World Hunger Crisis October 16, 2009 Lost among news of wheelers ...
World Hunger CrisisOctober 16, 2009
Lost among news of wheelers and dealers of the world, the political barons who start wars but do not know how to stop them and the glamorous guys and dolls that grace the TV screens and the genius that have won the Nobel prize, was the small and insignificant news that the number of hungry souls in the world has surpassed 1.5 Billion mark. It means one person in five is hungry in this world. Hunger is not limited to backward and the under developed world, but is found also in the most advanced nations. USA , UK and France, for example are not free from hunger. But bulk of hungry are found in India and Africa. In India alone half of the world’s hungry live. Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan also have significant population living under poverty line. Malnourishment is rampant and deaths due to hunger are no more rare.
My friends who have seen my earlier posts on this subject may wonder, why I write so much on this topic. Do I have a hunger history ? Not really, except that I am always hungry or I fast regularly in Ramadan.Once I was working on a software package in a garment factory, away from main road and there was no good restaurant around and it was winter. I really felt pinch of hunger, but could not leave without completing the task at hand. A pack of biscuits did not help, rather raised the level of my hunger.I cannot forget those four hours of that fateful day. As a result my hunger died and I lost feeling of hunger and could not eat properly for months.
I also feel strongly about hunger because of the teachings of my religion. Holy Prophet Muhammad SAW has stated swearing upon God three times that he is not a Muslim who eats to the content of his heart and his neighbor is hungry next door. In another Hadith, he declared that Allah lifts protective shield of a town, if a person sleeps hungry in it. Mind you, sleeping hungry is the issue, not dying of hunger.
And in the Gospel of Barnabas, Christ son of Mary, said that end of time will be marked by famines and plagues. If swine flue can be called a plague, his prophesy has already come true.
The powerful governments of most prosperous nations of the world have been religiously resolving every year to allocate more funds towards agriculture. And they conveniently forget the resolve until they attend the next meeting. In India, nearly 60,000 farmers commit suicide every year, because the government does not provide loans to them and they have to borrow from loans sharks, who make their life miserable. I have been observing that the subsidized fertilizer hardly ever reach the market in time. Either it is in short supply and being sold at black market rates or is simply not available. When many nations create the same state of affairs, the rumors about 1974 population control program of Henri Kissinger get new impetus. The Zionists want to reduce population of the world by 2 Billion and short supply of food grains is an effective means.
The diversion of grains and sugarcane as bio-fuel is one of the reasons of short supply of food. In a sugarcane producing country like Pakistan, sugar is selling at Rs 52 per kg, because in India, Iran and China the drought has reduced the production of sugar cane and Brazil, the largest sugar cane producing nation, has diverted her production to the bio-fuel.
Thankfully some charity organizations like Alamgir Trust, Chippa Trust etc are providing free food to nearly 100,000 people in Karachi alone. But in a city of 15 Million, this may not be enough. So more concerted efforts are needed to eliminate poverty and hunger. Taking cue from these organizations, many small time restaurants have been opened, where people go and pay in advance for meals of 5, 10 or 50 people thus enabling the hungry to walk in, eat and leave without paying even as a token.
As the crisis is getting out of hand fast, more concerted efforts are needed. Last year the number of hungry in the world was estimated at one billion. Today it stands at 1.5 Billion, an increase of 50% in just a year.
Muhammad Javed Iqbal
Lost among news of wheelers and dealers of the world, the political barons who start wars but do not know how to stop them and the glamorous guys and dolls that grace the TV screens and the genius that have won the Nobel prize, was the small and insignificant news that the number of hungry souls in the world has surpassed 1.5 Billion mark. It means one person in five is hungry in this world. Hunger is not limited to backward and the under developed world, but is found also in the most advanced nations. USA , UK and France, for example are not free from hunger. But bulk of hungry are found in India and Africa. In India alone half of the world’s hungry live. Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan also have significant population living under poverty line. Malnourishment is rampant and deaths due to hunger are no more rare.
My friends who have seen my earlier posts on this subject may wonder, why I write so much on this topic. Do I have a hunger history ? Not really, except that I am always hungry or I fast regularly in Ramadan.Once I was working on a software package in a garment factory, away from main road and there was no good restaurant around and it was winter. I really felt pinch of hunger, but could not leave without completing the task at hand. A pack of biscuits did not help, rather raised the level of my hunger.I cannot forget those four hours of that fateful day. As a result my hunger died and I lost feeling of hunger and could not eat properly for months.
I also feel strongly about hunger because of the teachings of my religion. Holy Prophet Muhammad SAW has stated swearing upon God three times that he is not a Muslim who eats to the content of his heart and his neighbor is hungry next door. In another Hadith, he declared that Allah lifts protective shield of a town, if a person sleeps hungry in it. Mind you, sleeping hungry is the issue, not dying of hunger.
And in the Gospel of Barnabas, Christ son of Mary, said that end of time will be marked by famines and plagues. If swine flue can be called a plague, his prophesy has already come true.
The powerful governments of most prosperous nations of the world have been religiously resolving every year to allocate more funds towards agriculture. And they conveniently forget the resolve until they attend the next meeting. In India, nearly 60,000 farmers commit suicide every year, because the government does not provide loans to them and they have to borrow from loans sharks, who make their life miserable. I have been observing that the subsidized fertilizer hardly ever reach the market in time. Either it is in short supply and being sold at black market rates or is simply not available. When many nations create the same state of affairs, the rumors about 1974 population control program of Henri Kissinger get new impetus. The Zionists want to reduce population of the world by 2 Billion and short supply of food grains is an effective means.
The diversion of grains and sugarcane as bio-fuel is one of the reasons of short supply of food. In a sugarcane producing country like Pakistan, sugar is selling at Rs 52 per kg, because in India, Iran and China the drought has reduced the production of sugar cane and Brazil, the largest sugar cane producing nation, has diverted her production to the bio-fuel.
Thankfully some charity organizations like Alamgir Trust, Chippa Trust etc are providing free food to nearly 100,000 people in Karachi alone. But in a city of 15 Million, this may not be enough. So more concerted efforts are needed to eliminate poverty and hunger. Taking cue from these organizations, many small time restaurants have been opened, where people go and pay in advance for meals of 5, 10 or 50 people thus enabling the hungry to walk in, eat and leave without paying even as a token.
As the crisis is getting out of hand fast, more concerted efforts are needed. Last year the number of hungry in the world was estimated at one billion. Today it stands at 1.5 Billion, an increase of 50% in just a year.
Muhammad Javed Iqbal
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