GS1 (Poverty and developmental issues)
While India dreams of campaigns like Digital India on one hand, the data released by Global Hunger Index India’ s findings reflect a cause for serious concern. Discuss the findings of the report and analyse the causes. On which issues does India need to focus in such a situation?
Best answer
Nitish Singh wrote the best answer for this question and got a score of 4.5/10 (if the best answer is an image, it cannot be uploaded here, hence scroll down to see those). The answer is being reproduced below for everyone’s convenience. Of course these answers can always be improved. (Best answer of a particular only involves those given on that day, later answers may not have been checked)
The new Global Hunger Report released by IFPRI showed that India suffers from the menace of acute hunger with about 15% and 39% of the population being “under-nourished” and “under-5-stunted” respectively. Except for Pakistan, India scores severely bad among its neighbors, with a global ranking of 97 among 118 developing nations.
The following can be regarded as the causes for this hunger :
a) Social : Low status of women in the house. Because of this many women are denied education, and hence don’t have the awareness level to give proper nourishment to her child, who goes on to become undernourished.
b) Economic : Low purchasing power of the house, no family planning and sole earning members on which the whole family depends. Hence low amount of food left for individual’s consumption. Stunted growth among children as family cannot afford nutritious supplements.
c) Political : Lack of political will. Politicians awaken only during elections, many states still don’t consider implementing National Food security act.
d) Prevailing corruption : In PDS, leakages, ghost beneficiaries and channeling of benefits to wrong routes.
e)Institutional : Problems in bufferstocks, grains rot while people die.
f)Cultural : Muslim Communities -> No to Immunization (with certain beliefs) > Immunization is a part of Holistic Development of Children > Malnourished.
Approach to be adopted :
a) Empowering women, educating them,providing them jobs, increasing family income hence.
b) Better implementation of schemes like NFSM, increasing efficiency of PDS.
c) Bio-fortification of food to make them nutritious rich (Vitamin A rich Rice, Zinc rich Bajra, Iron rich Ragi which serve the nutrition needs of the women and children)
d) Including nutritious food like egg, apple a day under Mid Day meals.
Way forward : Keeping Sustainable Development Goal of eradication acute hunger and keeping in mind the need for an able manforce in the coming times, time is ripe to make sure children of today become capable enough to be the future of tomorrow.
