Global Hunger Index: India ranks 111 out of 125 countries

"India is an agriculture based country", says Mahatma Gandhi. He is true to an extent. Even today, agriculture employees more than 50% of India's workforce. This means, remaining 50% of India's population indirectly depends on agriculture for their livelihood.

Indian Government in 1960s, introduced Green revolution, as a policy intervention. They promised Green revolution will increase the farm yields which in turn will increase the profits of farmers. They also promised that the Green revolution will make India free from hunger due to high production. Many, influencers, even today, claim and think that Green revolutions has made our lives better.

But, farmer suicide has been a matter of discussion since 1970's. Data shows that farmer suicide reached its peak during past decade. On average, for every half an hour a farmer somewhere in India commits suicide. This is primarily due to the inability to repay the farm loans.

After the inception of free markets in India in 1991, farm input costs such as fertilisers, seeds, labour cost etc.. has increased many folds. But, the price of farm outputs like vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses remained almost constant in all these years. This had pushed farmers into debt followed by farmers killing themselves when their crops fail.

This clearly shows Green revolution has not helped farmers in anyway rather pushed them in irrevocable debt. But is hunger eradicated from India? Let us see.

Recently, Global Hunger index report ranked India 111th among 125 Countries surveyed for hunger. The report also says that there is serious and alarming level of hunger in India. India's rank was lower than its neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The Global Hunger Index is a peer reviewed report prepared annually from 2006. It presents a multidimensional measure of national, regional, and global hunger by assigning a numerical score based on several aspects of hunger. Global hunger index(GHI), is one of the most respected reports that helps experts, policy makers and people to identify and work on the solutions for hunger problems.

Four factors are taken into account for calculating the GHI scores are, undernourishment, child stunning, child mortality and child wasting.

Under-nutrition occurs when an organism gets too few nutritions, adversely affecting the body's tissues and forming resulting in serious health problems. More than one third of the world's malnourished children live in India. Malnutrition include obese (excess nutrition) and under-nutrition.

Human body needs a specific quantity of essential nutrition for normal day to day functioning. Some essential nutrition are carbohydrates, fats, Proteins, Vitamins and Minerals. Any deficiency in these nutrition will result in under-nutrition. 

The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the 'highest' in the world and is nearly double that of Sub Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, Subsahara, or Non-Mediterranean Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara.

Underweight is defined as low weight-for-age. A child who is underweight may be stunted, wasted or both. Stunting is defined as low height-for-age. Stunting prevents children from reaching their physical and cognitive potential.This results in permanent disability of their cognitive functioning.

The GHI Report also states that India has highest rate of Child wasting of children in the world at 18.7%. Wasting is defined as low weight-for-height. Wasting in children is associated with a higher risk of death. These are generally the result of chronic or recurrent under-nutrition, associated with poor maternal health and nutrition. It usually occurs when a person has not had food of adequate quality and quantity. Wasting usually reflects acute under-nutrition. 

Compared with their better-fed peers, nutrition-deficient(under-nutrition) individuals are more likely to have infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis, which lead to a higher mortality rate. Besides, nutrition-deficient individuals are less productive at work. Low productivity not only gives them low pay that traps them in a vicious circle of under-nutrition, but also brings inefficiency to the society, especially in India where labour is a major input factor for economic production.

Thinkers also raise doubts about how a democracy will function with half of its population under poverished?

India is trying to project itself as a world leader in G20. But, 50% of its population, its farmers, who produce food are finding it very difficult to meet their livelihood and are pushed to sucide. On the other hand, India has one of highest number of children living in serious hunger. Such a paradox needs to be addressed individually, politically, ethically and spritually.

Its time for a Silent Reflection.

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The Author, Selva karthik is an traditional rice seed conserver and organic farmer, at Dr.Richhariya in-situ Rice Seed Centre.