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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Bird-flu outbreak rattles Nandurbar

Around 2.40 lakh hens culled, Nine-lakh eggs destroyed Mumbai: For the third time in 20 years, Avian Influenza has hit Navapur, in Nandurbar district, with over 2.40 lakhs birds culled in the past few days as worried farmers await compensation and effective vaccines. In some areas, all the infected birds in big and small farms have been eliminated by specialist teams, as per World Health Organisation (WHO) and central government’s guidelines. This is the third time after 2006 and 2021...

Bird-flu outbreak rattles Nandurbar

Around 2.40 lakh hens culled, Nine-lakh eggs destroyed Mumbai: For the third time in 20 years, Avian Influenza has hit Navapur, in Nandurbar district, with over 2.40 lakhs birds culled in the past few days as worried farmers await compensation and effective vaccines. In some areas, all the infected birds in big and small farms have been eliminated by specialist teams, as per World Health Organisation (WHO) and central government’s guidelines. This is the third time after 2006 and 2021 that the town – which produces 10-lakh eggs daily – has come under the attack of Avian Influenza, commonly known as ‘bird flu’, said Navapur Poultry Association (NPA) President Arief Balesaria. “We rank the biggest in production of eggs by Layer Chicken after Pune and Baramati. There are other egg producing centres in the state. The Layer Chicken are among the best laying hens. But in the past fortnight or so, our production has come to a complete stop,” a concerned Balesaria told The Perfect Voice. The 10-lakh eggs are sent to markets in Mumbai, Nashik, Jalgaon and even Surat, which will now be fed by other smaller suppliers from Maharashtra or other states, he said. The outbreak in Navapur started mysteriously on April 12, when a local farmer discovered five dead chickens in his farm. Initially it was suspected to be heatstroke and a local Veterinary prescribed medicines, but by afternoon more than four dozen birds were snuffed out. By next morning, the farmer lost more than 300 chickens even as other alarmed farmers in a three-km vicinity reported similar tragedies as the birds simply dropped dead without apparent symptoms, said Balesaria. In Balesaria’s own Wasim Poultry Farm, the situation was ditto – five days after the first incident, he found 55 birds dead and by that evening, over 130 were no more, though the chickens were eating normally and not appearing sick. After the local authorities were informed, samples were collected from three of the worst-hit farms and tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal. They tested positive for the dreaded ‘Avian Influenza’, shocking the poultry farmers in Navapur. Swift Action Nandurbar Collector Dr. Mittali Sethi swung into action and declared large parts of Navapur as an ‘infected and surveillance’, spread over nearly 10 kms radius, banned all sale of poultry, bird-feed, and other related materials for three months, and local police were deployed to enforce the restrictions. Meanwhile, by Monday, the infection figures zoomed up dramatically and till May 6, over 2.40 lakhs birds have been culled, nearly 9-lakh eggs destroyed plus 210 tonnes of bird feed disposed off, said Balesaria of the sudden calamity. State and district officials have expressed apprehensions that the toll could climb much higher and have enforced strict monitoring in Navapur and also other egg-producing centres in north Maharashtra region. Culling continues with the help of 18 officers daily while over 125 veterinarians and support staff have fanned out in the affected zone. His son and third-generation independent farmer Tausif B. is grappling with his first bird-flu calamity and is worried about the future with his entire stock of 6 lakh eggs, 62,000 birds and 72-tons of feed destroyed. “This time, my farm was not affected. But according to official protocols, my 30,000 chickens were culled and over 60,000 eggs destroyed. The government has banned us from restarting or restocking for at least three months, or till July 31, when the crisis is expected to be over. Presently, we are sitting idle and helpless as the losses pile up for all the 27 NPA member-farms,” rued Balesaria. Farmers cry for better vaccines As death stalks egg farms in Navapur, distressed farmers urged the Centre to urgently permit more effective vaccines to contain the spread of Avian Influenza, as existing measures are proving inadequate. The NPA leaders claimed that the currently approved vaccines target the relatively milder H9N2 strain, while farms in the region are being devastated by the far more lethal H5N1 virus. “The government has allowed vaccines for H9N2 strain. But the Layer chickens are hit by the deadlier H5N1 strain. Vaccines for H5N1 are already in use in several countries, including China, the United States and parts of Europe. Why are we being denied access to the same protection?” asked the NPA leaders. India currently does not allow use of H5N1 vaccines, citing various concerns and relies on the traditional culling, movement restrictions and biosecurity measures in such outbreaks, though NPA alleges that Indian vaccine manufacturers are creating obstacles for getting better vaccines.

‘Global trust is India’s biggest strength’

Jainacharya Yugbhushansuriji Maharaja, who had been the guiding force behind the conclave based on the principles of Vasudhava Kutumbakam, tells Abhijit Mulye, Political Editor of ‘The Perfect Voice’, in an interview that global trust is India’s biggest strength in today’s world and that is the reason why India is best placed to guide the world into a new vision based on our traditional principles of Vasudhava Kutumbakam. Excerpts…

How do you envision India’s ancient wisdom contributing to the new world order?

All our current global political, economic, social systems are western in origin. The whole world has been following these systems for past 80 years which has created a huge imbalance. Current international legislation is exploitative in nature. Currencies are either highly undervalued or overvalued. All such systems have led to imbalance. the global south has been experiencing socio-cultural and civilizational disturbance, economic exploitation and political suppression. In this global scenario, India is the only hope left for the world. India’s ancient wisdom becomes more significant in such a scenario since traditional Indian systems never tolerated injustice.


What role do you see India playing in promoting peace, justice and stability world over in near future?

Our traditional systems worked according to the ‘Neeti Sutras’ or the moral guidelines. At the international level, a robust, fair, neutral, and timely justice system must be established on similar principles. Such a system would benefit the entire world community. Current global mechanism is weak, optional, and biased. It is weak because not all nations fall under its jurisdiction; optional because members can withdraw at will; and biased because a few powerful countries dominate its jurisprudence. The situation of grievance redressal is dire. The UN has been rendered powerless. Unilateral sanctions by the US are unjust and often illegal. Yet, there are no legal remedies. Hence, traditional Indian wisdom based on family values seems to be the only hope.


Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is all about connectedness. What, in your opinion, is the path for individuals and nations to realise this?

The principle of equal but differential duty according to capability is a principle that comes naturally to us in a family. One needs to replace the current biased and flawed global systems with one that incorporates these innate principles where members enjoy equal access to basic necessities but are not compelled to contribute equally. Capabilities and capacities of nations are shaped by history, geography, demography, climate, resources, politics, economics, and culture. These factors determine each nation’s strengths and weaknesses. As a guiding principle, the rich and powerful have a duty to shoulder greater responsibility. Some nations may be rich in minerals, others in oil, rare earth materials, skilled manpower, labour, ideas, economic resources, or defence capabilities. Each is expected to contribute more to the world in areas where they are strong. But, this is absent today. What we see is some nations enjoy privilages. Like, they use their influence to make nations sign the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty), yet provided no security guarantees to the weaker countries.


Sustainability is the buzz word today. How do you connect sustainability with ethics?

Today, the essence of international law is such that those capable of exploring, utilising, and mining global commons such as, the oceans, the environment, space, meteorites, asteroids, Antarctica, and the North and South Poles, become their de facto owners. This leaves developing countries without any fair share or reservation, forced to watch their resources being exploited by powerful nations with advanced technology and know-how. It also leads to exploitative institutions and systems. On the contrary, ethic is part of family virtues that assure a guarantee to all members equally for leading a normal life and achieving growth and development. Owing to this principle if the developed countries abandon unfair and monopolistic control over global resources, that would pave way for sustainability on global level.


Would like to know your thoughts on how education can be leveraged to empower future leaders with values of compassion and global citizenship?

Since the last century, it has been observed that the foreign invaders ruthlessly imposed their systems of education on others. They worked to destroy, dismantle, and discredit traditional and local systems of education to establish their own expensive ones. As a result, through the established educational institutions and systems they gained soft control and moral superiority. They started controlling and moulding the young minds of these countries through education based on their ideas while detaching and severing natives from their own ideas. Hence, it is essential that thrust be laid on incorporating traditional moral values in education. The Indian family value system gives us 12 timeless principles or 12 guarantees as we identify them. A leadership that has imbibed these principles is bound to be a compassionate global citizen.


Please elaborate on the 12 timeless principles (guaranties) of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and their relevance in today’s world order.

The first and foremost is the guarantee of security. Families are meant for security. Our traditional values tell us that one must cultivate boundless care and affection towards all beings just like a mother would secure her only child with her own life. Guarantee of basic necessities; of health and of education of choice; of free growth and development; of support and guidance, of equal access to common resources; of individualism, of family bond and feelings; of protection to weak and vulnerable, of justice system; of differential duty according to capability and of mature, natural and visionary leadership are all manifestations of these traditional family values. The world today needs them.

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