Editor,
When the quality of our food is compromised, the health of citizens is the first thing to suffer. India may be seen as a rising global power, but when it comes to providing its citizens with safe and healthy food, it continues to fall dangerously short, a fact that was discussed by Patricia Mukhim in her eye-opening piece published last Friday, titled “Food Safety and Health: We Are What We Eat.”
Food adulteration has now become widespread, though often underreported. If we take a closer look at different sectors, we’ll find shocking examples everywhere. Powdered milk mixed with harmful chemicals, adulterated cooking oils and ghee containing unsafe additives — these are just some of the many products sold in the market that can seriously harm our health. What’s even more worrying is that well-known brands aren’t always trustworthy. We’ve often noticed heavy metals in branded cold drinks, germs partying in fruit juices, and burgers loaded with bacteria, with video clips of such incidents frequently going viral on WhatsApp. If we can’t rely on what we buy from the market, how are we, the common consumers, supposed to feel safe?
The authorities have only recently acknowledged the fearsome issue of pre-cooked, substandard snacks like “chana,” “bhujia,” “dalmuth,” “khurma” chips, sweets, and chocolates, which are often poorly packaged and sold in massive quantities without proper labels or “expiry dates”. All these pre-cooked items contain preservatives that exceed the safe limit. Why were these issues not flagged earlier? And how many people have already been affected or are likely to become vulnerable to deadly illnesses by consuming such items over a longer period of time?
Equally troubling is India’s “heavy dependence” on chemical fertilizers, which is another disappointing fact, as Patricia Mukhim laments. Indiscriminate use of urea and DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) and various kinds of pesticides has caused long-term damage — not just to the soil, but also to the environment and public health. Day by day, our immune systems are weakening, and the risk of diseases like cancer is on the rise. If things continue this way, the situation could become far more disastrous in the near future.
Patricia Mukhim, in fact, hits the nail on the head when she writes, “Governance suffers because departments work in silos.” This lack of coordination and dysfunction within government agencies only results in serious shortcomings. Take the example of the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) and the Shillong Municipality Board. Both are responsible for public health in their own way, but they rarely work together. The same is true for the Department of Agriculture, which often doesn’t collaborate with the Animal Husbandry or Forest departments, even though their work is closely connected, especially when it comes to agricultural production, soil health and environmental concerns.
Let’s think metaphorically. What would happen if the liver forgot to release bile, or the pancreas stopped producing enzymes when food reaches the stomach? The whole system would break down. The person would develop serious health problems. That’s perhaps what’s happening in our government machinery. The different departments are failing to work in collaboration, and the result is a major mess. Is it not a case of full-blown administrative indigestion!
As a matter of fact, food safety is not just about science and testing; it’s also about how effectively the system is managed. If government departments continue to work separately, in silos, without sharing information or cooperating, we can’t expect real change. So, isn’t it time for a united, all-round approach — one where departments communicate openly, share responsibility, and operate with full transparency? Why wait for a disaster to force collaboration? Indeed, only a “holistic approach” can deliver lasting solutions.
If India truly wants to rise as a global leader, it must first fix its food safety and security system. Economic growth means nothing if people don’t have access to safe and healthy food and a clean, sustainable environment. At the end of the day, “we are what we eat” — and if we keep ignoring this, we may face a public health crisis that no amount of development can undo. After all, what’s the point of economic progress if the health of the citizens continues to decline? Can we eat GDP for dinner!
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong
Politics creating a toxic environment in NEHU
Editor,
University politics is an important component of any democratic nation. It promotes critical thinking, fosters community engagement, creates awareness about social justice issues, and promotes inclusivity, diversity, and equity but university politics also has its fair share of negativity. It can create division among students, faculty, and non-teaching staff potentially leading to violence and campus toxicity and overall affects the functioning and rating of a university.
Recently our premier institution North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The genesis of the problem starts with the autocratic behavior of its Vice Chancellor, Prof Shukla who according to my understanding is a man with an egoistic nature, and an arrogant person and his actions later snowballed into an agitation where the students ultimately had to resort to hunger strike to demand his removal. I will not dive into the complexity of the issue since I’m not part of the University nor related to the protest in any way but I am voicing my concern and as a concerned citizen of the state.
The root cause of this issue is all political because I feel the VC is appointed mainly by political pressure from outside and he is here to carry out his agenda. Another thing is the involvement of a new political party who are trying very hard to bank on this issue, mainly to further advance their political interests. There is so much politics in the University that students who are neutral, unbiased, or apolitical are forcefully exposed to unnecessary political discussion which in turn affects their studies and at the same time causes emotional distress. The involvement of faculty and teaching staff is another concern because this will definitely impact academic freedom and a teacher’s political leanings or beliefs will undoubtedly affect their neutrality in teaching and research.
My personal view is that if this disruption continues, the ones who will lose out will be students, so my appeal to the relevant stakeholders is that they put their political intentions behind them and instead come up with a practical approach as soon as possible so that the students of NEHU can go back to their classrooms and continue with their studies instead of hitting the streets to demand their rights.
Yours etc.,
W. Tariang,
Via email