This is not a matter of aspirational Kashmir seeking freedom neither is it a matter of any dissent or any security threat that the land possesses from foreign powers or internally.
|| ZUHAIB YOUSF MIR
While reading this article if you are sipping a cup of coffee or tea and also having a piece of bread or biscuit along with it then you should be aware of the dismal fact that the chance that you are consuming something pernicious, as unhealthy as being carcinogenic, is very high. This is not a matter of aspirational Kashmir seeking freedom neither is it a matter of any dissent or any security threat that the land possesses from foreign powers or internally. But in fact is a matter that is more critical than any other matter engulfing Kashmir in the contemporary time. This is the mercy delinquency associated with heinous problem of Food Adulteration and the incapacity of successive governments to deal with it, ironically in the pure and pristine land of Jammu and Kashmir.
Unfortunately, this problem does not just concern the concoctionof the milk products which bamboozled everyone multiple times but also is endemic to spices, general food products, fruits and worst, the drugs available in the hospitals. Lets comprehensively look at the ruthless problem of adulteration, its legal aspects and the aspects of hypocrisy of the successive governments to let this pandemonium continue. Suo-moto cognizance of media reports regarding food adulteration, rising cases of cancer and lack of infrastructure to check adulteration of food items in the state was taken by the high court. After taking suo-moto cognizance regarding food adulteration in the state, the high court sought details from the state government regarding the preparedness on food adulteration.
The bench asked the government to inform them about the number of testing laboratories along with their locations, which are available in the state, staff strength of the Drug and Food Control Organization and asked government to inform the court about the number of officers/officials who are required to be posted in terms of Food Safety and Safety and Standard Act of 2006. The High court also sought the list of convictions recorded by the court of law on the complaints filed under Food Safety and Standard Act of 2006. The court also asked government t o submit full details of persons who are convicted and sentenced by the court of law be also provided. Shockingly the answer to the above questions sought by the high court was firstly, devastating and secondly incomplete.
The report submitted by the concerned authorities in this regard is sufficient to distress every single soul.The court has found that the biggest pitfall in the system to check the problem of adulteration is that there is no paraphernalia available in Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the instructions contained in provisions of JK Food Safety and Standard Act 2006. The also court found that there is no testing laboratory worth the name under this Act in the State. This situation is synonymousto the fact that the people of the state are being made to consume unhealthy and harmful food products and the government has forgotten or perhaps has chosen to forget the duty that it is expected to perform to confront this problem which is poisoning our society.
“It is reiterated that none of the samples collected after the sample of 17th, July 2013 have failed the quality tests”
The samples of leading milk producer and spices in Kashmirwere found unfit for consumption in July 2013. Soon after that the concoction of the samples was contested in the hon’ble high court after a penalty of 10 croreswas imposed on it. They got a clean chit later. Now again this time the milk producing company is in the dock, closed down its products for a month and is back again in the market. Point to note is that how can an investigation agency conduct so many tests and be right and be wrong at the same time so many times. When it was found in 2013 that the their produce is adulterated and is slowly festering the society why wasn’t a full time ban implemented on it firstly to free society from this poison and also to set an example for all the companies nothing will work at the cost of life.
“It is reiterated that none of the samples collected after the sample of 17th, July 2013 have failed the quality tests” said the holier than thou letter by the fourth generation director of the company in an apologetic cum explanation letter to a news agency. The point to note is that how is the print media going so soft on the defaulters, all this seems to be a conspiracy to protect the wrong doers. Just a month back there was a series of front page stories on food adulteration and how is it causing cancer and other diseases pervasively in the valley but they seem quiet now and minimally invest into this matter of grave concern after being so proactive in the previous month. And lastly what exactly is the role of the political class in this entire rigmarole of mercy business of inflicting slow and painful death to the society.
The previous government was minimally voicing any concern and none of the postulates of food policy 2006 were put in place after such a shameful case came to the forefront in 2013. This time again it seems like a plot between the hegemony protecting the capitalists by just being neutral in the matter. And being neutral between good and evil is evil itself. Had it not been for the suo-moto Public Interest Litigation by the Hon’ble High court, I don’t think the government would have done anything to confront the demons and given this problem so much prominence. After milk, even though it is back on the shelves and advertisement boards in the valley, there are constant apprehensions regarding not just the milk but other food products that are shelved in the retail stores.
Present allegations of adulteration against the companies should be investigated thoroughly and public at large made aware of the facts uncovered by the quality control agencies. Control agencies should first be put properly in place then be given more power to investigate and inculcate the aspect of proactive behavior in them. This incident has formed achance both for the public and the government to behave like a strong government; take strict action against the menace of food poisoning (adulteration) ; sever the criminal adulterators and punish them for good. And before all this function on the guidelines of the Food Safety and Safety and Standard Act of 2006, as the machinery to make it function is near zero on ground.
(Zuhaib Yousf Mir MSc Economics University of Edinburgh )
(Editor’s note: Views expressed by the author are his own, Kashmir Leader doesn’t subscribe to any of his views)
