The looming threat

India should have been better prepared for the locust invasion

The way the locust menace is exacerbating and spreading to newer areas clearly indicates that the country is fighting a losing battle against this winged invasion. Though, unlike Covid-19, this calamity did not strike suddenly or without prior intimation, the infrastructure and wherewithal needed to cope with the catastrophe was not put in place. Locust swarms, big and small, have been raiding the northwestern border areas along Pakistan since December before acquiring perilous dimensions from May onwards. The locust monitoring wing of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which keeps track of the breeding and movement of locusts,