The right to food

ONCE tattered, the now freshly paved paths leading to Lahore’s ritzy Emporium Mall also give easy access to fellow Pakistanis from 700 dusty, dilapidated homes. Residents of this basti, in Dickens’ words would be described as having “ancient faces … ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sigh, Hunger”. A panicked child from among them recently asked a charity, “Aap phir sey khana kab ley kar aayein gai?” (when will you next bring food?)

One could not dare label her a glutton — the constant reminder of unattainable necessities in the form of the Emporium ‘Eden’ certainly justified her concerns. Daytime or night, she would sit in spartan surroundings, weak and hungry, watching Foodpanda trucks and moneyed Lahoris sauntering in and out of the opulent mall. While crime rates rise as a natural consequence of such socioeconomic inequality, Pakistan’s ruling elite repeatedly overlooks the clash of lifestyles and fails to describe the deprivation of something as fundamental as food as wicked.

However, for the Italians, the “right to survival prevails over property” as their apex court has justified stealing to satisfy hunger. Our Supreme Court has merely acknowledged the government’s breach of the fundamental right to food under Article 38(d) of the Constitution. In almost two decades, Pakistan has reduced its Global Hunger Index score by only 24.9 per cent. For hunger levels bordering on ‘alarming’ and the fact that 40 million Pakistanis go to sleep hungry each night, many blame the corrupt practices of previous governments. With more than half of the Rs50 billion allocated for improving social indicators placed under the prime minister’s sustainable goals programme head, there was an utter absence of accountability.

Adopting the European model of food wastage curtailment can possibly feed an extra 10 million mouths.

In naya Pakistan, government employees have proved to be no less immoral — they have already been accused of pricing food that was meant to be distributed as aid in the famine-hit Tharparkar area, starving those who could not afford to pay. The greed of our governing bodies is responsible for the lack of urgency and political determination to act on the commitment to eradicate hunger, leading to the malnourishment among some 45pc of Pakistan’s youth.

Rebuilding a corruption-free structure is vital, but the obvious solution of increasing food production to tackle food shortage will be futile because, ironically, according to USAID, Pakistan is now a ‘food-surplus’ country.

The answer lies in efficiently managing existing food stocks and ensuring these are accessible to those in need. Minimising wastage of surplus food (currently estimated at 40pc of the yearly produce) can easily feed the hungry in Pakistan. The lack of funds, expertise and modernised technology for storage and maintenance of food at the production, processing and distribution stages are at the core of this neglect. The new government must devote the necessary resources to fight the menace at all levels and initiate aggressive efforts to curb wastage at the last leg of the supply chain, that is, consumption.

The 300 servings binned at a typical city wedding and infinite amounts wasted at hotels (reportedly 870 kilograms at a hotel in Islamabad) contribute to the 36 million tonnes of food discarded annually in the country. Parallel to these sickeningly extravagant and reckless norms are the struggles of six out of every 10 Pakistanis, who are food insecure, and the plight of those 24.3pc living below the national poverty line of $1.25 per day. The privileged — the wasters — are equipped with the resources to alleviate poverty. But the rat race of life occupies them; with the trending 42-day challenges and keto diets, they remain unaffected in their bubble, blinding themselves to the mayhem of the hunger games.

Insensitive attitudes such as these violate basic morality; the Quran and Bible respectively say to “eat and drink and be not extravagant” (7:31) and to “gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted” (John 6:12). Ethical standards that weaken elitism and promote populism can effectively be imposed through policies. “If an egalitarian society is to be formed under the rule of law then necessarily it has to be by legislative action … within the framework of fundamental rights,” says the Supreme Court.

Sadly, Pakistan witnesses the enforcement of such principles only in foreign lands. The Italian and French parliaments have declared it illegal to bin food that is either in excess or rejected by the supply chain because of approaching expiry dates or failure to meet aesthetic commercial standards; rightly forcing distributors to redirect it to the poor, or pay fines.

Adopting the European model of food wastage curtailment through disciplinary legal action can possibly feed an extra 10m mouths in one year, as it did in France. In Pakistan, however, pre-distribution quality checks on donated food must be mandatory to maintain food standards for donees and additionally secure donors from potential legal action challenging food quality. Post-due diligence, once a truly deserving audience is identified, food can either be distributed as charity, or for those too proud to accept, sold on a ‘pay-as-you-please’ basis.

If the government can be trusted, organisations must be engaged to arrange platforms for surplus food to be made available to the underprivileged. Sociocultural sensitisation and behavioural changes within the private sector and civic society can be further stimulated through flexible tariffs on food waste depending on the quantity of waste.

Each year on World Food Day, there is recognition of Pakistan’s hunger crisis and a promise to obliterate it; yet, our history records read, ‘140 children die of starvation in Pakistan’.... This should never be the case. Lowering hunger levels through, awareness campaigns on disparity and food insecurity and the fair, transparent operation of systems to eliminate the wastage of food are practical options that will inculcate in us a much-needed sense of responsibility. There must be a commitment to secure the dignity of our countrymen and to save them from suffering.

This writer is a lawyer.