While going on with this article, I fondly remembered that we used to receive books as our Birthday Gifts! When I first knew about the UN, it was through a book of General Knowledge that I had received from my mother. Later, I came be aware of the fact how Natural and Social Disasters, and Hunger accelerate one another! There, I had the information as well, as to how the UN deals with hunger through its World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP has recently been awarded with the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its relentless fight against hunger and efforts to ensure peace, worldwide!

The year 2020 was different, as the COVID-19 triggered a deadly Pandemic across the Globe. It has not only claimed 1.7 million lives, but has also made few millions jobless! In such a situation prevailing, dealing with the food crisis has got a new dimension.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic, the WFP used to provide nutritious food to about 100 million people in 88 countries through 5,600 trucks, 100 flights and 30 ships. This large activity got a special status during the Pandemic, as all the countries suspended their flight services as a part of the Lockdown. Only WFP aircraft were fully operational at that time. During this tough period of time, Voluntary Organisations around the world became much dependent on WFP Flights. In the first few months of the Pandemic, the WFP’s 1,500 special flight services helped 25,782 volunteers from various organisations reach 68 destinations. In addition to it, WFP’s cargo service has been able to deliver medical supplies to 171 nations.

Nearly 150 million people, worldwide, were living sans adequate food before the COVID-19 outbreak, and now, the number has reached 270 million! By the end of 2020, the responsibilities of the WFP increased manifold. Currently, it is trying to help Governments reopen the schools so that 70 million pupils could resume their studies.

The Nobel Committee deserves praise for honouring the WFP with the Peace Prize…

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das