With studies suggesting that nearly nine tonnes of food is wasted every year in each wedding hall in the city, and with organisers pushing the boundaries of lavishness, can there be regulation to curb extravagant weddings?
The proposal to regulate weddings and other functions in the State has been debated for long, but little action has been taken. In 2015, a private member Bill, Karnataka State Marriages (registration and miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2015, was introduced in the hope of imposing a tax on extravagant weddings.
Recently, Food and Civil Supplies Minister U.T. Khader said the government was considering a policy to curb food wastage and to redistribute it among the poor.
The legislation and policy are yet to fructify.
Awareness
While laws are scarcely enforced and questions of civil liberties prop up, activists believe there needs to be emphasis on awareness of food wastage in the first place. “There must be awareness among people before making laws on it. Laws will be futile otherwise,” said N.K. Mohan Kumar from Kushalanagar, Kodagu, who was instrumental in the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat passing a resolution in 2012 to curb food wastage.
Having campaigned against food wastage for over 15 years, he believes the habit of not wasting food should be inculcated from childhood itself.
Dwarakanath P.V., cabinet member of Lions Club, wants the campaign against food wastage to be on a par with the initiative to save water. He wants government aid in the form of cold storage to prevent spoilage of food taken from wedding halls.
It was only in times of dire food shortage that wastage in weddings is kept in check. The 1960s saw the introduction of the Guest Control Act that limits the number of guests at a function.
G.K. Karanth, ICSSR National Fellow at Jain University, wants this Act to be enforced. “It was introduced because of famine and wars. Whether or not we live in times of food shortage, concerns over waste handling warrant stricter enforcement,” he said.