MyVoice: Views of our readers 28th March 2025
20 crore Indians starving every day
As per Food Waste Index-2024, a total of 1.05 billion tonnes of food was wasted globally in 2022. This accounts for approximately 20% of the total available food. In this index, India ranks second after China. In our country, around 78 million tonnes of food is wasted every year. This means that each person in India wastes an average of 55 kg of food annually. Globally,783 million people face hunger, and in India alone, 200 million people go to bed without food every day despite our country being one of the largest food producers in the world. According to estimates, 61% of global food waste occurs at the household level. Additionally, the UN Climate Change Report states that food waste contributes to an 8-10% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Steps such as improving food storage capacity, reducing food waste habits, increasing cold storage facilities through government initiatives, spread awareness through education, and implementing strong policies are crucial.
Dr Jitesh Mori, Kutch, Gujarat
Is India losing its sense of humour?
It seems that as a country, we have lost our sense of humour. These days, it appears only the Prime Minister has the freedom to make jokes—especially when they target the Gandhi family. He has even mocked students with dyslexia and once ridiculed former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Parliament, suggesting that Singh had mastered the “art of taking a bath with a raincoat on.” This remark was met with thunderous applause from the treasury benches. While hateful comments are often brushed aside as harmless, even the simplest joke can provoke an extreme reaction. Supporters resort to vandalism, and those in power justify such actions using Newton’s Third Law—as if retaliation is a natural and acceptable response. The irony is glaring: comedy is under attack, but intolerance is met with silence. Late Khushwant Singh, legendry Piloo Mody and others would be grieving in their graves
N Nagarajan, Hyderabad
Need to message: ‘It’s okay to fail’
Apropos: ‘STUDENT SUICIDES: SC STEPS IN AS GOVTS REMAIN LAX’ (THI, March 27). There is something very seriously wrong with our entire educational system if fear of failure causes students to end their lives. I do not suppose this happens anywhere else in the world. People are constantly living in a pressure cooker system. Competition is immense and parental and societal pressures sometimes get to be too much and the young student cannot face it any more. It is unfortunate that the courts have to step in the domain of the executive in matters of governance. We need a movement ‘It’s okay to fail’, to make a dent in the increasing number of student suicides.
Anthony Henriques, Mumbai
Punish green massacre severely
“Any harm to Mother Nature will be a curse to future generations. It’s appalling that one individual was allowed to chop down 454 trees (Hans India, dt 27-3-25) without any intervention from authorities. Thankfully, the Apex Court has held him guilty and imposed a hefty fine of ₹1 lakh per tree, serving as a deterrent to such environmental vandalism. The court’s ruling is a significant step towards environmental justice, emphasizing the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Moreover, the court has ordered the landowner to plant 9,080 indigenous trees, twenty times the number that were cut, to ensure ecological restoration. This verdict sets a strong precedent for environmental accountability in India.”
Ganti Venkata Sudhir, Secunderabad
Causes of global warming man-made
Our Earth and environment are facing the consequences of global warming and the resultant Climate Change today. According to WMO’s report, 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded, with the global temperatures remaining 1.5°C above normal. This increase is in turn attributed to increased emissions of Greenhouse gases like CO2, Methane, SO2 etc. Methane is the second largest contributor to Global Warming. These Greenhouse gases trap the Earth’s heat and, hence, the more they are released into the atmosphere, the more our Earth is likely to be heated up. Unless we take serious and substantial steps to reduce carbon emissions, increase afforestation and invest more in nonconventional means of energy sources like solar energy, wind energy and hydroelectric energy etc., our Earth will continue to suffer from the consequences of man-made climate changes in the years to come.
Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad