In my last article ‘Let us
do an ant in life’ I have shared a view on my learning about a democratic
spirit and how religiously it preserved by an insect community. The tiny creature
of almighty how nicely is bound by their duties and responsibilities to their
society. For their own appetite they toil together. The working class of their
community is working day and night in search of food. When it is found, it is
for all. They are piously bound by the divine rule of nature and survive
cohesively. To get equitably distributed with a morsel of food is their habit
and not inflicted by an iniquity a moment. ‘Food for all’ is a highest
practiced slogan of their livelihood.
Pix by Amit K Sikder
Hunger and poverty is a looming
disaster for long. A global consensus is on work always to contain it. Meanwhile
an unwarranted blow of Covid pandemic has hit the resolution harshly. A number
of factors like a relatively low agricultural production in sync with
population influx, high prices of produce etc contribute to the concern
abysmally. Given all these matter of concerns, to come up with a suitable
remedy now suffers a massive setback.
In the meantime the second
wave of the pandemic has started to invade us. So a lockdown call is on anvil. A
number of European countries already have started to exercise it. Amid this hurly-burly
to reach to the marginal class with a reason of their survival is facing a
severe bottleneck.
According to United Nation
(UN) data an estimated 821 million people in world was suffering hunger in
2018. And in between the belligerence of
Covid-19 ruthlessly slaps the UN resolution on achieving the Zero Hunger Target
by 2030. Leaders across globe united at the UN in 2000 and come up with a broad
consensus called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to tackle poverty with
2015 deadline. The target of curtailing the figure of poverty to half was very successfully
met by 2010, well ahead of the deadline.
To keep the spirit alive the
United Nation strives for more effort and launched the programme Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the mandate for 21st century. “End
hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture” was the key note of the UN line-up. Key focus areas covered under
the goal: ending hunger and ensuring access to safe and nutritious food by all;
ending all forms of nutrition; doubling agricultural productivity and incomes
of marginal producers; ensuring sustainable food production system; increasing
flow of investment in agriculture; correcting and preventing trade restrictions
and distortions in global agricultural markets and adopting measures to ensure
the proper functioning of food commodity markets. In this regard UN agencies
like World Food Programme (WFP), World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) come across very
successfully with their respective efforts.
Now policies and
priorities are at loggerhead. The drastic fall in per capita income due to low
working scope is pushing more numbers into the poverty trap. The unfavourable
climatic condition, low credit supports all are severely affecting the agricultural
productivity and rural livelihood today. In our country the growth of
agriculture and its allied sectors has remained stagnant for last six years and
thereby hitting the farmers’ income to an appalling level according to the
Economic Survey 2019-20 released on January 31, 2020. From the market context
it again prove to be painful as the growing population and their demand put
huge pressure on supply and finally the price of produce is skyrocketing. And thus
for the marginal class fulfilling the appetite everyday is going to be a
distant dream.
The pandemic is keeping us
in such isolation where the whole spectrum of the allocation pattern of
resources is suffering a big.
To survive with this
crisis an ant song of ‘Food for all’ for the time being will be a best practice
of self-reliance. Now in every community to share food with each other will be
a best ‘Ant’ practice. For our appetite we all come together. Fighting it together
will make the journey easier. When the pandemic will over the ‘Ant’ philosophy
will help us to fight poverty with a new enthusiasm.
Ref: https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/food/index.html