Status of India~II
The Green Revolution made India self-sufficient in foodgrains production and a leading exporter, but it is a tragic paradox that…
The Green Revolution made India self-sufficient in foodgrains production and a leading exporter, but it is a tragic paradox that…
Food wastage is an issue of concern in both developing and developed countries. Food wastage occurs more at the retail and consumer end in developed countries. In developing countries, post-harvest and processing losses are more prominent.
The last famine in Somalia was declared just over ten years ago in 2011, which led to the death of an estimated 250,000 people.
The demand and supply construct has turned out to be a lethal cocktail of hunger, grinding poverty and manipulative distribution of foodgrain. In the net, the country is on the cusp of poverty and hunger; both have worsened in the midst of a public health catastrophe. The marginalized sections, comprising labourers and migrant workers, were by and large deprived of the government’s benefits.
Gender inequality is linked to the prevalence of undernutrition. In terms of access to food and nutrition, deep-seated intra-household inequalities and disparities divide the women from men. In India and other parts of South Asia, women will traditionally eat after the men and children have been fed. It is culturally accepted that men of the household, the customary breadwinners, are entitled to the lions share of the available food
Last year, India's rank was 102 out of 117 countries.
There is a knotty problem of defining hunger, subjectively and objectively, and differentiating it from starvation on the one hand and malnutrition on the other. Hunger literally means the physiological desire to consume food. But this subjective definition does not lead automatically to an understanding of the extent of food deprivation.
Indeed, fears have been expressed that the repercussions of Covid-19 could be deadlier than the virus itself. While coronavirus has left families in even the richest countries in hunger, it could mean starvation for the poorest, as in parts of Odisha as reports in this newspaper affirm.
Instead of binge-eating, you can try something healthy before dinner.
While the hunger is actual, the size of the economy must remain a consummation to be devoutly wished for or even just a pie in the sky amidst the slowdown.
