Something worth dreaming about. Worth chersihing, worth relishing. But it seems impossible, improbable to materialise even in the distant future.
Keeping desires or hopes for a better tomorrow than the present one is always good, worth emulating. Flames of hope everyone must keep close to his/her mind. Whenever these flames or sparks die down one mulls ending his/her life sometimes reel under depression or frustrations often taking refuge in mental asylums.
Tomorrow, Monday 20th September, the second Summit to be attended by more than 140 nations across the world under the auspices of United Nations begins to discuss and to find out solutions for the biggest threat the world faces as part of the Millenium Development Goals in NewYork, USA. Adherents of divergent views and outlooks including nations like US and Iran who are at loggerheads on nuclear issue converge there. Yes, poverty transcends national barriers and hence it always remains topic of discussions across the nations. It remains a perennial headache to almost all of them including developed, developing and least developed nations in the face of various threats in the form of terrorism, wars, ehtnic clashes, conflicts, communalism, xenophobia, all are one in striving to lessen the number of poverty-stricken citizens in their respective countries. In addition to it many other poverty related subjects like malnutrition, particularly affecting under five year old, health, education, empowerment of women - all are believed to come up for heated discussions among the participants.
In 2009 the number of poverty-stricken people around the world was estimated to be 1.2 billion. A minor decrease of 1.2 percent brought down the numbers to 924 million as per FAO (Food & Agricultural Organization) reports, owing to good monsoons, resulting in bumber harvest around the world in 2010. But in 2011 the numbers once again are feared to go up due to a massive drought in Russia, a massive flood in Pakistan devastating a large area under cultivation. Lack of good monsoon, massive droughts, devastating floods across the world the climate continues to remain volatile hence apprehensions always haunt all especially agriculturists like the proverbial sword of Democles. Nature ventilates its fury depending upon its whims and fancies causing large-scale destruction as a result of exploiting it since decades by vested interests ignoring the shape of things to come or all that waiting to be in the wings. Ecological plunder is a bane of our times causing unexpected floods, droughts, rising sea-levels threatening the very existence of countries like Mauritius and if we are threatened with such hardships sit and ponder over the fate awaiting Generation X. Besides all these facts keeping a deaf ear to the cries for disaster management adds to the woes. Poverty and climate change are always inter-related.
Heated discussions and also debates are certain to surface in the course of the summit especially at a moment the US, world's most developed country and the European community remaining in the grip of recession and the developing nations and least developed nations demanding generous international aid and other aid agencies. Ban-Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General will have a tough time persuading all parties to reach a consensus on the most sensitive matters like poverty and nuclear issue and I don't know whether under pressure from the big brother US, he is going to be forced to discover or arrive at a face-saving device like the one he arrived at the historic Copenhagen - Denmark Summit 2009 which was a 'historic failure'. The only difference being the Copenhagen summit was on Climate Change and on the present one relating to poverty. Is it possbile to halve the number of poverty-stricken by 2015. Let's dream so. Let's hope so.
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