Selling one chicken per week in the local market....that earns you enough to suffice for a week.....combined with the little grains that you have saved from the three months of farming each year. Well, that's how the local tribals in the area of Navapur in teh Nadndurbagh survive all through the year. They just have enough chicken to sell each month and rear more for the next few months.
Now look at this, 80 per cent of the population of this place either directly or indirectly depend on poultry farming. Besides the tribals and the locals, there are also poultry farm owners who have spent a huge amount of capital investment to set up what's now been destroyed by the Bird flu scare.
Six days in the area just fills you with stories of desperation from people who have lost all they have. And primarily do not know what they would do for another year atleast to get some food into their starving stomachs. I'm not trying to paint a stark image here, but this is the reality. The reality of these locals who blame it all on teh Administration and the media for "blowing up" the whole issue.
Conflicting ideas altogether. On one hand, the administration faced with the stark reality of an epidemic that can strike mayhem. On the other hand a handful of people who migh lose their livelihood. The decision had to be taken soon. Almost on an immediate basis. They did....and all the chicken were ordered to be culled.
May be, the method they used wasn't the most acceptable one.....throwing the chickens alive into a large pit and covering it up with lime and mud. (Is Menaka reading this...????) But look at this way....critically under-staffed, international pressures, market figures, media focus....just a few of the things that they had to put up with...and considering the odds, they did a wonderful job.
The sight of medical personell who had rushed in at the shortest notice from every part of the country tirelessly working from dawn to sunset was moving in itself. And then ofcourse the newshounds out there trying to find flaws and faults all the time. C'mon, give them a break. They did a good job and a wonderful one at that. Who didnt, are the polititicians who really didn't even know what hit them, were ill-equipped with any factual information and clueless on the depth of the issue.
The culling's almost done, the cleaning is on, but the real issue in the hands of the administration is revival. Revival of the region, finding alternate sources of employment. Roping in corporates to contribute not through petty donations that wouldn't reach the deprived anyways, but in the act of re-development. Using their expertise in technology, sanitation, maybe, setting up cottage and small-scale industries in teh region.
Whatever....anything that can keep them busy and give them a few uninterrupted morsels of food for survival. And these have to be done IMMEDIATEDLY.....there is really NO TIME to think.....the reaction time hads to be almost immediate. Even quicker than their reaction during the crisis. The real crisis has only begun...first published:February 25, 2006, 16:29 ISTlast updated:February 25, 2006, 16:29 IST
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Selling one chicken per week in the local market....that earns you enough to suffice for a week.....combined with the little grains that you have saved from the three months of farming each year. Well, that's how the local tribals in the area of Navapur in teh Nadndurbagh survive all through the year. They just have enough chicken to sell each month and rear more for the next few months.
Now look at this, 80 per cent of the population of this place either directly or indirectly depend on poultry farming. Besides the tribals and the locals, there are also poultry farm owners who have spent a huge amount of capital investment to set up what's now been destroyed by the Bird flu scare.
Six days in the area just fills you with stories of desperation from people who have lost all they have. And primarily do not know what they would do for another year atleast to get some food into their starving stomachs. I'm not trying to paint a stark image here, but this is the reality. The reality of these locals who blame it all on teh Administration and the media for "blowing up" the whole issue.
Conflicting ideas altogether. On one hand, the administration faced with the stark reality of an epidemic that can strike mayhem. On the other hand a handful of people who migh lose their livelihood. The decision had to be taken soon. Almost on an immediate basis. They did....and all the chicken were ordered to be culled.
May be, the method they used wasn't the most acceptable one.....throwing the chickens alive into a large pit and covering it up with lime and mud. (Is Menaka reading this...????) But look at this way....critically under-staffed, international pressures, market figures, media focus....just a few of the things that they had to put up with...and considering the odds, they did a wonderful job.
The sight of medical personell who had rushed in at the shortest notice from every part of the country tirelessly working from dawn to sunset was moving in itself. And then ofcourse the newshounds out there trying to find flaws and faults all the time. C'mon, give them a break. They did a good job and a wonderful one at that. Who didnt, are the polititicians who really didn't even know what hit them, were ill-equipped with any factual information and clueless on the depth of the issue.
The culling's almost done, the cleaning is on, but the real issue in the hands of the administration is revival. Revival of the region, finding alternate sources of employment. Roping in corporates to contribute not through petty donations that wouldn't reach the deprived anyways, but in the act of re-development. Using their expertise in technology, sanitation, maybe, setting up cottage and small-scale industries in teh region.
Whatever....anything that can keep them busy and give them a few uninterrupted morsels of food for survival. And these have to be done IMMEDIATEDLY.....there is really NO TIME to think.....the reaction time hads to be almost immediate. Even quicker than their reaction during the crisis. The real crisis has only begun...
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