Takke Ser Bhaji; Takke Ser Khajja - Voice of a poor health of India.

By EDITOR, WD

The world especially kids need to be told the goodness of fruits and vegetables, essential for growth and healthy living. India primarily being a vegetarian country need not be accentuate. Indians know this better than others.

However, most of the Indian parents prefer buying a pack of snack or biscuits for their children and themselves, despite knowing fully that it is harmful. Why does this happen? Simple! A pack of biscuits/snacks cost on an average Rs 10-20, lesser than it costs for a single apple in season. A mango is out of reach and the way the cost of fruits is going up, it won’t be far when 95% of all fruits will be affordable only to super rich Indians. In season if a watermelon that used to cost maximum Rs. 15, few years back costs Rs. 150 today, one can only imagine. It is no wonder that the cost of fruits is, believe it or not, higher than oily snacks and fast food. Even some Indian sweets costs less than fruits and some are on par.

Vegetables are right behind fruits. In metro cities like Mumbai, vegetables are closely on par with fast food. A plate of dosas (south Indian delicacy) costs about Rs. 15- 25. The cost of any vegetable in season costs about Rs. 25 onwards. Sometimes, they cost at least Rs. 60-80 per Kg. Is this not on par with snack items? The various Indian snack items costs from Rs. 50- 200 a Kg.

The Indian story of Gundu Raja (King) is well known to all. His crazy decisions like valuing the cost of vegetables and fruits on par with that of sweets and snacks was the most un-economical thing to do, for which he went down in the history of how a foolish King can play havoc with a country’s economy. The current situation in India is similar, if the government does not find means to reduce the cost or the disparity of such costs in food items, then the day is not far when every Indian will be forced to be unhealthy and malnourished. After all we are what we eat! And if we eat horrid things, it is bound to reflect this in our body, mind and soul. This is a sheer case of killing the golden goose in the hope of collecting all the golden eggs at one go.