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ADULTERATION IN FOOD ITEMS
In India, adulteration in food and many other items has become normalized and individual cases are not exceptions. Unfortunately, the majority of Indians accept this without question as a part of new culture. All kinds of food items (including milk, ghee, yoghurt, paneer, sweets, flour, spices, drinks, vegetables and fruits), petrol for automobiles, and even drinking water are adulterated. Not only that, but some merchants also engage in cheating in quantity (providing less weight and volume than agreed upon or advertised). Some Jains are no different. The Jain community normally does not question such practices. In fact, those who become rich from this horrible practice give donations to the Jain community to win name, fame, recognition and respect in the community. During the last few decades, this menace has increased exponentially; it is like a cancer in society with no signs of decreasing.
A Memory of Adultration and Cheating
I take you back in time to about 1948 (I was only eleven old years then) in Delhi. After Independence, there used to be ration for all basic daily necessities such as wheat, flour, sugar, cloth, and cooking fuel (kerosene). There were governmentsanctioned and approved ration shops all around the city where one could buy (once a week) the allotted quantity of these items at the government-approved retail prices by showing an official ration card. One of my acquaintances (not a relative) had such a ration shop. Every week, he would receive the allotted quantity of these items in wholesale from government warehouses, which he would then sell in retail. People frequently had to wait in line to get their allotted weekly ration. One night, I had a chance to sleep at that shop -there were some sleeping quarters in the back of the shop. The owner, a devout Jain, woke up about four o'clock in the morning, did his samayak (prayer), and then opened all the bags of the wheat flour (may be ten of them) on the concrete
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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