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Mahesh

16/10/24 10:27 AM IST

Hunger free India

In News
  • India has been ranked 105th out of 127 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2024, placing it in the "serious" category for hunger levels.
Lack of purchasing capacity
  • The global hunger assessment based on the prevalence of undernourishment shows a continuing lack of progress towards the goal of zero hunger.
  • The global magnitude of the undernourished has risen to 9.4%, or 757 million people as of 2023.
  • It is disproportionate in the African region with 20.4% facing hunger. In comparison, 8.1% in Asia, 6.2% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 7.3% in Oceania are undernourished.
  • However, in real counts, Asia is home to the largest magnitude of those who are hungry — 384.5 million — as compared with 298.4 million in Africa.
  • The projected trends too are more disappointing in the sense that by the end of this decade, i.e., 2030, half of the world’s hungry/undernourished will be in Africa.
  • The other distinct feature of undernourishment is its rural bias with a marginal advantage in urban and semi-urban areas.
  • The gender divide in this adversity disadvantages women over men although such a divide is narrowing. 
  • The cost of a healthy diet has risen in recent years world-wide, peaking at an average of 3.96 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day in 2022.
  • This undoubtedly varies across world regions in PPP terms, with the same being at $4.20 in Asia. 
  • Despite rising CoHD, those unable to afford a healthy diet at the global level decreased from 2.88 billion in 2021 to 2.83 billion in 2022.
  • However, in low-income countries, many still lack access to a healthy diet. This is a real threat to the dream target of zero hunger in the world by 2030.
  • A practical solution lies in regulating food prices and a reduced share of food expenditure in the total expenditure that makes healthy diets universally affordable.
  • On this count the Indian scene is examined with a focus on thalinomics that contemplates rising affordability for a nutritionally compliant meal for every Indian.
  • A recent exploration shows that the share of the rural Indian population in 2011 unable to afford the cost of a required diet (CoRD) even with 100% income spent on food would be 63.3% or 527.4 million.
  • There is a lack of improvement in food security and uneven progress in economic access to healthy diets. This is a wake-up call.
  • For this to change, there needs to be a transformation of India’s agri-food system so that it builds resilience in its major drivers and addresses inequalities, ensuring that healthy diets are available and affordable for all. 
Unhealthy diets in India
  • Diets in India are generally unhealthy and there is an imbalance in composition in relation to the EAT-Lancet reference (‘the first full scientific review of what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system’) or the recommendations by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
  • In fact, qualifying such reference diets would not be affordable for much of the low income population.
  • In South Asia, a reference diet might cost 60% of the mean daily per capita household income. The lack of affordability of healthy foods may be one of the reasons for their low consumption in India.
  • However, in the midst of subsidies and market regulation of prices of basic food such as cereals in India, low affordability may not be the sole reason for non-compliance with required food intake.
  • Evidence suggests that the richest 5% of Indian households too consume less of protein rich food against processed food.
  • This points to a lack of availability, accessibility, awareness, and acceptability being the other major causes for the poor quality of diets. 
India Hunger index
  • According to these statistics by the NSSO on the recent consumption expenditure surveys, 3.2% of the Indian population are not compliant with a minimum of 60 meals in a month, which is equal to a square meal a day.
  • In fact, more than 50% of the population are reported to have three meals a day.
  • Using the calculation of those who fall short of having two square meals a day, one arrives at the calculation of 2.5% of the population that might fall under this category.
  • In a population of 140 crore, this can be calculated as 3.5 crore, which is still a number that cannot be ignored. 
  • World Food Day this year has the theme ‘Right to foods for a better life and a better future’, which highlights the significance of a hunger-free world with the universal right to food.
  • Although a right to food campaign in India has gained sufficient momentum to ensure food security for every citizen, the ground reality reflects some failure.
  • There are situations and circumstances wherein individuals may go hungry as they do not have the means to buy food.
  • But mechanisms to provide free food by setting up food banks that evolve as a way to avoid food waste may be an ideal alternative.
  • Discouraging food waste and organising proper food collection and distribution may be a step in ensuring that no one is left hungry.
  • A nation that is proud about being self-sufficient in its food needs to qualify as being a hunger-free nation as well.
  • Food sufficient regions in the world should ensure redistribution in a humanitarian manner so that the food deficient ones are not left out. 
Source- The Hindu

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