By Bhavita Kukreja:
We the citizens of India are all aware of the sad reality that despite all the development we have undergone, there are many families who starve to death because they cannot afford three square meals a day. Even today many children are malnourished. The state of Karnataka alone has quite a few children who are malnourished because they do not get adequate and healthy food to eat. Roti, Kapda and makan are the three basic necessities that every lay man in the country is supposed to have. But the question is do we really provide the citizens with these? Let alone all three of the aforementioned necessities, we cannot even provide them with three basic meals which are supposed to be the right of every human being.
On the contrary we are copying festivals of other countries which entail wastage of tonnes of food, tomatoes to be precise. Apparently tomatoes are required, in fact tonnes of them, for celebrating  La Tomatina festival which is one of the most popular festivals in Spain, where people who take part in it squish tomatoes and throw them at each other and supposedly have fun. The organisers’ target audience is the youth of the country as they know that young people are more into such activities. The organisers make huge profits out of it as they know that the youth will be ready to spend any amount to be a part of such an event and have a ball.
The first such festival in India was organised in Delhi but was cancelled later on as people revolted against it. It is however, being organised again in Bangalore and Mysore. People have yet again come out, revolting against this kind of an event. Now people are more aware of the present condition of India: they know that inflation is on the rise, that there are many who still starve to death and have to sleep each day on an empty stomach. They understand that if such events or mini-festivals of other cultures will be organised in India, then it will worsen the situation of the poor, inflation will be on the rise and owing to this case, the prices of tomatoes will also rise. The organisers of the event will not only buy the tomatoes from the farmers in bulk and at cheaper prices but will also exploit them even further.
It is time for the youth to realise that they are the future of our nation and the responsibility of the same will ultimately be in their hands. They should realise that instead of wasting money by attending such events they should donate the money so that it can be used in a fruitful way to provide the malnourished with healthy food, or the youth can themselves use this money to go and feed the poor.
I would therefore earnestly like to urge the youth to stop attending such events. It is only when the they refuse be a part of such events that the organisers will stop planning these in future which will in turn help in the progress of our nation and make it sure it evolves into being a developed nation from the developing one that it is now.