MBA Aspirants are also expected to know the happenings which might affect all of us. This general awareness will help you during Essay, GD & PI.
Today, you will read on: India's Pink Revolution
Food safety has long been a neglected issue in India. Some steps have been taken by the government but they fall short of the requirements. Moreover government has only focused on the safety parameters of vegetarian food and not on the non-vegetarian food. Also on the production side, huge investments are required to cater to ever increasing demand for vegetarian food in India as well as other neighboring countries.
Keeping these challenges in mind, India under the aegis of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of United Nations has started the Pink Revolution. Under this revolution, the government will modernize the meat production processes.
India has already seen the ‘green’ and ‘white’ revolutions in its food industry come to pass; it now seems well on its way to realizing a ‘pink revolution’ too; the modernization of meat production processes. Is going pink an environmental and health hazard in the making?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service, India became the largest exporter of buffalo meat in 2012, exporting approximately 1.5 million metric tons of beef. The largest importers of Indian meat are primarily countries in the Middle East and South East Asia.
The USDA also found that a record 3.2 million tons of broiler meat (i.e. chicken) had been produced in India last year. The broiler sector has seen a 30 percent growth since 2009 and is among the fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy at a rate of 8 percent. This increase has been largely attributable to growing domestic demands.
In a report by FAO, four steps have been suggested to make Indian food industry go pink. The four steps to be taken are setting up state of the art meat processing plants; developing technologies to raise male buffalo calves for meat production; increasing the number of farmers rearing buffalo under contractual farming; and establishing disease-free zones for rearing animals.
Moreover, Pink revolution also entails standardizing the processes such that replacement of humans by the machines. It will also result in standardization of the finished products. Under Pink revolution government will also facilitate setting up of labs that can test samples of all batches of meat that is produced. It shall reduce the risk of food poisoning and contamination.
All said and done there has been increasing voices about the dark side of Pink revolution. It has also become a subject of debate among prominent national parties. Since climate change poses a major threat, growing production of livestock is considered dangerous.
A lot of freshwater is consumed in the production of meat. A report by Reset throws some light on the issue: To produce one calorie from animal protein, 11 times as much fossil fuel is required than to produce one calorie from plant protein. Energy is devoured by growing feed, transporting feed, transporting animals, processing animals, packaging meat, transporting meat and keeping meat cold.
Moreover raising livestock for meat in large numbers has its own challenges. The amount of excreta that comes out while rearing them is a challenge. It can be used as a fertilizer but it also runs the risk of contamination and pollution of groundwater and air.
So the Indian government should be cautious of these issues and take proper safeguards with proactive interventions while implementing the measures suggested.
List of other Revolutions in the field of Agriculture in India
• Evergreen Revolution - Overall development of Agriculture.
• Black Revolution - Petroleum Production
• Blue Revolution - Fish Production
• Brown Revolution - Leather/non-conventional(India)/Cocoa production
• Golden Fiber Revolution - Jute Production
• Golden Revolution - Fruits/Overall Horticulture development/Honey Production
• Green Revolution - Food grains
• Grey Revolution - Fertilizer
• Red Revolution - Tomato Production
• Round Revolution - Potato
• Silver Fiber Revolution - Cotton
• Silver Revolution - Egg/Poultry Production
• White Revolution (In India: Operation Flood) - Milk/Dairy production
• Yellow Revolution - Oil Seeds production
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