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Cleaning the Augean stables

Sharad Joshi

IN THE days of my childhood it used to be a fairly frequent experience. I went to the residence of some classmate who lived in the old part of Poona, in an old sprawling ancestral house. I would be taken proudly around the whole precinct -- enormously th ick walls, wood works, narrow windows, dark passages, somber corridors and narrow steep staircases.

All through the round, the friend or an elderly relation of his would give a running commentary eulogising the ancient glory and achievements. The round would come to a sudden end at some putrid smelling spot in front of a closed and heavily barred door. The voices would be lowered to mere whispering and I would be told in respectful awe that that was the quarters of some old uncle or aunt who was not to be disturbed under any circumstances.

The whole thing looked extremely mysterious and somehow sinister. Later on, by and by, the friend would explain that the relative quarantined was terminally ill or impaired and did not wish to have company and was being maintained in full comfort. More o ften than not, it would be a relative suffering from some of the odious diseases such as tuberculosis or leprosy. The person was considered as a blot on the family echelon and everybody did his best to keep the family secret and not let the skeleton out of the cupboard. No questions were to be asked and no answers expected. For all one knows, the incarcerated person taken to a good hospital could be treated and restored to normal health. But that would be too much publicity and scandal.

A plethora of such skeletons came into light in the early years of the British rule when plague broke out in the historic city of Pune. Hundreds died every day and the epidemic could not be contained without a thorough cleaning up of the city -- its dirt and filth. The British administration had to move in the police and the army to search all quarters. The cleaning up operation gave rise to intense political hostility and resulted in an attempt on the life of Rand, the then Governor of Bombay Province. Fortunately, the British needed to contest no elections and woo no popular vote. The operation was carried out with little respect for the popular sentiment and the city was saved.

I am no admirer of the British colonial rule. I, however, recognise that it was not an unmixed calamity. Opening up and networking is good as much for individuals as for nations. Common experience shows that running water do not permit gathering of moss, filth or infestation by insects. Nations that entered in contact with the world in civil commerce or otherwise, have always benefitted and prospered while those that remained behind closed doors invariably degenerated and perished.

The orthodoxy in India has always resisted opening up to the world. The world to them is full of vicious unholy forces, contact with which could only contaminate the purity of our culture and pollute our great traditions. It opposed even the crossing of the seas and all commerce with the outside world.

Recently, some importers of Alphonso mangoes came to visit India to observe the manner in which the fruit was handled from the point of plucking to that of packaging. I was embarrassed when the foreign visitors were horrified at the lack of hygiene and c leanliness at each stage of different operations. Alphonso mango is an object of national pride. Any aspersion detracting the greatness of the fruit can only provoke strong nationalistic reactions. That is good for one's national pride but not for gettin g the foreign market.

Some time back the foreign importers rejected a whole consignment of fish from Kerala outright. The reason? Their representatives had the occasion to see the living quarters of the personnel handling the fish and the environment in which the fish was cle aned and packaged.

It hurts. But there is little point in accusing the foreigners of prejudice towards the developing countries, in general, and India, in particular. The consumers abroad read newspapers and read about the outbreak of plague in Surat and about the outbreak of various epidemics in different parts of the country. While they are not averse to having trade with India if it is at advantage, they would not like to do it at the risk of hazard of health or life.

The conscious consumer has succeeded abroad in establishing standards of hygiene and quality. The fact is that all our agricultural produce would not come anywhere near those standards at the farmgate. The farmer is not even aware of the fact. There are no grading or testing facilities available in his vicinity where he can have his produce tested to assess levels of cleanliness and toxicity, not to talk about parameters of quality.

If the world commerce admitted only that agricultural produce which came up to globally accepted standards of sanitation, India hardly produces any at all. Certain produce can make the grade at the farmgate. However, the poverty of infrastructure for pos t-harvest handling is so stark that by the time it is packaged it comes nowhere near the minimal standards acceptable to the world.

India can make the world grade. For that it would not suffice to have spick-and-span, glass and aluminum storage, processing and packaging installations. This is a country where the food served in five-star hotels have traces of E-coli. The modern instal lations will be manned by personnel quartered in filthy slums and uses sanitary facilities that would not pass muster anywhere in the world. That is going to make any in produce they handle suspect as potentially dangerous.

The domestic consumer is not overly bothered as he is exposed to contamination from so many sources that one more does not really matter. But the consumer abroad is going to be more finicky. It serves no purpose grumbling and criticising his tests. He is going to be the king and will need to be not only humoured but also pleasured.

Entry into the epoch of globalisation in agricultural trade is going to make the heavy demands on the nation and its people. A massive programme of upgrading agriculture to world-class will, of course, be necessary. What is less known is that it will dem and a general cultural revolution that will involve raising of standards of living and altering lifestyles. It is a painful process but no purpose will be served by hiding the less savory aspects of our living like the diseased in the ancient houses beca use there they will only fester and gangrene as they have done over centuries.

Globalisation is bringing to our doors an opportunity to have a tryst with truth. Men have always benefitted from true openness and commerce with the world. The orthodox opinion in India is trying its best to invoke people to resist exposure to the world . It has always succeeded in the past and we see the unfortunate results. Will it succeeded once again?

(The author is Chairman, Task Force on Agriculture, Government of India. The views are personal.)