India more famished than Pak
A GOVERNMENT body had revealed in August that 836 million Indians, or 77 per cent of the population, live on Rs 20 per day. Two months later, another disturbing fact has surfaced - millions of Indians go to bed hungry every night.
The latest report of the Global Hunger Index 2007 from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has ranked India 94th - well behind neighbouring China and Pakistan - in its overall list.
Worse, while much is being made out of India being a young country, the report said that 40 per cent of the world's underweight children below five years live in India while more than half of all children with low birth weight are born in South Asia. The report said that though India has improved its score of 25.03 on the index compared to 33.73 in 1990, it is lagging behind China and Pakistan ranked at 47 and 88 respectively, in the list of 118 countries. The index is primarily based on a comparison of the undernourished out of the total population of a country and prevalence of underweight children below five years.
The report published by the Natonal Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) in August had come out with similar findings. The NCEUS report had stated that "agricultural labourers are among the most marginalized group among the rural poor, at the lowest rung of poverty levels."
On malnutrition in the South Asia region, the IFPRI report said that: "in some parts of India, for instance, male family members eat first and women make do with the leftovers. This results in children of undernourished and anaemic mothers to have a higher risk of being born underweight."
Cuba has made the maximum progress in eradicating hunger with a score of 0.971 on the Global Hunger Index Progress Indicator and has already reduced to 2.20 on the index in 2007 compared to 5.90 in 1990. Libya is at the top of the list with a score of 0.87 this year.
October 15, 2007, Hindustan Times |
