As the Israelites were suffering as slaves in Egypt, Yahweh heard their cry and promised them a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ (Ex 3:8) – milk for growing up and honey for strengthening. And when they longed for the pots of Egyptian garlic and meat (Ex 16:3), Yahweh provided them with manna and birds in the desert (Ex 16:13f). Finally they did reach the land of Canaan and enjoyed the fullness of life. But today everywhere we see the coarse face of hunger threatening millions of people especially in India.
Indian Scenario:
India ranks 94th in the Global Hunger Index out of 119 countries. India paints a pathetic picture of people: 230 million people are undernourished which is the highest for any country in the world. About 30% of the babies in India are born underweight and 50% of child deaths are due to malnutrition. And now more than 1.5 million children are at risk of becoming malnourished because of rising global food prices. Though the estimated food grain harvest for 2008-09 was a record 228 million tonnes, the requirement is much more than that since the need would exceed 250 million tonnes by 2015. According to World Food Programme more than 27% of the world’s undernourished people live in India with 43% of children (under 5 years) are underweight. As a result of about 50% of all Indians malnourished, there is a significant rise in childhood obesity, diabetes, heart diseases etc. Percentage of women with chronic energy deficiency is about 40% with increase in some states such as Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. The Targeted Public Distribution System has not only failed to subsidize the food for the needy but also has brought in greater food insecurity by allotting only 10 Kg per month for a month while the requirement for a family of five would be 55 Kg per month.
Outcome of Food-Shortage:
The immediate outcome of shortage of food is malnutrition leading to children left out to fend for themselves. And these children are pressed into bonded-labour or even prostitution. According to Human Rights Watch Report, approximately 115 million children are in slavery; 2.6 million children are in bonded labour; out of 1000 children at least 85 die before their first birthday and every year 5,000 to 15,000 girls are auctioned for prostitution. Increase in poverty and inability to eat enough are the obvious and pathetic results leading to human indignity.
Starting from poverty, leading to lack of food, ending in hunger-death seems to be the reality in many parts of the globe. The problem is not with insufficient productivity of food but rather it is the non-availability of food. The Government of India’s grain godowns are bulging with twice as much grain as is required, blocking about Rs 4,000 crores. More grain rots on Punjab’s roadsides waiting for godowns to empty so that new grain can be picked up by the government. This year alone more than 60,000 tonnes have been wasted. Even in Government as well as private storage, the food that is available for rats are not available for the hungry people! Even the food that is thrown out into the sea in some countries is not able to reach the hungry stomachs!
According to the UN Development Programme statistics the gap between the poor and the rich is ever widening. The staggering gap is indicated against year: The ratio of the rich to the poor was 1:11 in 1913; this became 1:30 in 1960; and that grew up as 1:60 in 1991; and it reached in 1999 to 1:74. And now it would be much worse. On the one hand there is too much of anything and on the other there is too little of everything. Food is one of the rare commodities for the poor.
Contradiction of Reality:
Those who work more get less and those who work less get more. The field-worker who works for about 8 hours a day gets about Rs 60 a day but a soft-ware engineer who works for the same number of hours gets minimum of a few hundreds per hour. Bharathi, the Tamil poet, thundered that the world has no right to exist when even a single person does not have enough to eat. Each one has a right to food: It is a human right. It protects the right of all human beings to live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. The right to food is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity. The right to food is recognized and approved by Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights etc. This right is understood in three phases of state obligation, namely the obligation to respect, protect, and to fulfill the hungry people and at the same time there should be ways and means to alleviate the hunger in the world especially from war-torn and nature-failed areas and nations.
Let us look at the reality in India: India is the world’s second largest producer of food, only next to China, and has the potential of being the biggest with the food and agricultural sector in the near future. The total food production in India is likely to double in the next ten years but India accounts for less than 1.5% of international food trade. So, one expects, much food should remain in the country! But looking at the reality one wonders what happens to the food production: Between 2002 and 2006, according to Govt statistics about 17,500 farmers per year have committed suicide due to debt and crop failure. According to the National Crime Branch Records Bureau at least 16,196 farmers committed suicide in 2008. The cause of such situation is using genetically modified seeds, chemical pesticides, and contamination of water. On the one hand, too much and too strong chemicals used as pesticides not only erodes the soil but also, when it rains, contaminates the water-system and on the other hand, the genetically modified seeds often fails the hope of the farmers. The genetically engineered ‘Bt’ (bacillus thuringiensis) seeds seem to be insect-resistant as it was recently discussed as controversial Bt brinjal. The pressure from the money lenders, with exorbitant interest rates, drives the farmers to take the drastic decision of ending their lives. In some areas the farmers experience drought or floods, at times monsoon failure or too active a monsoon. When there is drought, at times for prolonged period of time, the water table level goes down and the crops get dried up. When there are floods the crops get rotten. In order to solve the problem the garland plan, that is, to connect all the major rivers in India, was proposed but it was rejected on religious grounds. The need of the people should be more sacred than the sacred rivers and the issue should be addressed. And another problem for the farmers, especially in rural areas, is the stagnated technology. The poor farmers cannot afford the modern equipments and machinery to enhance their food production due to lack of financial support. They are not trained to preserve and protect the grains during inclement weather. Though much effort is taken to alleviate the suffering of the affected but they are inadequate. There is need for a second Green Revolution.
Food for Life:
When we raise the question ‘what do we need food for?’, we realize that food is not only to live but, in Christian faith, to love and to serve others. Jesus invites us to look up from earthly food to heavenly food. He reminded of the Samaritan woman of water that would not cause thirst (Jn 4:14). He wanted his followers to share the food one has: In the miracle of multiplication of bread, we find the young boy who is ready to share his five barley loaves and two small fishes (Jn 6:9) with the needy. If everyone could do the same, not only all could eat but there would be plenty left over (Jn 16:13). And it was the breaking of bread that was the hall-mark of the followers of Jesus (Acts 2:42) which was done in remembrance of Jesus sharing himself as spiritual food for his followers. Even after his resurrection his disciples recognized him in breaking of bread (Lk 24:29f) – In breaking bread they found their unity. And today Jesus invites us that food should develop table-fellowship leading to union with God through unity among his followers. He won his friends, followers, and disciples by his sharing their table.
But today we see Americans, Asians, Africans, Europeans, Australians etc but we rarely find Christians in the Church. In our home-turf, we find high caste and low caste and outcasts, but we do not find Christians. We are alienated from one another. The alienation from one another affects the environment as well. Selfishness and lack of concern for others have resulted in alienation from one another, which in turn has resulted alienation from nature: The land is not fruitful, the environment is affected by human industrial progress resulting air and water pollution leading human beings to sickness and slow but unhappy death.
Food as unifying Factor:
The need of the hour is choice between unity and destruction. Environmental security is the security of human beings. Respect for the human beings should be realized as respect for the milieu in which we live. We need to create eco-friendly and environmental-friendly methods in our dealing with Mother Earth. There is now a move to go back to organic farming and to eat healthy food (instead of junk-food). We need to think of food management. In this aspect the watch-words would be creativity, quality, and ethics.
We need innovation in food-cultivation without ever hurting the nature. We need to go back to Nature. We need to cultivate healthy food, reducing the fast-food full of unhealthy fat and we need to adapt ourselves to alternate medicines such as herbal medicines – This also includes the food-habit as well. We have to change from artificial life to natural life of communication – Right now we are filled with numerous communication gadgets but there is very little genuine and person-to-person communication. We need more to live in service of others.
Food as Sharing:
Jon Sobrino wrote that Jesus was put to death for his eating-habits. He ate with sinners and tax-collectors and he took his stand with the poor and the neglected. He always insisted on sharing the food with others and he welcomed whenever someone was ready to share his/her food with the needy. The multiplication of loaves as well as his last supper with his disciples give the same message: share your food in order to live in harmony with others. And for him food is a reminder of thanksgiving. Whenever he shared his bread with others he thanked God and thanked all. Just look at one mouth-full of food we eat: So many have been at work! The one who made the seed available from his/her cultivation, the one who sowed the seed, the one who watered, the one who removed the weeds, the one who reaped, the one who collected the grain, the one who preserved the grain, the one who sold it, the one who cooked it – So many others. Above all God is at work in all till the food reaches our hand. If we are really thankful to all those who have made it possible for us to eat each morsel of food, we would be ready to share with them whatever we have with the needy.
We have the choice for the food management: Either we would like to be the person who said ‘I am going to store all my bountiful grains in bigger barns’ without realizing he would not be alive the next day or like the little boy who was ready to share his fish and bread. If the world could share the food with others there would not be famine and hunger. Let us give others what we have. As we celebrate Mother Teresa’s birth centenary, let us follow her words: Give till it hurts! Sharing is the central message of Jesus – He gave himself up completely for us and that is what we do whenever we break bread at the altar of sacrifice. As everyone has the right to food, it is everyone’s obligation to make food available to the hungry. Just remember the last day demand (Mt 25:35): Did you give me to eat when I was hungry?
Sharing is applicable to all we have, namely food, shelter, and love. When God created this world, He created everything, water, food etc, in abundance. But it is our greediness that polluted the Earth causing all problems such as shortage of food, water etc. It is therefore our prime duty to share what we have as a solution of justice.
Cf New Leader, Oct (2010) pp.16-31.