SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
To protest the central
government's decision to import milk powder and other dairy products, some
activists spilled thousands of liters of milk on the Satara-Pune highway.
The activists stopped a milk tanker on the highway and spilled the milk all over the road. The import of dairy products will hurt the interests of the local dairy farmers, they claimed.
In a similar protest a week ago, other activists had stopped five tankers and wasted over 50,000 liters of milk in Satara claiming that the organization had decided to take the step as milk prices would reduce by Rs 5 per liter following the Centre's decision to import 30,000 tonnes of milk powder.
This is the scenario in India where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year – four every minute – mostly from preventable illnesses like malnutrition, diarrhea, fever etc. If a protest had to be staged it could have been done in a more sensible manner. The protest could have been carried out by hijacking milk tankers and redistributing milk free of cost among poor people in that area. Surprisingly in a country whit revolution had to be launched in order to raise milk production to meet the demands of the growing population, there itself a whooping 50,000 litres of milk was drained out on the streets! Shocking but true! Its all the matter of sense and sensibility.
The activists stopped a milk tanker on the highway and spilled the milk all over the road. The import of dairy products will hurt the interests of the local dairy farmers, they claimed.
In a similar protest a week ago, other activists had stopped five tankers and wasted over 50,000 liters of milk in Satara claiming that the organization had decided to take the step as milk prices would reduce by Rs 5 per liter following the Centre's decision to import 30,000 tonnes of milk powder.
This is the scenario in India where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year – four every minute – mostly from preventable illnesses like malnutrition, diarrhea, fever etc. If a protest had to be staged it could have been done in a more sensible manner. The protest could have been carried out by hijacking milk tankers and redistributing milk free of cost among poor people in that area. Surprisingly in a country whit revolution had to be launched in order to raise milk production to meet the demands of the growing population, there itself a whooping 50,000 litres of milk was drained out on the streets! Shocking but true! Its all the matter of sense and sensibility.
Was
there really no way to sort out the differences with the government peacefully?
I guess probably we Indians, belonging to a country of Gandhi have taken the
Gandhian ideal of Satyagraha far too
seriously yet misinterpreted the process way too much. The activists projected
the aim of their protest as guarding the interests of local dairy farmers who
would be financially crippled due to import of milk powder but in the way they
forgot that those 50,000 liters of milk must also have been the output of some
other farmers’ hardwork which they ruthlessly wasted which could have filled
the empty growling stomachs of many rather than washing the streets!
This
is not a single instance of (non)sense. Rich farmers in Delhi and western U.P. poured
milk in a drain in New Delhi on 21st April 2012 in a protest against
the decision of milk products producing companies to reduce the purchase price
of milk by 37%. No words!
The wastage story doesn’t end here.
There’s more to it. In India about % of the population that is about million
people sleep empty stomach every day. At the same time the other side of the
coin is this- As on August 1, 2010, the total food stocks
with the FCI were 55 million tonnes (mt) as compared to the buffer requirements
of 27 mt. Of this, 15 mt of wheat was lying in the open in Punjab and Haryana
alone. As per estimates, 50,000 tonnes of food stocks have already deteriorated
beyond human consumption as a result of long, improper storage. Reason? Black
marketing, illegal stocking and hoarding of grains and then reselling the
hoarded grains, obtained at a low price from the government under the PDS, in
the open market when the price increases due to low availability of grains. No
doubt the government has implemented many schemes for the welfare of the poor
but there is no proper implementation at any level. From the grass root level
of villages to big cities the poor barely obtain any advantage out of it and
die of malnutrition and hunger. have farmers toiled so hard to feed their grains to rodents and rats? Apart from loss of grains how can we neglect the loss of resources gone into producing that amount of grain? The people in the BPL have been there for years
and years and still there seems to be no scope of their upliftment. On both
sides we Indians are at loss. People in Orissa
and other poor states die of hunger and at the same time rich farmers in
Punjab and Haryana face losses due to over production.
Hence at this point, with no dearth of
facilities, the only thing India needs is implementation of policies and
schemes because we can surely not ignore the current situation.
its saddening how our resources are wasted and never reach the ones who deserve it
ReplyDeletehttp://styledestino.blogspot.com/
yes sir. thi sis the stark reality of the "golden bird india"!!
Deleteits just disappointing
ReplyDeleteyou are right sir. all we can do is be mere spectators of this senselessness...
DeleteThis is how we Indians protest.
ReplyDeleteSAD TRUTH.
samyyr it is actually this is ONLY how we indians CAN protest to be precise! yes sad quite sad!
DeleteThat is really a sad thing :(
ReplyDeleteyes abhinav sir! and we are completely helpless!
DeleteOh my friend, don't call me sir :) I am also a student like you :)
Deletebut i am sure you are elder to me! and much more elder in sense of a good blooger! :)
Deletewe have plenty of schemes and policies in place. we make excellent drafters but pathetic implementors.
ReplyDeleteyes you are right. that is the basic problem of the country!
Deleteabsolutely right palak......we're in a very bad state...
ReplyDeletesomething really needs to be done.....these things should be brought in front of everyone.....
yes mam right...
Delete