Leader Writer: By Yumnam Vedajit
There are festivals almost every month throughout the year in Manipur. Most of the festivals like Ningol Chakouba, Cheiraoba ( The Manipur New-year), Kang – the Ratha Jatra of Manipur to name a few, entail grand feasts. Kang, one of the important festivals of the Hindus of Manipur is celebrated for some days in July while Cheiraoba is observed twice a year as the Meitei Cheiraoba and the Goura Cheiraoba with even Ningol Chakouba also sometimes taking place two times in a year. Special festive dishes are prepared for ten days during the kang festival. On the days of Cheiraoba, Ningon Chakouba etc, the people of Manipur make delicious and festive dishes to feast upon. The time of festivals entailing mass feeding or community feast is also a time to deliberate on the economical use of food. In other words, it is time to think of the prevention, reduction or putting a stop to widespread food wastage as food wastage leads to climate change and other threats.
As usual, the Kang festival was celebrated all over Manipur this year. The festival went on from July 10 to July 18 and Hari Shayan falls on Saturday. Kangchingba, a sanctified festival has various names such as Gundicha Jatra, Ghosa Jatra, Navadina Jatra, Dasavatara Jatra etc. People made offerings of flowers, fruits, sweets etc to Lord Jagannatha. Feasts or utshobs were held. At the night time, sankirtana known as Jayadev-Chongba and dances by some groups of young women and girls at the rhythm of the Pung were performed at some mandops in Manipur after which the distribution of prasadam the “Kshetchri” or cooked rice with dal, ghee turmeric, and other ingredients, and Utti of peas, pieces of bamboo shoot, salt and soda) and some others follow. As it is a community feast or mass feeding, there are high chances of a large amount of food remaining unconsumed. Leftovers turn into food waste. Food waste has long term ill effects climatically, environmentally and so forth.
More rotting food creates more methane which is one of the most harmful gases that lead to climate change. Methane is 23 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The huge amount of food going to landfills drastically contributes to global warming. Food loss and waste is also akin to a foremost wastage of resources such as land, capital and water to name some and results in greenhouse gas emissions, leading to global warming and climate change. Global warming affects life cycles of various living organisms and the monsoon. It is a reality that the ecological balance of Manipur has recently been affected by the global warming. The food which is wasted turns out to be a source of pollution. Decrease in food wastage is key to reduction in environmental degradation and it can help ensure food security for the poor people and lessen hunger. In Manipur, 80 to 100 metric tonnes of food is being wasted every single day. Food scarcity is a possible global threat.
It is laudable that some people make efforts to prevent food wastage but food wastage cannot be prevented and stopped completely as far as the community feast or ceremonies of mass feeding are concerned in Manipur because it is not impossible to make the accurate calculation of the required items of some mass feeding or community feast. Some suggestions made by some people are that food waste should be collected and used for animal feeds. But the problem is that all the leftovers and food scraps cannot be kept for a long time. It turns out to be the source of diseases. When food waste rots, it smells and attracts insects during hot weather.
Food should not be wasted by giving serious thought of the other people and the destitute and in view of the global warming, the environment and so on. Efforts on putting an end to the food wastage in functions grand and not grand like public functions of mass feeding are praiseworthy. There is a necessity of working out ways and measures to prevent, reduce or stop food wastage.