Coimbatore: Food adulteration, wastage of food, low pay to farmers, shrinking farm lands, consumption of genetically modified food and choosing the processed packaged food for growing children; were the issues discussed at the session on ‘Let’s Talk: The Politics of Food’ on the fourth day of the ‘Coimbatore Vizha’.
The open discussion panel was attended by Shantini Rajkumar, a food-blogger, Sreedevi, a food sovereignty activist working on the ground for the last ten years, Anil Kumar, founder of Paal, a dairy enterprise. All of them shared their thoughts on “why we do not give food the attention it needs”, shared their experience of what it takes to ensure that what people get to eat is healthy and also the politics of food, how it reaches from farmers fields to common man’s kitchen.
There was a talk on 'Netru Indru Naalai’ by an entrepreneur, a student and an author who spoke their perspectives on what Kovai was, is and will be in future.
Notable persons like city historian C.R. Ilangovan moderated the panel.
More than 50 teams participated in the ‘Coimbatore Vizha short film festival’ organized by UTV. Five movies were short-listed during the event by the jury of Viscom heads from different institutions. The selected movies will be screened during the grand finale of 'Coimbatore Vizha’ at Brookefields Mall on February 4.
‘Gramiya Kummi Kolattam’, international dance forms, traditional dance performances like bharatanatyam etc. brought vibrant joy at the Brookefields Mall. A campus tour to TNAU showcasing the innovations and research that have happened through 100 years as well as the architectural heritage of the university was also a part of the celebration. Visitors saw the paddy breeding station, orchard, dairy farm, millet farm, central farm and oldest farm of the university.
