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  in  Public Dialogue on Children’s Nutritional rights and Package food Labelling on 2 December,2021 at Diamond Hotel, #Varanasi

https://youtu.be/WyA1kgpHGEU

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