Hunger and death in Tharparkar

The death of children in Tharparkar came into national consciousness when the number exceeded 150. And the count kept going up. Tragic as it is, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

A much bigger problem lurking in the slums among the poor – the invisible citizens – is slow agonising death due to malnutrition. Their problems come to the surface only when there is a huge calamity. And then politicians, officials of all shades and grades, journalists and reporters, charities and NGOs suddenly wake up and start competing for political legitimacy, sympathy of voters, news ratings and donations.

For a while there is a flurry of activity: news headlines, pledges of compensation and help for the victims from the government, and condemnation and accusations of negligence on the part of the government from the opposition. But then everyone moves on while the poor continue to be hungry and malnourished, living on the edge of life where just a minor illness can push them towards death.

According to the UNDP “There are 842 million malnourished people in the world today. That means one in eight people do not have enough food to be able to lead a healthy and productive life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide – greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. The good news is…there is enough food to feed everyone.” Around 3.1 million children under the age of five die each year due to malnutrition. One in six children is underweight and one in three is stunted in developing countries.

What must be understood and realised is that hunger is not a result of lack of food but rather lack of access to food due to poverty because according to the UNDP the world produces enough food to feed all seven billion people on earth.

Hunger and poverty are inextricably linked together. That is why reducing extreme poverty and hunger are one and the same goal under the UNDP’s Millennium Development Goals. So, it is ultimately a result of mal-distribution of and lack of access to economic resources that determine hunger and then death for a large number of people on this planet.

In Pakistan more than one-third people live in poverty. The UNDP along with many local and international NGOs, charities, and individual philanthropists continues to address this problem through free food distribution, income generating schemes, skills training programmes, and access to micro-credit, but the end is nowhere in sight. The reason for this is simple: unless there is economic justice these measures will be mere feel-good exercises at best and an eyewash at worse.

Access to food is a basic fundamental human right. This right has been snatched from the mouths of billions of people through unjust control on resources and unfair means of wealth creation and accumulation by a few, tilting the balance of political power also in their favour. This concentrated economic and political power is inherited by their children. Thus generation after generation, people are born either into wealth and political clout or into a life of deprivation, poverty, disempowerment and misery. And this cycle cannot be broken through electoral democracy, job creation through setting up industry, education to produce professionals and PHDs.

It can only end when wealth that has been acquired through unethical, unfair and illegal means is redistributed and the doors to further exploitation are closed. This needs a complete restructuring of the current economic system, with special focus on private ownership of resources, making money through interest and rent-seeking activities and then inheritance of this wealth.

Those who have the political and economic power to solve this problem, but have no intentions of doing so, must realise that even though they are not suffering from malnutrition and hunger, it does impact their lives indirectly. Desperate hungry people have been known to resort to cannibalism. Many a revolution has been triggered for the lack of bread.

When people lose hope and have no faith in their leaders, when frustrations and anger reach their limit, then even mile high safety walls around their palaces, dozens of security guards, and dual citizenship may not be enough to save them from the wrath of the underdogs of this country. So, there comes a time when the problem is addressed without consulting them and without their consent. That process can be messy and even violent.

History tells us that when the masses intervene, the quantitative changes into the qualitative. No one can predict when this will happen but when it does, no one can stop it.

Email: shahnazk@gmail.com