Jump to content

India's Poor Urged To 'eat Rats'


Jeevan
 Share

Recommended Posts

Our Wonderful Gurus gave us Guru Ka Langar what does this Politician offer his constituent 'rats' to eat!!! :o Thank WaheGuru I was born a Sikh!!!

BBC NEWS

India's poor urged to 'eat rats'

By Amarnath Tewary

BBC News, Patna

An official in the Indian state of Bihar has come up with a new idea to encourage low caste poor people to cope with food shortages - rat meat.

The Principal Secretary of the state's Welfare Department, Vijay Prakash, said that he was advancing his proposal after "much survey and ground work".

Bihar's extremely poor Musahar community are rat-eaters by tradition.

The Musahar are on the bottom strata of the caste system with the lowest literacy rate and per capita income.

Less than one percent of their 2.3 million population in Bihar is literate and 98% are landless.

Delicacy

Mr Prakash says his proposals to popularise rat meat eating are intended to uplift their social-economic condition.

People now prefer to eat rat meat instead of chicken or goat as it comes cheaper and is more tasty and healthy

Vijay Prakash

"There are twin advantages of this proposal. First, we can save about half of our food grain stocks by catching and eating rats and secondly we can improve the economic condition of the Musahar community," he told the BBC.

According to Mr Prakash, about 50% of total food grain stocks in the country are eaten away by rodents.

He argues that by promoting rat eating more grain will be preserved while hunger among the Musahar community will be reduced.

He said that rat meat is not only a delicacy but a protein-enriched food, widely popular in Thailand and France.

"Rats have almost no bones and are quite rich in nutrition. People at large don't know this cuisine fact but gradually they are catching up."

However he may find it difficult to popularise such a strategy in a conservative society like Bihar and other north Indian states.

Mr Prakash says that he has recipes to make rat eating a delicacy, which he now wants to distribute to all the hotels in Bihar.

He also wants to encourage rat farming in the same way that poultry is farmed.

While eating rat meat is still stigmatised in urban areas of the country, Mr Prakash says that his research has revealed that it is a popular food item in some parts of Bihar where it is known at roadside hotels by the name of "patal-bageri".

This is not the first time that the department secretary has come out with such an innovative idea.

Earlier, he proposed to recruit eunuchs as security guards to maternity wards in hospitals.

"Yes, that proposal is in its advance stage and we'll very soon engage them in various social activities of our department," he said.

And the welfare secretary's next plan?

"I'll make snake catching popular for the economic value of its venom," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/worl...sia/7557107.stm

Published: 2008/08/13 06:35:50 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • I agree we're not born with sin like the Christians think. Also I agree we have effects of karma. But Gurbani does state that the body contains both sin and charity (goodness): ਕਾਇਆ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਪਾਪੁ ਪੁੰਨੁ ਦੁਇ ਭਾਈ ॥ Within the body are the two brothers sin and virtue. p126 Actually, we do need to be saved. Gurbani calls this "udhaar" (uplift). Without Satguru, souls are liable to spiritual death: ਜਿਨਾ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨ ਭੇਟਿਓ ਸੇ ਭਾਗਹੀਣ ਵਸਿ ਕਾਲ ॥ p40 Those who have not met Satguru Purakh are unfortunate and liable to death. So, yeah, we do need to be saved, and Guru ji does the saving. The reason Satguru is the one to save is because God has given Satguru the "key" (kunji): ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਹਥਿ ਕੁੰਜੀ ਹੋਰਤੁ ਦਰੁ ਖੁਲੈ ਨਾਹੀ ਗੁਰੁ ਪੂਰੈ ਭਾਗਿ ਮਿਲਾਵਣਿਆ ॥੭॥ In the True Guru's hand is the key. None else can open the door. By perfect good fortune the Guru is met. p124
    • That's unfortunate to hear. Could you give any more information? Who was this "baba"? He just disappeared with people's money? Obviously, you should donate your money to known institutions or poor people that you can verify the need of through friends and family in Punjab.
    • Sangat ji,  I know a family who went Sevewal to do seva sometimes end of 2019. They returned last year in great dismay and heart broken.  To repent for their mistakes they approached panj pyaare. The Panj gave them their punishment / order to how t make it up which, with Kirpa, they fulfilled.  They were listening to a fake Baba who, in the end, took all the "Donations " and fled sometime over a year ago. For nearly 4 years this family (who are great Gursikhs once u get to know them) wasted time and effort for this fake Baba. NOT ONLY this one fam. But many, many did worldwide and they took their fam to do seva, in village Sevewal, city Jaitho in Punjab. In the end many families lost money in thousands being behind this Baba. The family, on return, had to get in touch with all the participants and told them to stop.  I am stating this here to create awareness and we need to learn from whom we follow and believe. It's no easy but if we follow the 3 S (Sangat, Simran and Seva) we will be shown the light. As I am writing this the family in question have been doing the same since 2008 onwards and they fell for this Baba... it is unbelievable and shocking.  This am writing in a nutshell as am at work on my break so not lengthy but it deserves a great length.  Especially the family in question, who shed light on youngsters about Sikhi 20 plus years!! 
    • Giani Kulwant Singh Jawaddi Kalan uses simple Punjabi.
    • Leaving aside Guru ji, the general question of taking afeem (opium) in limited quantities for war/medical wounds is simply unproblematic. When you go to the hospital, they give you morphine. What do you think morphine is? It's an opiate. Even codeine (cough syrup) is an opiate! Ever had a cough? Granted, it is against Gurmat to take opium or other drugs for the fun of it.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use