Cross Talk
When country needed them most!
THE honourable food advisor gave us food for thought during a press conference last week when he said that there was no famine in Bangladesh. He analysed famine step-by-step, starting with scarcity, followed by starvation, ending with a large number of deaths. Then he said something stunning. Hidden hunger is on the rise in this country, and 800 million people on earth are exposed to it. Those who are new to the game of semantics, please note that it's an excellent example of how all the right things can be said in the wrong context.
It's hard to imagine why he said it though. What was on his mind? Was he showing erudition? Did he try to duck questions on famine? Was he telling us one thing, and then rambled off to something else? In hindsight, no matter what, it wasn't the best thing to say.
I tried to find out what it means. Hidden hunger refers to an insidious type of hunger. It's caused by eating cheap and filling food, deficient in micronutrients and vitamins. Hidden hunger is widespread in the Third World, where families fill themselves with cheap rice, but can't afford a balanced diet including meat, fruit and vegetables.
The term isn't commonly used outside specialist journals, and the sub-editors of newspapers and magazines tend to use their blue pencils to mark it as jargon. Sometimes, it's employed as a general term for the extreme poverty that exists undetected or unacknowledged in developed countries. The presence of hidden hunger has been registered in countries like New Zealand and the USA.
Why did then the food advisor choose to use such an unfamiliar term? He was asked if there was any chance of a famine in the country, whether, if not already existing, an outbreak was likely as some experts were telling. His answers should have been sweet and short.
Instead, what he said raised more questions. If hidden hunger is rising, are more people falling below dietary standards? Is it an early sign of famine? Is it an outcome of increasing scarcity? Lesson number one in the art of public speaking: Never say more than asked, because it's like one step too many in a minefield. One slip of tongue, it can blow up in the face and destroy credibility.
This government's advisors are educated, intelligent, bright, experienced and accomplished, yet they go around saying things that make one sit up. Even in more advanced countries, spokespersons, including prime ministers and presidents, go through proper media training before facing the press. Have our advisors been media-trained?
Well, everybody knows these advisors don't have political experience. Everybody knows they don't have the guile and skills to tackle political questions. That isn't a problem for the politicians. But it may not be so easy for people with scruples. They can feel uncomfortable if truth must be twisted for political reasons.
But do they realise that perception is like bookkeeping, where every mistake is debit for them and credit for their critics? If today we hear that a political government would have handled the food situation better, it's because the balance sheet is tipping against them.
Since the food advisor has already spoken, he needs to speak more. We need a clear picture of the food situation. Robert Zoellick, the World Bank President, has made that job easier for him. The price of rice in global markets has nearly doubled in the last three months. Robert has also confirmed that the real price of rice rose to a 19-year high last month, while the real price of wheat hit a 28-year high. No questions asked. We are in difficult times. It's a global thing.
So, we want educated answers from educated people. We want numbers, plans, projections and strategies, something that gives an educated account of what lies ahead of us. We want to know how much of the 28 (?) million tonnes of food grain production we are going to achieve this year. How are we planning to cover the usual supply-demand gap of 1.5(?) million tonnes? If we are expecting a bumper crop, will 17.5 million tonnes of boro do anything to squeeze the prices? These answers are needed sooner than soon to tell people if they should worry or not.
If hunger is hidden, the hungry isn't hiding. People are streaming out of their houses and queuing up in front of the OMS trucks. This is scarcity. There is also news of starvationpeople skipping meals, changing food habit, eating less, adding salt and chilli to spike the rice to discourage children from excessive eating. Only large-scale deaths remain the missing link between where it stands today and a full-blown famine!
What we know is that if famine comes, it will pass. Crops will grow again and there will be harvesting times. Then people are going to sit down and think why top boys in class couldn't stay on top of things. That also only one time when their country needed them most!
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