Society for Prevention of Malnutrition (SPM)
Eliminate Hunger and malnutrition
MS Swaminathan has given some good ideas about ways to eliminate hunger and malnutrition. Actually, this process can further be strengthened by bringing
in use some highly nutritive food items like oil-seed residues or oil-cakes from oil mills that are currently going waste.
Similarly the wheat bran, rice bran and broken pulses from flour mills, rice mills and ‘Dal” mills can be used for making ready to eat snacks and supplementary food items for various official and non-official feeding programmes.
This was demonstrated by the Society for Prevention of Malnutrition (SPM) by turning such wasteful products into snack foods and biscuits. If manufactured on a
large scale, say for official feeding programmes, it can be made at a cost cheaper than “Dal Roti” made at home. It can also be given to the poor under food for work programmes.
The SPM was granted a process patent for manufacturing such a cheap but ready to eat food. By this process, 50 million tonnes of wheat and rice brans, Dal-chuni,
edible groundnut cake flour and other oilseed cakes and even agricultural and forest produce that is currently going waste can be used to make food items that would be highly nutritious but cheaper than Dal-Roti. Such a food was being made by SPM.
Former PM Indira Gandhi had even deputed the Director (Technical), Ministry of Food to visit the SPM’s production unit. Accordingly, the then director had
visited SPM, collected samples, analysed them for nutritive value and had sent back to the SPM the analysis report saying that it contained 15 per cent protein and 300 calories per 100 gms. and that it was found to be satisfactory for feeding school children.
Later on the food was also tasted by former PM Mr P. V. Narasimharao. But to get cheap votes, he introduced mid-day meal programme instead of supplementary food
so that he could be seen eating while sitting with school children to create a favourable impression for winning votes.
Had he introduced supplementary food, it could have been produced by various NGOs and Mahila Mandals employing lakhs of people in various towns and even
larger villages. It would have added an additional 25 per cent to the nation’s available food supply.
Swaminathan had himself seen the work of the SPM some years ago but the work had to be abandoned by the SPM due to governmental apathy. Planning is one thing but it is the implementation that needs to be ensured.
The SPM had planned to help set up such locally run production units by making the process patent available free of charge, train their employees and organise other help whatever needed.
Even now I am looking for an entrising entrepreneur to take up this excellent work of making Threptin like biscuits at a rate cheaper than dal-roti and much more nutritious and healthy than any other food or biscuits currently available in the market.
Naturally, if people get Threptin-like high protein and nutritionally balanced biscuits at a rate cheaper than ordinary biscuits that are full of white poisons such as sugar, salt, fats and maida (refined flours), they would prefer buying such a product themselves.
Just imagine, this way we can add 50 million tonnes of ready-to-eat and highly nutritious food to the 200 million foodgrains. That will make all other foods cheaper, women and children healthier, giving employment to millions of unemployed and under employed youth.
Thus you can abolish hunger, malnutrition, improve general health, reduce the impact of diseases by improving the resistance power of people at no extra cost. But our politicians don’t have the vision to even understand such a simple method to eradicate poverty, hunger and disease.
It could also be implemented on a worldwide basis. SPM can give all the expertise to anyone who may be interested.
S. M. Acharya, Managing Trustee, SPM, 155 St.
Patrick’s Town, Pune – 411013; Tel: 020-26870204,
Cell: 0-9422314693, Email: smacharya@yahoo.co.uk