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| India fails to tackle hunger | | New figures cast shadow over economic growth claims | |
Sunita Vakil
With 230 million undernourished, India accounts for 27% of the global total. This speaks poorly for an aspiring superpower.
It is shocking to know that more than 230 million people in India are undernourished-highest for any country in the world- according to the Report brought out by the United Nations World Food Programme which has rated India 94th in the global hunger index of 119 countries. This constitutes 27% of the global total and appears as a glaring irony given the fact that the country has joined the league of hottest growth economies. At the same time, the report presents an acutely embrassing picture of infant and child health in India by saying that malnutriton accounts for nearly 50% of child deaths. Although Indian economy has grown steadily over the last two decades, it would appear that a child's hope of survival has not risen dramatically. The situation appears to be worst in the country where 1.5 million children are at risk of becoming malnourished because of rising global food prices, as indicated by the latest report on the state of food insecurity in rural India. It is therefore, shameful for our relatively superior economy to be seen ranked below the sub Saharan Africa when it comes to fighting hunger. 43% of children in India are under weight compared to the global proportion of 25% and 28% sub Saharan Africa. These are not figures that sit well with the nation galloping along a great economic trafectory.
Indeed,the report is bound to take the hype out of UPA's talk of inclusive growth. The awful truth is that economic progress has not helped salvage the lot of the poor. More importantly, it has failed to tackle hunger and improve malnutrition levels. This reflects poorly on India which has otherwise progressed much. Despite the hype of superpower mania, the reality of India's penury striken population, where some 300 million battle to survive beneath the poverty line, is quite different.
It needs no reiteration that the most neglected forms of human deprivation is malnutrition, particularly among children. Evidence suggests that compared with the risks facing a well nourished child, the risk of death from common childhood diseases is doubled for a mildly malnourished chilled, trippled for a moderately malnourished child and may be as high as eight times for a severely malnourished child and maybe as high as 8 times for a severely malnourished child. The recent UN report draws attention to the worsening crisis of malnutrition among Indian children. With malnutrition accounting for nearly 50% of child deaths, India's progress in reducing the same has been much worse than the record of other countries with comparable socio-economic indicators. And,this despite the fact the India has had the integrated child development programme running for 30 years.
Malnutrition is a medical condition caused by an improper and inadequate diet and nutrition. The WHO defines malnutrition as "the cellular imbalance between supply of nutrients and energy and the bodies demand for them to ensure growth, maintainance and specific functons. "According to the WHO hunger and malnutrition are the single gravest threats to the world's public health and by far the greatest contributor to child morality, present in half of the cases : children who are already undernourished suffer from protein energy malnutrition when rapid growth, infection or disease increases the need for proteins and essential nutritions. Poorly nourished children have weak immune systems which increases their chances of illness. In India with the highest percentage of underweight children in the world the situation is dire. Every second child in the country is stunted due to lack of vital micro-nutrients and protein. Malnutrition intensifies the effect of every disease: sapped of energy and weakened by persistant illness, millions of children become susceptible to even minor infections. And pneumonia and diarrhoea are still the biggest killers. Underweight children have an increased risk of Oesteoporosis besides heart and other organ problems. If not treated properly, malnutrition may cause physical and mental disabality, in addition to proving fatal. Having said that, besides having negative consequences of morbidity, mortality and congitive development malnutrition can also have severe long term impact on individual educational achievemnts, labour productivity and economic growth of the nation. That the government is crowing over high economic growth when it has turned it's face away from the millions of children who continue to remain hungry, malnourished and sick in our country, is a matter of shame.
Why are the levels of child malnutrition so high in India? Some argue that povery and lack of food are major underlying causes of child malnutrition. However, this is not entirely true. The answer lies in looking beyond economic expansion, conventional poverty and food availability. In India child malnutrition is mostly the result of reduced intake of essential malnutritients in the diet. Figures in the latest report also show that 70% of Indian children(under 5) suffer from anemia and over 80% of them do not get vitamin suppliments. The report further notices that the proportion of anemic children has infact increased by 6% in the past 6 years with 11 out of 19 states having more than 80% of it's children suffering from anemia. So the solution lies not in just making adequate food available to our children but also ensuring that they are assured a right mix of vitamins and minerals in their diet as well. Though the national nutrition policy which recomends fortification of food with micro-nutrients as the cheepest measure of fighting child malnutrition has been running for over a decade, but the response of the government nutrition schemes so far has been skewed towards food based interventions. Clearly, these deficiencies remain a significant cause of morbidity in India.
Inda's high levels of child malnutrition as well as it's inefficiency to tackle hunger reflects the government's administrative failure to translate a booming economy into a better quality of life for its people.
No doubt, there are a myraid of polices for the welfare of the underprivileged but the proof of the pudding lies in its implementation and that is where we have fallen so woefully short. That the incidence of undernourishment among children is alarmingly high for India at 43% is a clear proof that the current policy response to this crisis is skewed and inadequate.
Though India has entered its seventh decade as a sovereign nation, we need to pass and think how far we have really come as a nation when a large proportion of its citizens continued to be tormented by hunger and malnutrition. How serious are we in making sure that our deprived population is provided atleast the basic necessities and our children have atleast the minimum nutrition and basic healthcare so that they have a fighting chance of survival? It needs no emphasis that such dismaying indicators reflect the lack of political will and good governance. Indeed, such serious issues are merely mentioned during election time and that too to berate political opponents with.
The report also raises questions about the efficiency in implementation of the government schemes like the much touted Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS). "Apart from failing to serve the intended goal of reduction of food subsidies, the TPDS also leads to greater food insecurity for large section of poor and near poor, "the report said. Sadly enough, the UPA government has been bedeviled by corruption in the delivery of such schemes. This has compounded matter further.
To be sure, these are many schemes in place to eradicate malnutrition and adresses the problem of endemic hunger. But are such measures enough? With 27% of world's malnourished population living in India and 50% of our children dying of malnutrition, we need to step up our efforts on a war footing. We have no time to waste.
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