Deploy armed forces to deliver food to millions of poor: Admiral Ramdas to PM

Former Navy Chief Admiral L Ramdas has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deploy the armed forces to deliver food to millions of migrant workers and poor people across the country, saying the government must help them in their battle for survival under "unprecedented" circumstances.

Ramdas said India is faced with the twin challenge of the coronavirus as well as adverse affects of "global economic pandemic" resulting severe hardships to marginalised section of the society, and immediate action should be taken to help them.

After India went under a 21-day lockdown, hundreds of migrant workers, without food and shelter, were seen taking journeys for hundreds of kilometres on foot in various parts of the country.

"India faces an unprecedented challenge - the likes of which the country has not witnessed since Partition in 1947. We are facing a pandemic because of the coronavirus. In addition we are facing what many are terming as global economic pandemic," Ramdas said in a letter to Modi.

Appreciating the prime minister's efforts to deal with the situation, the former Navy Chief, at the same time, said the 21-day lockdown is causing a huge disruption and loss of jobs to large numbers of people.

He said people who are rushing home are causing violations of the lockdown.

"This calls for urgent action to address the food requirements of millions who are either forced to travel, or failing which, since all public transport is also shut down, have to find both food and shelter wherever they are," said Ramdas.

"It is also essential to ensure that lack of access to food does not allow more numbers to be vulnerable by lowered immunity because of lack of nutrition at this critical juncture," he added.

In the letter, Ramdas said the armed forces should be deployed to facilitate delivery of food to the poor as the services have their units at various places right across the country.

"I am sure the Chief of Defence Staff and his colleagues in the Army, Navy and Air Force would only be too happy to organise and provide food through special kitchens which they can set up and run near their current locations," he said.

He said the food stocks can be directly indented from the district collectors of the districts in which the Armed Forces get deployed.

"This will ensure that large numbers of our people will not have to either physically travel distances in search of food nor go to bed hungry," he added.

"Unprecedented situations call for unprecedented measures and this suggestion may be treated solely in this spirit," said the former Navy chief.