According to the Global Hunger Index 2020, India ranks 94th among 107 countries, in terms of hunger and continues to be in the “severe” hunger category. This index is also an indicator of the poor human development of the country. Now, India is behind most of its south-Asian neighbours, including Bangladesh. Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan ranked 75, 78, 88 respectively, are also in the same category but are above India. Nepal ranked 73rd and Srilanka 64th are better off and are in “moderate” hunger category.
Many factors contribute to India’s “severe” hunger and the other hand the collective net worth of half of nation’s 100 richest people on 2020 Forbes India Rich list saw a rise of 14%. Sensex, an Index Of 30 companies actively trading on Bombay Stock Exchange, used to observe “the overall growth, Development Of particular industries, ups and downs of the Indian Economy closed at 38,673 points on March 31st 2018. One needs to consider all these, along with data released with the National Statistical Office, which shows that the Economic growth slumped to 11year low of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20. One school of thought holds that the rise in wealth-despite Corona -inflicted downturn-was partly due to the cut in corporate taxes from 35% to 25% last year. If you see the GHI, India is just better than Afghanistan among all south-Asian neighbours. Instead Of concentrating on religion, etc. Our policymakers need to wake to the reality of the situation and adopt a convergent approach to tackle this problem faced by our country.
The problem of hunger both in urban and rural areas should be tackled differently, as numerous factors contribute to this” severe” hunger status. There is a lack of stable employment, due to frequent migration, many have not registered with the system and hence do not receive the required benefits, not to forget the poor public distribution system. It’s advisable to have an autonomous PDS based on community-led procurement and storage. There is also a need to hold negotiations between centre and states on food and nutrition security measures and India needs to reevaluate its economic reform strategy and consider course correction to feed the hungry and create opportunities for gainful employment.
