By Arujan Sivasothilingam
Contributing Author
Did you know according to the FAQ 189.2 million people are undernourished in India, which is a staggering 14% of the Indian citizens? 20% of children under 5 years old are undernourished. 34.7% of children under 5 years of age are stunted while 51.4% women in the reproductive age (15-49 years) are anemic. Facing these facts gives a better understanding of the desperate hunger situation India is in right now. In the last five years, India has become one the largest undernourished places in the world. With its rising population, food production is struggling to keep pace. It is important for governments to find ways to help change the outlook of this country. Donating money and helping Indians can help reduce this severe issue.
India is a country that is striving in its economy, being one of the fastest-growing in the world. However, among the country's 1.2 billion people, many of the people live in dangerous living conditions. These terrible conditions can be compared to the poorest countries in the world. India is desperate to meet its nutrition goals with the country currently not on track to achieve any of the World Health Organization’s nine nutrition goals by 2025. India is struggling with its stunted children with the country being home to 30.9%, the largest amount in the world.
Widespread poverty, hunger, rapid population growth, pockets of weak governance, poor health systems, and unreliable national indicators are all reasons why many of the Indians are so malnourished all of whom are still pressed with issues of caste, ethnicity, religion, and gender.
Many changes have begun in this aspect like in 2019, an organization developed numerous projects focusing on nutrition, food security, water, sanitation, and hygiene. This organization helped over 6000 children that year alone and provided them with the correct food supply.
One of the many anchors in this shift and helping undernourished Indians is the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With the program serving, 21.25 percent of the population lives on less than US$1.90 a day. Since 1963, WFP has been working on improving the efficiency, accountability, and transparency of India’s own subsidized food distribution system, which brings supplies of wheat, rice, and sugar. The WFP is also helping by collectively working with the Indian government to reach the people that need it most.
This crisis has prioritized putting relief directly into the hands of vulnerable people.
Solutions must address both immediate food insecurity and provide livelihood opportunities to break the cycle of hunger and poverty. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), nearly 40% of the food produced in India is lost due to the government's inability to supply the chains of food throughout the country.
If this situation continues to occur the question arises: what plan and steps are needed to fix the problem being faced by the many undernourished Indians?
Bibliography
Andrea Biswas , Cecilia Tortajada Senior Research Fellow. (2021, July 13). How COVID-19 worsens hunger in India, the world's largest food basket. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-covid-19-worsens-hunger-in-india-the-worlds-largest-food-basket-142300.
India FoodBanking Network. (n.d.). Hunger in India. Hunger in India | India FoodBanking Network. https://www.indiafoodbanking.org/hunger.
Action Against Hunger. (2021, March 22). India: Hunger relief in Asia. India. https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/asia/india.
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in the blog posts are those of the contributing author. Rising Sun Food Drive Foundation makes every effort to provide space for young people to advocate and voice their thoughts, research, opinions and ideas that are inspired by our mission but may not reflect on the organization's services and operations.
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