Packaged food is a compulsion, accepting it and bringing transparency into it is a good thing: Lalji Desai
LALJI DESAI, Chief Organizer, All India Congress Seva Dal
I
would thank everyone at the outset those seated at the podium as political
leaders we enjoy giving speeches on the people’s issues. It is the first time
the leaders of most of the political parties have come together to discuss and
reach a consensus on an issue the country needs right now. The
people present in Public Dialogue include my senior colleague and bade bhai
Rajesh Mishra ji, as well as Bhai Manoj ji, Roshni ji,
Bhai Kailash and Shashi Pratap ji, who have just left, Bhai Anil
ji, and those who have explained the issue to us quite competently from
the very beginning, Vandana ji and Bhai Arvind. When Bhai
Lenin spoke to me for the first time about this issue, I was unable to grasp
what should be done to take this issue to the masses. The
techniques to be adopted can easily be discussed with scientists and
academicians. If it is to be used to mobilize the people, first we must know
what the global situation pertaining to packaged foods is? I have
been in politics for 7 years, but before that I was affiliated with people's
movements for 26 years. I especially used this experience to fight for organ
protection, organ autonomy, questions of land rights, how can we eradicate
hunger, and what’s child right in the real sense, do we have right towards
eradicating hunger and what’s is our child’s right to education? At one
time, Bhai Lenin and I headed those campaigns. I think
it is good if we don't oppose packaged foods in a way, but today packaged foods
are compelled to be consumed, and so in a way it is greed. In other
words, if viewed from another perspective, there was no need because the people
who grow food in this country and the world used to have their own grain bank
in the village, which means there was also a seed bank, a fodder bank, and a
village had its own water bank. As every kind of village and social system used
to be self-sufficient, the change that was brought about by the capitalist
class and imperialists has made everything into a commodity, which is why we
are experiencing problems and suffering today. Currently, we are
discussing whether the fruit should not be too poisonous. Friends, even after
looking at everything thoroughly, before the food is packed, you ought to pay
attention to the fact that around 81 crore people in the world sleep at night
without food. In the entire world, 9.9% (nearly 10 %) of the population sleeps
at night without eating, so if malnutrition is factored in, that number will be
much higher. In this world, another aspect is that the food producer remains
malnourished and sleeps hungry and the one who does not produce goes to the
park or gym in the morning, how to reduce his fat, he is doing it, so this is
how the industrialized food system works. This issue is being worked on by Bhai
Lenin and four organizations. I will talk about this issue, Bhai
Lenin and 4 organizations are working together. The haves and the have-nots
must fight one more time, don't starve to produce and those who don't produce
shouldn't be forced to go to the park in the morning. I refer
to this problem in the context of both for the good of both.
The second thing is there is a saying
in Gujarati that goes, hope you will not take it otherwise because today when
we talk about Gujarat, we feel there is something messy, so I won't elaborate.
'Sit together and eat together' is a
saying. Whenever we eat together with our
family, our minds also meet. We
see packaged foods today, and people order them based on their preferences. We
will discuss the system in society as a whole that is the big problem and how one
eats pizza while chatting on their mobiles sitting in another room. How the company keeps us in the dark
about what we are purchasing and what is inside the packaged food, is our
constitutional right. I don't
know about the Draft that was made in 2011 but is still in discussion, why was
it not made legal? As long as
each of the committees that drafted it had a consensus on it in 2011, it was
worth forcing the companies to adopt the laws. They
have admitted that 60% of the food products you consume are unhealthy and
harmful to your health. So if the
biggest company that accepts packaged food packs itself says so, how will the
rest of the company that is not of this level know what they pack and feed the
people? We need to be aware of this and Bhai Lenin and his research
whose it was we were studying in how salt, fat, and sugar and the amount of
micronutrients our bodies can take in. Protein
is the most needed element, so how can it be obtained? Food companies should write, but as
well as all of them, it should become law, that whatever they make must contain
a balanced amount of micronutrients. It is not okay for food companies to play
with someone's health by giving more quantity of one thing, then how can we
deal with them?
Friends, the third thing I want to keep in
mind is how packaged foods are going to be altered. As per a
survey from 2005 and 2019, if the researched population increases along with
that in 2024, one tenth of the total per capita income would be taken by packaged
food companies if the survey population increases along with that. Packaging
food companies will take a tenth of the total income of India as well. The provisions of its rules, legal aspects
that have been discussed by rest of the speakers should be there if such a huge
revenue is going to packaged food companies.
Bhai
Lenin, I find it impossible to live with the belief that an organization, Slow
Food, is working Carlo Pattern is its founder and I was once its facilitating
member and that the organization campaigns against Fast Food and represents 195
countries. In the process of
producing milk, a society collects it in a big vehicle and transports it to the
big city, where it is pasteurized and transported in a cold vehicle. That milk goes to the market, and that
milk sells the same milk packets from the shop next door in my own village. The
energy that is wasted is called diesel economy, which is the energy that goes
from electric power to transportation, then a villager sells milk for Rs 25 and
my neighbour buys the same packet milk for Rs 59. Unless the profits decrease, then
these industries will start thinking, Bhai, the same system is right that
buy milk from the neighbours' shop, boil it, and drink it, it cannot be cheaper
than vegetable, the same milk seller if it’s under Neighbourhood Food system.
There was a speaker earlier who talked
about 'One Nation One Education,' which can ruin the nation because a child in
Varanasi, a child in Kutch in Gujarat, and someone from South India will have
the same curriculum. A student
living in Rann of Kutch will have to be given examples relating to the desert
and geographical conditions in order to understand what Ganges or fish are.
The second is that we sometimes say
things without knowing how they will impact us 50 years from now. A lot is happening in our country
today, dream big, and don't let your dreams be shattered. I thank Lenin for moving forward on
all issues so that a campaign can be run in the country. Packaged food is a compulsion,
accepting it and bringing transparency into it is a good thing. Jai Hind
#NCD #FOPL #UttarPradesh #FSSAI #PacketKeAndarKyaHai #Congress #SDG #India
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