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Two year old Ramsu is a young life ebbing
away, thanks to insensitivity of the government. Two out
of three children are mal-nourished in the country. In certain
areas, as many as 50% infants die of hunger which is usually
disguised by the more decent word "malnutrition".
One out of every four mothers dying of hunger in the world is
an Indian - a record which puts to shame the distinction of being
one of the highest food producers. Food, which we Netizens
take for granted, is an alien word for a sizeable Indian
underclass.
Selling of children in return for 300
rupees is not uncommon in parts of India. That at least keeps
the hearth warm for the remaining. Thousands of women are
pushed into prostitution by the need to keep the wolf from the
door. Humans compete against dogs and stray cows for their
share of food found in the heaps of garbage. Imagine your own
siblings or children in their place and you will only just
begin to confront the reality.
Green revolution (food) and white
revolution (milk) may have given the government an
'achievement' to pull in votes with, but an average Indian is
entitled to only one cup of milk every three days, an egg
every five, a banana or a coconut once in 10 days. Thus he
would manage to stave off malnutrition, to the enormous relief
of the government which can then safely go back to counting
the poor. Or the deaths of poor due to 'diseases' which we all
know is another word for 'hunger'. Rotting of millions of
tonnes of foodgrain is just another statistics for the
politicians - an achievement in fact for them to brag about
the self-sufficiency in food production. |