“Kya Ye Dil Maange NO more?”
Yes, that’s the question everyone is asking, ever since the pesticide story resurfaced in the media last week. The media is pouncing on the government for not having taken measures to improve safety standards among soft drink bottlers, as recommended by a parliamentary committee overlooking the matter. A variety of opinions have come out; some calling for soft drinks to banned while others asking for a statutory warning to be put on soft drinks, as it is done for cigarettes. Soft drink companies, Pepsi Co. and Coke, are on their part trying their best to contain the spread of this bad publicity by coming clean regarding their production processes. Yes, everyone it is known that pesticides are all around us, whether it be in the vegetables we use or the Pepsi we drink. But the important point here is whether the quantities present are meeting world safety standards or not.
Banning soft drinks is not even an option in this whole controversy. Vegetables are known to have much higher levels of vegetables than soft drinks, so why not ban them too?? In a country where cigarettes are sold openly, despite the fact that almost everyone is aware of the harmful side effects it has, banning Soft drinks can only be called as an prejudiced act on the part of the government. I am wondering that maybe this is the “left” of the government speaking out their jaundiced minds.
Over the past couple of months a number of incidents have made me to think that someone doesn’t seem to be happy with the kind of open and free society we have. First it was the blog incidents, then the proposed bill to curb the media’s reach, then the RTI act being scrapped of its effectiveness, and now this sudden outrage against soft drinks!
Jaswant Singh talked about a mole who was leaking secrets to the Americans a decade ago. Well, from the look of things, the mole is back; only this time he is trying to pull the plug on most cherished right in this country: FREEDOM!