'Serious' Hunger and Child Malnutrition in India

By Shakir Husain Bernama's correspondent in New Delhi Shakir Husain shares his take on the happenings in India. NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Major economic indicators show that India is one of the world's largest and fastest growing countries. But when human development factors are considered, a depressing picture emerges. According to the 2018 Global Hunger Index published recently, hunger levels in India were "serious" and it is ranked 103 out of 119 countries, dropping three places from last year. Most of India's neighbours ranked better with China at number 25, Sri Lanka 67, Myanmar 68, Nepal 72 and Bangladesh 86. Pakistan was ranked worse at the 106th spot. Worrying findings came to light in what is defined as "child wasting”, or the state of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height because of acute undernutrition. India recorded South Asia's highest level of child hunger at 21 per cent. The hunger index published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, however, noted that India reduced its child mortality rate from 9.2 per cent in 2000 to 4.3 per cent in 2018 and child stunting fell from 54.2 per cent to 38.4 per cent. As per India's own National Family Health Survey, the country has one-third of total stunted children across the globe. The serious hunger level is far removed from the staggering numbers of economic achievement that come from national institutions as well as from global agencies such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. India's US$2.5 trillion economy was the sixth largest globally last year and is expected to double in size by 2025. The country is also expected to become the world's third largest consumer market at that time. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says India has the financial and human resources "to scale up an inspirational national response" to address the challenge of child undernutrition. It does beggar belief that high levels of hunger exist in one of the world's major food-exporting country. According to India's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, rice exports exceeded US$5.7 billion and meat exports were about US$4 billion during the 2016-2017 fiscal year (April-March). In volume terms, India's buffalo meat exports in the year ended March 31, 2018, amounted to 1.35 million tonnes and rice exports 12.7 million tonnes. Other than meat and rice, India is also a major exporter of items such as sugar, cereals, fruits and vegetables. Yet food security is a major concern for a huge number of people in the second most populous nation in the world. With India's rural economy showing more stress in recent years, the issue of access to food may turn gloomier. The government has various national initiatives to address problems related to food security among its disadvantaged population groups. About 800 million people have been identified for coverage under the National Food Security Act 2013, which provides for making available subsidised basic food items such as coarse grains, wheat and rice to 75 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population.             -- BERNAMA