Soaring prices are crushing future generations

The present phenomenal increase in the cost of essential foodstuffs hits our growing children the hardest. To begin with milk is beyond the reach of the average citizen, let alone the villagers.

Although liquid milk is advocated in place of imported milk powder what is locally produced is a minuscule quantity. As for fresh milk, pasteurised or chilled, the quantity is insufficient to cater even to the town folk.

The cost of wheat flour has increased and the price of a loaf of bread is anywhere between Rs. 35-40. It was trotted out that rice is more nutritious than wheat, which is a fallacy but now rice has been brought to the level of Rs. 100 a kilo. Wheat is higher in essential proteins than rice. Breakfast in most homes is bread and dhal and the richer folk supplement with jam and butter, a curry or an egg. Fish and meats are now a luxury, except for those at the top. As for those who advocate a vegetarian diet of pulses to provide protein and vegetables and fruit and lentils, the prices have almost doubled. The most convenient breakfast to give school-going children is bread.

Are we spawning a generation of weaklings to face the future of Sri Lanka? Malnutrition is rampant in the villages.True, no one has died of starvation as we are led to believe, but we must remember that it is our responsibility to see that our children are adequately fed as they are the future.

Mens Sana in Corpore Sano

By G.J. Eriyagama, Angulana