India produced 291.95 Million Tonnes of food grains in 2019-20. Yet, 69% of the deaths of children under the age of 5 have been attributed to malnutrition by UNICEF in State of World’s Children report. Global Hunger Index ranked India at 102nd position out of 117, the lowest in South Asia. World Bank’s Human Capital Index scored India at 0.44. This means that today’s Indian child will only reach 44% of her potential when she becomes an adult. This was also primarily because of the state of nutrition in India.
What explains this dichotomy? While India was growing economically at an appreciable pace, the progress in eliminating hunger did not. On World Hunger Day, let’s reflect on the factors for this malaise and ways to address it, especially because COVID-19 exacerbates the hunger crisis.
No comments:
Post a Comment