such a humongous amount of our food resources are made futile because of our imprudent attitude. The need of the hour is to infuse a revolution in the behavior of people. There have been so many programs aimed at generating awareness regarding this topic, but we have actually missed the most important thing i.e. changing the mindset of people. A revolution to decimate hunger will certainly revolve about inculcating though into people, that the food that they consider ‘extra’ and ‘waste’ can help many people go to sleep with a content stomach. The food that they leave out in hotels and marriage function can help a small child live his life and redeem himself of the shackles of malnourishment.
Our simple choices can lead to inexplicably great changes, our ordinary tweaking of our habits can paste a smile on so many faces- so why not step ahead and make that revolution start from ourselves!
THE REVOLUTION IS NOT AN APPLE THAT FALLS WHEN IT RIPE, YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT FALL.---CHE GUEVARA
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