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$site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin' $rn = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 12, 'title' => 'Hunger Overview', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">KEY TRENDS </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As per the 2019 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102) <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><strong>*13</strong></span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.6; GHI rank: 25), Nepal (GHI score: 21.2; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 20.1; GHI rank: 68), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.9; GHI rank: 67) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.1; GHI rank: 86) have outperformed India (GHI score: 31.1; GHI rank: 103). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 34.3; GHI rank: 111) have performed worse than India <strong>*12</strong></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per the 2017 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.5; GHI rank: 29), Nepal (GHI score: 22.0; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 22.6; GHI rank: 77), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 25.5; GHI rank: 84) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.5; GHI rank: 88) have outperformed the country (GHI score: 31.4; GHI rank: 100). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 33.3; GHI rank: 107) have performed worse than India <strong>*11</strong></span></span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• India ranks 97th among 118 countries in terms of 2016 Global Hunger Index. The country has improved its GHI score from 46.4 during 1992 to 38.2 during 2000, and further to 36.0 during 2008. It has a GHI score of 28.5 during 2016 <strong>*10</strong> </span><br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India ranks 80th among 117 countries during 2015 in terms of Global Hunger Index score. The country has improved its GHI score to 29 in 2015 from 38.5 in 2005. A lower number means fewer people are going hungry <strong>*9</strong><br /> <br /> • As compared to India, China's ranking is 21 (GHI score: 8.6) and Pakistan's ranking is 93 (GHI score: 33.9) in 2015 <strong>*9</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• It is estimated that the number of undernourished people in India will rise from 189.9 million in 2010-12 to 194.6 million in 2014-16 <strong>*8</strong><br /> <br /> • Although India reduced the number of undernourished people by 9.6 percent from 210.1 million during 1990-92 to 189.9 million during 2010-12, China reduced the number of undernourished people by 43.5 percent from 289 million during 1990-92 to 163.2 million during 2010-12 <strong>*8</strong><br /> <br /> • India has reduced the proportion of undernourished in the population from 23.7% in 1990-92 to 15.6% in 2010-12. During 2014-16, the proportion of undernourished in the population is estimated to be 15.2% <strong>*8</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of underweight in children fell by almost 13 percentage points between 2005–2006 and 2013–2014. India no longer ranks second-to-last in the world on underweight in children. Instead, it has moved into the 120th spot among 128 countries <strong>*7</strong><br /> <br /> • Progress in dealing with underweight helped India’s 2014 GHI score fall to 17.8. India now ranks 55th out of 76 countries, before Bangladesh and Pakistan, but still trails behind neighboring Nepal (rank 44) and Sri Lanka (rank 39) <strong>*7</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the number of people undernourished in India has declined by 9.5 percent. Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the proportion of undernourished in the total population of India has declined by 36.0 percent <strong>*6</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India and China are the major contributors of the water footprint of cereals in their respective regions. Wastage of cereals in Asia is a significant problem, with major impacts on carbon emissions and water and land use. Rice's profile is particularly noticeable, given its high methane emissions combined with a large level of wastage. FAO estimates that each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted <strong>*5</strong><br /> <br /> • For India, Stein and Qaim (2007) estimated that the combined economic cost of iron-deficiency anaemia, zinc deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and iodine deficiency amounts to around 2.5 percent of GDP. The cost to the global economy caused by malnutrition, as a result of lost productivity and direct health care costs, could account for as much as 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to US$3.5 trillion per year or US$500 per person. The costs of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are estimated at 2–3 percent of global GDP, equivalent to US$1.4–2.1 trillion per year <strong>*4</strong><br /> <br /> • The all-India percentage of households reporting getting two square meals every day throughout the year has gradually increased over the last 16 years from 94.5% in 1993-94 to about 99% in 2009-10 in rural India and from about 98% in 1993-94 to 99.6% in 2009-10 in urban India. The gap between the rural and urban percentages has narrowed appreciably <strong>*3</strong><br /> <br /> • In India, underweight prevalence rate among children aged 0-59 months declined from 64 percent in 1993 to 61 percent in 2006 among the poorest 20 percent while the same declined from 37 percent in 1993 to 25 percent in 2006 among the richest 20 percent. Therefore, a greater reduction in underweight prevalence occurred in the richest 20% of households than in the poorest 20% <strong>*2</strong><br /> <br /> • The total number of undernourished people in India stood at 240 million during 1990-1992, 224 million during 1999-2001, 238 million during 2004-06, 227 million during 2007-2009 and 217 million during 2010-2012 <strong>*1</strong><br /> <br /> • About 870 million people globally are estimated to have been undernourished (in terms of dietary energy supply) in the period 2010–12. This figure represents 12.5 percent of the global population or one in eight people <strong>*1</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>13.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2019 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change, released in October, 2019, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2019%20GHI.pdf" title="2019 GHI">click here</a> to access</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">12. </span></span></span></strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2018 Global Hunger Index: Forced Migration and Hunger, released in October 2018, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2018%20GHI%20Report.pdf">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>11.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2017 Global Hunger Index: The Inequalities of Hunger (released in October 2017), published by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide & Welthungerhilfe, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2017%20Global%20Hunger%20Index.pdf">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>10.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2016 Global Hunger Index: Getting to Zero Hunger (released in October 2016), produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH), please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/GHI%202016.pdf" title="GHI 2016 IFPRI">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>9.</strong> 2015 Global Hunger Index: Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger (released in October 2015), produced by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and World Peace Foundation/ Tufts University,<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> please <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/2015-global-hunger-index-armed-conflict-and-challenge-hunger">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>8. </strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 (released in May 2015), FAO, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202015.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015">click here</a> to access</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>7.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">Global Hunger Index 2014: The Challenge of Hidden Hunger, prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/ghi14.pdf" title="GHI2014">click here</a> to download</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>6. </strong>The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition, FAO, WFP and IFAD, <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202014.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014">click here</a> to download</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>5.</strong> FAO report: <a href="tinymce/uploaded/FAO%20report%20on%20food%20wastage.pdf">Food Wastage Footprints</a>: Impacts on Natural Resources (2013)<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>4.</strong> FAO report: The State of Food and Agriculture 2013-Food Systems for Better Nutrition, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf </a></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>3.</strong> NSS 66th Round Report titled: Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households (February, 2013) July 2009-June 2010, MoSPI, GoI, <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf">http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf</a><br /> <br /> <strong>2.</strong> 2013 Hunger Report-Within Reach Global Development Goals (2012), published by Bread for the World Institute, <a href="http://www.bread.org/institute/">http://www.bread.org/institute/</a><br /> <br /> <strong>1.</strong> The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012, FAO, WFP, IFAD,<br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf</a> <br /> <br /> <em> </em></p> <div style="text-align:justify">OVERVIEW</div> <p style="text-align:justify">Liberalisation has brought handsome gains for India’s middle classes. Life is good and getting better; more and more people are holidaying abroad; buying of vehicles or property has never been easier. Slimming and low calorie diets are a rage. There has also been spectacular rise in social and economic inequalities but the per capita food availability and the calorie intake of the desperately poor people have both fallen since liberalisation. The situation has only worsened in the past two years with the prices of food grain, pulses and vegetables hitting the roof. India continues to be home to one third of the world’s underweight children.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Unlike the last centuries, the incidence of widespread hunger is unpardonable in today’s world, partly because of the global availability of food being a whole lot more than the mankind’s requirement, and partly because easy global connectivity has made it possible to address food emergencies very quickly. However, what has not changed through the ages is the lack of policies targeted specifically at eradicating hunger or at augmenting incomes at the lowest levels.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">India has passed the <a href="https://im4change.org/empowerment/right-to-food-59.html?pgno=2#national-food-security-act-2013">National Food Security Act</a> (NFSA), which aims to fight hunger and extreme poverty. It seeks to make the families below the poverty line (BPL) entitled to 25 kg of wheat or rice at Rs 3 per kg. The law is clearly, and laudably, aimed at addressing hunger through policy intervention. In a way the right to life has always been meaningless in the absence of a right to food but then causing death through faulty state policies has never been a cognizable offence anywhere in the world. Maybe the time has come now to think on those lines. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">As per the report titled [inside]2022 Global Hunger Index: Food Systems Transformation and Local Governance' (released in October 2022)[/inside], which has been produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly (please click <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/2022%20Global%20Hunger%20report.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2022, India ranks <a href="http://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">107th among 121 countries</a> in terms of the Global Hunger Index (GHI).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As per the 2022 Global Hunger report, the <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20change%20over%20time%20India%20and%20others.png">GHI scores for India</a> were 38.8 in 2000, 36.3 in 2007, 28.2 in 2014, and 29.1 in 2022. India's GHI score of 29.1 in 2022 falls in the serious range of the GHI Severity Scale.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For India, the absolute change in GHI score since 2014 was <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20change%20over%20time%20India%20and%20others.png">0.9 points</a> and the percentage change in the same since 2014 was <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20change%20over%20time%20India%20and%20others.png">3.2 percent</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s <a href="/upload/files/Child%20wasting%202017%20to%202021.png">child wasting rate, at 19.3 percent</a>, is the highest of any country in the world and drives up the South Asia region’s average owing to India’s large population. The child wasting rates are also very high in Sudan, Yemen, and Sri Lanka. India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan each have child stunting rates between 35 and 38 percent, with Afghanistan’s rate being the highest in the South Asia region. Stunting disparities between districts or counties were particularly pronounced in Honduras, India, Nigeria, and Viet Nam. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The example of India shows the importance of considering the subnational context when designing programs and policies to target child stunting. Researchers investigated the factors that contributed to a decline in stunting in four Indian states between 2006 and 2016: Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. They found that stunting fell mainly in response to improvements in the coverage of health and nutrition interventions, household conditions (such as socio-economic status and food security), and maternal factors (such as mothers’ health and education). While improvements in household conditions were the most important factor for each of the four states, the second most important factor varies by state. As the authors conclude, this variability across states “indicates the need for contextualized policy and programmatic initiatives to help focus the efforts in the sectors that need the most attention for continued decline in stunting” (Avula et al. 2022, 10).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For the <a href="http://im4change.org/upload/files/2022%20Global%20Hunger%20report.pdf">2022 GHI report</a>, data were assessed for 136 countries. Out of these, there were sufficient data to calculate 2022 GHI scores for and rank 121 countries (by way of comparison, 116 countries were ranked in the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">2021 report</a>).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20ranking%20and%20scores%20for%20India.png">Neighbouring countries</a> such as China (GHI score < 5.0; GHI rank: Collectively ranked 1–17 out of 121 countries), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 13.6; GHI rank: 64), Myanmar (GHI score: 15.6; GHI rank: 71), Nepal (GHI score: 19.1; GHI rank: 81), Bangladesh (GHI score: 19.6; GHI rank: 84), and Pakistan (GHI score: 26.1; GHI rank: 99) have outperformed India (GHI score: 29.1; GHI rank: 107 out of 121 countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The 17 countries (including China) with 2022 GHI scores of less than 5 are not assigned individual ranks, but rather are collectively ranked 1–17. Differences between their scores are minimal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Countries that have identical 2022 scores are given the same ranking (for example, Costa Rica and United Arab Emirates are both ranked 18th). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In comparison to <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20in%20India%20South%20Asia%20and%20World.png">India's GHI score of 29.1</a> in 2022, GHI's score for the <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20in%20India%20South%20Asia%20and%20World.png">world was 18.2</a>, for <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20in%20India%20South%20Asia%20and%20World.png">South Asia was 27.4</a> and for East and Southeast Asia was 8.2.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">proportion of undernourished</a> in the population <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">for India</a> was 18.4 percent during 2000, 17.5 percent during 2007, 14.8 percent during 2014 and 16.3 percent during 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">proportion of children</a> under the age of five <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">who are wasted</a> (i.e., too thin for height) for India was 17.1 percent during 2000, 20.0 percent during 2007, 15.1 percent during 2014 and 19.3 percent during 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">proportion of children</a> under the age of five <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">who are stunted</a> (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 2000, 47.8 percent during 2007, 38.7 percent during 2014 and 35.5 percent during 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">under-five mortality rate for India</a> was 9.2 percent in 2000, 6.8 percent in 2007, 4.6 percent in 2014 and 3.3 percent in 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Kindly note that the data for GHI scores, child stunting, and child wasting are from 1998–2002 (2000), 2005–2009 (2007), 2012–2016 (2014), and 2017–2021 (2022). Data for undernourishment are from 2000–2002 (2000), 2006–2008 (2007), 2013–2015 (2014), and 2019–2021 (2022). Data for child mortality are from 2000, 2007, 2014, and 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,</p> <p style="text-align:justify">- Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">click here</a> to access the formula for the calculation of the GHI scores. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. In the case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI scores <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">are comparable within each year’s report</a>, but <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">not between different years’ reports</a>. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may partly or fully reflect a data revision. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Moreover, the <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">methodology</a> for calculating GHI scores has been revised in the past and may be revised again in the future. In 2015, for example, the GHI methodology was changed to include data on child stunting and wasting and to standardize the values (see Wiesmann et al. 2015). This change caused a major shift in the GHI scores, and the GHI Severity of Hunger Scale was modified to reflect this shift. In the GHI reports published since 2015, almost all countries have had much higher GHI scores compared with their scores in reports published in 2014 and earlier. This does not necessarily mean their hunger levels rose in 2015—the higher scores merely reflect the revision of the methodology. The 2000, 2007, 2014, and 2022 GHI scores shown in this year’s report are all comparable because they all reflect the revised methodology and the latest revisions of data.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Like the GHI scores and indicator values, <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">GHI rankings cannot be compared</a> <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">between GHI reports</a>, for two main reasons. First, the data and methodology used to calculate GHI scores have been revised over time, as described above. Second, the ranking in each year’s report often includes different countries because the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. Thus, if a country’s ranking changes from one report to the next, this may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• To track a country’s GHI performance over time, each report includes GHI scores and indicator data for three reference years. In the 2022 report, India’s GHI score of 2022 can be directly compared with its GHI scores for 2000, 2007, and 2014.<br /> <br /> • For India’s 2022 GHI score, data on the four component indicators came from various sources. As said earlier, each of the indicator values is standardized and weighted. The standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Undernourishment values are taken from FAO Data: Suite of Food Security Indicators. Accessed on July 14, 2022. <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS">www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS</a>. The FAO's telephone-based indicator that includes information from a poll taken by Gallup – the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) – is NOT used in the GHI. The GHI uses the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) indicator, which is assessed by FAO using Food Balance Sheet data from each country. It measures the proportion of the population with inadequate access to calories and is based on data regarding the food supply in the country.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Child stunting and wasting data taken are from WHO 2022; UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank 2022; UNICEF 2022a, 2013, and 2009; MEASURE Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Under-five mortality rates are taken from the 2021 edition of the UN IGME (Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation) Child Mortality Estimates (published in 2021, accessed on April 25, 2022). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• FAO produces an entire suite of indicators on food security. Of these, two are most important and recognised globally as indicators to monitor progress of SDG Target 2.1. These are: 1) Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), which is an estimate of the proportion of population whose habitual dietary intake is less than the minimum dietary energy requirement that is required for normal, active and healthy living, and 2) Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Of these two indicators published by FAO, GHI uses only PoU, which is a measure of proportion of population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake. Prevalence of Undernourishment takes into account average per capita availability of food supply as obtained through carefully constructed food balance sheets. Food balance sheets are primarily based on data officially reported by the member countries including India. PoU also takes into account distribution of calorie intake in the population (as estimated through official consumption surveys conducted by governments including India), as well as calorie requirement of the population (based on data on age distribution for men and women, distribution of heights and other key determinants of dietary energy requirements). All data compiled by FAO – including data officially reported by the member countries, data available from other public sources, and estimates made by FAO – are made public by FAO with detailed documentation of how these are obtained. The GHI does not use Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Further details on the PoU methodology can be found in Annex 1B (p.162) of FAO’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2022/en/">State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World</a> 2022 and on the <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/c2567f45-f9a8-464f-9f81-217d99b472b1/">FAO webpage</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1868103">here</a> and <a href="/upload/files/Press%20Release%20Statement%20by%20Ministry%20of%20Women%20and%20Child%20Development%2015%20Oct%202022.pdf">here</a> to access the Statement of Ministry of Women and Child Development on Global Hunger Report 2022 dated 15th October, 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/un-report-global-hunger-numbers-rose-to-as-many-as-828-million-in-2021.html">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/SOFI%202022.pdf">here</a> to access the main findings of the [inside]2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report[/inside], which has been jointly published on July 6, 2022 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The India-specific findings of the 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World are as follows:</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of undernourishment in the total population in India has reduced from 21.6 percent to 16.3 percent between 2004-06 and 2019-21. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of undernourished people in India has fallen from 247.8 million to 224.3 million between 2004-06 and 2019-21. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of wasting in Indian children (under 5 years of age) stood at 17.3 percent in 2020. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian children (below 5 years of age) who are affected by wasting was 20.1 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of stunting in Indian children (under 5 years of age) has declined from 41.7 percent in 2012 to 30.9 percent in 2020. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian children (below 5 years of age) who are affected by stunting was 52.3 million in 2012, which fell to 36.1 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of overweight in Indian children (under 5 years of age) has fallen from 2.4 percent in 2012 to 1.9 percent in 2020. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian children (below 5 years of age) who are affected by overweight was 3.0 million in 2012, which fell to 2.2 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of obesity in the adult population (18 years and above) has risen from 3.1 percent in 2012 to 3.9 percent in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian adults (18 years of age and above) who are affected by obesity was 25.2 million in 2012, which increased to 34.3 million in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of anaemia in Indian women (aged 15 years to 49 years) has fallen marginally from 53.2 percent in 2012 to 53.0 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of anaemic women (15-49 years of age) was 171.5 million in 2012, which increased to 187.3 million in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants (0-5 months of age) has increased from 46.4 percent to 58.0 percent between 2012 and 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of infants (0-5 months of age) who are exclusively breastfed was 11.2 million in 2012, which increased to 14.0 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The cost of a healthy diet in India was US$ 2.824 per person per day in 2017, US$ 2.830 per person per day in 2018, US$ 2.877 per person per day in 2019, and US$ 2.970 per person per day in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of Indian people who are unable to afford a healthy diet was 74.9 percent in 2017, 71.5 percent in 2018, 69.4 percent in 2019, and 70.5 percent in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian people who are unable to afford a healthy diet were 1,002.5 million in 2017, 966.6 million in 2018, 948.6 million in 2019, and 973.3 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of the severely food insecure people in India's population increased from 15.49 percent in 2014-16 to 22.32 percent in 2019-21.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/food-price-inflation-could-have-been-avoided-says-new-ipes-food-report.html">here</a>, <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Food%20price%20crisis%20report_press%20release%20by%20IPES%20Food.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Another%20Perfect%20Storm%282%29.pdf">here</a> to access the main findings of the IPES-Food special report [inside]Another Perfect Storm? (released in May, 2022)[/inside]. The <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Another%20Perfect%20Storm%282%29.pdf">report</a> blames fundamental flaws in global food systems -- such as heavy reliance on food imports and excessive commodity speculation -- for escalating food insecurity sparked by the Ukraine invasion. These flaws were exposed, but not corrected, after previous food price spikes in 2007-08.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">---<br /> The key findings of the report titled [inside]2021 Global Hunger Index -- Hunger and Food Systems in Conflict Settings (released in October, 2021)[/inside], produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly, are as follows (please click <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2021, India ranks 101st among 116 countries in terms of the Global Hunger Index (GHI).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking.jpg">GHI score for India</a> was 38.8 in 2000, 37.4 in 2006, 28.8 in 2012, and 27.5 in 2021. India's GHI score of 27.5 in 2021 falls in the serious range of the GHI Severity Scale.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Since 2000, India has made substantial progress, but there are still areas of concern, particularly regarding child nutrition. India’s GHI score has decreased from a 2000 GHI score of 38.8 points—considered alarming—to a 2021 GHI score of 27.5—considered serious. The proportion of undernourished in the population and the under-five child mortality rate are now at relatively low levels. While child stunting has seen a significant decrease—from 54.2 percent in 1998–1999 to 34.7 percent in 2016–2018—it is still considered very high. At 17.3 percent—according to the latest data—India has the highest child wasting rate of all countries covered in the GHI. This rate is slightly higher than it was in 1998–1999 when it was 17.1 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• It is important to note that anything that happened in 2021 is not yet reflected in the latest prevalence of undernourishment data, which covers 2018-2020. The full effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will likely only be reflected in the values for all four GHI indicators in the coming years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI is not a tool designed to assess and reflect individual measures taken by governments. The 2021 Global Hunger Index assesses the hunger situation on a global and regional level as well as the situation in 135 countries, of which 116 had sufficient data to calculate 2021 GHI scores. The GHI is a measure of development of outcomes in the domain of hunger. It is important to differentiate between policy interventions and their outcomes, so that effectiveness of government programmes and other interventions in improving outcomes can be evaluated.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking%281%29.jpg">Neighbouring countries</a> such as China (GHI score < 5.0; GHI rank: Collectively ranked 1–18 out of 116 countries), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 16.0; GHI rank: 65), Myanmar (GHI score: 17.5; GHI rank: 71), Nepal (GHI score: 19.1; GHI rank: 76), Bangladesh (GHI score: 19.1; GHI rank: 76), and Pakistan (GHI score: 24.7; GHI rank: 92) have <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking%282%29.jpg">outperformed India</a> (GHI score: 27.5; GHI rank: 101 out of 116 countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">2021 GHI report</a>, data were assessed for 135 countries. Of these, there were sufficient data to calculate 2021 GHI scores for and rank 116 countries (by way of comparison, 107 countries were ranked in the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202020%281%29.pdf">2020 report</a>).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The 18 countries (including China) with 2021 GHI scores of less than 5 are not assigned individual ranks, but rather are collectively ranked 1–18. Differences between their scores are minimal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Countries that have identical 2021 scores are given the same ranking (for example, <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking%283%29.jpg">Nepal and Bangladesh</a> are both ranked 76). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI.jpg">proportion of undernourished</a> in the population for India was 18.4 percent during 2000-2002, 19.6 percent during 2005-2007, 15.0 percent during 2011-2013 and 15.3 percent during 2018-2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%281%29.jpg">proportion of children under</a> the age of five <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%282%29.jpg">who are wasted</a> (i.e., too thin for height) for India was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2004-2008, 15.1 percent during 2010-2014 and 17.3 percent during 2016-2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In <a href="/upload/files/Wasting%20in%20India%20in%20comparison%20to%20other%20countries%281%29.jpg">10 countries</a>, the public health significance of <a href="/upload/files/Wasting%20in%20India%20in%20comparison%20to%20other%20countries.jpg">child wasting rates</a> is considered “high” (10–<15 percent) or “very high” (≥15 percent) (de Onis et al. 2019): India (17.3 percent), Djibouti (15.7 percent), Sri Lanka (15.1 percent), Yemen (15.1 percent), Somalia (13.1 percent), Chad (13.0 percent), Sudan (12.6 percent), Nepal (12.0 percent), Mauritania (11.5 percent), and Timor-Leste (11.5 percent). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%283%29.jpg">proportion of children under the</a> <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%284%29.jpg">age of five who are stunted</a> (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.8 percent during 2004-2008, 38.7 percent during 2010-2014 and 34.7 percent during 2016-2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%285%29.jpg">under-five mortality rate</a> for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.1 percent in 2006, 5.2 percent in 2012 and 3.4 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Kindly note that the data for GHI scores, child stunting, and child wasting are from 1998–2002 (2000), 2004–2008 (2006), 2010–2014 (2012), and 2016–2020 (2021). Data for undernourishment are from 2000–2002 (2000), 2005–2007 (2006), 2011–2013 (2012), and 2018–2020 (2021). Data for child mortality are from 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2019 (2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,</p> <p style="text-align:justify">- Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="/upload/files/Formula%20for%20calculation%20of%20the%20GHI%20scores.pdf">click here</a> to access the formula for the calculation of the GHI scores. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. In the case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI scores are <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%20comparison.png">comparable within each year’s report</a>, but <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%20comparison%281%29.png">not between different years’ reports</a>. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may be partly or fully a reflection of a data revision.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Like the GHI scores and indicator values, the rankings from <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%20comparison%282%29.png">one year’s report cannot be compared to those from another</a>. In addition to the data and methodology revisions described previously, different countries are included in the ranking every year. This is due in part to data availability—the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. If a country’s ranking changes from one year to the next, it may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries. Furthermore, the ranking system was changed in 2016 to include all of the countries in the report rather than just those with a GHI score of 5 or above. This added many countries with low scores to the ranking that had not been previously included.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• To track a country’s GHI performance over time, each report includes GHI scores and indicator data for three reference years. In the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">2021 report</a>, India’s GHI scores can be directly compared with its GHI scores for 2000, 2006, and 2012.<br /> <br /> • For India’s 2021 GHI score, data on the four component indicators came from various sources. As said earlier, each of the indicator values is standardized and weighted. The standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">Undernourishment values are from the 2021</a> <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">edition</a> of the FAO Food Security Indicators (published July 12, 2021, accessed July 12, 2021). The FAO's telephone-based indicator that includes information from a poll taken by Gallup – the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) – is NOT used in the GHI. The GHI uses the prevalence of undernourishment indicator, which is assessed by FAO using Food Balance Sheet data from each country. It measures the proportion of the population with inadequate access to calories and is based on data regarding the food supply in the country.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Child stunting and wasting <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">data are from the 2021 edition</a> of UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates (published April 2021, accessed May 24, 2021), including data from India’s Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016–2018 (CNNS) National Report (published 2019). Child wasting refers to the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition). Child Stunting refers to the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Under-five mortality rates are taken from the 2020 edition of the UN IGME (Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation) Child Mortality Estimates (published September 9, 2020, accessed May 24, 2021). Given the wide range in quality and availability of child mortality data at the country level, it is necessary and prudent for the GHI to use the data from UN IGME for all countries to ensure the values have been properly vetted.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• FAO produces an entire suite of indicators on food security. Of these, two are most important and recognised globally as indicators to monitor progress of SDG Target 2.1. These are: 1) Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), which is an estimate of the proportion of population whose habitual dietary intake is less than the minimum dietary energy requirement that is required for normal, active and healthy living, and 2) Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Of these two indicators published by FAO, GHI uses only PoU, which is a measure of proportion of population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake. Prevalence of Undernourishment takes into account average per capita availability of food supply as obtained through carefully constructed food balance sheets. Food balance sheets are primarily based on data officially reported by the member countries including India. PoU also takes into account distribution of calorie intake in the population (as estimated through official consumption surveys conducted by governments including India), as well as calorie requirement of the population (based on data on age distribution for men and women, distribution of heights and other key determinants of dietary energy requirements). All data compiled by FAO – including data officially reported by the member countries, data available from other public sources, and estimates made by FAO – are made public by FAO with detailed documentation of how these are obtained. The GHI does not use Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Further details on the PoU methodology can be found in Annex 1B (p.158) of FAO’s State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World and on the <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/c2567f45-f9a8-464f-9f81-217d99b472b1/">FAO webpage</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="/upload/files/PIB%20GHI%202021.pdf">click here</a> to access the [inside]Statement of Ministry of Women and Child Development on Global Hunger Report 2021 dated 15th October, 2021[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/six-fold-increase-in-people-suffering-famine-like-conditions-since-pandemic-began.html">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/The%20Hunger%20Virus%202.0_media%20brief_EN.pdf">here</a> to access the key findings of the Oxfam Media Briefing titled [inside]The Hunger Virus Multiplies (released on 9th July, 2021)[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2020 Global Hunger Index: One Decade to Zero Hunger -- Linking Health and Sustainable Food Systems (released in October, 2020)[/inside], produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly, are as follows (please click <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202020%281%29.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2020, India ranks 94th among 107 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI score for India was 38.9 in 2000, 37.5 in 2006, 29.3 in 2012 and 27.2 in 2020. India's GHI score of 27.2 in 2020 falls in the serious range of the GHI Severity Scale.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score < 5.0; GHI rank: Collectively ranked 1–17 out of 107 countries), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 16.3; GHI rank: 64), Nepal (GHI score: 19.5; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 20.4; GHI rank: 75), Myanmar (GHI score: 20.9; GHI rank: 78), and Pakistan (GHI score: 24.6; GHI rank: 88) have outperformed India (GHI score: 27.2; GHI rank: 94 out of 107 countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of undernourished in the population for India was 18.6 percent during 2000-2002, 19.8 percent during 2005-2007, 16.3 percent during 2011-2013 and 14.0 percent during 2017-2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., too thin for height) for the country was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2004-2008, 15.1 percent during 2010-2014 and 17.3 percent during 2015-2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 11 countries, the public health significance of child wasting rates is considered “high” (10–<15 percent) or “very high” (≥15 percent) (de Onis et al. 2019): India (17.3 percent), Yemen (15.5 percent), Sri Lanka (15.1 percent), Timor-Leste (14.6 percent), Sudan (14.3 percent), Niger (14.1 percent), Chad (13.3 percent), Djibouti (12.5 percent), Malaysia (11.5 percent), Mauritania (11.5 percent), and Indonesia (10.2 percent).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.8 percent during 2004-2008, 38.7 percent during 2010-2014 and 34.7 percent during 2015-2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Data from 1991 through 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan showed that stunting is concentrated among children from households facing multiple forms of deprivation, including poor dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and household poverty (Krishna et al. 2018).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The under-five mortality rate for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.1 percent in 2006, 5.2 percent in 2012 and 3.7 percent in 2018.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India -- the region’s most populous country -- experienced a decline in under-five mortality in the period 2000-2018, driven largely by decreases in deaths from birth asphyxia or trauma, neonatal infections, pneumonia, and diarrhea. However, child mortality caused by prematurity and low birthweight increased, particularly in poorer states and rural areas. Prevention of prematurity and low birthweight is identified as a key factor with the potential to reduce under-five mortality in India, through actions such as better antenatal care, education, and nutrition as well as reductions in anaemia and oral tobacco use (Million Death Study Collaborators 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For the calculation of the 2020 GHI scores, undernourishment data are from 2017–2019; child stunting and child wasting data are from 2015–2019, with the most current data from that range used for each country; and child mortality data are from 2018. In 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the values of some of the GHI component indicators, and in turn the GHI scores, are likely to worsen, but any changes that occur in 2020 are not yet reflected in the data and scores in this year’s report.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Kindly note that the data for GHI scores, child stunting, and child wasting are from 1998–2002 (2000), 2004–2008 (2006), 2010–2014 (2012), and 2015–2019 (2020). The data for undernourishment are from 2000–2002 (2000), 2005–2007 (2006), 2011–2013 (2012), and 2017–2019 (2020). The data for child mortality are from 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018 (2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,</p> <p style="text-align:justify">- Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. In case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI scores are comparable within each year’s report, but not between different years’ reports. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may be partly or fully a reflection of a data revision.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Like the GHI scores and indicator values, the rankings from one year’s report cannot be compared to those from another. In addition to the data and methodology revisions described previously, different countries are included in the ranking every year. This is due in part to data availability—the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. If a country’s ranking changes from one year to the next, it may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries. Furthermore, the ranking system was changed in 2016 to include all of the countries in the report rather than just those with a GHI score of 5 or above. This added many countries with low scores to the ranking that had not been previously included.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>[Shivangini Piplani, who is doing her MA in Finance and Investment (1st year) from Berlin School of Business and Innovation, assisted the Inclusive Media for Change team in preparing the summary of the report by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. She did this work as part of her winter internship at the Inclusive Media for Change project in December 2020.]</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020: Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets (released in July 2020)[/inside] by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and others of the United Nations (UN) are as follows (please <a href="/upload/files/The-State-of-Food-Security-and-Nutrition-in-the-World-2020(2).pdf"><span style="background-color:#ffff00">click here</span> </a>to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, the 'prevalence of undernourishment' in the total population has reduced from 21.7 percent (i.e. 249.4 million) during 2004-06 to 14.0 percent (i.e. 189.2 million) during 2017-19. In Bangladesh, the same decreased from 14.3 percent during 2004-06 to 13.0 percent during 2017-19. In China, the 'prevalence of undernourishment' in the total population has fallen down from 7.9 percent during 2004-06 to less than 2.5 percent during 2017-19.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For India, data pertaining to 'prevalence of severe food insecurity' in the total population and 'prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity' in the total population are not available in the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• According to <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world-report-and-lockdown-distress-have-renewed-focus-on-what-is-also-the-world-largest-food-insecure-population.html">Vaishali Bansal</a>, since 2017, SOFI presents two key measures of food insecurity: the conventional measure called the 'prevalence of undernourishment (PoU)' and a new measure called the 'prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity (PMSFI)'. While PoU is focused on estimating the proportion of population facing chronic deficiency of calories, the PMSFI is a more comprehensive measure of the lack of access to adequate and nutritious food. Estimates of PoU are based on food balance sheets and national surveys of consumption. Given that consumption surveys are done infrequently in most countries, these estimates are often based on outdated data and are revised when better data become available. In contrast, the PMSFI is based on annual surveys that collect information on experiences of food insecurity (such as food shortages, skipping meals, and changing diet diversity because of a lack of resources). The PMSFI uses the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), a gold standard in food security measurement developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for estimating globally-comparable prevalence rates. Given the solid conceptual foundations of this methodology and the ease of collection of data, FIES and the PMFSI have been widely adopted by countries across the world. The FAO commissions Gallup to include FIES questions in the Gallup®World Poll (FAO-GWP) survey conducted in more than 140 countries across the world. Many countries have also started conducting their own FIES surveys. Unlike most other countries, the Government of India neither conducts official FIES surveys nor accepts estimates based on FAO-GWP surveys. Although FAO-GWP surveys are conducted in India, India is among the few countries that do not allow publication of estimates based on these surveys. Consequently, as in the past years, estimates of PMSFI for India are not published in SOFI.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• According to <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world-report-and-lockdown-distress-have-renewed-focus-on-what-is-also-the-world-largest-food-insecure-population.html">Vaishali Bansal</a>, the SOFI 2020 report provides three-year average estimates of the number of food insecure people for South Asia as a whole and for South Asia (excluding India). By taking a difference between the two, one can derive the estimates for India. These estimates show that while 27.8 percent of India’s population suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in 2014-16, the proportion rose to 31.6 percent in 2017-19. The number of food insecure people grew from 42.65 crore in 2014-16 to 48.86 crore in 2017-19. India accounted for 22 percent of the global burden of food insecurity, the highest for any country, in 2017-19. It is also noteworthy that while the PMSFI increased in India by 3.7 percentage points during this period, it fell by 0.5 percentage points in the rest of South Asia.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of wasting in Indian children below 5 years of age stood at 17.3 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of stunting in Indian children below 5 years of age has fallen from 47.8 percent in 2012 to 34.7 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of anaemia among Indian women of reproductive age (15-49 years) has slightly increased from 51.3 percent in 2012 to 51.4 percent in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants (0-5 months of age) in India has grown from 46.4 percent in 2012 to 58.0 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of overweight in Indian children below 5 years of age has declined from 1.9 percent in 2012 to 1.6 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of obesity in the adult population (18 years and above) of India has gone up from 3.1 percent in 2012 to 3.9 percent in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The relative inexpensiveness of energy-dense foods high in fat, sugar and salt is implicated in high rates of obesity. This is seen in high-income countries as well as in transitional economies, such as China, India and urban Africa. New research also shows that overweight increases in lower-middle-income countries are mainly due to very rapid changes in food systems, particularly the availability of cheap, highly processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The average cost of energy sufficient diet in India during 2017 is US$ 0.79, which is about 27.3 percent of food expenditure. Roughly 0.9 percent of the population cannot afford it.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The average cost of nutrient adequate diet in India during 2017 is US$ 1.90, which is about 66.0 percent of food expenditure. Around 39.1 percent of the population cannot afford it.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The average cost of healthy diet in India during 2017 is US$ 3.41, which is about 118.2 percent of food expenditure. Almost 77.9 percent of the population cannot afford it.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The two sub-regions showing reductions in undernourishment – Eastern and Southern Asia – are dominated by the two largest economies of the continent – China and India. Despite very different conditions, histories and rates of progress, the reduction in hunger in both countries stems from long-term economic growth, reduced inequality, and improved access to basic goods and services. Average GDP growth rates were 8.6 percent and 4.5 percent in China and India, respectively, in the last 25 years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Southern Asia, significant progress was also made in reducing hunger in the last ten years in countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, owing largely to improved economic conditions.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In countries like India, Ethiopia, etc., increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be necessary to meet dietary energy and protein requirements.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Countries like India that have achieved larger-scale commercial poultry production with the use of improved breeds, feed, housing and vaccinations have seen marked declines in the prices of eggs and poultry products, even in the face of rising demand.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For many, contract farming is an instrument that can provide certainty in expected returns on production. In India, for instance, contract farming in onions has led to increased yields and overall production levels.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In middle-income countries of Asia, in particular in India and South-eastern Asian countries, the penetration of the modern retail sector in the form of supermarkets has been less pronounced than in other countries, such as in Mexico and South Africa.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, rural business hubs have facilitated linking smallholder farmers to rapidly growing urban markets. Apart from procuring food products from the farmers, these hubs provide services such as farm inputs and equipment, as well as access to credit. Having food processing, packaging and cooling facilities at the same location allows consumers to benefit from economies of agglomeration and, on the whole, reduce transaction costs throughout the food supply chain. This model in India has given rise to rural supermarkets that provide cheaper staple foods. Consumers have been drawn to supermarkets providing fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy, meats and fish, because they are without food safety concerns linked to traditional wet markets.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, Indonesia and Viet Nam, traditional food retail outlets still represent more than 80 percent of the food retail share, and about 60–70 percent of the food retail share in upper-middle-income countries like China and Turkey.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, policies that promote staple crop production, such as fertilizer and credit subsidies, price supports and irrigation infrastructure (particularly for rice), have tended to discourage the production of traditional non-staple crops, such as pulses and legumes. A bias in irrigation infrastructure development in favour of staple crops has been maintained in many other regions. Instead, policies should promote investment in irrigation infrastructure specifically targeting strengthened capacity for all-season vegetable production, and other high-value commodities to increase availability of nutritious foods.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, the country’s Targeted Public Distribution System represents the largest social protection programme in the world, reaching 800 million people with subsidized cereals that can be purchased from more than 5 lakh fair price shops across the country. Evidence of the impact of the programme on dietary diversity and nutrition is mixed, although it showed some positive impact on the intake of macronutrients.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2019 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change (released in October, 2019)[/inside], produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly, are as follows (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2019%20GHI.pdf" title="2019 GHI">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> • During 2019 India ranks 102nd among 117 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).<br /> <br /> • Neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102).<br /> <br /> • GHI score for India was 38.8 in 2000, 38.9 in 2005, 32.0 in 2010 and 30.3 in 2019. India's GHI score of 30.3 in 2019 falls in the serious range.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population for India was 18.2 percent during 1999-2001, 22.2 percent during 2004-2006, 17.5 percent during 2009-2011 and 14.5 percent during 2016-2018.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., too thin for height) for the country was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2003-2007, 16.5 percent during 2008-2012 and 20.8 percent during 2014-2018.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.8 percent during 2003-2007, 42.0 percent during 2008-2012 and 37.9 percent during 2014-2018.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality rate for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.5 percent in 2005, 5.8 percent in 2010 and 3.9 percent in 2017.<br /> <br /> • Because of its large population, India’s GHI indicator values have an outsized impact on the indicator values for the region. India’s child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available.<br /> <br /> • Wasting is most prevalent in Yemen, Djibouti, and India, ranging from 17.9 to 20.8 percent.<br /> <br /> • India's child stunting rate, 37.9 percent, is also categorized as very high in terms of its public health significance (de Onis et al. 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • In India, just 9.6 percent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet. It means that around 90 percent of children in that age group do not get sufficient acceptable diet.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • As of 2015–2016, 90 percent of Indian households used an improved drinking water source while 39 percent of households had no sanitation facilities (IIPS and ICF 2017). In 2014 the prime minister instituted the “Clean India” campaign to end open defecation and ensure that all households had latrines. Even with new latrine construction, however, open defecation is still practiced. This situation jeopardizes the population’s health and consequently children’s growth and development as their ability to absorb nutrients is compromised (Ngure et al. 2014; Caruso et al. 2019).<br /> <br /> • The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,<br /> <br /> - Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> <br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> <br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> <br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).<br /> <br /> • Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.<br /> <br /> • Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">In case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</span><br /> <br /> • Rankings and index scores from the present report cannot be accurately compared to rankings and index scores from previous reports.<br /> <br /> • GHI scores are comparable within each year’s report, but not between different years’ reports. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may be partly or fully a reflection of a data revision.<br /> <br /> • Like the GHI scores and indicator values, the rankings from one year’s report cannot be compared to those from another. In addition to the data and methodology revisions described previously, different countries are included in the ranking every year. This is due in part to data availability—the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. If a country’s ranking changes from one year to the next, it may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries. Furthermore, the ranking system was changed in 2016 to include all of the countries in the report rather than just those with a GHI score of 5 or above. This added many countries with low scores to the ranking that had not been previously included.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2018 Global Hunger Index: Forced Migration and Hunger[/inside], which was released in October 2018, are as follows (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2018%20GHI%20Report.pdf">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> • During 2018 India ranks 103rd among 119 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).<br /> <br /> • Neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.6; GHI rank: 25), Nepal (GHI score: 21.2; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 20.1; GHI rank: 68), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.9; GHI rank: 67) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.1; GHI rank: 86) have outperformed India (GHI score: 31.1; GHI rank: 103). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 34.3; GHI rank: 111) have performed worse than India.<br /> <br /> • GHI score was 38.8 in both 2000 (data from the period 1998-2002) and 2005 (data from the period 2003-07), 32.2 in 2010 (data from the period 2008-12) and 31.1 in 2018 (data from the period 2013-17).<br /> <br /> • At 31.1, the country's 2018 GHI score falls in the serious category, says the report.<br /> <br /> • The indicators i.e. prevalence of stunting in children under five years (in percent) and under-five mortality rate (in percent) have exhibited clear-cut declining trends over time. The prevalence of wasting in children under five years (in percent) has increased from 16.7 percent during 2008-12 to 21.0 percent during 2013-17. <br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population for India was 18.2 percent during 1999-2001, 22.2 percent during 2004-2006, 17.5 percent during 2009-2011 and 14.8 percent during 2015-2017.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., too thin for height) for India was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2003-2007, 16.7 percent during 2008-2012 and 21.0 percent during 2013-2017.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.9 percent during 2003-2007, 42.2 percent during 2008-2012 and 38.4 percent during 2013-2017.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality rate for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.4 percent in 2005, 5.9 percent in 2010 and 4.3 percent in 2016.<br /> <br /> • The child wasting rate for the South Asia region is amplified in part by that of India, which has the region’s largest population and highest level of child wasting, at 21.0 percent according to the latest data. Yet even without India, South Asia’s child wasting rate would top the rates of the other regions of the world.<br /> <br /> • Wasting is most prevalent in Djibouti, India, and South Sudan, but even among these three countries the rates and estimates vary widely, at 16.7 percent, 21.0 percent, and 28.6 percent, respectively.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2017 Global Hunger Index: The Inequalities of Hunger (released in October 2017)[/inside], published by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide & Welthungerhilfe, are as follows (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2017%20Global%20Hunger%20Index.pdf">click here</a> to access): <br /> <br /> • During 2017 India ranks 100th among 119 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).<br /> <br /> • The neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.5; GHI rank: 29), Nepal (GHI score: 22.0; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 22.6; GHI rank: 77), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 25.5; GHI rank: 84) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.5; GHI rank: 88) have outperformed the country (GHI score: 31.4; GHI rank: 100). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 33.3; GHI rank: 107) have performed worse than India.<br /> <br /> • The GHI score for the country was 46.2 in 1992, 38.2 in 2000, 35.6 in 2008 and 31.4 in 2017.<br /> <br /> • At 31.4, the country's 2017 GHI score is at the high end of the serious category, says the report.<br /> <br /> • Although all the three indicators i.e. proportion of undernourished in the population, prevalence of wasting in children under five years and under-five mortality rate have exhibited declining trends over time, in case of the indicator -- prevalence of wasting in children under five years, there has been a rising trend since the period 2006-2010.<br /> <br /> • As per the fourth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), more than a fifth (21.0 percent) of children below 5 years of age in the country suffer from wasting. The report says that only three other countries in 2017's GHI - Djibouti, Sri Lanka, and South Sudan - have data or estimates displaying child wasting above 20 percent in the period 2012–2016. On top of that, there has been no significant decline in the prevalence of wasting among children below 5 years of age over the past 25 years. The proportion of children who suffer from wasting during 2012-2016 is higher than that in 1990-1994.<br /> <br /> • The country has made progress in reducing the prevalence of child stunting (i.e. too short for age), from 61.9 percent during the period 1990-1994 to 38.4 percent during the period 2012-2016. Although the country has scaled up two national programmes that address the issue of nutrition i.e. the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the National Health Mission (NHM), adequate coverage under these schemes/ programmes is yet to be achieved.<br /> <br /> • According to the 2017 Global Hunger Index report, the areas of concern include (1) the timely introduction of complementary foods for young children; (2) an adequate diet to children between 6 and 23 months old; and (3) household access to improved sanitation facilities.<br /> <br /> • Although the 2013 National Food Security Act (NFSA) created legal entitlements to existing governmental food and nutrition security programmes, dalits (Scheduled Castes) and adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) are still left behind in getting the full benefits of such publicly funded schemes/ programmes. According to the report, it is difficult to monitor the implementation of NFSA in remote tribal hamlets.<br /> <br /> • The dalits in India face endemic discrimination and social ostracism. The tribals face forced eviction and displacement from their natural habitats, according to the global hunger report.<br /> <br /> • The GHI scores are based on four indicators i.e.<br /> <br /> * Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> <br /> * Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> <br /> * Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> <br /> * Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">In order to capture the multidimensional nature of hunger, the 2016 Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores are based on the following four indicators:<br /> <br /> 1. UNDERNOURISHMENT i.e. the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake);<br /> 2. CHILD WASTING i.e. the proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> 3. CHILD STUNTING i.e. the proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> 4. CHILD MORTALITY i.e. the mortality rate of children under the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).<br /> <br /> The values for each of the four component indicators (mentioned above) are determined from the available data for each country. Then each of the four component indicators is given a standardized score, and the standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country.<br /> <br /> This calculation results in GHI scores on a 100-point scale, where 0 (zero) is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.<br /> <br /> The 2016 GHI has been calculated for 118 countries for which data on all four component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant.<br /> <br /> The GHI scores are based on source data that are continuously revised by the United Nations (UN) agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these revisions. While these revisions result in improvements in the data, they also mean that the GHI scores from different years’ reports are not directly comparable with one another. This year’s report contains GHI scores for 2016 and three reference periods—1992, 2000, and 2008—all of which have been calculated with revised data. To track the progress of a country or region over time, the 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016 scores within this report can be compared.<br /> <br /> According to the report entitled [inside]2016 Global Hunger Index: Getting to Zero Hunger (released in October 2016) [/inside], which has been jointly published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH), please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/GHI%202016.pdf" title="GHI 2016 IFPRI">click here</a> to access: <br /> <br /> • India ranks 97th among 118 countries in terms of 2016 Global Hunger Index. The country has improved its GHI score from 46.4 during 1992 to 38.2 during 2000, and further to 36.0 during 2008. It has a GHI score of 28.5 during 2016.<br /> <br /> • As compared to India, China's ranking is 29 (GHI score: 7.7) and Pakistan's ranking is 107 (GHI score: 33.4) during 2016. <br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population of India was 22.2 percent in 1991-93, 17.0 percent in 1999-2001, 17.2 percent in 2007-09, and 15.2 percent in 2014-16.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of wasting among Indian children under 5-years was 20.0 percent in 1990-94, 17.1 percent in 1998-2002, 20.0 percent in 2006-2010, and 15.1 percent in 2011-15.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of stunting among Indian children under 5-years was 61.9 percent in 1990-94, 54.2 percent in 1998-2002, 47.9 percent in 2006-2010, and 38.7 percent in 2011-15.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality rate in India was 11.9 percent in 1992, 9.1 percent in 2000, 6.6 percent in 2008, and 4.8 percent in 2015.<br /> <br /> • The level of hunger in the developing world has declined by 29 percent since 2000, says the IFPRI report. Despite this progress, the level of hunger globally remains distressingly high, with 795 million people still facing hunger, roughly one in four children affected by stunting, and 8 percent of children affected by wasting.<br /> <br /> • From the 2000 GHI to the 2016 GHI, 22 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. The three that achieved the biggest percentage reductions in hunger of all the countries in the serious and alarming categories are Myanmar, Rwanda, and Cambodia, with 2016 GHI scores for each country down by just over 50 percent relative to the 2000 scores. Each of these countries has experienced civil war and political instability in recent decades, and the improvements in part may reflect increased stability.<br /> <br /> <br /> **page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the report entitled [inside]2015 Global Hunger Index: Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger (released in October 2015)[/inside], produced by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and World Peace Foundation/Tufts University, (please <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/2015-global-hunger-index-armed-conflict-and-challenge-hunger">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> • The present report’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores are based on a new, improved formula that replaces child underweight, previously the sole indicator of child undernutrition, with two indicators of child undernutrition—child wasting and child stunting—which are equally weighted in the GHI calculation. The revised formula also standardizes each of the component indicators to balance their contribution to the overall index and to changes in the GHI scores over time.<br /> <br /> • The 2015 GHI has been calculated for 117 countries for which data on the four component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant. GHI scores are not calculated for some higher income countries where the prevalence of hunger is very low. The GHI is only as current as the data for its four component indicators.<br /> <br /> • This year's GHI reflects the most recent available country-level data and projections available between 2010 and 2016. It therefore reflects the hunger levels during this period rather than solely capturing conditions in 2015. The 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2015 GHI scores reflect the latest revised data for the four component indicators of the GHI. Where original source data were not available, the estimates of the GHI component indicators were based on the most recent data available.<br /> <br /> • The four component indicators used to calculate the GHI scores draw upon data from the following sources:<br /> <br /> <em>1. Undernourishment: </em>Updated data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) were used for the 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2015 GHI scores. Undernourishment data and projections for the 2015 GHI are for 2014-2016.<br /> <br /> <em>2. Child wasting and stunting: </em>The child undernutrition indicators of the GHI—child wasting and child stunting—include data from the joint database of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank, and additional data from WHO's continuously updated Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition; the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) reports; statistical tables from UNICEF; and the latest national survey data for India from UNICEF India. For the 2015 GHI, data on child wasting and child stunting are for the latest year for which data are available in the period 2010-2014.<br /> <br /> <em>3. Child mortality: </em>Updated data from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation were used for the 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, and 2015 GHI scores. For the 2015 GHI, data on child mortality are for 2013.<br /> <br /> • India ranks 80 among 117 countries during 2015 in terms of GHI score. The country has improved its GHI score to 29 in 2015 from 38.5 in 2005. A lower number means fewer people are going hungry.<br /> <br /> • As compared to India, China's ranking is 21 (GHI score: 8.6)and Pakistan's ranking is 93 (GHI score: 33.9) in 2015.<br /> <br /> • Based on the new formula, India's GHI score was 48.1 in 1990, 42.3 in 1995, 38.2 in 2000, 38.5 in 2005 and 29.0 in 2015.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population of India was 23.7 percent in 1990-92, 21.6 percent in 1994-96, 17.0 percent in 1999-2001, 21.2 percent in 2004-06 and 15.2 percent in 2014-16.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of wasting among Indian children under 5-years was 20.3 percent in 1988-92, 19.1 percent in 1993-97, 17.1 percent in 1998-2002, 20.0 percent in 2003-07 and 15.0 percent in 2010-14.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of stunting among Indian children under 5-years was 62.7 percent in 1988-92, 51.8 percent in 1993-97, 54.2 percent in 1998-2002, 47.9 percent in 2003-07 and 38.8 percent in 2010-14.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality in India was 12.6 percent in 1990, 10.9 percent in 1995, 9.1 percent in 2000, 7.5 percent in 2005 and 5.3 percent in 2013.<br /> <br /> • According to the most recent data from India, wasting in children fell from 20 percent to 15 percent between 2005–2006 and 2013–2014, and stunting fell from 48 percent to 39 percent in the same period.<br /> <br /> • The authors of the report inform that data on India’s child stunting and wasting rates in 2013–2014 were provisional and were obtained in 2014 through personal communication with India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development.<br /> <br /> • The report informs that the Government of India has scaled up nutrition-specific interventions over the past decade, including (1) a final drive to expand the Integrated Child Development Services program that aims to improve the health, nutrition, and development of children in India; and (2) the creation of the National Rural Health Mission, a community-based health initiative designed to deliver essential health services to rural India. However, progress in reducing child undernutrition has been uneven across India’s states. While the reasons for the improvements—or lack thereof—are not entirely clear, one factor that seems to correlate with undernutrition in India is open defecation, which contributes to illnesses that prevent the absorption of nutrients. Additionally, the low social status of women, which affects women’s health and nutrition, makes it more likely that babies will be born underweight.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> Key findings of the FAO report entitled: [inside]State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 (released in May 2015)[/inside] are as follows, (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202015.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> <strong><em>Indian scenario</em></strong><br /> <br /> • India still has the second-highest estimated number of undernourished people in the world.<br /> <br /> • India will be able to reach neither the World Food Summit (WFS) nor the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that the number of undernourished people in India will rise from 189.9 million in 2010-12 to 194.6 million in 2014-16.<br /> <br /> • Although India reduced the number of undernourished people by 9.6 percent from 210.1 million during 1990-92 to 189.9 million during 2010-12, China reduced the number of undernourished people by 43.5 percent from 289 million during 1990-92 to 163.2 million during 2010-12.<br /> <br /> • India has reduced the proportion of undernourished in the population from 23.7% in 1990-92 to 15.6% in 2010-12. During 2014-16, the proportion of undernourished in the population is estimated to be 15.2%.<br /> <br /> • China has reduced the proportion of undernourished in the population from 23.9% in 1990-92 to 11.7% in 2010-12. During 2014-16, the proportion of undernourished in the population is estimated to be 9.3%.<br /> <br /> • The evolution of hunger trends in India has a significant influence on results for the South Asia region. Higher world food prices, observed since the late 2000s, have not been entirely transmitted into domestic prices, especially in large countries such as India. In India, the extended food distribution programme also contributed to this positive outcome. Higher economic growth has not been fully translated into higher food consumption, let alone better diets overall, suggesting that the poor and hungry may have failed to benefit much from overall growth.<br /> <br /> • Explanations offered for the inconsistency between food consumption and income levels in India range from increasing inequalities, to poor data, to the challenges of capturing the changing energy requirements of the population. But the puzzle still seems to be unresolved; and calorie consumption is lower than what per capita incomes and poverty rates would suggest.<br /> <br /> • Much more progress can be achieved in the future by combining policy interventions that enhance both food availability and utilization.<br /> <br /> <strong><em>Global scenario</em></strong><br /> <br /> • About 795 million people are undernourished globally, down 167 million over the last decade, and 216 million less than in 1990–92. The decline is more pronounced in developing regions, despite significant population growth. In recent years, progress has been hindered by slower and less inclusive economic growth as well as political instability in some developing regions, such as Central Africa and western Asia.<br /> <br /> • The year 2015 marks the end of the monitoring period for the Millennium Development Goal targets. For the developing regions as a whole, the share of undernourished people in the total population has decreased from 23.3 percent in 1990–92 to 12.9 per cent. Some regions, such as Latin America, the east and south-eastern regions of Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the northern and western regions of Africa have made fast progress. Progress was also recorded in southern Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean and southern and eastern Africa, but at too slow a pace to reach the MDG 1c target of halving the proportion of the chronically undernourished.<br /> <br /> • A total of 72 developing countries out of 129, or more than half the countries monitored, have reached the MDG 1c hunger target. Most enjoyed stable political conditions and economic growth, often accompanied by social protection policies targeted at vulnerable population groups.<br /> <br /> • For the developing regions as a whole, the two indicators of MDG 1c – the prevalence of undernourishment and the proportion of underweight children under 5 years of age – have both declined. In some regions, including western Africa, south-eastern Asia and South America, undernourishment declined faster than the rate for child underweight, suggesting room for improving the quality of diets, hygiene conditions and access to clean water, particularly for poorer population groups.<br /> <br /> • Economic growth is a key success factor for reducing undernourishment, but it has to be inclusive and provide opportunities for improving the livelihoods of the poor. Enhancing the productivity and incomes of smallholder family farmers is key to progress.<br /> <br /> • Social protection systems have been critical in fostering progress towards the MDG 1 hunger and poverty targets in a number of developing countries. Social protection directly contributes to the reduction of poverty, hunger and malnutrition by promoting income security and access to better nutrition, health care and education. By improving human capacities and mitigating the impacts of shocks, social protection fosters the ability of the poor to participate in growth through better access to employment.<br /> <br /> • In many countries that have failed to reach the international hunger targets, natural and human-induced disasters or political instability have resulted in protracted crises with increased vulnerability and food insecurity of large parts of the population. In such contexts, measures to protect vulnerable population groups and improve livelihoods have been difficult to implement or ineffective.<br /> <br /> <strong>Note: </strong><br /> <br /> Undernourishment: A state, lasting for at least one year, of inability to acquire enough food, defined as a level of food intake insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements. For the purposes of this report, hunger was defined as being synonymous with chronic undernourishment.<br /> <br /> **page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the [inside]Global Hunger Index 2014[/inside]: The Challenge of Hidden Hunger, prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/ghi14.pdf" title="GHI2014">click here</a> to download):<br /> <br /> • The 2014 GHI examines levels of hunger in 120 developing countries and countries in transition and scores them based on three equally weight ed indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the mortality rate of children under five. An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates improvement in the country’s hunger situation.<br /> <br /> • In 2005-2006, 43.5 percent of children below 5 years of age were underweight. However, provisional data from the <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">Ministry of Women and Child Development (India) and UNICEF (India) shows that </span>30.7 percent of children under five were underweight in 2013-2014. This means that the prevalence of underweight in children fell by almost 13 percentage points between 2005–2006 and 2013–2014. India no longer ranks second-to-last in the world on underweight in children. Instead, it has moved into the 120th spot among 128 countries.<br /> <br /> • Progress in dealing with underweight helped India’s 2014 GHI score fall to 17.8. Its GHI score declined by 26 percent, or 6.4 points, between the 2005 GHI and the 2014 GHI, outpacing the drop seen in other countries in South Asia in the same time period.<br /> <br /> • India now ranks 55th out of 76 countries, before Bangladesh and Pakistan, but still trails behind neighboring Nepal (rank 44) and Sri Lanka (rank 39). While no longer in the “alarming” category, India’s hunger status is still classified as “serious”, according to the GHI.<br /> <br /> • Many factors may have contributed to the improvement in hunger situation. Since the last undernutrition data became available, the Indian government rolled out and expanded several programs that targeted a mix of direct and indirect causes of undernutrition. Nutrition-specific interventions that were scaled up after 2006 include (1) a final push to expand the Integrated Child Development Services program that aims to improve the health, nutrition, and development of children in India and establish 1.4 million centers; and (2) the launch of the National Rural Health Mission, a community-based outreach and facility-based health initiative to deliver essential health services to rural India (Avula et al. 2013).<br /> <br /> • Indirect factors that reduced hunger are the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a rural jobs program, and reforms in several states to the Public Distribution System, which distributes food to the poor.<br /> <br /> • Efforts have also been made to create an enabling environment for nutrition. Within the context of India’s decentralized governance system, state governments have taken ownership of nutrition and tried to strengthen delivery of targeted nutrition efforts. The state of Maharashtra was the first of several to bring high-level political and bureaucratic leadership to nutrition through a Nutrition Mission, a program with greater flexibility and freedom than usual (Gillespie et al. 2013). Another key element in the enabling environment for food security and nutrition in India was the creation of a body called the Commissioners to the Supreme Court on the Right to Food Act, a group that supports independent monitoring of the delivery of food-based programs like the Integrated Child Development Services program and the Public Distribution System.<br /> <br /> • A staggering 2 billion people get so little essential vitamins and minerals from the foods they eat that they remain undernourished globally.<br /> <br /> • While great strides have been made to feed the world, 805 million people worldwide are still chronically undernourished because they don’t get enough to eat.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990, hunger in the developing world has fallen by 39 percent, and 26 countries have reduced their scores by 50 percent or more.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the report [inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014[/inside]: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition, FAO, IFAD and WFP (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202014.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014">click here</a> to download):<br /> <br /> <strong>Indian scenario</strong><br /> <br /> • Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the number of people undernourished* in India has declined by 9.5 percent.<br /> <br /> • Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the proportion of undernourished in the total population of India has declined by 36.0 percent.<br /> <br /> • The number of undernourished people in India was 210.8 million in 1990-92, 186.2 million in 2000-02, 235.7 million in 2005-07, 190.4 million in 2009-11 and 190.7 in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the total population of India was 23.8 percent in 1990-92, 17.6 percent in 2000-02, 20.6 percent in 2005-07, 15.8 percent in 2009-11 and 15.2 percent in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> • In the entire South Asia, the highest number of undernourished people are found in India i.e. 190.7 million in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> • In the case of China, the number of undernourished people declined by 47.8 percent from 288.9 million in 1990-92 to 150.8 million in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> <strong>Global scenario</strong><br /> <br /> • 805 million people are estimated to be chronically undernourished in 2012–14, down more than 100 million over the last decade, and 209 million lower than in 1990–92. In the same period, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 18.7 to 11.3 percent globally and from 23.4 to 13.5 percent for the developing countries.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990–92, 63 developing countries have reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target and 25 countries have achieved the more stringent World Food Summit (WFS) target. Of the 63 developing countries that have achieved the MDG hunger target, 11 countries have maintained the prevalence of undernourishment below 5 percent since 1990–92.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990–92, the number of hungry people has fallen by over 200 million. The sheer size of Asia makes it a region of extremes: 217 million Asians have overcome hunger since 1990–92; yet, it is still the region where two-thirds of the world’s hungry live.<br /> <br /> • The vast majority of hungry people live in developing regions, which saw a 42 percent reduction in the prevalence of undernourished people between 1990–92 and 2012–14. Despite this progress, about one in eight people, or 13.5 percent of the overall population, remain chronically undernourished in these regions, down from 23.4 percent in 1990–92.<br /> <br /> <strong>* Undernourishment:</strong> A state, lasting for at least one year, of inability to acquire enough food, defined as a level of food intake insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements. For the purposes of this report, hunger was defined as being synonymous with chronic undernourishment.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the [inside]Global Hunger Index 2013[/inside]-The Challenge of Hunger: Building Resilience to achieve food and nutrition security (published in October 2013), brought out by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and Institute of Development Studies (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/GHI%202013.pdf" title="GHI 2013">click here</a> to download the report):<br /> <br /> • The GHI combines three equally weighted indicators into one score: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the proportion of children dying before the age of five. The 2013 GHI has been calculated for 120 countries for which data on the three component indicators are available and for which measuring hunger is considered most relevant.<br /> <br /> • An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates improvement in the country’s hunger situation.<br /> <br /> • India's GHI score was 32.6 in 1990, 27.1 in 1995, 24.8 in 2000, 24.0 in 2005 and 21.3 in 2013. India's GHI score (21.3) in 2013 is worse than China (5.5), Sri Lanka (15.6), Nepal (17.3), Pakistan (19.3) and Bangladesh (19.4).<br /> <br /> • India's proportion of undernourished in the population declined from 26.9 percent during 1990-1992 to 17.5 percent during 2010-12. Its prevalence of underweight in children under five years declined from 59.5 percent during 1988-1992 to 40.2 percent during 2008-12. The proportion of children dying before the age of five declined from 11.4 percent in 1990 to 6.1 percent in 2011.<br /> <br /> • Nineteen countries still have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming”. Most of the countries with alarming GHI scores are in Africa south of the Sahara. The only exceptions are Haiti, India, Timor-Leste, and Yemen.<br /> <br /> • South Asia has the highest 2013 GHI score, although it witnessed the steepest absolute decline in GHI scores since 1990, amounting to almost 11 points. Compared with the 1990 score, the 2013 GHI score is 34 percent lower in South Asia.<br /> <br /> • The number of the hungry in the world has remained unacceptably high: In 2010–2012, about 870 million people were chronically undernourished, and according to FAO, this number declined only slightly to 842 million in 2011–2013.<br /> <br /> • The 2013 world GHI fell by close to 34 percent from the 1990 world GHI, from a score of 20.8 to 13.8.<br /> <br /> • The world has made some progress in reducing hunger since the early 1990s. If the recent slowdown can be reversed, the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the share of hungry people in the world between 1990 and 2015 may be within reach. But we are not on track to meet the 1996 World Food Summit’s more ambitious goal of halving the number of hungry people in the same time period. In 1990–1992, 1 billion went hungry. Today, about 870 million, or 1 in 8 people worldwide, still suffer from hunger.<br /> <br /> **page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the FAO report titled: [inside]Food Wastage Footprints: Impacts on Natural Resources (2013)[/inside] (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/FAO%20report%20on%20food%20wastage.pdf" title="FAO report on food wastage">click here</a> to download):<br /> <br /> • India and China are the major contributors of the water footprint of cereals in their respective regions.<br /> <br /> • Wastage of cereals in Asia is a significant problem, with major impacts on carbon emissions and water and land use. Rice's profile is particularly noticeable, given its high methane emissions combined with a large level of wastage.<br /> <br /> • Fruit wastage contributes significantly to water waste in Asia, Latin America, and Europe, while large volumes of vegetable wastage in industrialized Asia, Europe, and South and South East Asia translates into a large carbon footprint for that sector. Excluding Latin America, high-income regions are responsible for about 67 per cent of all meat waste.<br /> <br /> • FAO estimates that each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted.<br /> <br /> • Food that is produced but not eaten each year guzzles up a volume of water equivalent to the annual flow of Russia’s Volga River and is responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the planet’s atmosphere. Similarly, 1.4 billion hectares of land – 28 per cent of the world’s agricultural area – is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted.<br /> <br /> • Beyond the environmental impacts, food wastage costs some $750 billion annually to food producers.<br /> <br /> • Fifty-four percent of the world's food wastage occurs "upstream" during production, post-harvest handling and storage, according to FAO's study. Forty-six percent of it happens "downstream," at the processing, distribution and consumption stages.<br /> <br /> • As a general trend, developing countries suffer more food losses during agricultural production, while food waste at the retail and consumer level tends to be higher in middle- and high-income regions -- where it accounts for 31-39 percent of total wastage -- than in low-income regions (4-16 percent).<br /> <br /> • In developing countries, significant post-harvest losses in the early part of the supply chain are a key problem, occurring as a result of financial and structural limitations in harvesting techniques and storage and transport infrastructure, combined with climatic conditions favorable to food spoilage.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the FAO report titled: [inside]The State of Food and Agriculture 2013[/inside]-Food Systems for Better Nutrition,<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf </a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3301e/i3301e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3301e/i3301e.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • The present report argues that improving nutrition and reducing economic and social costs must begin with food and agriculture. Addressing malnutrition requires a multisectoral approach that includes complementary interventions in food systems, public health and education. Within a multisectoral approach, food systems offer many opportunities for interventions leading to improved diets and better nutrition. Agricultural production and productivity growth remain essential for better nutrition, but more can be done. Both traditional and modern supply chains offer risks and opportunities for achieving better nutrition and more sustainable food systems.<br /> <br /> • Evidence from India indicates that the rural–urban divide in malnutrition may hold for adults. Guha-Khasnobis and James (2010) found a prevalence of adult underweight of around 23 percent in the slum areas of eight Indian cities, while the prevalence in rural areas in the same states was close to 40 percent.<br /> <br /> • For India, Stein and Qaim (2007) estimated that the combined economic cost of iron-deficiency anaemia, zinc deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and iodine deficiency amounts to around 2.5 percent of GDP.<br /> <br /> • Household surveys from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique and the Philippines find that dietary diversity is strongly associated with household consumption expenditure (Hoddinott and Yohannes, 2002).<br /> <br /> • Fortifying rice served in school lunches in India led to statistically significant declines in iron-deficiency anaemia, from 30 percent to 15 percent for the treatment group, while anaemia remained essentially unchanged for the control group (Moretti et al., 2006).<br /> <br /> • Agricultural productivity growth was associated with reductions in the prevalence of child malnutrition in most countries, including India, during the period of rapid adoption of Green Revolution technologies and up until the early 1990s. Since 1992, however, agricultural growth has not been associated with improved nutrition among children in many Indian states (Headey, 2011).<br /> <br /> • Various explanations have been offered for the persistence of high levels of undernutrition in India. These include economic inequality, gender inequality, poor hygiene, lack of access to clean water and other factors beyond the performance of the agriculture sector. However, the phenomenon remains largely unexplained and additional research is needed (Deaton and Drèze, 2009; Headey, 2011).<br /> <br /> • Evidence from farm input subsidy programmes in India and Malawi indicates that they can significantly boost agricultural production and farmers’ incomes, albeit at a high budgetary cost (HLPE, 2012), but the impact of such policies on nutrition has not been well studied.<br /> <br /> • Adding micronutrients to soils in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan enhanced yields by 20–80 percent and a further 70–120 percent when micronutrients were added in conjunction with nitrogen and phosphorous (Dar, 2004).<br /> <br /> • Sales of processed and packaged foods are growing quickly in developing countries. In India, small independent grocers called kirana stores, ubiquitous in urban and rural areas, sold over 53 percent of packaged foods at the retail level in 2010.<br /> <br /> • A study from India demonstrated that women who used a groundnut decorticator were able to process around 14 times more groundnuts and used significantly less physical effort than those doing so by hand. Similarly, a new hand tool designed for making ridges for vegetable crops allowed women to double the number of rows finished in one hour (Singh, Puna Ji Gite and Agarwal, 2006). Such innovations in technology may open up opportunities for women to earn higher incomes or to use their time (and increased income) for added attention to the family.<br /> <br /> • FAO’s most recent estimates indicate that 12.5 percent of the world’s population (868 million people) are undernourished in terms of energy intake, yet these figures represent only a fraction of the global burden of malnutrition. An estimated 26 percent of the world’s children are stunted, 2 billion people suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiencies and 1.4 billion people are overweight, of whom 500 million are obese.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990–92, the estimated number of undernourished people in developing countries has declined from 980 million to 852 million and the prevalence of undernourishment has declined from 23 percent to 15 percent (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2012).<br /> <br /> • Between 1990 and 2011, the prevalence of stunting in developing countries declined by an estimated 16.6 percentage points, from 44.6 percent to 28 percent. There are 160 million stunted children in developing countries today, compared with 248 million in 1990 (UNICEF, WHO and The World Bank, 2012).<br /> <br /> • The global prevalence of combined overweight and obesity has risen in all regions, with prevalence among adults increasing from 24 percent to 34 percent between 1980 and 2008. The prevalence of obesity has increased even faster, doubling from 6 percent to 12 percent.<br /> <br /> • The social burden due to child and maternal malnutrition has declined almost by half during the last two decades, while that due to overweight and obesity has almost doubled, yet the former remains by far the greater problem, especially in low-income countries. Undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies must therefore continue to be the highest nutrition priority for the global community in the immediate future.<br /> <br /> • The social cost of malnutrition, measured by the “disability-adjusted life years” lost to child and maternal malnutrition and to overweight and obesity, are very high. Beyond the social cost, the cost to the global economy caused by malnutrition, as a result of lost productivity and direct health care costs, could account for as much as 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to US$3.5 trillion per year or US$500 per person. The costs of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are estimated at 2–3 percent of global GDP, equivalent to US$1.4–2.1 trillion per year.<br /> <br /> • Partial estimates approach suggests that malnutrition in all its forms may impose a cost of US$2.8–3.5 trillion, equivalent to 4–5 percent of global GDP, or US$400–500 per person. Global losses in economic productivity due to undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies have been estimated at more than 10 percent of lifetime earnings and 2–3 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) (World Bank, 2006).<br /> <br /> • A recent study estimates a cumulative output loss due to non-communicable diseases, for which overweight and obesity are key risk factors, of US$47 trillion over the next two decades; on an annual basis and assuming a 5 percent rate of inflation, this is equivalent to about US$1.4 trillion in 2010 (Bloom et al., 2011).<br /> <br /> • Research showed that investing US$1.2 billion annually in micronutrient supplements, food fortification and biofortification of staple crops for five years would generate annual benefits of US$15.3 billion, a benefit-to-cost ratio of almost 13 to 1, and would result in better health, fewer deaths and increased future earnings (Micronutrient Initiative, 2009).<br /> <br /> • It has been estimated that world food and feed prices would be 35–65 percent higher, average caloric availability 11–13 percent lower and the percentage of children malnourished in developing countries 6–8 percent higher had the Green Revolution not occurred (Evenson and Rosegrant, 2003).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the [inside]NSS 66th Round Report titled: Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households July 2009-June 2010 <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">(published in February, 2013)</span>[/inside], MoSPI, GoI, <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf">http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf</a>:<br /> <br /> • The report is based on information collected during 2009-10 from 100794 households in 7428 villages and 5263 urban blocks spread over the entire country.<br /> <br /> <strong>TRENDS IN PERCEIVED ADEQUACY OF FOOD, 1993-94 TO 2009-10</strong><br /> <br /> • The all-India percentage of households reporting getting two square meals every day throughout the year has gradually increased over the last 16 years from 94.5% to about 99% in rural India and from about 98% to 99.6% in urban India. The gap between the rural and urban percentages has narrowed appreciably.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of rural households reporting not getting two square meals every day in any month of the year has dropped from 0.9% to 0.2% in rural India between 1993-94 and 2009-10, while the corresponding proportion of urban households has dropped from 0.5% to 0.0%.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of rural households reporting not getting two square meals every day in some months of the year has fallen from 4.2% to 0.9% in rural India and from 1.1% to 0.3% in urban India over the 16-year period.<br /> <br /> <strong>INTER-STATE VARIATION</strong><br /> <br /> • In rural India the percentage of households not perceiving themselves as getting adequate food throughout the year was 2.1% or less in all major States except West Bengal (4.6%) and Odisha (4.0%). In these two States, about 3.8-3.9% rural households reported that they did not get adequate food every day in some months.<br /> <br /> • 1.2% of rural households in Assam, 1.1% in Bihar, and 1.0% in Chhattisgarh reported not getting adequate food every day in some months.<br /> <br /> • As many as 0.8% of rural households in Bihar and 0.6% in West Bengal reported that they did not get enough food every day in any month of the year.<br /> <br /> • In urban India the percentage of households not perceiving themselves as getting adequate food throughout the year was less than 1.3% in all major States except Madhya Pradesh, where it was 2.5%.<br /> <br /> • In urban India the percentage of households reporting that they did not get enough food every day in any month of the year was 0.1% or less in every major State except Odisha. In Odisha, 0.6% of urban households belonged to this category, while 0.5% felt that they did not get enough food every day in some months.<br /> <br /> <strong>VARIATION ACROSS HOUSEHOLD TYPES AND SOCIAL GROUPS</strong><br /> <br /> • Among different household types in rural India, the percentage of households perceiving themselves as not getting enough food every day throughout the year was 1.1% or less for all household types except agricultural labour households. Among agricultural labour households, 1.9% reported not getting enough food every day in some months and 0.2% reported not getting enough food every day in any month of the year.<br /> <br /> • Among rural agricultural labour households the percentage reporting insufficient food in some months was as high as 12% in Manipur, 10% in Odisha, 6.3% in West Bengal, and 6% in Tripura.<br /> <br /> • In the rural sector, the percentage of households reporting adequate food intake in only some months of the year was 1.8% for Scheduled Tribes, 1.3% for Scheduled Castes, 0.4% for Other Backward Classes and 0.9% for Others.<br /> <br /> • In the urban sector the Scheduled Castes had a noticeably higher percentage of households reporting adequate food intake in only some months of the year than the rest (0.8% compared to 0.2-0.3% for all other groups).<br /> <br /> <strong>MONTHS OF FOOD INADEQUACY</strong><br /> <br /> • Perceived food inadequacy was most common in the months of January and February for West Bengal and Odisha, February and March for Assam, and March for Chhattisgarh.<br /> <br /> • Among households reporting food inadequacy in some months of the year, the most commonly reported number of scarcity months was ‘2’. This was followed by ‘3’. More than 4 months of food scarcity were reported by very few households.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">[inside]Summary of the National Food Security Bill 2013[/inside] (revised version, as tabled in Parliament, 22 March 2013) can be accessed from <a href="tinymce/uploaded/Summary%20of%20the%20National%20Food%20Security%20Bill%202013_1.pdf" title="NFSB 2013">here</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">The revised version of National Food Security Bill 2013 tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2013 gives legal entitlement to 67 percent population for subsidised grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System. The National Food Security Bill 2013 can be accessed from <a href="tinymce/uploaded/National_Food_Security_Bill_2013.pdf" title="National Food Security Bill 2013">here</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">A critique of the National Food Security Bill cleared by the Cabinet can be accessed from <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/right-to-food-campaign-rejects-the-national-food-security-bill-cleared-by-the-cabinet-20034.html">here</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">A critique of the Standing Committee’s recommendations on the National Food Security Bill can be accessed from <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/why-the-parliament-should-reject-the-standing-committees-recommendations-on-the-food-security-bill-rtfc-19099.html">here</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">To know more about the recommendations of the Standing Committee pertaining to the National Food Security Bill, please read the newsalert titled: <a href="https://im4change.org/news-alerts/parliamentary-prescriptions-revive-hunger-debate-19054.html">Parliamentary prescriptions revive hunger debate</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> </div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><strong>Salient features of the National Food Security Bill, 2009:</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• President Pratibha Patil on June 4, 2009 said that a National Food Security Act would be formulated whereby each BPL family would be entitled by law to get 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 a kg, a promise made by the Congress before general elections 2009. Many would agree that the proposal for a Food Security Bill has come at the right point of time when the world has already witnessed food crisis in 2008 that pushed millions of people to the brink of poverty and undernutrition*.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The draft Food Security Bill is going to provide 25 kg of wheat/ rice to BPL households at Rs. 3/- per kg. For some, it is just old wine in a new bottle and would rely excessively on existing infrastructure and logistical support of the public distribution system (PDS)*.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• If made into a law, the draft Food Security Bill would reduce the allocation for a below poverty line (BPL) household (e.g. in the case of Antodaya Anna Yojana) from 35 kg of rice/ wheat per month to 25 kg of rice/ wheat per month. This would appear contradictory to many who expected the Bill to be a benign effort of the UPA-II (2009-****) to ensure food security. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are possibilities of increased food subsidies amounting to Rs. 70,000 crore per annum if the Bill becomes a law, which might be opposed by those who prefer to follow neo-liberal doctrine. Subsidies are usually opposed on the pretext of distortion in prices, inefficiency and leakages. The Interim Budget 2009-10 estimate of the food subsidy bill in 2009-10 was of the amount Rs. 42,490 crore%^. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The exact number of BPL households may vary according to the definition of poverty line one selects. In that case, it would be difficult to target the original BPL households under the new Food Security law. There are four different estimates for the number of BPL households: one by Prof. Arjun Sengupta (</span><a href="http://www.nceus.gov.in/"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">www.nceus.gov.in</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">), another by Dr. NC Saxena (</span><a href="http://www.sccommissioners.org/"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">www.sccommissioners.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">), World Bank estimates and the Planning Commission estimates%$. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• According to Prof. Arjun Sengupta who chaired the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector, 77% of the population of India lives below the poverty line. Dr. NC Saxena, a retired civil servant acting as a Commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court, feels that half the country’s population of 1.15 billion is below the poverty line, which he apparently defines as a monthly per capita income of Rs 700 in rural areas and Rs 1,000 in urban areas. While a Planning Commission estimate puts the number of below poverty line (BPL) families at 62.5 million, state governments estimate that this number is closer to 107 million. Some experts feel that availing the public with more number of BPL ration cards help the state-level politicians to win elections through populist means. The World Bank’s figure for the percentage of population below the poverty line in India is 42 per cent, based on 2005 data%$.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• According to the Economic Survey 2008-09, the Uniform Recall Period (URP) Consumption distribution data of National Sample Survey (NSS) 61st Round places the poverty ratio at 28.3 per cent in rural areas, 25.7 per cent in urban areas and 27.5 per cent for the country as a whole in 2004-05. The corresponding poverty ratios from the Mixed Recall Period (MRP) consumption distribution data are 21.8 per cent for rural areas, 21.7 per cent for urban areas and 21.8 per cent for India as a whole. While the former consumption data uses 30-day recall/reference period for all items of consumption, the latter uses 365-day recall/reference period for five infrequently purchased non-food items, namely, clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and institutional medical expenses and 30-day recall/reference period for remaining items. The percentage of poor in 2004-05 estimated from URP consumption distribution of NSS 61st Round of consumer expenditure data are comparable with the poverty estimates of 1993-94 (50th Round) which was 36 per cent for the country as a whole. The percentage of poor in 2004-05 estimated from MRP consumption distribution of NSS 61st Round of consumer expenditure data are roughly comparable with the poverty estimates of 1999-2000 (55th Round) which was 26.1 per cent for the country as a whole</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Instead of better implementation of the already existing schemes such as the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) etc., the Food Security law might make things unduly worse and unnecessarily complicated. A cynical question here would be: Is the Food Security Bill going to replace all such food related schemes that existed before its enactment? </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• If the Bill is about ensuring food security, how can it leave those who may not fall below the poverty line but are already exposed to food insecurity? The Rome Declaration (1996) made during the World Food Summit states that ‘food security is achieved when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active life’. Food security is about nutrition security too. If that is the case, the Food Security Bill has to rethink about the quality of foodgrains supplied and distributed. The Food Security Bill must also aim at providing fortified foodgrains along with edible oils, salt and essential spices. A balanced diet would ensure both food and nutrition security. The basket of commodities, which would be available to the consumers, should reflect local tastes and preferences and must include locally grown cereals and legumes. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The alternative draft Food Security Bill that has been prepared by Prof. Jean Dreze and his team and which has been scrutinized by 10, Janpath, according to media resources, has clauses to make the various food related programmes running in the country more accountable and transparent. It has focused on public accountability and more coverage of BPL households under the yet to be enacted Food Security law. Prof. Dreze's draft points out that subsidy would not rise due to reduction in allocation for rice/ wheat per BPL household**.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• If targeting of BPL households is done under the Food Security Bill, then that would lead to inclusion (including the non-poor) and exclusion (excluding the poor) errors. It would be wiser to go for universalization (rather than targeting) as was recommended by the Committee on Long Term Grain Policy under the chairmanship of Prof. Abhijit Sen (2000-02). </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are apprehensions that sustainability of Food Security law would be at peril if India faces lower agricultural production due to poor harvest, drought etc. in the future. Is India ready to rely upon food imports and food aid to ensure right to food at all cost? At present, the country has been facing shortage in south-west monsoon rainfall that might affect agricultural production and prices of commodities. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Is India ready to rely exclusively upon biotechnology for increasing its agricultural production so as to ensure food security for all? Much of debates have already taken place on the usefulness and pitfalls of GMOs. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Some analysts feel that India presently has adequate buffer stocks to enact and implement the Food Security law*. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Food Security law is nothing but a gimmick so as to increase the popularity of the UPA II. This is a forward-looking step to ensure vote for the Congress so that Rahul Gandhi could lead UPA-III. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Seeing the popularity of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which helped the Congress to win the 2009 parliamentary elections, the newly constituted Government has thought of bringing out the Food Security Act within the first 100 days of its stay in the office for the second time.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The World Development Report 2008-Agriculture for Development, which has been brought out by the World Bank mentions that India presently faces the problem of depleting ground water level that makes agriculture unsustainable and poses risk to environment. If rice is one of the foodgrains that is going to be supplied when the Food Security Act comes into being, then more and more farmers would go for cultivation of rice by looking at the price incentives offered by the Government. In the Punjab region, overexploitation of groundwater takes place thanks to the huge subsidies given on electricity. Moreover, minimum support prices (MSP) for rice increase the financial attractiveness of rice relative to less water-intensive crops, which makes depletion of ground water table more obvious.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>* Govt. to introduce Food Security Bill soon, </em></span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4743682.cms"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4743682.cms</em></span></a><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>%^ UPA’s proposed food security law faces big challenges,</em></span><br /> <a href="http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/10004521/UPA8217s-proposed-food-secu.html"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/10004521/UPA8217s-proposed-food-secu.html</em></span></a><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>%$ Poverty of thought, </em></span><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/povertythought/362649/"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/povertythought/362649/</em></span></a><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>** The hungry tide,</em></span><br /> <a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20090713&fname=Food+Security+%28F%29&sid=1"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20090713&fname=Food+Security+%28F%29&sid=1</em></span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em> </em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The [inside]2013 Hunger Report-Within Reach Global Development Goals (2012)[/inside] calls for a final push to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets by 2015. Extraordinary progress has occurred in countries around the world and it is possible to replicate these achievements in more. The 2013 Hunger Report focuses special attention on the U.S. role in achieving the MDGs by 2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The 2013 Hunger Report explains why partnerships between governments around the world and between governments and civil society are crucial to achieving rapid progress against hunger and poverty. It discusses the challenges that must be overcome, which depends on strong leadership to meet these challenges head on. The report argues that in the next set of global development goals every country should set it owns national goals.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the 2013 Hunger Report-Within Reach Global Development Goals (2012), published by Bread for the World Institute, <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><a href="http://www.bread.org/institute/">http://www.bread.org/institute/</a></span>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India has experienced economic growth rates of 7 percent or higher every year since 1990—yet nearly half the children in the country (48 percent) are stunted because of malnutrition, and India’s child mortality rate is currently 40 percent too high for the country to achieve the MDG target.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Compare India’s performance to that of Bangladesh, a much poorer country, whose GDP grew by only 3 percent annually over the same period, but whose rates of child stunting declined from 68 percent to 43 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Between 2002 and 2010, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an average of 8 percent annually. Over the same period, Brazil’s GDP grew by 4 percent annually. But Brazil was able to reduce poverty by 4.2 percent per year, compared to 1.4 percent per year in India.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India leads all other countries in the number of women and children dying each year of preventable causes. It has the highest number of malnourished children and the highest number of people living in poverty. India lags far behind China and Brazil—also emerging economic powers—in reducing hunger. China and Brazil have already met the MDG target of halving hunger by 2015, but at its current rate of progress, India will not halve hunger until 2042.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, underweight prevalence rate among children aged 0-59 months declined from 64 percent in 1993 to 61 percent in 2006 among the poorest 20 percent while the same declined from 37 percent in 1993 to 25 percent in 2006 among the richest 20 percent. Therefore, a greater reduction in underweight prevalence occurred in the richest 20% of households than in the poorest 20%. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Under the new National Food Security law, 180 of India’s 240 million households would gain the right to subsidized rations. Indian civil society organizations are lobbying the legislature to use the new law to create stronger linkages between food security and nutrition security.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s own development challenges show up clearly in primary education, where standards vary dramatically and in some parts of the country are as low as Afghanistan and Yemen, war-town countries near the bottom of the Human Development Index.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, child mortality rates differ widely across areas of the country. In West Bengal, more than 50 percent of parents believe the correct treatment for children with diarrhea is to reduce fluid intake, exactly the wrong thing to do; while in a different state, Kerala, fewer than 5 percent of parents think this is the correct treatment. It’s not a coincidence that child mortality is three times higher in West Bengal than in Kerala. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Poor understanding about the importance of proper feeding practices, combined with inadequate sanitation, is one of the main contributors to child mortality in India. Exclusive breastfeeding until the age of six months is a key factor in child survival. Breastfeeding takes time but otherwise is free.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• 90 percent of India’s water resources go to the agricultural sector, but only 10 to 15 percent ends up nourishing crops, with much of the rest wasted.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Percentage of rural population in India with access to improved water source was 90.0% during 2007-2010 while the same in China was 85.0%. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2012, China (1350 million) is the most populous country followed by India (1260 million). By 2050, India (1691 million) would become the most populous country to be followed by China (1311 million). Global food demand is projected to increase by 50 percent by 2030.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, percentage of agricultural land area to the total was 60.5% during 2009-10 while the same for China was 56.2%. Average cereal yield (kg per hectare of harvested land) in India during 2007-2010 was 2,537 kg per hectare while the same for China was 5,521 kg per hectare. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In South Asia, 94 percent of women in the richest 20 percent of households receive prenatal care, while only 48 percent of the poorest 20 percent have access to such care. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Globally, an estimated 165 million children under-five years of age, or 26 percent, were stunted (i.e., height-for-age) in 2011—a 35 percent decrease from an estimated 253 million in 1990.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 percent in 1990 to 24 percent in 2008—and preliminary estimates indicate in 2010 it fell below half the 1990 rate.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Among the world’s population who lack access to improved drinking water sources, 83 percent live in rural areas.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The share of agricultural development assistance declined from 17 percent of all development assistance in the late 1980s to 6 percent by the late 2000s. In 2000, net official development assistance stood at $55.4 billion. By 2009, when adjusted for inflation, it reached $152.2 billion. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• There are an estimated 942 million working people globally—nearly 1 in 3 workers worldwide live below $2 a day. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• One of the key recommendations of the 2013 Hunger Report is that a post-MDG global development framework should include a bull’s-eye goal to end hunger and poverty in every country in the world by 2040. It has also been recommended that a post-2015 global development framework should address climate change within the context of a clear overall focus on poverty.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012[/inside], produced by FAO, WFP, IFAD, </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf</a> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2845e/i2845e00.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2845e/i2845e00.pdf</a>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• New estimates suggest that the increase in hunger during 2007–10 – the period characterized by food price and economic crises – was less severe than previously estimated. More recent GDP estimates suggest that the “great recession” of 2008–09 resulted in only a mild slowdown in GDP growth in many developing countries, and increases in domestic staple food prices were very small in China, India and Indonesia (the three largest developing countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Total number of undernourished people in India stood at 240 million during 1990-1992, 224 million in 1999-2001, 238 million in 2004-06, 227 million during 2007-2009 and 217 million during 2010-2012.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Proportion of undernourished in total population of India stood at 26.9 percent during 1990-1992, 21.3 percent during 1999-2001, 20.9 percent during 2004-06, 19.0 percent during 2007-2009 and 17.5 percent during 2010-2012.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, stunting and iron and iodine deficiencies result in productivity losses equivalent to 2.95 percent of GDP annually.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, land distribution is more unequal, and yield growth has not sparked as much reduction in poverty and undernourishment.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• 41.9 percent of arable land in India during 2008 was equipped for irrigation as compared to 40.1 percent in 2004. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Cereal dependency ratio in India [i.e. cereal imports divided by {(cereal production plus cereal import)-cereal export}] stood at 0.5 percent in 2008 as compared to 1.5 percent in 2007. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Indian villages close to towns and cities have a better record of reducing poverty than others.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• An evaluation of India’s Mid-Day Meals Programme found that girls in the programme were 30 percent more likely to complete primary school.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Subsidies, which act as safety nets to poor are widely used in Bangladesh, India and throughout the Near East. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Bangladesh, the share of government spending going to health is about double that of the country’s large neighbours, India and Pakistan.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• About 870 million people are estimated to have been undernourished (in terms of dietary energy supply) in the period 2010–12. This figure represents 12.5 percent of the global population, or one in eight people. The vast majority of these, 852 million, live in developing countries, where the prevalence of undernourishment is now estimated at 14.9 percent of the population.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The global number of hungry people declined by 132 million between 1990-92 and 2010-12, or from 18.6 percent to 12.5 percent of the world's population, and from 23.2 percent to 14.9 percent in developing countries - putting the MDG target within reach if adequate, appropriate actions are taken. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The new estimates show that progress in reducing hunger during the past 20 years has been better than previously believed, and that, given renewed efforts, it may be possible to reach the MDG hunger target at the global level by 2015. However, the number of people suffering from chronic undernourishment is still unacceptably high, and eradication of hunger remains a major global challenge. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of hungry declined more sharply between 1990 and 2007 than previously believed. Since 2007-2008, however, global progress in reducing hunger has slowed and leveled off. As a result, the developing world as a whole is found to be much closer to achieving the MDG target of reducing by half the percentage of people suffering from chronic hunger by 2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The current assessment pegs the undernourishment estimate for developing countries at slightly more than 23.2 percent of the population in 1990–92 (substantially higher than previously estimated), thus implying an MDG target of 11.6 percent for 2015. If the average annual decline of the past 20 years continues to 2015, the prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries would reach 12.5 percent, still above the MDG target, but much closer to it than previously estimated.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The share of the world’s undernourished people has declined most rapidly in South-Eastern Asia and Eastern Asia (from 13.4 to 7.5 percent and from 26.1 to 19.2 percent, respectively), while declining from 6.5 to 5.6 percent in Latin America. Meanwhile, the share has increased from 32.7 to 35.0 percent in Southern Asia, from 17.0 to 27.0 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and from 1.3 to 2.9 percent in Western Asia and Northern Africa.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For developing countries as a whole, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 23.2 to 14.9 percent over the period 1990–2010, while the incidence of poverty has declined from 47.5 to 22.4 percent, and that of child mortality from 9.5 to 6.1 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Agricultural growth is particularly effective in reducing hunger and malnutrition. Most of the extreme poor depend on agriculture and related activities for a significant part of their livelihoods. Agricultural growth involving smallholders, especially women, will be most effective in reducing extreme poverty and hunger when it increases returns to labour and generates employment for the poor.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Measures such as cash transfers, food vouchers or health insurance are needed for the most vulnerable who often cannot take immediate advantage of growth opportunities.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2012-2021[/inside], <a href="http://www.oecd.org/site/oecd-faoagriculturaloutlook/">http://www.oecd.org/site/oecd-faoagriculturaloutlook/</a> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>India specific observations: </strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Food inflation moderated in 2012 as compared to 2011 in many of the large Asian countries with a strong deceleration in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, often falling by 40% or more. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In China and India, crop production is expected to grow by more than 50% between 2000 and 2030 and 10% to 20% between 2030 and 2050.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A number of African and South Asian countries have experienced significant decreases in food expenditure shares, often from 50%, or more, to approximately 30-35%. In India, the share of household budgets allocated to food expenditures is 35.4 percent in 2012.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India the annual population growth rate is expected to decline from 1.46 percent during 2002-2011 to 1.20 percent during 2012-2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Three countries namely China, India and Thailand are expected to expand production and to increase their contributions to world ethanol production by 2-3% each over the outlook period 2012-2021. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Strong growth in coarse grains output is anticipated in China, the European Union, Brazil, India, Argentina, Mexico and Canada during 2012-2021. Asian countries will continue to dominate rice production.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ethanol production (as biofuel) in India is expected to rise from an average 1976 million litre during 2009-11 to 4194 million litre in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Biodiesel production in India is expected to rise from an average 330 million litre during 2009-11 to 1297 million litre in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Wheat production in India is anticipated to rise from an average 82470 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 88739 thousand tonnes in 2021. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Wheat consumption in India is predicted to rise from an average 82249 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 91602 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Coarse grain production in India is expected to rise from an average 39110 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 44184 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Coarse grain consumption in India is predicted to rise from an average 36370 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 44822 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Rice production in India is expected to rise from an average from an average 95807 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 118507 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Rice consumption in India is anticipated to rise from an average 92243 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 113176 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Protein meal production in India is expected to rise from an average 16419 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 20343 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Protein meal consumption in India is estimated to rise from an average 11670 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 14149 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Fish and seafood production in India is expected to rise from an average 8869 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 11007 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Milk production in India is estimated to rise from an average 116815 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 165632 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Key projections:</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Agricultural output growth worldwide will slow to an average of 1.7 percent annually over the next 10 years, down from a trend rate of over 2 percent per year in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Global cereals production is expected to grow by 1.1% p.a., on average, to 2021 and down from 2.5% p.a. in the previous decade.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The FAO estimates that agricultural production will need to increase by 60% globally (and nearly 77% in developing countries) by 2050 to cope with a larger, more urban and wealthier population, and to raise average food consumption to 3070 kcal per person per day.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Annual agricultural production growth in developing countries is projected to average 1.9% per annum compared to 1.2% per annum in developed countries. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The [inside]Global Monitoring Report 2012: Food Prices, Nutrition, and the Millennium Development Goals[/inside], World Bank/ IMF, <a href="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/global%20monitoring%20report%202012.pdf">http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/global%20monitoring%20report%202012.pdf</a> talks about making countries and communities more resilient in the face of food price spikes. It finds how countries reacted to the last two food price spikes of 2007–08 and 2010–11, and how their reaction affected their progress toward the MDGs. It summarizes effects of food prices on several MDGs. It reviews policy responses—including domestic social safety nets, nutritional programs, agricultural policies, regional trade policies, and support by the international community. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Key findings:</strong><br /> <br /> • In 2011 international food prices spiked for the second time in three years, igniting concerns about a repeat of the 2008 food price crisis and its consequences for the poor. The World Bank Food Price Index rose 184 percent from January 2000 to June 2008.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In February 2011 international food prices again reached the 2008 peak, after a sharp decline in 2009, and stayed close to that peak through September. The international food price spike in 2007–08 is estimated to have kept or pushed 105 million people below the poverty line and in the spike of 2010–11, 48.6 million people.<br /> <br /> • As food and fuel prices rose in 2010 and the first half of 2011, consumer prices rose in tandem in many countries. In emerging and developing countries the median inflation rate rose from 4 percent in 2009 to 6 percent in 2011, but experiences were mixed.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The additional fiscal cost involved in policy responses to 2006–08 price spike was 19.1 percent of total fiscal revenue in India in 2008.<br /> <br /> • Poverty typically rises initially with higher food prices, because the supply response to higher prices takes time to materialize and many poor (farm) households are net food buyers, so higher food prices lowers their real incomes. Higher prices hurt consumers with high shares of household spending on food, as in much of Africa and Asia.<br /> <br /> • In India, children who were thinner in infancy and experienced rapid growth show a higher prevalence of diabetes, giving it the highest numbers in the world, both of malnourished children and of people with diabetes.<br /> <br /> • In India productivity losses to individuals are estimated at more than 10 percent of lifetime earnings, and GDP loss to undernutrition runs as high as 3–4 percent (World Bank 2009).<br /> <br /> • Even moderate adversity, such as low rainfall during the year of birth, has been associated with reduced child growth and increase child morbidity in India (Maccini and Yang 2009).<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, the $1.25 a day poverty rate fell from 54 percent to 36 percent between 1990 and 2008. The proportion of poor is lower now in South Asia than at any time since 1981.<br /> <br /> • The largest number of poor people remain in South Asia, where 571 million people live on less than $1.25 a day, down from a peak of 641 million in 2002.<br /> <br /> • The FAO estimates that in 2008 there were 739 million people without adequate daily food intake.<br /> <br /> • Globally, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 43.1 percent in 1990 to 22.2 percent in 2008. In 2008 1.28 billion people lived on less than $1.25 a day.<br /> <br /> • Less nutritious diets due to inflation caused malnourishment and made people more susceptible to failing health. A malnourished child has on average a seven-month delay in starting school, a 0.7 grade loss in schooling, and potentially a 10–17 percent reduction in lifetime earnings—damaging future human capital and causing national GDP losses estimated at 2–3 percent. So, malnutrition is not just a result of poverty—it is also a cause.<br /> <br /> • South Asia has reached the target on access to safe water and will probably eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015.<br /> <br /> • In India 2.4 million adults and children were living with HIV during 2009.<br /> <br /> • Most of the expansion in land cultivation since 2005–06 (24 million of the 27 million increase) is located in only six countries or regions: China, Sub-Saharan Africa, former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, the Russia Federation, and Ukraine), Argentina, India, and Brazil.<br /> <br /> • Introduction of export restrictions on food exports by Argentina, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine for wheat and China and India for rice, in attempts to decouple domestic markets from global markets to keep domestic food prices low, have in the past compounded the food price problem.<br /> <br /> • India contributes 11 percent of international trade in rice. The most frequent users of protection measures for food over the period were China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation, which together accounted for almost one-third of all trade restrictions introduced on food items since the beginning of the financial crisis.<br /> <br /> • In the recent years, India has improved its market information systems.<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, real official development assistance (ODA) disbursements to Afghanistan increased from $1.6 billion in the 1990s to $27.9 billion in the 2000s, whereas Bangladesh and India experienced a decrease in real ODA disbursements of about 20 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Key findings of the [inside]State of World Population 2011[/inside]: People and possibilities in a world of 7 billion, UNFPA, </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://foweb.unfpa.org/SWP2011/reports/EN-SWOP2011-FINAL.pdf">http://foweb.unfpa.org/SWP2011/reports/EN-SWOP2011-FINAL.pdf</a> are as follows: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Nations like Ethiopia and India have launched campaigns to end child marriages and prevent life-threatening adolescent pregnancies.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• According to projections by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in 2025, India, with 1.46 billion people, will have overtaken China, with 1.39 billion, as the world’s most populous nation. China’s population will then, based on a medium variant, decline to about 1.3 billion by 2050. India will continue to grow to about 1.7 billion by 2060 before beginning to decline. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, where the fertility rate, at 2.5 children per woman, is still well above the replacement level of 2.1, there are more than 600 million people who are 24 years old or younger.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Worldwide, sterilizations account for 18.9 per cent of the modern methods of contraception used by women and 2.4 per cent by men. In India, male condoms, account for a little more than 5 per cent of total contraception. The pill is used by 3.1 per cent of women. Injectables are not provided by the Government.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, the effects of a preference for male children worries demographers, the media, policymakers and many others because of what it has done to sex ratios and the message it sends about how little a society values girls. The issue was heightened by results of the 2011 national census, which showed that in the birth-to-6-year-old age group the number of girls had plunged to 914 for every 1,000 boys, widening the 2001 ratio of 927 girls per 1,000 boys. The new child sex ratio is the biggest gap since independence in 1947. Sex-selective abortions, though illegal, and the sometimes fatal neglect of girls after they are born, are widely assumed to be leading causes of this anomaly. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The southern Indian state of Kerala is one such place that reached fertility and development levels comparable to those in richer countries through gender-sensitive policies that included long established and near-universal education for girls and easy access to health care. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• People under 25 make up 43 per cent of the world’s population.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• There are 893 million people over the age of 60 worldwide. By the middle of this century that number will rise to 2.4 billion. About one in two people lives in a city, and in only about 35 years, two out of three will. People under the age of 25 already make up 43 per cent of the world’s population, reaching as much as 60 per cent in some countries.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The rapid growth of the world population is a recent phenomenon. About 2,000 years ago, the population of the world was about 300 million. It took more than 1,600 years for the world population to double to 600 million. The rapid growth of the world population started in 1950, with reductions in mortality in the less developed regions, resulting in an estimated population of 6.1 billion in the year 2000, nearly two-and-a-half times the population in 1950. With the declines in fertility in most of the world, the global growth rate of population has been decreasing since its peak of 2.0 per cent in 1965-1970.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Average life expectancy globally, leapt from about 48 years in the early 1950s to about 68 in the first decade of the new century. Infant mortality plunged from about 133 deaths in 1,000 births in the 1950s to 46 per 1,000 in the period from 2005 to 2010. Immunization campaigns reduced the prevalence of childhood diseases worldwide.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Fertility, the number of children a woman is expected to have in her reproductive years, dropped by more than half, from about 6.0 to 2.5, partly because of countries’ economic growth and development but also because of a complex mix of social and cultural forces and greater access by women to education, income-earning opportunities and sexual and reproductive health services, including modern methods of contraception.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Asia will remain the most populous major area in the world during the 21st century but Africa will gain ground as its population more than triples, passing from 1 billion in 2011 to 3.6 billion in 2100.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2011, 60 per cent of the world population lived in Asia and 15 per cent in Africa. Africa’s population has been growing 2.3 per cent per year, a rate more than double that of Asia's population (1 per cent per year). The population of Africa first surpassed a billion in 2009 and is expec ted to add another billion in just 35 years (by 2044), even as its fertility drops from 4.6 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 3.0 children per woman in 2040-2045.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Asia's population, which is currently 4.2 billion, is expected to peak around the middle of the century (it is projected to reach 5.2 billion in 2052) and to start a slow decline thereafter.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Although people 24 years old or younger make up almost half of the world’s 7 billion population (with 1.2 billion between the ages of 10 and 19), their percentage of the population in some major developing countries is already at its peak.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]Food sovereignty: Reclaiming the global food system (2011)[/inside] by War on Want, <a href="http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Food%20sovereignty%20report.pdf">http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Food%20sovereignty%20report.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • In 2009, for the first time in human history, over a billion people were officially classified as living in hunger.<br /> <br /> • Per capita food production increased by 8% in South America and 9% in South Asia between 1970 and 1990, but the number of hungry people rose by 19% and 9% respectively in those regions, both key targets of the new green revolution technologies.<br /> <br /> • From 1970 to 1990, the two decades of most rapid Green Revolution expansion, the total food available per person in the world rose by 11%. The estimated number of hungry people fell from 942 million to 786 million, a decline of 16%.<br /> <br /> • Today, despite unprecedented wealth existing in the world, one in seven people go to bed hungry.<br /> <br /> • In 2010 the world’s four largest agrochemical companies and three largest grain traders together chalked up profits of around US$20 billion. The same sum would be enough to settle 20 million families each on their own plot of land, permanently resolving their problem of hunger.<br /> <br /> • Over the last two decades, MNCs have taken control of more than 1,000 once independent seed companies, so that the top 10 seed companies now account for 73% of the world’s commercial seed market (the top three companies alone account for over half).<br /> <br /> • In 1996 Monsanto was not even among the top 10 global seed companies, but by 2009 it was secure in first place, responsible for 27% of the global commercial seed market on its own.<br /> <br /> • By the end of 2007, the top 10 companies were responsible for 89% of agrochemical sales. Combined sales of agrochemical products in Latin America and Asia have now for the first time surpassed combined sales in North America and Europe.<br /> <br /> • The industrial food system discards (in the journey from farms to traders, food processors, stores and supermarkets) between a third and a half of all the food that it produces. This is enough to feed the world’s hungry six times over.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that altogether–including cropping, livestock, transport, fertiliser and land use change–agriculture is responsible for 30% of the global greenhouse emissions that cause climate change.<br /> <br /> • The industrial food system is responsible for the eviction of millions of smallholders from their land, exacerbating rural poverty.<br /> <br /> • Some 150,000 farmers in India, overwhelmed by debts accrued by adopting unsustainable and expensive chemical farming techniques, have committed suicide.<br /> <br /> • Worldwide, up to 10 million hectares of agricultural land are lost annually as a result of severe degradation, largely the result of unsustainable farming practices.<br /> <br /> • The industrial food system is responsible for approximately a third of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions destroying our planet.<br /> <br /> • Around 2.5 billion people–men, women and children–live off the land worldwide, cultivating crops, rearing livestock and catching fish. Many of these farmers are small-scale producers, who are building on the valuable knowledge acquired by their forebears over hundreds of years.<br /> <br /> • Fully 70% of the world’s agricultural land is already devoted to livestock production, and the global production of meat is projected to double from its total of 229 million tones in 2000 to 465 million tonnes in 2050. Expansion of livestock is a key factor in deforestation, especially in Latin America: 70% of previously forested land in the Amazon has been taken over for pasture, while feed crops cover a large part of the remainder.<br /> <br /> • Livestock farming is responsible for 18% of world greenhouse gas emissions – more than all forms of transport put together.<br /> <br /> • World poultry production increased from 8.9 million tonnes in 1961 to 70.3 million tonnes in 2001.<br /> <br /> • Today the USA remains the biggest soya bean producer, with an output of 80.7 million tonnes in the 2009-10 harvest, but Brazil (57 million tonnes) and Argentina (32 million tonnes) are catching up.<br /> <br /> • In 2001 alone the Indian government set up 60 agri-export zones, producing 40 agricultural commodities from mangoes and lychees to basmati rice and cumin. These zones have been bitterly criticised by farmers’ leaders in India, who say that the government should have used barren land for the zones rather than taking over fertile areas that were being used to produce food for the domestic market. They were also angry at the number of small farmers who were expelled from their plots to make way for the agri-export zones.<br /> <br /> • US farmers benefit from billions of dollars in subsidies which make up as much as 40% of US net farm income. This means that US farmers can afford to export their crops at well below production cost and still make a profit. The name for this practice is dumping, and it is supposedly illegal under WTO rules.<br /> <br /> • In recent years new factors are fuelling the land grab. One is biofuels, which are being promoted as a way of reducing the emissions of harmful greenhouse gases from transport. The European Union has passed legislation that requires 10% of transport fuels to come from biofuels by 2020, while the USA spends more than US$6 billion annually subsidising biofuels.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World: How does international price volatility affect domestic economies and food security? (2011)[/inside], which has been produced by IFAD, WFP and FAO, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2330e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2330e.pdf</a>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total number of undernourished people in India during the period 2006-08 was 224.6 million, while that for China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during the same time period were 129.6 million, 41.4 million, 3.9 million and 42.8 million, respectively. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total number of undernourished people in India increased from 167.1 million during 1995-97 to 208.0 million during 2000-02 and further to 224.6 million during 2006-08.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of undernourished in total population in India during 2006-08 was 19 percent, while that for China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during the same time period were 10 percent, 26 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of undernourished in total population in India increased from 17 percent during 1995-97 to 20 percent during 2000-02 but fell marginally to 19 percent during 2006-08. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During the world food crisis of 2006–08, domestic prices of rice and wheat were very stable in China, India and Indonesia because of government controls on exports of these crops.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Public research institutes in countries such as Brazil, China and India are providing an increasing share of public goods in the area of agricultural research.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, farmers underinvest in bullocks due to volatility in income.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Between 2007 and 2008, the number of undernourished was essentially constant in Asia (an increase of 0.1 percent), while it increased by 8 percent in Africa.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Prices of food commodities on world markets, adjusted for inflation, declined substantially from the early 1960s to the early 2000s, when they reached a historic low. They increased slowly from 2003 to 2006 and then surged upwards from 2006 to the middle of 2008 before declining in the second half of that year. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011–2020 projects that world prices for rice, wheat, maize and oilseeds in the five years from 2015/16 to 2019/20 will be higher in real terms by 40, 27, 48 and 36 percent, respectively, than in the five years from 1998/99 to 2002/03.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the report [inside]Nourish South Asia: Grow a better future for regional food justice[/inside] by Swati Narayan, Oxfam, September, 2011, <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cr-nourish-south-asia-grow-260911-en.pdf">http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cr-nourish-south-asia-grow-260911-en.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • Children are the most vulnerable. In homes, nutritional rehabilitation centres and hospitals, unreported by the media, every single day more than 2000 children die of hunger in India alone.<br /> <br /> • At the peak of food and financial crises, more than 100 million people across South Asia were added to the ranks of the hungry-the highest in four decades.<br /> <br /> • Even after decades of land reforms in India, 41 percent of the rural population is effectively landless.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • Within five years, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has expanded to provide work to 53 million households-roughly 33 percent of India’s rural population in 2009–10.<br /> <br /> • Since it is the panchayats who decide and plan, seventy percent of the ‘public works’ under NREGA chosen have prioritized environmental protection. In just the last three years, as many as 1.9 million ‘works’ have focused on water conservation and drought proofing alone.<br /> <br /> • India had set aside 100 million acres for jatropha cultivation (although in practice, 85 percent of farmers have already stopped its cultivation).<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The Indian government’s aggressive promotion and cultivation of jatropha on 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of plantations, including on regular agricultural land where it will displace existing crops, including food crops, is therefore an example of an especially ill-advised policy. Its ambition to source 20 percent of all its petrol and diesel from biofuels by 2017 should be repealed.<br /> <br /> • Even in the midst of the food price crisis in 2008–9, government food stocks in most South Asia countries were above the buffer norm. Economist Jean Drèze’s graphic description a decade ago of India’s ‘mountains of foodgrains’, in state warehouses which ‘if they are laid in a row, would stretch more than a million kilometres, taking us to the moon and back,’ holds true to this day.<br /> <br /> • Though three quarters of South Asia’s poor live in rural areas, and are largely food producers, most are net purchasers of food. Food remains the biggest item in their household budgets. It is as high as 50 percent in South Asia compared with 17 percent in the United States. Food price inflation is therefore highly regressive as it hurts the poor the most.<br /> <br /> • More than 250 million dalits across South Asia live precariously. Despite being unconstitutional, untouchability has acquired new guises. Dalit farmers in 35 percent of villages surveyed across India were found to be barred from selling their produce in local markets. The musahars, in particular, who rarely own land, are among the most food insecure.<br /> <br /> • Forest dwellers and tribal populations across South Asia are also among the most acute victims of food insecurity.<br /> <br /> • Despite comprising only nine percent of India's population, indigenous tribal adivasis have been disproportionately affected in the race to modernity. In the last three decades, 55 million have been forcibly displaced from their traditional homes and livelihoods in the name of steel mills, large dams and other so-called ‘development projects’.<br /> <br /> • Ninety percent of adivasis are also either absolutely landless or own marginal plots of land that provide them with little or no food security. The Centre for Environment and Food Security in a 2005 survey found that a staggering 99 percent of tribal households face chronic hunger as they could not obtain even two square meals for even a single month in the entire year.<br /> <br /> • Almost one-third of children in the South Asia region are born with low birth weight. Today, 57 percent of the world’s underweight children live in South Asia.<br /> <br /> • Two-thirds of South Asia’s poor people live in a feudal rural landscape. Here, access to land is all important for food security. But land is concentrated in a few hands, largely with men. Though absentee landlordism has been officially abolished, in practice genuine land reform and redistribution has failed across most of South Asia.<br /> <br /> • The South Asian land Gini coefficient is 0.54–which is very unequal. Skewed landholding and the massive scale of rural landlessness are both chronic.<br /> <br /> • Nearly three-quarters of all farmers in South Asia cultivate less than five acres. The majority of farmers do not even own the lands they till. Instead, they remain bound by feudal relations of exploitation<br /> <br /> • Women now form 30 percent of the agricultural labour force in India.<br /> <br /> • Most rural women continue to earn less than men. Worse still, despite their back-breaking labours in the fields, 46 percent of women are in fact ‘contributing family members’ who are unpaid.<br /> <br /> • In India only 40 percent of the poorest are able to gain anything from 11 social programmes which cost the exchequer 2 percent of GDP. The ‘hoarding’ of ‘below poverty line’ (BPL) cards by village officials to fudge records and siphon off food grains and cash is also rampant.<br /> <br /> • The revolving door between government and business is also a threat. Three years ago, the Indian Education Ministry had to stave off severe pressure from private companies eager to replace the $1bn ‘market’ for freshly cooked school meals with packaged biscuits.<br /> <br /> • The onion crisis in India in January 2011, in particular, exposed the invisible role of the middlemen. Consumers had to pay 200–500 times more than the price at which they were purchased from farmers .<br /> <br /> • In India agriculture's contribution to GDP has declined from 62 percent in 1960 to a mere 17 percent in 2011. But the crux of the problem is that more than half the population of the region continues to survive on cultivation.<br /> <br /> • In desperation, a quarter of a million Indian farmers crippled by debt have committed suicide in the last fifteen years. The main culprit is the mismatch between the cost of production and income, which has increasingly begun to pauperise the peasantry.<br /> <br /> • With groundwater tables plunging, loan burdens rising and smaller holdings yielding less and less, ‘farming has become unviable’.<br /> <br /> • Since the fifties, South Asia’s population has more than tripled. In comparison, in the next forty years, it is estimated to increase by only one-third, to 2.3 billion. But with declining agrarian yields, even the current level of food security may prove to be too difficult to maintain with more mouths to feed.<br /> <br /> • Currently, across South Asia, 17–30 percent of the population does not consume the minimum level of globally recommended dietary energy<br /> <br /> • Though food grain production has more than trebled in South Asia over the last 30–40 years, per capita food availability struggles to keep pace. The productivity peaks of the Green Revolution are undeniably over. Even as India's population burgeoned by 17 percent in the last decade, farm output has expanded at just half that rate.<br /> <br /> • The Indian breadbaskets of Punjab and Haryana are heading towards desertification. The once lush, fertile landscape is fast turning grey.<br /> <br /> • Long-established state subsidies for smallholder farmers are also being systematically dismantled. In 2010, India moved to a cash subsidy scheme to replace fertiliser subsidies. The budget for extension services has almost been wiped out. And district agriculture research centres have become almost moribund.<br /> <br /> • More than 55 million tribal peoples were forcibly evicted through land acquisitions between 1951 and 2005. In the tribal-dominated Indian state of Chhattisgarh, a ministry of rural development report itself blamed the government and private companies for the ‘the biggest grab of tribal lands after Columbus’.<br /> <br /> • The Indian government estimates that since 1990 only 1.5 percent of the sown area has transitioned from farm to non-farm use. But even this would have yielded enough to feed more than 43 million hungry people every year.<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, a rise in temperature of 1.5ºC and a precipitation increase of 2 mm could result in a decline of rice yields of 3 to 15 percent.<br /> <br /> • Seven out of nine food crops could deteriorate in yield with just 1–2ºC of warming by 2030. Crop models indicate that average yields in 2050 may decline by about 50 percent for wheat, 17 percent for rice, and about 6 percent for maize from their 2000 levels.<br /> <br /> • Across South Asia, 60 percent of farming is concentrated in rain-fed areas that depend solely on monsoons.<br /> <br /> • Only 41 percent of the grains released by the Indian government reach poor households.<br /> <br /> • Though in 2008 the Indian government in response to the spate of suicides, cancelled the entire debt of $15bn of 40 million smallholder farmers, this has remained a one-off initiative..<br /> <br /> • The governments of Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam–where over two-thirds of the world’s rice is produced–have also explicitly endorsed System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods in their national food security programmes.<br /> <br /> • Each day in India alone around Rs. 130 crores (US$ 27m) of fruits and vegetables spoil before they reach markets.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention, Food and Agriculture Organization (2011)[/inside],<br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf">http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • Roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year.<br /> <br /> • Overall, on a per-capita basis, much more food is wasted in the industrialized world than in developing countries. It is estimated that the per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg/year, while this figure in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only 6-11 kg/year.<br /> <br /> • Food losses refer to the decrease in edible food mass throughout the part of the supply chain that specifically leads to edible food for human consumption. Food losses take place at production, postharvest and processing stages in the food supply chain. Food losses occurring at the end of the food chain (retail and final consumption) are rather called “food waste”, which relates to retailers’ and consumers’ behavior.<br /> <br /> • In low-income countries food is mainly lost during the early and middle stages of the food supply chain; much less food is wasted at the consumer level. Food losses in industrialized countries are as high as in developing countries, but in developing countries more than 40% of the food losses occur at post harvest and processing levels, while in industrialized countries, more than 40% of the food losses occur at retail and consumer levels. Food waste at consumer level in industrialized countries (222 million ton) is almost as high as the total net food production in sub-Saharan Africa (230 million ton).<br /> <br /> • The causes of food losses and waste in low-income countries are mainly connected to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems. Producing food that will not be consumed leads to unnecessary CO2 emissions in addition to loss of economic value of the food produced.<br /> <br /> • Food can be wasted due to quality standards, which reject food items not perfect in shape or appearance. At the consumer level, insufficient purchase planning and expiring ‘best-before-dates’ also cause large amounts of waste, in combination with the careless attitude of those consumers who can afford to waste food.<br /> <br /> • Per capita food loss in Europe and North-America is 280-300 kg/year. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia it is 120-170 kg/year. The total per capita production of edible parts of food for human consumption is, in Europe and North-America, about 900 kg/year and, in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia, 460 kg/year.<br /> <br /> • Per capita food wasted by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg/year, while this figure in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only 6-11 kg/year.<br /> <br /> • In the case of meat and meat products losses and waste in industrialized regions are most severe at the end of the food supply chain—FSC, explained by a high per capita meat consumption combined with large waste proportions by retailers and consumers, especially in Europe and the U.S. Waste at the consumption level makes up approximately half of total meat losses and waste.<br /> </p> <div> <p style="text-align:justify"><em><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to John, Mason, Hunt, Joseph, Parker, David and Jonsson, Urban (1999): Investing in Child Nutrition in Asia, Asian Development Review, Vol. 17, nos. 1,2, pp. 1-32, </span></em><br /> <em><a href="http://Trend%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kcal%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kcal%20in%201998*%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03*%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20resulting%20in%20rising%20food%20stocks%20in%20FCI%20%28Food%20Corporation%20of%20India%29%20godowns*%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished**%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies%20have%20resulted%20in%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29**%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%2072.6%%20in%20India***%20%20*Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan%20**%20Mason,%20John,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32%20***%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20Planning%20Commission,%20Government%20of%20India%20%20%20Read%20more%20%20%20According%20to%20John,%20Mason,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32,%20%20http://www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/adr/pdf/ADR-Vol17-Mason-Hunt-Parker-Jonsson.pdf%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished,%20ranging%20from%2016%20percent%20underweight%20in%20the%20People%E2%80%99s%20Republic%20of%20China%20%28PRC%29%20to%2064%20percent%20in%20Bangladesh,%20and%20a%20similar%20percentage%20are%20deficient%20in%20one%20or%20more%20micronutrients.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Poor%20diet%20and%20infectious%20disease%20interact%20to%20cause%20growth%20failure%20in%20children,%20physiological%20damage%20especially%20to%20the%20immune%20system,%20and%20specific%20clinical%20conditions%20like%20anemia,%20leading%20to%20impaired%20development%20and%20death.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Malnutrition%20is%20the%20largest%20risk%20factor%20in%20the%20world%20for%20disability%20and%20premature%20mortality,%20especially%20in%20developing%20countries,%20and%20is%20entirely%20preventable.%20Eliminating%20malnutrition%20would%20cut%20child%20mortality%20by%20more%20than%2050%20percent,%20and%20reduce%20the%20burden%20of%20disease%20in%20developing%20countries%20by%20about%2020%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies,%20measured%20by%20specific%20signs,%20are%20very%20widespread,%20in%20fact%20more%20so%20than%20general%20malnutrition,%20in%20part%20because%20the%20poor%20first%20meet%20energy%20needs,%20and%20the%20cheapest%20energy%20sources%20are%20the%20lowest%20in%20micronutrients.%20The%20three%20of%20most%20concern%20are%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Anemia%20resulting%20from%20iron%20deficiency%20is%20highly%20prevalent%20and%20showing%20no%20signs%20of%20declining%20in%20Asia.%20More%20than%20half%20the%20women%20of%20reproductive%20age%20are%20anemic,%20and%20children%20are%20similarly%20affected%20%20According%20to%20the%20FAO%20Report-The%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World-2008%20%20ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e02.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20World%20hunger%20is%20increasing:%20The%20World%20Food%20Summit%20%28WFS%29%20%20goal%20of%20halving%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20people%20in%20the%20world%20by%202015%20is%20becoming%20more%20difficult%20to%20reach%20for%20many%20countries.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20most%20recent%20estimates%20put%20the%20number%20of%20hungry%20people%20at%20923%20million%20in%202007,%20an%20increase%20of%20more%20than%2080%20million%20since%20the%201990%E2%80%9392%20base%20period.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20High%20food%20prices%20share%20much%20of%20the%20blame:%20The%20most%20rapid%20increase%20in%20chronic%20hunger%20experienced%20in%20recent%20years%20occurred%20between%202003%E2%80%9305%20and%202007.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20provisional%20estimates%20show%20that,%20in%202007,%2075%20million%20more%20people%20were%20added%20to%20the%20total%20number%20of%20undernourished%20relative%20to%202003%E2%80%9305.%20While%20several%20factors%20are%20responsible,%20high%20food%20prices%20are%20driving%20millions%20of%20people%20into%20food%20insecurity,%20worsening%20conditions%20for%20many%20who%20were%20already%20%20food-insecure,%20and%20threatening%20long-term%20global%20food%20security.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20poorest,%20landless%20and%20female-headed%20households%20are%20the%20hardest%20hit:%20The%20vast%20majority%20of%20urban%20and%20rural%20households%20in%20the%20developing%20world%20rely%20on%20food%20purchases%20for%20most%20of%20their%20food%20and%20stand%20to%20lose%20from%20high%20food%20prices.%20High%20food%20prices%20reduce%20real%20income%20and%20worsen%20the%20prevalence%20of%20food%20insecurity%20and%20malnutrition%20among%20the%20poor%20by%20reducing%20the%20quantity%20and%20quality%20of%20food%20consumed.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Initial%20governmental%20policy%20responses%20have%20had%20limited%20effect:%20To%20contain%20the%20negative%20effects%20of%20high%20food%20prices,%20governments%20have%20introduced%20various%20measures,%20such%20as%20price%20controls%20and%20export%20restrictions.%20While%20understandable%20from%20an%20immediate%20social%20welfare%20%20perspective,%20many%20of%20these%20actions%20have%20been%20ad%20hoc%20and%20are%20likely%20to%20be%20ineffective%20and%20unsustainable.%20Some%20have%20had%20damaging%20effects%20on%20world%20price%20levels%20and%20stability.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20By%20virtue%20of%20their%20size,%20China%20and%20India%20combined%20account%20for%2042%20percent%20of%20the%20chronically%20hungry%20people%20in%20thedeveloping%20world.%20The%20importance%20of%20China%20and%20India%20in%20the%20overall%20picture%20warrants%20some%20analysis%20of%20the%20main%20driving%20forces%20behind%20hunger%20trends%20%20%EF%82%B7%20After%20registering%20impressive%20gains%20between%201990%E2%80%9392%20and%20the%20mid-1990s,%20%20progress%20in%20reducing%20hunger%20in%20India%20has%20stalled%20since%20about%201995%E2%80%9397.%20The%20high%20proportion%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20in%20the%20base%20had%20a%20challenging%20task%20in%20reducing%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20increase%20in%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20can%20be%20traced%20to%20a%20slowing%20in%20the%20growth%20%28even%20a%20slight%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20for%20human%20consumption%20since%201995%E2%80%9397.%20On%20the%20demand%20side,%20life%20expectancy%20in%20India%20has%20increased%20from%2059%20to%2063%20years%20since%201990%E2%80%9392.%20This%20has%20had%20an%20important%20impact%20on%20the%20overall%20%20change%20in%20population%20structure,%20with%20the%20result%20that%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20the%20growth%20in%20minimum%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20had%20outpaced%20that%20of%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20combination%20of%20the%20declining%20per%20capita%20growth%20rate%20in%20total%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20and%20higher%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20resulted%20in%20an%20estimated%2024%20million%20more%20undernourished%20people%20in%20India%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20compared%20with%20the%20base%20period.%20The%20increased%20food%20needs%20of%20the%20ageing%20population%20amount%20to%20about%206.5%20million%20tonnes%20per%20year%20in%20cereal%20equivalent.%20Nevertheless,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20hunger%20in%20India%20decreased%20from%2024%20percent%20in%201990%E2%80%9392%20to%2021%20percent%20in%202003%E2%80%9305,%20marking%20progress%20towards%20meeting%20the%20MDG%20hunger%20reduction%20target.%20%20According%20to%20the%20Report%20on%20the%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20Rural%20India%20%282009%29,%20which%20has%20been%20prepared%20by%20the%20MS%20Swaminathan%20Research%20Foundation%20%28MSSRF%29%20and%20the%20World%20Food%20Programme%20%28WFP%29,%20http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:%20%20%EF%82%B7%20On%20the%20composite%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20of%20rural%20India,%20states%20like%20Jharkhand%20and%20Chhattisgarh%20are%20found%20in%20the%20%E2%80%98very%20high%E2%80%99%20level%20of%20food%20insecurity,%20followed%20by%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Bihar%20and%20Gujarat.%20The%20indicators%20used%20for%20computing%20the%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20in%20rural%20India%20are:%20a%29%20Percentage%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201,890%20Kcal%20/cu/diem;%20b%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water;%20c%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20the%20premises;%20d%29%20Percentage%20of%20ever-married%20women%20age%2015%20%E2%80%93%2049%20years%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20e%29%20Percentage%20of%20women%20%2815%20%E2%80%93%2049%20yrs%29%20with%20CED;%20f%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20and,%20g%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20stunted%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20better%20performers%20include%20Himachal%20Pradesh,%20Kerala,%20Punjab%20and%20Jammu%20and%20Kashmir,%20all%20of%20which%20report%20an%20Index%20value%20below%200.5%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20populatio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ich%20has%20caused%20growing%20distress%20on%20the%20one%20hand%20and%20an%20accumulation%20of%20unwanted%20foodstocks%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20government%20on%20the%20other.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Not%20only%20has%20there%20been%20a%20remarkable%20decline%20in%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20agricultural%20output,%20but%20this%20rate%20of%20growth,%20whether%20of%20agriculture%20as%20a%20whole%20or%20of%20foodgrains,%20has%20fallen%20well%20below%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201990s%20while%20it%20had%20exceeded%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201980s.%20The%201990s%20were%20indeed%20the%20first%20decade%20since%20independence%20when%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20declined%20in%20absolute%20terms.%20%20According%20to%20the%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v2/11v2_ch4.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20National%20Nutrition%20Monitoring%20Bureau%20%28NNMB%29%20Report%20of%20December%202006%20reveals%20that%20the%20consumption%20of%20protective%20foods%20such%20as%20pulses,%20green%20leafy%20vegetables%20%28GLV%29,%20milk,%20and%20fruits%20was%20grossly%20inadequate.%20Consequently,%20the%20intakes%20of%20micronutrients%20such%20as%20iron,%20vitamin%20A,%20riboflavin,%20and%20folic%20acid%20were%20far%20below%20the%20recommended%20levels%20in%20all%20the%20age%20groups.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20data%20from%20nutritional%20survey%20of%20children%20under%20five%20years%20shows%20that%20the%20prevalence%20of%20signs%20of%20moderate%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29%20%28Bitot%20spots%20on%20conjunctiva%20in%20eyes%29%20and%20that%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20%28angular%20stomatitis%29%20was%20about%200.6%%20and%200.8%%20respectively%20among%20the%20preschool%20children.%20Among%20the%20school%20age%20children,%20Bitot%20Spots%20were%20found%20in%201.9%,%20and%20the%20prevalence%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20and%20of%20mottling%20of%20teeth%20%28dental%20fluorosis%29%20was%202%%20each.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20per%20District%20Level%20Health%20Survey%20%28DLHS%29%20%282002%E2%80%9304%29,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%20very%20high%20%2872.6%%29%20in%20India%20with%20prevalence%20of%20severe%20anaemia%20among%20them%20much%20higher%20%2821.1%%29%20than%20that%20in%20preschool%20children%20%282.1%%29.%20In%20adolescent%20girls,%20educational%20or%20economic%20status%20does%20not%20seem%20to%20make%20much%20of%20a%20difference%20in%20terms%20of%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia.%20Prevention,%20detection,%20or%20management%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20has%20till%20now%20not%20received%20much%20attention.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20is%20very%20high%20among%20young%20children%20%286%E2%80%9335%20months%29,%20ever-married%20women%20%2815%E2%80%9349%20years%29,%20and%20pregnant%20women%20%28Annexure%204.1.3%29.%20Overall,%2072.7%%20of%20children%20up%20to%20the%20age%20of%20three%20in%20urban%20areas%20and%2081.2%%20in%20rural%20areas%20are%20anaemic.%20The%20overall%20prevalence%20has%20increased%20from%2074.2%%20%281998%E2%80%9399%29%20to%2079.2%%20%282005%E2%80%9306%29.%20Nagaland%20had%20the%20lowest%20prevalence%20%2844.3%%29,%20Goa%20was%20next%20%2849.3%%29,%20followed%20by%20Mizoram%20%2851.7%%29.%20Bihar%20had%20the%20highest%20prevalence%20%2887.6%%29%20followed%20closely%20by%20Rajasthan%20%2885.1%%29,%20and%20Karnataka%20%2882.7%%29.%20Moderate%20and%20severe%20anaemia%20is%20seen%20even%20among%20the%20educated%20families%20both%20in%20urban%20and%20rural%20areas.%20There%20are%20inter-State%20differences%20in%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20that%20are%20perhaps%20attributable%20partly%20to%20differences%20in%20dietary%20intake%20and%20partly%20to%20access%20to%20health%20care."><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/adr/pdf/ADR-Vol17-Mason-Hunt-Parker-Jonsson.pdf</span></a></em><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• About half the preschool children in Asia are considered to be malnourished, ranging from 16 percent underweight in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to 64 percent in Bangladesh, and a similar percentage are deficient in one or more micronutrients.</span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Poor diet and infectious disease interact to cause growth failure in children, physiological damage especially to the immune system, and specific clinical conditions like anemia, leading to impaired development and death.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Malnutrition is the largest risk factor in the world for disability and premature mortality, especially in developing countries, and is entirely preventable. Eliminating malnutrition would cut child mortality by more than 50 percent, and reduce the burden of disease in developing countries by about 20 percent</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Micronutrient deficiencies, measured by specific signs, are very widespread, in fact more so than general malnutrition, in part because the poor first meet energy needs, and the cheapest energy sources are the lowest in micronutrients. The three of most concern are vitamin A deficiency (VAD), iron deficiency, usually assessed as anemia, and iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Anemia resulting from iron deficiency is highly prevalent and showing no signs of declining in Asia. More than half the women of reproductive age are anemic, and children are similarly affected</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to [inside]2010 Global Hunger Index[/inside], which has been brought out by International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI), <a href="http://www.ifpri.org/pressroom/briefing/2010-global-hunger-index-crisis-child-undernutrition">http://www.ifpri.org/pressroom/briefing/2010-global-hunger-index-crisis-child-undernutrition</a>: </span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI) is calculated for 122 developing countries and countries in transition for which data on the three components of hunger are available.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Index scores countries based on three equally weighted indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Index ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in practice.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates an improvement in the country’s hunger situation.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• This year’s GHI reflects data from 2003-2008—the most recent available global data on the three components of hunger.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Since 1990, the world’s GHI score has decreased by nearly 25 percent. However, global hunger remains at a “serious” level.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa continue to suffer from the highest levels of hunger, with regional scores of 22.9 and 21.7, respectively.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Vietnam made the most absolute progress in improving their scores between the 1990 GHI and 2010 GHI. In the same period, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Tunisia, and Turkey made the most relative progress in reducing hunger.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Undernutrition signifies deficiencies in energy, protein, and/or essential vitamins and minerals. Undernutrition is the result of inadequate intake of food—in terms of either quality or quantity—or poor utilization of nutrients due to infections or other illnesses, or a combination of these two factors.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Bangladesh, India, and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children in Asia– 40 percent.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>Bangladesh: </em>Over the past 25 years, Bangladesh has made significant progress in reducing its under-five mortality rate, as well as the prevalence of underweight and stunted children. Despite these improvements, 54 out of every 1,000 children do not survive to their fifth birthday and a staggering 43 percent of Bangladeshi children are stunted, accounting for almost 4 percent of stunted children worldwide.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>China: </em>Between 1990 and 2002, China reduced child malnutrition from 25 percent to 8 percent with a highly successful poverty alleviation strategy; effective large-scale health, nutrition, and family-planning interventions; and increased spending on water, sanitation, and education.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>India: </em>Between 1990 and 2008, the prevalence of underweight children dropped from 60 percent to 44 percent, while the under-five mortality rate fell from 12 percent to 7 percent.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 2005-06, about 44 percent of Indian children under age five were underweight and 48 percent were stunted. Because of the country’s large population, India is home to 42 percent of the world’s underweight children and 31 percent of its stunted children. </span></div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>Malaysia:</em> Between 1990 and 2005, the proportion of children who were underweight decreased from 22 percent to 7 percent. This impressive reduction can be attributed to rapid economic growth, as well as interventions targeted to women and young children.<br /> <br /> • <em>Thailand: </em>During the 1980s, Thailand halved malnutrition from 50 percent to 25 percent by using targeted nutrition interventions and creating a widespread network of community volunteers to help change people’s behavior.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><em>According to The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises, which has been brought out by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1683e/i1683e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1683e/i1683e.pdf</a>: </em><br /> <br /> • The number of undernourished people in the world remains unacceptably high at near the one billion mark despite an expected decline in 2010 for the first time since 1995. This decline is largely attributable to increased economic growth foreseen in 2010 – particularly in developing countries – and the fall in international food prices since 2008.<br /> <br /> • A total of 925 million people are still estimated to be undernourished in 2010, representing almost 16 percent of the population of developing countries. The fact that nearly a billion people remain hungry even after the recent food and financial crises have largely passed indicates a deeper structural problem that gravely threatens the ability to achieve internationally agreed goals on hunger reduction: the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the 1996 World Food Summit goal.<br /> <br /> • In the 22 countries identified by this report as being in protracted crisis (or containing areas in protracted crisis), the most recent data show that more than 166 million people are undernourished, representing nearly 40 percent of the population of these countries and nearly 20 percent of all undernourished people in the world.<br /> <br /> • This unacceptably high degree of hunger results from many factors, including armed conflict and natural disasters, often in combination with weak governance or public administration, scarce resources, unsustainable livelihoods systems and breakdown of local institutions.<br /> <br /> • On average, the proportion of people who are undernourished is almost three times as high in countries in protracted crisis as in other developing countries (if countries in protracted crisis and China and India are excluded). There are approximately 166 million undernourished people in countries in protracted crisis – roughly 20 percent of the world’s undernourished people, or more than a third of the global total if China and India are excluded from the calculation.<br /> <br /> • A deeper analysis of the relationship between protracted crisis and food security outcomes shows that changes in income, government effectiveness, control of corruption and the number of years in crisis are significantly related to the proportion of the population who are undernourished. These factors, plus education, are also all significantly related to a country’s Global Hunger Index.<br /> <br /> • Based on the latest available data, the total number of undernourished people in the world is estimated to have reached 1 023 million in 2009 and is expected to decline by 9.6 percent to 925 million in 2010. Developing countries account for 98 percent of the world’s undernourished people and have a prevalence of undernourishment of 16 percent – down from 18 percent in 2009 but still well above the target set by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1.<br /> <br /> • International cereal prices have declined in recent months and are below their recent peaks, reflecting ample global cereal supplies in 2009/10 and prospects for large crops in 2010, but food prices in most low-income food-deficit countries remain above the pre-crisis level of early 2008, negatively affecting access to food by vulnerable populations.<br /> <br /> • Vulnerable households deal with shocks by selling assets, which are very difficult to rebuild, by reducing food consumption in terms of quantity and variety and by cutting down on health and education expenditures – coping mechanisms that all have long-term negative effects on quality of life and livelihoods.<br /> <br /> • The majority of the world’s undernourished people live in developing countries. Two-thirds live in just seven countries (Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan) and over 40 percent live in China and India alone.<br /> <br /> • The region with most undernourished people continues to be Asia and the Pacific, but with a 12 percent decline from 658 million in 2009 to 578 million, this region also accounts for most of the global improvement expected in 2010.<br /> <br /> • Developing countries as a group have seen an overall setback in terms of the World Food Summit goal (from 827 million in 1990–92 to 906 million in 2010), while some progress has been made towards MDG 1 (with the prevalence of hunger declining from 20 percent undernourished in 1990–92 to 16 percent in 2010).<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished people remains highest in sub-Saharan Africa, at 30 percent in 2010. As of 2005–07 (the most recent period for which complete data are available), the Congo, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria had already achieved MDG 1 and Ethiopia and others were close to achieving it; in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, the proportion of undernourishment had risen to 69 percent (from 26 percent in 1990–92).<br /> <br /> • In Asia, Armenia, Myanmar and Viet Nam had achieved MDG 1 and China and others were close to doing so, while in Latin America and the Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica and Nicaragua had achieved MDG 1 and Brazil and others were approaching the target reduction.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the FAO Report-[inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World-2008 [/inside] </span><a href="http://Trend%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kcal%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kcal%20in%201998*%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03*%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20resulting%20in%20rising%20food%20stocks%20in%20FCI%20%28Food%20Corporation%20of%20India%29%20godowns*%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished**%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies%20have%20resulted%20in%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29**%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%2072.6%%20in%20India***%20%20*Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan%20**%20Mason,%20John,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32%20***%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20Planning%20Commission,%20Government%20of%20India%20%20%20Read%20more%20%20%20According%20to%20John,%20Mason,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32,%20%20http://www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/adr/pdf/ADR-Vol17-Mason-Hunt-Parker-Jonsson.pdf%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished,%20ranging%20from%2016%20percent%20underweight%20in%20the%20People%E2%80%99s%20Republic%20of%20China%20%28PRC%29%20to%2064%20percent%20in%20Bangladesh,%20and%20a%20similar%20percentage%20are%20deficient%20in%20one%20or%20more%20micronutrients.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Poor%20diet%20and%20infectious%20disease%20interact%20to%20cause%20growth%20failure%20in%20children,%20physiological%20damage%20especially%20to%20the%20immune%20system,%20and%20specific%20clinical%20conditions%20like%20anemia,%20leading%20to%20impaired%20development%20and%20death.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Malnutrition%20is%20the%20largest%20risk%20factor%20in%20the%20world%20for%20disability%20and%20premature%20mortality,%20especially%20in%20developing%20countries,%20and%20is%20entirely%20preventable.%20Eliminating%20malnutrition%20would%20cut%20child%20mortality%20by%20more%20than%2050%20percent,%20and%20reduce%20the%20burden%20of%20disease%20in%20developing%20countries%20by%20about%2020%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies,%20measured%20by%20specific%20signs,%20are%20very%20widespread,%20in%20fact%20more%20so%20than%20general%20malnutrition,%20in%20part%20because%20the%20poor%20first%20meet%20energy%20needs,%20and%20the%20cheapest%20energy%20sources%20are%20the%20lowest%20in%20micronutrients.%20The%20three%20of%20most%20concern%20are%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Anemia%20resulting%20from%20iron%20deficiency%20is%20highly%20prevalent%20and%20showing%20no%20signs%20of%20declining%20in%20Asia.%20More%20than%20half%20the%20women%20of%20reproductive%20age%20are%20anemic,%20and%20children%20are%20similarly%20affected%20%20According%20to%20the%20FAO%20Report-The%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World-2008%20%20ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e02.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20World%20hunger%20is%20increasing:%20The%20World%20Food%20Summit%20%28WFS%29%20%20goal%20of%20halving%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20people%20in%20the%20world%20by%202015%20is%20becoming%20more%20difficult%20to%20reach%20for%20many%20countries.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20most%20recent%20estimates%20put%20the%20number%20of%20hungry%20people%20at%20923%20million%20in%202007,%20an%20increase%20of%20more%20than%2080%20million%20since%20the%201990%E2%80%9392%20base%20period.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20High%20food%20prices%20share%20much%20of%20the%20blame:%20The%20most%20rapid%20increase%20in%20chronic%20hunger%20experienced%20in%20recent%20years%20occurred%20between%202003%E2%80%9305%20and%202007.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20provisional%20estimates%20show%20that,%20in%202007,%2075%20million%20more%20people%20were%20added%20to%20the%20total%20number%20of%20undernourished%20relative%20to%202003%E2%80%9305.%20While%20several%20factors%20are%20responsible,%20high%20food%20prices%20are%20driving%20millions%20of%20people%20into%20food%20insecurity,%20worsening%20conditions%20for%20many%20who%20were%20already%20%20food-insecure,%20and%20threatening%20long-term%20global%20food%20security.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20poorest,%20landless%20and%20female-headed%20households%20are%20the%20hardest%20hit:%20The%20vast%20majority%20of%20urban%20and%20rural%20households%20in%20the%20developing%20world%20rely%20on%20food%20purchases%20for%20most%20of%20their%20food%20and%20stand%20to%20lose%20from%20high%20food%20prices.%20High%20food%20prices%20reduce%20real%20income%20and%20worsen%20the%20prevalence%20of%20food%20insecurity%20and%20malnutrition%20among%20the%20poor%20by%20reducing%20the%20quantity%20and%20quality%20of%20food%20consumed.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Initial%20governmental%20policy%20responses%20have%20had%20limited%20effect:%20To%20contain%20the%20negative%20effects%20of%20high%20food%20prices,%20governments%20have%20introduced%20various%20measures,%20such%20as%20price%20controls%20and%20export%20restrictions.%20While%20understandable%20from%20an%20immediate%20social%20welfare%20%20perspective,%20many%20of%20these%20actions%20have%20been%20ad%20hoc%20and%20are%20likely%20to%20be%20ineffective%20and%20unsustainable.%20Some%20have%20had%20damaging%20effects%20on%20world%20price%20levels%20and%20stability.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20By%20virtue%20of%20their%20size,%20China%20and%20India%20combined%20account%20for%2042%20percent%20of%20the%20chronically%20hungry%20people%20in%20thedeveloping%20world.%20The%20importance%20of%20China%20and%20India%20in%20the%20overall%20picture%20warrants%20some%20analysis%20of%20the%20main%20driving%20forces%20behind%20hunger%20trends%20%20%EF%82%B7%20After%20registering%20impressive%20gains%20between%201990%E2%80%9392%20and%20the%20mid-1990s,%20%20progress%20in%20reducing%20hunger%20in%20India%20has%20stalled%20since%20about%201995%E2%80%9397.%20The%20high%20proportion%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20in%20the%20base%20had%20a%20challenging%20task%20in%20reducing%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20increase%20in%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20can%20be%20traced%20to%20a%20slowing%20in%20the%20growth%20%28even%20a%20slight%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20for%20human%20consumption%20since%201995%E2%80%9397.%20On%20the%20demand%20side,%20life%20expectancy%20in%20India%20has%20increased%20from%2059%20to%2063%20years%20since%201990%E2%80%9392.%20This%20has%20had%20an%20important%20impact%20on%20the%20overall%20%20change%20in%20population%20structure,%20with%20the%20result%20that%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20the%20growth%20in%20minimum%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20had%20outpaced%20that%20of%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20combination%20of%20the%20declining%20per%20capita%20growth%20rate%20in%20total%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20and%20higher%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20resulted%20in%20an%20estimated%2024%20million%20more%20undernourished%20people%20in%20India%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20compared%20with%20the%20base%20period.%20The%20increased%20food%20needs%20of%20the%20ageing%20population%20amount%20to%20about%206.5%20million%20tonnes%20per%20year%20in%20cereal%20equivalent.%20Nevertheless,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20hunger%20in%20India%20decreased%20from%2024%20percent%20in%201990%E2%80%9392%20to%2021%20percent%20in%202003%E2%80%9305,%20marking%20progress%20towards%20meeting%20the%20MDG%20hunger%20reduction%20target.%20%20According%20to%20the%20Report%20on%20the%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20Rural%20India%20%282009%29,%20which%20has%20been%20prepared%20by%20the%20MS%20Swaminathan%20Research%20Foundation%20%28MSSRF%29%20and%20the%20World%20Food%20Programme%20%28WFP%29,%20http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:%20%20%EF%82%B7%20On%20the%20composite%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20of%20rural%20India,%20states%20like%20Jharkhand%20and%20Chhattisgarh%20are%20found%20in%20the%20%E2%80%98very%20high%E2%80%99%20level%20of%20food%20insecurity,%20followed%20by%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Bihar%20and%20Gujarat.%20The%20indicators%20used%20for%20computing%20the%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20in%20rural%20India%20are:%20a%29%20Percentage%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201,890%20Kcal%20/cu/diem;%20b%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water;%20c%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20the%20premises;%20d%29%20Percentage%20of%20ever-married%20women%20age%2015%20%E2%80%93%2049%20years%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20e%29%20Percentage%20of%20women%20%2815%20%E2%80%93%2049%20yrs%29%20with%20CED;%20f%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20and,%20g%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20stunted%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20better%20performers%20include%20Himachal%20Pradesh,%20Kerala,%20Punjab%20and%20Jammu%20and%20Kashmir,%20all%20of%20which%20report%20an%20Index%20value%20below%200.5%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201890%20kcal/cu/diem%20has%20in%20fact%20increased%20in%20the%20states%20of%20Orissa,%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Karnataka,%20West%20Bengal,%20Rajasthan%20and%20marginally%20for%20Punjab.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Almost%202/3rd%20of%20rural%20households%20in%20Jharkhand%20did%20not%20have%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water%20in%202001.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20More%20than%2090%20percent%20of%20rural%20households%20in%20Chhattisgarh,%20Jharkhand,%20Orissa%20and%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20did%20not%20have%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20their%20premises.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20many%20as%20eight%20states%20-%20Andhra%20Pradesh,%20Bihar,%20Gujarat,%20Haryana,%20Karnataka,%20Kerala,%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20and%20Rajasthan%20%E2%80%93%20have%20shown%20increase%20in%20the%20incidence%20of%20anaemia%20among%20women%20in%20the%20reproductive%20age%20group.%20The%20highest%20increase%20in%20anaemia%20levels%20has%20been%20observed%20in%20Andhra%20Pradesh%20%2851%20to%2064%20percent%29,%20followed%20by%20Haryana%20%2848%20to%2057%20percent%29%20and%20Kerala%20%2823%20to%2032%20percent%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20women%20with%20CED%20has%20drastically%20increased%20for%20Assam%20%2828%20to%2040%20percent%29%20followed%20by%20Bihar%20%2840%20to%2046%20percent%29,%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20%2842%20to%2045%20percent%29%20and%20Haryana%20%2831%20to%2033%20percent%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%2012%20out%20of%2020%20states%20under%20consideration%20have%20figures%20higher%20than%2080%20percent%20for%20proportion%20of%20rural%20anaemic%20children.%20Bihar,%20that%20already%20had%20a%20high%20figure%20of%2081%20percent,%20has%20further%20increased%20to%2089%20percent.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20rural%20stunted%20children%20in%20Karnataka%20has%20increased%20from%2039%20to%2043%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20While%20famines%20and%20starvation%20deaths%20remain%20the%20popular%20representation%20of%20the%20contemporary%20problem%20of%20hunger,%20one%20of%20the%20most%20significant%20yet%20understated%20and%20perhaps%20less%20visible%20area%20of%20concern%20today%20is%20that%20of%20chronic%20or%20persistent%20food%20and%20nutrition%20insecurity.%20This%20is%20a%20situation%20where%20people%20regularly%20subsist%20on%20a%20very%20minimal%20diet%20that%20has%20poor%20nutrient%20and%20calorific%20content%20as%20compared%20to%20medically%20prescribed%20norms.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20Targeted%20Public%20Distribution%20System%20%28TPDS%29%20has%20led%20to%20exclusion%20of%20large%20number%20of%20needy%20poor.%20The%20Report%20recommends%20a%20return%20to%20the%20%E2%80%98universal%20PDS%E2%80%99%20that%20existed%20till%201997.%20The%20Report%20also%20recommends%20universalization%20and%20effective%20implementation%20of%20ICDS%20and%20MDMS%20and%20employment%20generation%20programmes,%20like%20National%20Rural%20Employment%20Guarantee%20Scheme%20%28NREGS%29.%20Greater%20involvement%20of%20Panchayat%20Raj%20Institutions%20%28PRIs%29%20in%20food%20delivery%20at%20the%20grassroot%20level%20and%20integration%20of%20food%20and%20nutrition%20security%20objectives%20in%20ongoing%20Government%20initiatives%20like%20the%20National%20Food%20Security%20Mission%20and%20National%20Horticulture%20Mission%20are%20crucial.%20%20%20According%20to%20Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan:%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%201990s%20have%20not%20only%20seen%20a%20steady%20decline%20in%20the%20level%20of%20per%20capita%20food%20availability%20in%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole%20%28taking%20both%20rural%20and%20urban%20India%20together%29;%20the%20absolute%20amount%20of%20per%20capita%20food%20availability%20in%20the%20year%20200203%20was%20even%20lower%20than%20during%20the%20years%20of%20the%20Second%20World%20War-years%20that%20saw%20the%20terrible%20Bengal%20famine.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kilo%20calorie%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kilo%20calorie%20in%201998.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03,%20which%20shows%20that%20the%20situation%20was%20better%20during%20the%20times%20when%20the%20Britishers%20ruled%20over%20India%20compared%20to%20the%20present%20situation.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20fact%20that%20accumulation%20of%20such%20enormous%20foodstocks%20has%20occurred%20despite%20a%20stagnation%20%28or%20even%20a%20marginal%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20during%20the%201990s,%20suggests%20that%20the%20cause%20of%20this%20accumulation%20is%20the%20absence%20of%20adequate%20purchasing%20power%20of%20the%20rural%20population.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20working%20people,%20especially%20in%20rural%20India,%20which%20has%20caused%20growing%20distress%20on%20the%20one%20hand%20and%20an%20accumulation%20of%20unwanted%20foodstocks%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20government%20on%20the%20other.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Not%20only%20has%20there%20been%20a%20remarkable%20decline%20in%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20agricultural%20output,%20but%20this%20rate%20of%20growth,%20whether%20of%20agriculture%20as%20a%20whole%20or%20of%20foodgrains,%20has%20fallen%20well%20below%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201990s%20while%20it%20had%20exceeded%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201980s.%20The%201990s%20were%20indeed%20the%20first%20decade%20since%20independence%20when%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20declined%20in%20absolute%20terms.%20%20According%20to%20the%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v2/11v2_ch4.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20National%20Nutrition%20Monitoring%20Bureau%20%28NNMB%29%20Report%20of%20December%202006%20reveals%20that%20the%20consumption%20of%20protective%20foods%20such%20as%20pulses,%20green%20leafy%20vegetables%20%28GLV%29,%20milk,%20and%20fruits%20was%20grossly%20inadequate.%20Consequently,%20the%20intakes%20of%20micronutrients%20such%20as%20iron,%20vitamin%20A,%20riboflavin,%20and%20folic%20acid%20were%20far%20below%20the%20recommended%20levels%20in%20all%20the%20age%20groups.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20data%20from%20nutritional%20survey%20of%20children%20under%20five%20years%20shows%20that%20the%20prevalence%20of%20signs%20of%20moderate%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29%20%28Bitot%20spots%20on%20conjunctiva%20in%20eyes%29%20and%20that%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20%28angular%20stomatitis%29%20was%20about%200.6%%20and%200.8%%20respectively%20among%20the%20preschool%20children.%20Among%20the%20school%20age%20children,%20Bitot%20Spots%20were%20found%20in%201.9%,%20and%20the%20prevalence%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20and%20of%20mottling%20of%20teeth%20%28dental%20fluorosis%29%20was%202%%20each.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20per%20District%20Level%20Health%20Survey%20%28DLHS%29%20%282002%E2%80%9304%29,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%20very%20high%20%2872.6%%29%20in%20India%20with%20prevalence%20of%20severe%20anaemia%20among%20them%20much%20higher%20%2821.1%%29%20than%20that%20in%20preschool%20children%20%282.1%%29.%20In%20adolescent%20girls,%20educational%20or%20economic%20status%20does%20not%20seem%20to%20make%20much%20of%20a%20difference%20in%20terms%20of%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia.%20Prevention,%20detection,%20or%20management%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20has%20till%20now%20not%20received%20much%20attention.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20is%20very%20high%20among%20young%20children%20%286%E2%80%9335%20months%29,%20ever-married%20women%20%2815%E2%80%9349%20years%29,%20and%20pregnant%20women%20%28Annexure%204.1.3%29.%20Overall,%2072.7%%20of%20children%20up%20to%20the%20age%20of%20three%20in%20urban%20areas%20and%2081.2%%20in%20rural%20areas%20are%20anaemic.%20The%20overall%20prevalence%20has%20increased%20from%2074.2%%20%281998%E2%80%9399%29%20to%2079.2%%20%282005%E2%80%9306%29.%20Nagaland%20had%20the%20lowest%20prevalence%20%2844.3%%29,%20Goa%20was%20next%20%2849.3%%29,%20followed%20by%20Mizoram%20%2851.7%%29.%20Bihar%20had%20the%20highest%20prevalence%20%2887.6%%29%20followed%20closely%20by%20Rajasthan%20%2885.1%%29,%20and%20Karnataka%20%2882.7%%29.%20Moderate%20and%20severe%20anaemia%20is%20seen%20even%20among%20the%20educated%20families%20both%20in%20urban%20and%20rural%20areas.%20There%20are%20inter-State%20differences%20in%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20that%20are%20perhaps%20attributable%20partly%20to%20differences%20in%20dietary%20intake%20and%20partly%20to%20access%20to%20health%20care."><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e02.pdf</span></a>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em><strong>World hunger is increasing: </strong></em>The World Food Summit (WFS) goal of halving the number of undernourished people in the world by 2015 is becoming more difficult to reach for many countries. FAO’s most recent estimates put the number of hungry people at 923 million in 2007, an increase of more than 80 million since the 1990–92 base period.</span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <em><strong>High food prices share much of the blame: </strong></em>The most rapid increase in chronic hunger experienced in recent years occurred between 2003–05 and 2007. FAO’s provisional estimates show that, in 2007, 75 million more people were added to the total number of undernourished relative to 2003–05. While several factors are responsible, high food prices are driving millions of people into food insecurity, worsening conditions for many who were already food-insecure, and threatening long-term global food security.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <em><strong>The poorest, landless and female-headed households are the hardest hit: </strong></em>The vast majority of urban and rural households in the developing world rely on food purchases for most of their food and stand to lose from high food prices. High food prices reduce real income and worsen the prevalence of food insecurity and malnutrition among the poor by reducing the quantity and quality of food consumed.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Initial governmental policy responses have had limited effect: To contain the negative effects of high food prices, governments have introduced various measures, such as price controls and export restrictions. While understandable from an immediate social welfare perspective, many of these actions have been ad hoc and are likely to be ineffective and unsustainable. Some have had damaging effects on world price levels and stability.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• By virtue of their size, China and India combined account for 42 percent of the chronically hungry people in thedeveloping world. The importance of China and India in the overall picture warrants some analysis of the main driving forces behind hunger trends</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• After registering impressive gains between 1990–92 and the mid-1990s, progress in reducing hunger in India has stalled since about 1995–97. The high proportion of undernourished in India in the base had a challenging task in reducing the number of undernourished</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The increase in the number of undernourished in India can be traced to a slowing in the growth (even a slight decline) in per capita dietary energy supply for human consumption since 1995–97. On the demand side, life expectancy in India has increased from 59 to 63 years since 1990–92. This has had an important impact on the overall change in population structure, with the result that in 2003–05 the growth in minimum dietary energy requirements had outpaced that of dietary energy supply</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The combination of the declining per capita growth rate in total dietary energy supply and higher per capita dietary energy requirements resulted in an estimated 24 million more undernourished people in India in 2003–05 compared with the base period. The increased food needs of the ageing population amount to about 6.5 million tonnes per year in cereal equivalent. Nevertheless, the prevalence of hunger in India decreased from 24 percent in 1990–92 to 21 percent in 2003–05, marking progress towards meeting the MDG hunger reduction target.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> </div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]Report on the State of Food Insecurity in Rural India (2009)[/inside], which has been prepared by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and the World Food Programme (WFP),</span><br /> <a href="http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:</span></a></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• On the composite index of food insecurity of rural India, states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are found in the ‘very high’ level of food insecurity, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. The indicators used for computing the index of food insecurity in rural India are: a) Percentage of population consuming less than 1,890 Kcal /cu/diem; b) Percentage of households not having access to safe drinking water; c) Percentage of households not having access to toilets within the premises; d) Percentage of ever-married women age 15 – 49 years who are anaemic; e) Percentage of women (15 – 49 yrs) with CED; f) Percentage of children in the age group 6 – 35 months who are anaemic; and, g) Percentage of children in the age group 6 – 35 months who are stunted</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The better performers include Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, all of which report an Index value below 0.5</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The proportion of population consuming less than 1890 kcal/cu/diem has in fact increased in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan and marginally for Punjab.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Almost 2/3rd of rural households in Jharkhand did not have access to safe drinking water in 2001.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• More than 90 percent of rural households in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh did not have access to toilets within their premises.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As many as eight states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – have shown increase in the incidence of anaemia among women in the reproductive age group. The highest increase in anaemia levels has been observed in Andhra Pradesh (51 to 64 percent), followed by Haryana (48 to 57 percent) and Kerala (23 to 32 percent).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The proportion of women with CED has drastically increased for Assam (28 to 40 percent) followed by Bihar (40 to 46 percent), Madhya Pradesh (42 to 45 percent) and Haryana (31 to 33 percent).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> ', 'credit_writer' => 'Rural Expert', 'article_img' => '', 'article_img_thumb' => '', 'status' => (int) 1, 'show_on_home' => (int) 1, 'lang' => 'EN', 'category_id' => (int) 10, 'tag_keyword' => '', 'seo_url' => 'hunger-overview-40', 'meta_title' => '', 'meta_keywords' => '', 'meta_description' => '', 'noindex' => (int) 0, 'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'most_visit_section_id' => null, 'article_big_img' => null, 'liveid' => (int) 40, 'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'edate' => '', 'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {}, '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ '*' => true, 'id' => false ], '[dirty]' => [], '[original]' => [], '[virtual]' => [], '[hasErrors]' => false, '[errors]' => [], '[invalid]' => [], '[repository]' => 'Articles' } $imgtag = false $imgURL = '#' $titleText = 'Hunger Overview' $descText = ' KEY TRENDS • As per the 2019 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102) *13 • As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index report,...' $foundposition = false $startp = (int) 0 $endp = (int) 200preg_replace - [internal], line ?? include - APP/Template/SearchResult/index.ctp, line 34 Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413 Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374 Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 880 Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
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$site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin' $rn = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 12, 'title' => 'Hunger Overview', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">KEY TRENDS </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As per the 2019 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102) <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><strong>*13</strong></span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.6; GHI rank: 25), Nepal (GHI score: 21.2; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 20.1; GHI rank: 68), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.9; GHI rank: 67) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.1; GHI rank: 86) have outperformed India (GHI score: 31.1; GHI rank: 103). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 34.3; GHI rank: 111) have performed worse than India <strong>*12</strong></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per the 2017 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.5; GHI rank: 29), Nepal (GHI score: 22.0; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 22.6; GHI rank: 77), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 25.5; GHI rank: 84) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.5; GHI rank: 88) have outperformed the country (GHI score: 31.4; GHI rank: 100). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 33.3; GHI rank: 107) have performed worse than India <strong>*11</strong></span></span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• India ranks 97th among 118 countries in terms of 2016 Global Hunger Index. The country has improved its GHI score from 46.4 during 1992 to 38.2 during 2000, and further to 36.0 during 2008. It has a GHI score of 28.5 during 2016 <strong>*10</strong> </span><br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India ranks 80th among 117 countries during 2015 in terms of Global Hunger Index score. The country has improved its GHI score to 29 in 2015 from 38.5 in 2005. A lower number means fewer people are going hungry <strong>*9</strong><br /> <br /> • As compared to India, China's ranking is 21 (GHI score: 8.6) and Pakistan's ranking is 93 (GHI score: 33.9) in 2015 <strong>*9</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• It is estimated that the number of undernourished people in India will rise from 189.9 million in 2010-12 to 194.6 million in 2014-16 <strong>*8</strong><br /> <br /> • Although India reduced the number of undernourished people by 9.6 percent from 210.1 million during 1990-92 to 189.9 million during 2010-12, China reduced the number of undernourished people by 43.5 percent from 289 million during 1990-92 to 163.2 million during 2010-12 <strong>*8</strong><br /> <br /> • India has reduced the proportion of undernourished in the population from 23.7% in 1990-92 to 15.6% in 2010-12. During 2014-16, the proportion of undernourished in the population is estimated to be 15.2% <strong>*8</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of underweight in children fell by almost 13 percentage points between 2005–2006 and 2013–2014. India no longer ranks second-to-last in the world on underweight in children. Instead, it has moved into the 120th spot among 128 countries <strong>*7</strong><br /> <br /> • Progress in dealing with underweight helped India’s 2014 GHI score fall to 17.8. India now ranks 55th out of 76 countries, before Bangladesh and Pakistan, but still trails behind neighboring Nepal (rank 44) and Sri Lanka (rank 39) <strong>*7</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the number of people undernourished in India has declined by 9.5 percent. Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the proportion of undernourished in the total population of India has declined by 36.0 percent <strong>*6</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India and China are the major contributors of the water footprint of cereals in their respective regions. Wastage of cereals in Asia is a significant problem, with major impacts on carbon emissions and water and land use. Rice's profile is particularly noticeable, given its high methane emissions combined with a large level of wastage. FAO estimates that each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted <strong>*5</strong><br /> <br /> • For India, Stein and Qaim (2007) estimated that the combined economic cost of iron-deficiency anaemia, zinc deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and iodine deficiency amounts to around 2.5 percent of GDP. The cost to the global economy caused by malnutrition, as a result of lost productivity and direct health care costs, could account for as much as 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to US$3.5 trillion per year or US$500 per person. The costs of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are estimated at 2–3 percent of global GDP, equivalent to US$1.4–2.1 trillion per year <strong>*4</strong><br /> <br /> • The all-India percentage of households reporting getting two square meals every day throughout the year has gradually increased over the last 16 years from 94.5% in 1993-94 to about 99% in 2009-10 in rural India and from about 98% in 1993-94 to 99.6% in 2009-10 in urban India. The gap between the rural and urban percentages has narrowed appreciably <strong>*3</strong><br /> <br /> • In India, underweight prevalence rate among children aged 0-59 months declined from 64 percent in 1993 to 61 percent in 2006 among the poorest 20 percent while the same declined from 37 percent in 1993 to 25 percent in 2006 among the richest 20 percent. Therefore, a greater reduction in underweight prevalence occurred in the richest 20% of households than in the poorest 20% <strong>*2</strong><br /> <br /> • The total number of undernourished people in India stood at 240 million during 1990-1992, 224 million during 1999-2001, 238 million during 2004-06, 227 million during 2007-2009 and 217 million during 2010-2012 <strong>*1</strong><br /> <br /> • About 870 million people globally are estimated to have been undernourished (in terms of dietary energy supply) in the period 2010–12. This figure represents 12.5 percent of the global population or one in eight people <strong>*1</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>13.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2019 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change, released in October, 2019, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2019%20GHI.pdf" title="2019 GHI">click here</a> to access</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">12. </span></span></span></strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2018 Global Hunger Index: Forced Migration and Hunger, released in October 2018, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2018%20GHI%20Report.pdf">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>11.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2017 Global Hunger Index: The Inequalities of Hunger (released in October 2017), published by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide & Welthungerhilfe, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2017%20Global%20Hunger%20Index.pdf">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>10.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">2016 Global Hunger Index: Getting to Zero Hunger (released in October 2016), produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH), please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/GHI%202016.pdf" title="GHI 2016 IFPRI">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>9.</strong> 2015 Global Hunger Index: Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger (released in October 2015), produced by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and World Peace Foundation/ Tufts University,<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> please <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/2015-global-hunger-index-armed-conflict-and-challenge-hunger">click here</a> to access</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>8. </strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 (released in May 2015), FAO, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202015.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015">click here</a> to access</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>7.</strong> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">Global Hunger Index 2014: The Challenge of Hidden Hunger, prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/ghi14.pdf" title="GHI2014">click here</a> to download</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>6. </strong>The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition, FAO, WFP and IFAD, <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202014.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014">click here</a> to download</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>5.</strong> FAO report: <a href="tinymce/uploaded/FAO%20report%20on%20food%20wastage.pdf">Food Wastage Footprints</a>: Impacts on Natural Resources (2013)<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>4.</strong> FAO report: The State of Food and Agriculture 2013-Food Systems for Better Nutrition, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf </a></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>3.</strong> NSS 66th Round Report titled: Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households (February, 2013) July 2009-June 2010, MoSPI, GoI, <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf">http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf</a><br /> <br /> <strong>2.</strong> 2013 Hunger Report-Within Reach Global Development Goals (2012), published by Bread for the World Institute, <a href="http://www.bread.org/institute/">http://www.bread.org/institute/</a><br /> <br /> <strong>1.</strong> The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012, FAO, WFP, IFAD,<br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf</a> <br /> <br /> <em> </em></p> <div style="text-align:justify">OVERVIEW</div> <p style="text-align:justify">Liberalisation has brought handsome gains for India’s middle classes. Life is good and getting better; more and more people are holidaying abroad; buying of vehicles or property has never been easier. Slimming and low calorie diets are a rage. There has also been spectacular rise in social and economic inequalities but the per capita food availability and the calorie intake of the desperately poor people have both fallen since liberalisation. The situation has only worsened in the past two years with the prices of food grain, pulses and vegetables hitting the roof. India continues to be home to one third of the world’s underweight children.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Unlike the last centuries, the incidence of widespread hunger is unpardonable in today’s world, partly because of the global availability of food being a whole lot more than the mankind’s requirement, and partly because easy global connectivity has made it possible to address food emergencies very quickly. However, what has not changed through the ages is the lack of policies targeted specifically at eradicating hunger or at augmenting incomes at the lowest levels.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">India has passed the <a href="https://im4change.org/empowerment/right-to-food-59.html?pgno=2#national-food-security-act-2013">National Food Security Act</a> (NFSA), which aims to fight hunger and extreme poverty. It seeks to make the families below the poverty line (BPL) entitled to 25 kg of wheat or rice at Rs 3 per kg. The law is clearly, and laudably, aimed at addressing hunger through policy intervention. In a way the right to life has always been meaningless in the absence of a right to food but then causing death through faulty state policies has never been a cognizable offence anywhere in the world. Maybe the time has come now to think on those lines. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">As per the report titled [inside]2022 Global Hunger Index: Food Systems Transformation and Local Governance' (released in October 2022)[/inside], which has been produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly (please click <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/2022%20Global%20Hunger%20report.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2022, India ranks <a href="http://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">107th among 121 countries</a> in terms of the Global Hunger Index (GHI).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As per the 2022 Global Hunger report, the <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20change%20over%20time%20India%20and%20others.png">GHI scores for India</a> were 38.8 in 2000, 36.3 in 2007, 28.2 in 2014, and 29.1 in 2022. India's GHI score of 29.1 in 2022 falls in the serious range of the GHI Severity Scale.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For India, the absolute change in GHI score since 2014 was <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20change%20over%20time%20India%20and%20others.png">0.9 points</a> and the percentage change in the same since 2014 was <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20change%20over%20time%20India%20and%20others.png">3.2 percent</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s <a href="/upload/files/Child%20wasting%202017%20to%202021.png">child wasting rate, at 19.3 percent</a>, is the highest of any country in the world and drives up the South Asia region’s average owing to India’s large population. The child wasting rates are also very high in Sudan, Yemen, and Sri Lanka. India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan each have child stunting rates between 35 and 38 percent, with Afghanistan’s rate being the highest in the South Asia region. Stunting disparities between districts or counties were particularly pronounced in Honduras, India, Nigeria, and Viet Nam. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The example of India shows the importance of considering the subnational context when designing programs and policies to target child stunting. Researchers investigated the factors that contributed to a decline in stunting in four Indian states between 2006 and 2016: Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. They found that stunting fell mainly in response to improvements in the coverage of health and nutrition interventions, household conditions (such as socio-economic status and food security), and maternal factors (such as mothers’ health and education). While improvements in household conditions were the most important factor for each of the four states, the second most important factor varies by state. As the authors conclude, this variability across states “indicates the need for contextualized policy and programmatic initiatives to help focus the efforts in the sectors that need the most attention for continued decline in stunting” (Avula et al. 2022, 10).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For the <a href="http://im4change.org/upload/files/2022%20Global%20Hunger%20report.pdf">2022 GHI report</a>, data were assessed for 136 countries. Out of these, there were sufficient data to calculate 2022 GHI scores for and rank 121 countries (by way of comparison, 116 countries were ranked in the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">2021 report</a>).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20ranking%20and%20scores%20for%20India.png">Neighbouring countries</a> such as China (GHI score < 5.0; GHI rank: Collectively ranked 1–17 out of 121 countries), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 13.6; GHI rank: 64), Myanmar (GHI score: 15.6; GHI rank: 71), Nepal (GHI score: 19.1; GHI rank: 81), Bangladesh (GHI score: 19.6; GHI rank: 84), and Pakistan (GHI score: 26.1; GHI rank: 99) have outperformed India (GHI score: 29.1; GHI rank: 107 out of 121 countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The 17 countries (including China) with 2022 GHI scores of less than 5 are not assigned individual ranks, but rather are collectively ranked 1–17. Differences between their scores are minimal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Countries that have identical 2022 scores are given the same ranking (for example, Costa Rica and United Arab Emirates are both ranked 18th). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In comparison to <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20in%20India%20South%20Asia%20and%20World.png">India's GHI score of 29.1</a> in 2022, GHI's score for the <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20in%20India%20South%20Asia%20and%20World.png">world was 18.2</a>, for <a href="/upload/files/GHI%20scores%20in%20India%20South%20Asia%20and%20World.png">South Asia was 27.4</a> and for East and Southeast Asia was 8.2.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">proportion of undernourished</a> in the population <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">for India</a> was 18.4 percent during 2000, 17.5 percent during 2007, 14.8 percent during 2014 and 16.3 percent during 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">proportion of children</a> under the age of five <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">who are wasted</a> (i.e., too thin for height) for India was 17.1 percent during 2000, 20.0 percent during 2007, 15.1 percent during 2014 and 19.3 percent during 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">proportion of children</a> under the age of five <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">who are stunted</a> (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 2000, 47.8 percent during 2007, 38.7 percent during 2014 and 35.5 percent during 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/2022%20GHI%20Undernourishment%20Stunring%20Wasting%20Mortality%20in%20India%20and%20other%20countries.png">under-five mortality rate for India</a> was 9.2 percent in 2000, 6.8 percent in 2007, 4.6 percent in 2014 and 3.3 percent in 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Kindly note that the data for GHI scores, child stunting, and child wasting are from 1998–2002 (2000), 2005–2009 (2007), 2012–2016 (2014), and 2017–2021 (2022). Data for undernourishment are from 2000–2002 (2000), 2006–2008 (2007), 2013–2015 (2014), and 2019–2021 (2022). Data for child mortality are from 2000, 2007, 2014, and 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,</p> <p style="text-align:justify">- Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">click here</a> to access the formula for the calculation of the GHI scores. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. In the case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI scores <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">are comparable within each year’s report</a>, but <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">not between different years’ reports</a>. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may partly or fully reflect a data revision. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Moreover, the <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">methodology</a> for calculating GHI scores has been revised in the past and may be revised again in the future. In 2015, for example, the GHI methodology was changed to include data on child stunting and wasting and to standardize the values (see Wiesmann et al. 2015). This change caused a major shift in the GHI scores, and the GHI Severity of Hunger Scale was modified to reflect this shift. In the GHI reports published since 2015, almost all countries have had much higher GHI scores compared with their scores in reports published in 2014 and earlier. This does not necessarily mean their hunger levels rose in 2015—the higher scores merely reflect the revision of the methodology. The 2000, 2007, 2014, and 2022 GHI scores shown in this year’s report are all comparable because they all reflect the revised methodology and the latest revisions of data.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Like the GHI scores and indicator values, <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">GHI rankings cannot be compared</a> <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/methodology.html">between GHI reports</a>, for two main reasons. First, the data and methodology used to calculate GHI scores have been revised over time, as described above. Second, the ranking in each year’s report often includes different countries because the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. Thus, if a country’s ranking changes from one report to the next, this may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• To track a country’s GHI performance over time, each report includes GHI scores and indicator data for three reference years. In the 2022 report, India’s GHI score of 2022 can be directly compared with its GHI scores for 2000, 2007, and 2014.<br /> <br /> • For India’s 2022 GHI score, data on the four component indicators came from various sources. As said earlier, each of the indicator values is standardized and weighted. The standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Undernourishment values are taken from FAO Data: Suite of Food Security Indicators. Accessed on July 14, 2022. <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS">www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS</a>. The FAO's telephone-based indicator that includes information from a poll taken by Gallup – the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) – is NOT used in the GHI. The GHI uses the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) indicator, which is assessed by FAO using Food Balance Sheet data from each country. It measures the proportion of the population with inadequate access to calories and is based on data regarding the food supply in the country.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Child stunting and wasting data taken are from WHO 2022; UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank 2022; UNICEF 2022a, 2013, and 2009; MEASURE Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Under-five mortality rates are taken from the 2021 edition of the UN IGME (Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation) Child Mortality Estimates (published in 2021, accessed on April 25, 2022). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• FAO produces an entire suite of indicators on food security. Of these, two are most important and recognised globally as indicators to monitor progress of SDG Target 2.1. These are: 1) Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), which is an estimate of the proportion of population whose habitual dietary intake is less than the minimum dietary energy requirement that is required for normal, active and healthy living, and 2) Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Of these two indicators published by FAO, GHI uses only PoU, which is a measure of proportion of population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake. Prevalence of Undernourishment takes into account average per capita availability of food supply as obtained through carefully constructed food balance sheets. Food balance sheets are primarily based on data officially reported by the member countries including India. PoU also takes into account distribution of calorie intake in the population (as estimated through official consumption surveys conducted by governments including India), as well as calorie requirement of the population (based on data on age distribution for men and women, distribution of heights and other key determinants of dietary energy requirements). All data compiled by FAO – including data officially reported by the member countries, data available from other public sources, and estimates made by FAO – are made public by FAO with detailed documentation of how these are obtained. The GHI does not use Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Further details on the PoU methodology can be found in Annex 1B (p.162) of FAO’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2022/en/">State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World</a> 2022 and on the <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/c2567f45-f9a8-464f-9f81-217d99b472b1/">FAO webpage</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1868103">here</a> and <a href="/upload/files/Press%20Release%20Statement%20by%20Ministry%20of%20Women%20and%20Child%20Development%2015%20Oct%202022.pdf">here</a> to access the Statement of Ministry of Women and Child Development on Global Hunger Report 2022 dated 15th October, 2022.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/un-report-global-hunger-numbers-rose-to-as-many-as-828-million-in-2021.html">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/SOFI%202022.pdf">here</a> to access the main findings of the [inside]2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report[/inside], which has been jointly published on July 6, 2022 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The India-specific findings of the 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World are as follows:</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of undernourishment in the total population in India has reduced from 21.6 percent to 16.3 percent between 2004-06 and 2019-21. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of undernourished people in India has fallen from 247.8 million to 224.3 million between 2004-06 and 2019-21. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of wasting in Indian children (under 5 years of age) stood at 17.3 percent in 2020. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian children (below 5 years of age) who are affected by wasting was 20.1 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of stunting in Indian children (under 5 years of age) has declined from 41.7 percent in 2012 to 30.9 percent in 2020. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian children (below 5 years of age) who are affected by stunting was 52.3 million in 2012, which fell to 36.1 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of overweight in Indian children (under 5 years of age) has fallen from 2.4 percent in 2012 to 1.9 percent in 2020. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian children (below 5 years of age) who are affected by overweight was 3.0 million in 2012, which fell to 2.2 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of obesity in the adult population (18 years and above) has risen from 3.1 percent in 2012 to 3.9 percent in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian adults (18 years of age and above) who are affected by obesity was 25.2 million in 2012, which increased to 34.3 million in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of anaemia in Indian women (aged 15 years to 49 years) has fallen marginally from 53.2 percent in 2012 to 53.0 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of anaemic women (15-49 years of age) was 171.5 million in 2012, which increased to 187.3 million in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants (0-5 months of age) has increased from 46.4 percent to 58.0 percent between 2012 and 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of infants (0-5 months of age) who are exclusively breastfed was 11.2 million in 2012, which increased to 14.0 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The cost of a healthy diet in India was US$ 2.824 per person per day in 2017, US$ 2.830 per person per day in 2018, US$ 2.877 per person per day in 2019, and US$ 2.970 per person per day in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of Indian people who are unable to afford a healthy diet was 74.9 percent in 2017, 71.5 percent in 2018, 69.4 percent in 2019, and 70.5 percent in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of Indian people who are unable to afford a healthy diet were 1,002.5 million in 2017, 966.6 million in 2018, 948.6 million in 2019, and 973.3 million in 2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of the severely food insecure people in India's population increased from 15.49 percent in 2014-16 to 22.32 percent in 2019-21.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/food-price-inflation-could-have-been-avoided-says-new-ipes-food-report.html">here</a>, <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Food%20price%20crisis%20report_press%20release%20by%20IPES%20Food.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Another%20Perfect%20Storm%282%29.pdf">here</a> to access the main findings of the IPES-Food special report [inside]Another Perfect Storm? (released in May, 2022)[/inside]. The <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Another%20Perfect%20Storm%282%29.pdf">report</a> blames fundamental flaws in global food systems -- such as heavy reliance on food imports and excessive commodity speculation -- for escalating food insecurity sparked by the Ukraine invasion. These flaws were exposed, but not corrected, after previous food price spikes in 2007-08.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">---<br /> The key findings of the report titled [inside]2021 Global Hunger Index -- Hunger and Food Systems in Conflict Settings (released in October, 2021)[/inside], produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly, are as follows (please click <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2021, India ranks 101st among 116 countries in terms of the Global Hunger Index (GHI).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking.jpg">GHI score for India</a> was 38.8 in 2000, 37.4 in 2006, 28.8 in 2012, and 27.5 in 2021. India's GHI score of 27.5 in 2021 falls in the serious range of the GHI Severity Scale.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Since 2000, India has made substantial progress, but there are still areas of concern, particularly regarding child nutrition. India’s GHI score has decreased from a 2000 GHI score of 38.8 points—considered alarming—to a 2021 GHI score of 27.5—considered serious. The proportion of undernourished in the population and the under-five child mortality rate are now at relatively low levels. While child stunting has seen a significant decrease—from 54.2 percent in 1998–1999 to 34.7 percent in 2016–2018—it is still considered very high. At 17.3 percent—according to the latest data—India has the highest child wasting rate of all countries covered in the GHI. This rate is slightly higher than it was in 1998–1999 when it was 17.1 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• It is important to note that anything that happened in 2021 is not yet reflected in the latest prevalence of undernourishment data, which covers 2018-2020. The full effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will likely only be reflected in the values for all four GHI indicators in the coming years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI is not a tool designed to assess and reflect individual measures taken by governments. The 2021 Global Hunger Index assesses the hunger situation on a global and regional level as well as the situation in 135 countries, of which 116 had sufficient data to calculate 2021 GHI scores. The GHI is a measure of development of outcomes in the domain of hunger. It is important to differentiate between policy interventions and their outcomes, so that effectiveness of government programmes and other interventions in improving outcomes can be evaluated.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking%281%29.jpg">Neighbouring countries</a> such as China (GHI score < 5.0; GHI rank: Collectively ranked 1–18 out of 116 countries), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 16.0; GHI rank: 65), Myanmar (GHI score: 17.5; GHI rank: 71), Nepal (GHI score: 19.1; GHI rank: 76), Bangladesh (GHI score: 19.1; GHI rank: 76), and Pakistan (GHI score: 24.7; GHI rank: 92) have <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking%282%29.jpg">outperformed India</a> (GHI score: 27.5; GHI rank: 101 out of 116 countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">2021 GHI report</a>, data were assessed for 135 countries. Of these, there were sufficient data to calculate 2021 GHI scores for and rank 116 countries (by way of comparison, 107 countries were ranked in the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202020%281%29.pdf">2020 report</a>).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The 18 countries (including China) with 2021 GHI scores of less than 5 are not assigned individual ranks, but rather are collectively ranked 1–18. Differences between their scores are minimal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Countries that have identical 2021 scores are given the same ranking (for example, <a href="/upload/files/India%20GHI%20score%20and%20ranking%283%29.jpg">Nepal and Bangladesh</a> are both ranked 76). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI.jpg">proportion of undernourished</a> in the population for India was 18.4 percent during 2000-2002, 19.6 percent during 2005-2007, 15.0 percent during 2011-2013 and 15.3 percent during 2018-2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%281%29.jpg">proportion of children under</a> the age of five <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%282%29.jpg">who are wasted</a> (i.e., too thin for height) for India was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2004-2008, 15.1 percent during 2010-2014 and 17.3 percent during 2016-2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In <a href="/upload/files/Wasting%20in%20India%20in%20comparison%20to%20other%20countries%281%29.jpg">10 countries</a>, the public health significance of <a href="/upload/files/Wasting%20in%20India%20in%20comparison%20to%20other%20countries.jpg">child wasting rates</a> is considered “high” (10–<15 percent) or “very high” (≥15 percent) (de Onis et al. 2019): India (17.3 percent), Djibouti (15.7 percent), Sri Lanka (15.1 percent), Yemen (15.1 percent), Somalia (13.1 percent), Chad (13.0 percent), Sudan (12.6 percent), Nepal (12.0 percent), Mauritania (11.5 percent), and Timor-Leste (11.5 percent). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%283%29.jpg">proportion of children under the</a> <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%284%29.jpg">age of five who are stunted</a> (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.8 percent during 2004-2008, 38.7 percent during 2010-2014 and 34.7 percent during 2016-2020.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The <a href="/upload/files/Indicators%20for%20GHI%285%29.jpg">under-five mortality rate</a> for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.1 percent in 2006, 5.2 percent in 2012 and 3.4 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Kindly note that the data for GHI scores, child stunting, and child wasting are from 1998–2002 (2000), 2004–2008 (2006), 2010–2014 (2012), and 2016–2020 (2021). Data for undernourishment are from 2000–2002 (2000), 2005–2007 (2006), 2011–2013 (2012), and 2018–2020 (2021). Data for child mortality are from 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2019 (2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,</p> <p style="text-align:justify">- Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="/upload/files/Formula%20for%20calculation%20of%20the%20GHI%20scores.pdf">click here</a> to access the formula for the calculation of the GHI scores. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. In the case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI scores are <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%20comparison.png">comparable within each year’s report</a>, but <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%20comparison%281%29.png">not between different years’ reports</a>. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may be partly or fully a reflection of a data revision.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Like the GHI scores and indicator values, the rankings from <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202021%20comparison%282%29.png">one year’s report cannot be compared to those from another</a>. In addition to the data and methodology revisions described previously, different countries are included in the ranking every year. This is due in part to data availability—the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. If a country’s ranking changes from one year to the next, it may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries. Furthermore, the ranking system was changed in 2016 to include all of the countries in the report rather than just those with a GHI score of 5 or above. This added many countries with low scores to the ranking that had not been previously included.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• To track a country’s GHI performance over time, each report includes GHI scores and indicator data for three reference years. In the <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/GHI%202021%281%29.pdf">2021 report</a>, India’s GHI scores can be directly compared with its GHI scores for 2000, 2006, and 2012.<br /> <br /> • For India’s 2021 GHI score, data on the four component indicators came from various sources. As said earlier, each of the indicator values is standardized and weighted. The standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">Undernourishment values are from the 2021</a> <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">edition</a> of the FAO Food Security Indicators (published July 12, 2021, accessed July 12, 2021). The FAO's telephone-based indicator that includes information from a poll taken by Gallup – the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) – is NOT used in the GHI. The GHI uses the prevalence of undernourishment indicator, which is assessed by FAO using Food Balance Sheet data from each country. It measures the proportion of the population with inadequate access to calories and is based on data regarding the food supply in the country.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Child stunting and wasting <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">data are from the 2021 edition</a> of UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates (published April 2021, accessed May 24, 2021), including data from India’s Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016–2018 (CNNS) National Report (published 2019). Child wasting refers to the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition). Child Stunting refers to the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Under-five mortality rates are taken from the 2020 edition of the UN IGME (Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation) Child Mortality Estimates (published September 9, 2020, accessed May 24, 2021). Given the wide range in quality and availability of child mortality data at the country level, it is necessary and prudent for the GHI to use the data from UN IGME for all countries to ensure the values have been properly vetted.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• FAO produces an entire suite of indicators on food security. Of these, two are most important and recognised globally as indicators to monitor progress of SDG Target 2.1. These are: 1) Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), which is an estimate of the proportion of population whose habitual dietary intake is less than the minimum dietary energy requirement that is required for normal, active and healthy living, and 2) Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Of these two indicators published by FAO, GHI uses only PoU, which is a measure of proportion of population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake. Prevalence of Undernourishment takes into account average per capita availability of food supply as obtained through carefully constructed food balance sheets. Food balance sheets are primarily based on data officially reported by the member countries including India. PoU also takes into account distribution of calorie intake in the population (as estimated through official consumption surveys conducted by governments including India), as well as calorie requirement of the population (based on data on age distribution for men and women, distribution of heights and other key determinants of dietary energy requirements). All data compiled by FAO – including data officially reported by the member countries, data available from other public sources, and estimates made by FAO – are made public by FAO with detailed documentation of how these are obtained. The GHI does not use Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI), which is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and estimates the proportion of population that faces constrained access to food of adequate quality and quantity.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Further details on the PoU methodology can be found in Annex 1B (p.158) of FAO’s State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World and on the <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/c2567f45-f9a8-464f-9f81-217d99b472b1/">FAO webpage</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="/upload/files/PIB%20GHI%202021.pdf">click here</a> to access the [inside]Statement of Ministry of Women and Child Development on Global Hunger Report 2021 dated 15th October, 2021[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/six-fold-increase-in-people-suffering-famine-like-conditions-since-pandemic-began.html">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/The%20Hunger%20Virus%202.0_media%20brief_EN.pdf">here</a> to access the key findings of the Oxfam Media Briefing titled [inside]The Hunger Virus Multiplies (released on 9th July, 2021)[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2020 Global Hunger Index: One Decade to Zero Hunger -- Linking Health and Sustainable Food Systems (released in October, 2020)[/inside], produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly, are as follows (please click <a href="/upload/files/GHI%202020%281%29.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html">here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2020, India ranks 94th among 107 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI score for India was 38.9 in 2000, 37.5 in 2006, 29.3 in 2012 and 27.2 in 2020. India's GHI score of 27.2 in 2020 falls in the serious range of the GHI Severity Scale.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score < 5.0; GHI rank: Collectively ranked 1–17 out of 107 countries), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 16.3; GHI rank: 64), Nepal (GHI score: 19.5; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 20.4; GHI rank: 75), Myanmar (GHI score: 20.9; GHI rank: 78), and Pakistan (GHI score: 24.6; GHI rank: 88) have outperformed India (GHI score: 27.2; GHI rank: 94 out of 107 countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of undernourished in the population for India was 18.6 percent during 2000-2002, 19.8 percent during 2005-2007, 16.3 percent during 2011-2013 and 14.0 percent during 2017-2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., too thin for height) for the country was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2004-2008, 15.1 percent during 2010-2014 and 17.3 percent during 2015-2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 11 countries, the public health significance of child wasting rates is considered “high” (10–<15 percent) or “very high” (≥15 percent) (de Onis et al. 2019): India (17.3 percent), Yemen (15.5 percent), Sri Lanka (15.1 percent), Timor-Leste (14.6 percent), Sudan (14.3 percent), Niger (14.1 percent), Chad (13.3 percent), Djibouti (12.5 percent), Malaysia (11.5 percent), Mauritania (11.5 percent), and Indonesia (10.2 percent).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.8 percent during 2004-2008, 38.7 percent during 2010-2014 and 34.7 percent during 2015-2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Data from 1991 through 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan showed that stunting is concentrated among children from households facing multiple forms of deprivation, including poor dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and household poverty (Krishna et al. 2018).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The under-five mortality rate for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.1 percent in 2006, 5.2 percent in 2012 and 3.7 percent in 2018.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India -- the region’s most populous country -- experienced a decline in under-five mortality in the period 2000-2018, driven largely by decreases in deaths from birth asphyxia or trauma, neonatal infections, pneumonia, and diarrhea. However, child mortality caused by prematurity and low birthweight increased, particularly in poorer states and rural areas. Prevention of prematurity and low birthweight is identified as a key factor with the potential to reduce under-five mortality in India, through actions such as better antenatal care, education, and nutrition as well as reductions in anaemia and oral tobacco use (Million Death Study Collaborators 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For the calculation of the 2020 GHI scores, undernourishment data are from 2017–2019; child stunting and child wasting data are from 2015–2019, with the most current data from that range used for each country; and child mortality data are from 2018. In 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the values of some of the GHI component indicators, and in turn the GHI scores, are likely to worsen, but any changes that occur in 2020 are not yet reflected in the data and scores in this year’s report.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Kindly note that the data for GHI scores, child stunting, and child wasting are from 1998–2002 (2000), 2004–2008 (2006), 2010–2014 (2012), and 2015–2019 (2020). The data for undernourishment are from 2000–2002 (2000), 2005–2007 (2006), 2011–2013 (2012), and 2017–2019 (2020). The data for child mortality are from 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018 (2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,</p> <p style="text-align:justify">- Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. In case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• GHI scores are comparable within each year’s report, but not between different years’ reports. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may be partly or fully a reflection of a data revision.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Like the GHI scores and indicator values, the rankings from one year’s report cannot be compared to those from another. In addition to the data and methodology revisions described previously, different countries are included in the ranking every year. This is due in part to data availability—the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. If a country’s ranking changes from one year to the next, it may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries. Furthermore, the ranking system was changed in 2016 to include all of the countries in the report rather than just those with a GHI score of 5 or above. This added many countries with low scores to the ranking that had not been previously included.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>[Shivangini Piplani, who is doing her MA in Finance and Investment (1st year) from Berlin School of Business and Innovation, assisted the Inclusive Media for Change team in preparing the summary of the report by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. She did this work as part of her winter internship at the Inclusive Media for Change project in December 2020.]</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020: Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets (released in July 2020)[/inside] by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and others of the United Nations (UN) are as follows (please <a href="/upload/files/The-State-of-Food-Security-and-Nutrition-in-the-World-2020(2).pdf"><span style="background-color:#ffff00">click here</span> </a>to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, the 'prevalence of undernourishment' in the total population has reduced from 21.7 percent (i.e. 249.4 million) during 2004-06 to 14.0 percent (i.e. 189.2 million) during 2017-19. In Bangladesh, the same decreased from 14.3 percent during 2004-06 to 13.0 percent during 2017-19. In China, the 'prevalence of undernourishment' in the total population has fallen down from 7.9 percent during 2004-06 to less than 2.5 percent during 2017-19.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For India, data pertaining to 'prevalence of severe food insecurity' in the total population and 'prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity' in the total population are not available in the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• According to <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world-report-and-lockdown-distress-have-renewed-focus-on-what-is-also-the-world-largest-food-insecure-population.html">Vaishali Bansal</a>, since 2017, SOFI presents two key measures of food insecurity: the conventional measure called the 'prevalence of undernourishment (PoU)' and a new measure called the 'prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity (PMSFI)'. While PoU is focused on estimating the proportion of population facing chronic deficiency of calories, the PMSFI is a more comprehensive measure of the lack of access to adequate and nutritious food. Estimates of PoU are based on food balance sheets and national surveys of consumption. Given that consumption surveys are done infrequently in most countries, these estimates are often based on outdated data and are revised when better data become available. In contrast, the PMSFI is based on annual surveys that collect information on experiences of food insecurity (such as food shortages, skipping meals, and changing diet diversity because of a lack of resources). The PMSFI uses the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), a gold standard in food security measurement developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for estimating globally-comparable prevalence rates. Given the solid conceptual foundations of this methodology and the ease of collection of data, FIES and the PMFSI have been widely adopted by countries across the world. The FAO commissions Gallup to include FIES questions in the Gallup®World Poll (FAO-GWP) survey conducted in more than 140 countries across the world. Many countries have also started conducting their own FIES surveys. Unlike most other countries, the Government of India neither conducts official FIES surveys nor accepts estimates based on FAO-GWP surveys. Although FAO-GWP surveys are conducted in India, India is among the few countries that do not allow publication of estimates based on these surveys. Consequently, as in the past years, estimates of PMSFI for India are not published in SOFI.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• According to <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world-report-and-lockdown-distress-have-renewed-focus-on-what-is-also-the-world-largest-food-insecure-population.html">Vaishali Bansal</a>, the SOFI 2020 report provides three-year average estimates of the number of food insecure people for South Asia as a whole and for South Asia (excluding India). By taking a difference between the two, one can derive the estimates for India. These estimates show that while 27.8 percent of India’s population suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in 2014-16, the proportion rose to 31.6 percent in 2017-19. The number of food insecure people grew from 42.65 crore in 2014-16 to 48.86 crore in 2017-19. India accounted for 22 percent of the global burden of food insecurity, the highest for any country, in 2017-19. It is also noteworthy that while the PMSFI increased in India by 3.7 percentage points during this period, it fell by 0.5 percentage points in the rest of South Asia.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of wasting in Indian children below 5 years of age stood at 17.3 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of stunting in Indian children below 5 years of age has fallen from 47.8 percent in 2012 to 34.7 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of anaemia among Indian women of reproductive age (15-49 years) has slightly increased from 51.3 percent in 2012 to 51.4 percent in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants (0-5 months of age) in India has grown from 46.4 percent in 2012 to 58.0 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of overweight in Indian children below 5 years of age has declined from 1.9 percent in 2012 to 1.6 percent in 2019.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The prevalence of obesity in the adult population (18 years and above) of India has gone up from 3.1 percent in 2012 to 3.9 percent in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The relative inexpensiveness of energy-dense foods high in fat, sugar and salt is implicated in high rates of obesity. This is seen in high-income countries as well as in transitional economies, such as China, India and urban Africa. New research also shows that overweight increases in lower-middle-income countries are mainly due to very rapid changes in food systems, particularly the availability of cheap, highly processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The average cost of energy sufficient diet in India during 2017 is US$ 0.79, which is about 27.3 percent of food expenditure. Roughly 0.9 percent of the population cannot afford it.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The average cost of nutrient adequate diet in India during 2017 is US$ 1.90, which is about 66.0 percent of food expenditure. Around 39.1 percent of the population cannot afford it.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The average cost of healthy diet in India during 2017 is US$ 3.41, which is about 118.2 percent of food expenditure. Almost 77.9 percent of the population cannot afford it.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The two sub-regions showing reductions in undernourishment – Eastern and Southern Asia – are dominated by the two largest economies of the continent – China and India. Despite very different conditions, histories and rates of progress, the reduction in hunger in both countries stems from long-term economic growth, reduced inequality, and improved access to basic goods and services. Average GDP growth rates were 8.6 percent and 4.5 percent in China and India, respectively, in the last 25 years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Southern Asia, significant progress was also made in reducing hunger in the last ten years in countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, owing largely to improved economic conditions.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In countries like India, Ethiopia, etc., increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be necessary to meet dietary energy and protein requirements.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Countries like India that have achieved larger-scale commercial poultry production with the use of improved breeds, feed, housing and vaccinations have seen marked declines in the prices of eggs and poultry products, even in the face of rising demand.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For many, contract farming is an instrument that can provide certainty in expected returns on production. In India, for instance, contract farming in onions has led to increased yields and overall production levels.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In middle-income countries of Asia, in particular in India and South-eastern Asian countries, the penetration of the modern retail sector in the form of supermarkets has been less pronounced than in other countries, such as in Mexico and South Africa.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, rural business hubs have facilitated linking smallholder farmers to rapidly growing urban markets. Apart from procuring food products from the farmers, these hubs provide services such as farm inputs and equipment, as well as access to credit. Having food processing, packaging and cooling facilities at the same location allows consumers to benefit from economies of agglomeration and, on the whole, reduce transaction costs throughout the food supply chain. This model in India has given rise to rural supermarkets that provide cheaper staple foods. Consumers have been drawn to supermarkets providing fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy, meats and fish, because they are without food safety concerns linked to traditional wet markets.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, Indonesia and Viet Nam, traditional food retail outlets still represent more than 80 percent of the food retail share, and about 60–70 percent of the food retail share in upper-middle-income countries like China and Turkey.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, policies that promote staple crop production, such as fertilizer and credit subsidies, price supports and irrigation infrastructure (particularly for rice), have tended to discourage the production of traditional non-staple crops, such as pulses and legumes. A bias in irrigation infrastructure development in favour of staple crops has been maintained in many other regions. Instead, policies should promote investment in irrigation infrastructure specifically targeting strengthened capacity for all-season vegetable production, and other high-value commodities to increase availability of nutritious foods.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, the country’s Targeted Public Distribution System represents the largest social protection programme in the world, reaching 800 million people with subsidized cereals that can be purchased from more than 5 lakh fair price shops across the country. Evidence of the impact of the programme on dietary diversity and nutrition is mixed, although it showed some positive impact on the intake of macronutrients.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2019 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change (released in October, 2019)[/inside], produced by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide jointly, are as follows (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2019%20GHI.pdf" title="2019 GHI">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> • During 2019 India ranks 102nd among 117 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).<br /> <br /> • Neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102).<br /> <br /> • GHI score for India was 38.8 in 2000, 38.9 in 2005, 32.0 in 2010 and 30.3 in 2019. India's GHI score of 30.3 in 2019 falls in the serious range.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population for India was 18.2 percent during 1999-2001, 22.2 percent during 2004-2006, 17.5 percent during 2009-2011 and 14.5 percent during 2016-2018.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., too thin for height) for the country was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2003-2007, 16.5 percent during 2008-2012 and 20.8 percent during 2014-2018.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.8 percent during 2003-2007, 42.0 percent during 2008-2012 and 37.9 percent during 2014-2018.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality rate for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.5 percent in 2005, 5.8 percent in 2010 and 3.9 percent in 2017.<br /> <br /> • Because of its large population, India’s GHI indicator values have an outsized impact on the indicator values for the region. India’s child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available.<br /> <br /> • Wasting is most prevalent in Yemen, Djibouti, and India, ranging from 17.9 to 20.8 percent.<br /> <br /> • India's child stunting rate, 37.9 percent, is also categorized as very high in terms of its public health significance (de Onis et al. 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • In India, just 9.6 percent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet. It means that around 90 percent of children in that age group do not get sufficient acceptable diet.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • As of 2015–2016, 90 percent of Indian households used an improved drinking water source while 39 percent of households had no sanitation facilities (IIPS and ICF 2017). In 2014 the prime minister instituted the “Clean India” campaign to end open defecation and ensure that all households had latrines. Even with new latrine construction, however, open defecation is still practiced. This situation jeopardizes the population’s health and consequently children’s growth and development as their ability to absorb nutrients is compromised (Ngure et al. 2014; Caruso et al. 2019).<br /> <br /> • The GHI score of a country is based on four indicators i.e.,<br /> <br /> - Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> <br /> - Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> <br /> - Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> <br /> - Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).<br /> <br /> • Each of the four component indicators (discussed above) is given a standardized score on a 100-point scale based on the highest observed level for the indicator on a global scale in recent decades.<br /> <br /> • Standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country. Undernourishment and child mortality each contribute one-third of the GHI score, while the child undernutrition indicators—child wasting and child stunting—each contribute one-sixth of the score. <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">In case of GHI, 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.</span><br /> <br /> • Rankings and index scores from the present report cannot be accurately compared to rankings and index scores from previous reports.<br /> <br /> • GHI scores are comparable within each year’s report, but not between different years’ reports. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively in a specific country from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may be partly or fully a reflection of a data revision.<br /> <br /> • Like the GHI scores and indicator values, the rankings from one year’s report cannot be compared to those from another. In addition to the data and methodology revisions described previously, different countries are included in the ranking every year. This is due in part to data availability—the set of countries for which sufficient data are available to calculate GHI scores varies from year to year. If a country’s ranking changes from one year to the next, it may be in part because it is being compared with a different group of countries. Furthermore, the ranking system was changed in 2016 to include all of the countries in the report rather than just those with a GHI score of 5 or above. This added many countries with low scores to the ranking that had not been previously included.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2018 Global Hunger Index: Forced Migration and Hunger[/inside], which was released in October 2018, are as follows (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2018%20GHI%20Report.pdf">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> • During 2018 India ranks 103rd among 119 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).<br /> <br /> • Neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.6; GHI rank: 25), Nepal (GHI score: 21.2; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 20.1; GHI rank: 68), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.9; GHI rank: 67) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.1; GHI rank: 86) have outperformed India (GHI score: 31.1; GHI rank: 103). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 34.3; GHI rank: 111) have performed worse than India.<br /> <br /> • GHI score was 38.8 in both 2000 (data from the period 1998-2002) and 2005 (data from the period 2003-07), 32.2 in 2010 (data from the period 2008-12) and 31.1 in 2018 (data from the period 2013-17).<br /> <br /> • At 31.1, the country's 2018 GHI score falls in the serious category, says the report.<br /> <br /> • The indicators i.e. prevalence of stunting in children under five years (in percent) and under-five mortality rate (in percent) have exhibited clear-cut declining trends over time. The prevalence of wasting in children under five years (in percent) has increased from 16.7 percent during 2008-12 to 21.0 percent during 2013-17. <br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population for India was 18.2 percent during 1999-2001, 22.2 percent during 2004-2006, 17.5 percent during 2009-2011 and 14.8 percent during 2015-2017.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., too thin for height) for India was 17.1 percent during 1998-2002, 20.0 percent during 2003-2007, 16.7 percent during 2008-2012 and 21.0 percent during 2013-2017.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., too short for age) for India was 54.2 percent during 1998-2002, 47.9 percent during 2003-2007, 42.2 percent during 2008-2012 and 38.4 percent during 2013-2017.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality rate for India was 9.2 percent in 2000, 7.4 percent in 2005, 5.9 percent in 2010 and 4.3 percent in 2016.<br /> <br /> • The child wasting rate for the South Asia region is amplified in part by that of India, which has the region’s largest population and highest level of child wasting, at 21.0 percent according to the latest data. Yet even without India, South Asia’s child wasting rate would top the rates of the other regions of the world.<br /> <br /> • Wasting is most prevalent in Djibouti, India, and South Sudan, but even among these three countries the rates and estimates vary widely, at 16.7 percent, 21.0 percent, and 28.6 percent, respectively.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the report entitled [inside]2017 Global Hunger Index: The Inequalities of Hunger (released in October 2017)[/inside], published by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide & Welthungerhilfe, are as follows (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/2017%20Global%20Hunger%20Index.pdf">click here</a> to access): <br /> <br /> • During 2017 India ranks 100th among 119 countries in terms of Global Hunger Index (GHI).<br /> <br /> • The neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 7.5; GHI rank: 29), Nepal (GHI score: 22.0; GHI rank: 72), Myanmar (GHI score: 22.6; GHI rank: 77), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 25.5; GHI rank: 84) and Bangladesh (GHI score: 26.5; GHI rank: 88) have outperformed the country (GHI score: 31.4; GHI rank: 100). However, Pakistan (GHI score: 32.6; GHI rank: 106) and Afghanistan (GHI score: 33.3; GHI rank: 107) have performed worse than India.<br /> <br /> • The GHI score for the country was 46.2 in 1992, 38.2 in 2000, 35.6 in 2008 and 31.4 in 2017.<br /> <br /> • At 31.4, the country's 2017 GHI score is at the high end of the serious category, says the report.<br /> <br /> • Although all the three indicators i.e. proportion of undernourished in the population, prevalence of wasting in children under five years and under-five mortality rate have exhibited declining trends over time, in case of the indicator -- prevalence of wasting in children under five years, there has been a rising trend since the period 2006-2010.<br /> <br /> • As per the fourth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), more than a fifth (21.0 percent) of children below 5 years of age in the country suffer from wasting. The report says that only three other countries in 2017's GHI - Djibouti, Sri Lanka, and South Sudan - have data or estimates displaying child wasting above 20 percent in the period 2012–2016. On top of that, there has been no significant decline in the prevalence of wasting among children below 5 years of age over the past 25 years. The proportion of children who suffer from wasting during 2012-2016 is higher than that in 1990-1994.<br /> <br /> • The country has made progress in reducing the prevalence of child stunting (i.e. too short for age), from 61.9 percent during the period 1990-1994 to 38.4 percent during the period 2012-2016. Although the country has scaled up two national programmes that address the issue of nutrition i.e. the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the National Health Mission (NHM), adequate coverage under these schemes/ programmes is yet to be achieved.<br /> <br /> • According to the 2017 Global Hunger Index report, the areas of concern include (1) the timely introduction of complementary foods for young children; (2) an adequate diet to children between 6 and 23 months old; and (3) household access to improved sanitation facilities.<br /> <br /> • Although the 2013 National Food Security Act (NFSA) created legal entitlements to existing governmental food and nutrition security programmes, dalits (Scheduled Castes) and adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) are still left behind in getting the full benefits of such publicly funded schemes/ programmes. According to the report, it is difficult to monitor the implementation of NFSA in remote tribal hamlets.<br /> <br /> • The dalits in India face endemic discrimination and social ostracism. The tribals face forced eviction and displacement from their natural habitats, according to the global hunger report.<br /> <br /> • The GHI scores are based on four indicators i.e.<br /> <br /> * Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);<br /> <br /> * Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> <br /> * Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> <br /> * Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">In order to capture the multidimensional nature of hunger, the 2016 Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores are based on the following four indicators:<br /> <br /> 1. UNDERNOURISHMENT i.e. the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake);<br /> 2. CHILD WASTING i.e. the proportion of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);<br /> 3. CHILD STUNTING i.e. the proportion of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and<br /> 4. CHILD MORTALITY i.e. the mortality rate of children under the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).<br /> <br /> The values for each of the four component indicators (mentioned above) are determined from the available data for each country. Then each of the four component indicators is given a standardized score, and the standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the GHI score for each country.<br /> <br /> This calculation results in GHI scores on a 100-point scale, where 0 (zero) is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.<br /> <br /> The 2016 GHI has been calculated for 118 countries for which data on all four component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant.<br /> <br /> The GHI scores are based on source data that are continuously revised by the United Nations (UN) agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these revisions. While these revisions result in improvements in the data, they also mean that the GHI scores from different years’ reports are not directly comparable with one another. This year’s report contains GHI scores for 2016 and three reference periods—1992, 2000, and 2008—all of which have been calculated with revised data. To track the progress of a country or region over time, the 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016 scores within this report can be compared.<br /> <br /> According to the report entitled [inside]2016 Global Hunger Index: Getting to Zero Hunger (released in October 2016) [/inside], which has been jointly published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH), please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/GHI%202016.pdf" title="GHI 2016 IFPRI">click here</a> to access: <br /> <br /> • India ranks 97th among 118 countries in terms of 2016 Global Hunger Index. The country has improved its GHI score from 46.4 during 1992 to 38.2 during 2000, and further to 36.0 during 2008. It has a GHI score of 28.5 during 2016.<br /> <br /> • As compared to India, China's ranking is 29 (GHI score: 7.7) and Pakistan's ranking is 107 (GHI score: 33.4) during 2016. <br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population of India was 22.2 percent in 1991-93, 17.0 percent in 1999-2001, 17.2 percent in 2007-09, and 15.2 percent in 2014-16.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of wasting among Indian children under 5-years was 20.0 percent in 1990-94, 17.1 percent in 1998-2002, 20.0 percent in 2006-2010, and 15.1 percent in 2011-15.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of stunting among Indian children under 5-years was 61.9 percent in 1990-94, 54.2 percent in 1998-2002, 47.9 percent in 2006-2010, and 38.7 percent in 2011-15.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality rate in India was 11.9 percent in 1992, 9.1 percent in 2000, 6.6 percent in 2008, and 4.8 percent in 2015.<br /> <br /> • The level of hunger in the developing world has declined by 29 percent since 2000, says the IFPRI report. Despite this progress, the level of hunger globally remains distressingly high, with 795 million people still facing hunger, roughly one in four children affected by stunting, and 8 percent of children affected by wasting.<br /> <br /> • From the 2000 GHI to the 2016 GHI, 22 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. The three that achieved the biggest percentage reductions in hunger of all the countries in the serious and alarming categories are Myanmar, Rwanda, and Cambodia, with 2016 GHI scores for each country down by just over 50 percent relative to the 2000 scores. Each of these countries has experienced civil war and political instability in recent decades, and the improvements in part may reflect increased stability.<br /> <br /> <br /> **page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the report entitled [inside]2015 Global Hunger Index: Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger (released in October 2015)[/inside], produced by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and World Peace Foundation/Tufts University, (please <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/2015-global-hunger-index-armed-conflict-and-challenge-hunger">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> • The present report’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores are based on a new, improved formula that replaces child underweight, previously the sole indicator of child undernutrition, with two indicators of child undernutrition—child wasting and child stunting—which are equally weighted in the GHI calculation. The revised formula also standardizes each of the component indicators to balance their contribution to the overall index and to changes in the GHI scores over time.<br /> <br /> • The 2015 GHI has been calculated for 117 countries for which data on the four component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant. GHI scores are not calculated for some higher income countries where the prevalence of hunger is very low. The GHI is only as current as the data for its four component indicators.<br /> <br /> • This year's GHI reflects the most recent available country-level data and projections available between 2010 and 2016. It therefore reflects the hunger levels during this period rather than solely capturing conditions in 2015. The 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2015 GHI scores reflect the latest revised data for the four component indicators of the GHI. Where original source data were not available, the estimates of the GHI component indicators were based on the most recent data available.<br /> <br /> • The four component indicators used to calculate the GHI scores draw upon data from the following sources:<br /> <br /> <em>1. Undernourishment: </em>Updated data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) were used for the 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2015 GHI scores. Undernourishment data and projections for the 2015 GHI are for 2014-2016.<br /> <br /> <em>2. Child wasting and stunting: </em>The child undernutrition indicators of the GHI—child wasting and child stunting—include data from the joint database of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank, and additional data from WHO's continuously updated Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition; the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) reports; statistical tables from UNICEF; and the latest national survey data for India from UNICEF India. For the 2015 GHI, data on child wasting and child stunting are for the latest year for which data are available in the period 2010-2014.<br /> <br /> <em>3. Child mortality: </em>Updated data from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation were used for the 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, and 2015 GHI scores. For the 2015 GHI, data on child mortality are for 2013.<br /> <br /> • India ranks 80 among 117 countries during 2015 in terms of GHI score. The country has improved its GHI score to 29 in 2015 from 38.5 in 2005. A lower number means fewer people are going hungry.<br /> <br /> • As compared to India, China's ranking is 21 (GHI score: 8.6)and Pakistan's ranking is 93 (GHI score: 33.9) in 2015.<br /> <br /> • Based on the new formula, India's GHI score was 48.1 in 1990, 42.3 in 1995, 38.2 in 2000, 38.5 in 2005 and 29.0 in 2015.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the population of India was 23.7 percent in 1990-92, 21.6 percent in 1994-96, 17.0 percent in 1999-2001, 21.2 percent in 2004-06 and 15.2 percent in 2014-16.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of wasting among Indian children under 5-years was 20.3 percent in 1988-92, 19.1 percent in 1993-97, 17.1 percent in 1998-2002, 20.0 percent in 2003-07 and 15.0 percent in 2010-14.<br /> <br /> • The prevalence of stunting among Indian children under 5-years was 62.7 percent in 1988-92, 51.8 percent in 1993-97, 54.2 percent in 1998-2002, 47.9 percent in 2003-07 and 38.8 percent in 2010-14.<br /> <br /> • The under-five mortality in India was 12.6 percent in 1990, 10.9 percent in 1995, 9.1 percent in 2000, 7.5 percent in 2005 and 5.3 percent in 2013.<br /> <br /> • According to the most recent data from India, wasting in children fell from 20 percent to 15 percent between 2005–2006 and 2013–2014, and stunting fell from 48 percent to 39 percent in the same period.<br /> <br /> • The authors of the report inform that data on India’s child stunting and wasting rates in 2013–2014 were provisional and were obtained in 2014 through personal communication with India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development.<br /> <br /> • The report informs that the Government of India has scaled up nutrition-specific interventions over the past decade, including (1) a final drive to expand the Integrated Child Development Services program that aims to improve the health, nutrition, and development of children in India; and (2) the creation of the National Rural Health Mission, a community-based health initiative designed to deliver essential health services to rural India. However, progress in reducing child undernutrition has been uneven across India’s states. While the reasons for the improvements—or lack thereof—are not entirely clear, one factor that seems to correlate with undernutrition in India is open defecation, which contributes to illnesses that prevent the absorption of nutrients. Additionally, the low social status of women, which affects women’s health and nutrition, makes it more likely that babies will be born underweight.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> Key findings of the FAO report entitled: [inside]State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 (released in May 2015)[/inside] are as follows, (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202015.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015">click here</a> to access):<br /> <br /> <strong><em>Indian scenario</em></strong><br /> <br /> • India still has the second-highest estimated number of undernourished people in the world.<br /> <br /> • India will be able to reach neither the World Food Summit (WFS) nor the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that the number of undernourished people in India will rise from 189.9 million in 2010-12 to 194.6 million in 2014-16.<br /> <br /> • Although India reduced the number of undernourished people by 9.6 percent from 210.1 million during 1990-92 to 189.9 million during 2010-12, China reduced the number of undernourished people by 43.5 percent from 289 million during 1990-92 to 163.2 million during 2010-12.<br /> <br /> • India has reduced the proportion of undernourished in the population from 23.7% in 1990-92 to 15.6% in 2010-12. During 2014-16, the proportion of undernourished in the population is estimated to be 15.2%.<br /> <br /> • China has reduced the proportion of undernourished in the population from 23.9% in 1990-92 to 11.7% in 2010-12. During 2014-16, the proportion of undernourished in the population is estimated to be 9.3%.<br /> <br /> • The evolution of hunger trends in India has a significant influence on results for the South Asia region. Higher world food prices, observed since the late 2000s, have not been entirely transmitted into domestic prices, especially in large countries such as India. In India, the extended food distribution programme also contributed to this positive outcome. Higher economic growth has not been fully translated into higher food consumption, let alone better diets overall, suggesting that the poor and hungry may have failed to benefit much from overall growth.<br /> <br /> • Explanations offered for the inconsistency between food consumption and income levels in India range from increasing inequalities, to poor data, to the challenges of capturing the changing energy requirements of the population. But the puzzle still seems to be unresolved; and calorie consumption is lower than what per capita incomes and poverty rates would suggest.<br /> <br /> • Much more progress can be achieved in the future by combining policy interventions that enhance both food availability and utilization.<br /> <br /> <strong><em>Global scenario</em></strong><br /> <br /> • About 795 million people are undernourished globally, down 167 million over the last decade, and 216 million less than in 1990–92. The decline is more pronounced in developing regions, despite significant population growth. In recent years, progress has been hindered by slower and less inclusive economic growth as well as political instability in some developing regions, such as Central Africa and western Asia.<br /> <br /> • The year 2015 marks the end of the monitoring period for the Millennium Development Goal targets. For the developing regions as a whole, the share of undernourished people in the total population has decreased from 23.3 percent in 1990–92 to 12.9 per cent. Some regions, such as Latin America, the east and south-eastern regions of Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the northern and western regions of Africa have made fast progress. Progress was also recorded in southern Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean and southern and eastern Africa, but at too slow a pace to reach the MDG 1c target of halving the proportion of the chronically undernourished.<br /> <br /> • A total of 72 developing countries out of 129, or more than half the countries monitored, have reached the MDG 1c hunger target. Most enjoyed stable political conditions and economic growth, often accompanied by social protection policies targeted at vulnerable population groups.<br /> <br /> • For the developing regions as a whole, the two indicators of MDG 1c – the prevalence of undernourishment and the proportion of underweight children under 5 years of age – have both declined. In some regions, including western Africa, south-eastern Asia and South America, undernourishment declined faster than the rate for child underweight, suggesting room for improving the quality of diets, hygiene conditions and access to clean water, particularly for poorer population groups.<br /> <br /> • Economic growth is a key success factor for reducing undernourishment, but it has to be inclusive and provide opportunities for improving the livelihoods of the poor. Enhancing the productivity and incomes of smallholder family farmers is key to progress.<br /> <br /> • Social protection systems have been critical in fostering progress towards the MDG 1 hunger and poverty targets in a number of developing countries. Social protection directly contributes to the reduction of poverty, hunger and malnutrition by promoting income security and access to better nutrition, health care and education. By improving human capacities and mitigating the impacts of shocks, social protection fosters the ability of the poor to participate in growth through better access to employment.<br /> <br /> • In many countries that have failed to reach the international hunger targets, natural and human-induced disasters or political instability have resulted in protracted crises with increased vulnerability and food insecurity of large parts of the population. In such contexts, measures to protect vulnerable population groups and improve livelihoods have been difficult to implement or ineffective.<br /> <br /> <strong>Note: </strong><br /> <br /> Undernourishment: A state, lasting for at least one year, of inability to acquire enough food, defined as a level of food intake insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements. For the purposes of this report, hunger was defined as being synonymous with chronic undernourishment.<br /> <br /> **page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the [inside]Global Hunger Index 2014[/inside]: The Challenge of Hidden Hunger, prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/ghi14.pdf" title="GHI2014">click here</a> to download):<br /> <br /> • The 2014 GHI examines levels of hunger in 120 developing countries and countries in transition and scores them based on three equally weight ed indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the mortality rate of children under five. An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates improvement in the country’s hunger situation.<br /> <br /> • In 2005-2006, 43.5 percent of children below 5 years of age were underweight. However, provisional data from the <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">Ministry of Women and Child Development (India) and UNICEF (India) shows that </span>30.7 percent of children under five were underweight in 2013-2014. This means that the prevalence of underweight in children fell by almost 13 percentage points between 2005–2006 and 2013–2014. India no longer ranks second-to-last in the world on underweight in children. Instead, it has moved into the 120th spot among 128 countries.<br /> <br /> • Progress in dealing with underweight helped India’s 2014 GHI score fall to 17.8. Its GHI score declined by 26 percent, or 6.4 points, between the 2005 GHI and the 2014 GHI, outpacing the drop seen in other countries in South Asia in the same time period.<br /> <br /> • India now ranks 55th out of 76 countries, before Bangladesh and Pakistan, but still trails behind neighboring Nepal (rank 44) and Sri Lanka (rank 39). While no longer in the “alarming” category, India’s hunger status is still classified as “serious”, according to the GHI.<br /> <br /> • Many factors may have contributed to the improvement in hunger situation. Since the last undernutrition data became available, the Indian government rolled out and expanded several programs that targeted a mix of direct and indirect causes of undernutrition. Nutrition-specific interventions that were scaled up after 2006 include (1) a final push to expand the Integrated Child Development Services program that aims to improve the health, nutrition, and development of children in India and establish 1.4 million centers; and (2) the launch of the National Rural Health Mission, a community-based outreach and facility-based health initiative to deliver essential health services to rural India (Avula et al. 2013).<br /> <br /> • Indirect factors that reduced hunger are the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a rural jobs program, and reforms in several states to the Public Distribution System, which distributes food to the poor.<br /> <br /> • Efforts have also been made to create an enabling environment for nutrition. Within the context of India’s decentralized governance system, state governments have taken ownership of nutrition and tried to strengthen delivery of targeted nutrition efforts. The state of Maharashtra was the first of several to bring high-level political and bureaucratic leadership to nutrition through a Nutrition Mission, a program with greater flexibility and freedom than usual (Gillespie et al. 2013). Another key element in the enabling environment for food security and nutrition in India was the creation of a body called the Commissioners to the Supreme Court on the Right to Food Act, a group that supports independent monitoring of the delivery of food-based programs like the Integrated Child Development Services program and the Public Distribution System.<br /> <br /> • A staggering 2 billion people get so little essential vitamins and minerals from the foods they eat that they remain undernourished globally.<br /> <br /> • While great strides have been made to feed the world, 805 million people worldwide are still chronically undernourished because they don’t get enough to eat.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990, hunger in the developing world has fallen by 39 percent, and 26 countries have reduced their scores by 50 percent or more.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the report [inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014[/inside]: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition, FAO, IFAD and WFP (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World%202014.pdf" title="State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014">click here</a> to download):<br /> <br /> <strong>Indian scenario</strong><br /> <br /> • Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the number of people undernourished* in India has declined by 9.5 percent.<br /> <br /> • Between 1990-92 and 2012-14, the proportion of undernourished in the total population of India has declined by 36.0 percent.<br /> <br /> • The number of undernourished people in India was 210.8 million in 1990-92, 186.2 million in 2000-02, 235.7 million in 2005-07, 190.4 million in 2009-11 and 190.7 in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished in the total population of India was 23.8 percent in 1990-92, 17.6 percent in 2000-02, 20.6 percent in 2005-07, 15.8 percent in 2009-11 and 15.2 percent in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> • In the entire South Asia, the highest number of undernourished people are found in India i.e. 190.7 million in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> • In the case of China, the number of undernourished people declined by 47.8 percent from 288.9 million in 1990-92 to 150.8 million in 2012-14.<br /> <br /> <strong>Global scenario</strong><br /> <br /> • 805 million people are estimated to be chronically undernourished in 2012–14, down more than 100 million over the last decade, and 209 million lower than in 1990–92. In the same period, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 18.7 to 11.3 percent globally and from 23.4 to 13.5 percent for the developing countries.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990–92, 63 developing countries have reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target and 25 countries have achieved the more stringent World Food Summit (WFS) target. Of the 63 developing countries that have achieved the MDG hunger target, 11 countries have maintained the prevalence of undernourishment below 5 percent since 1990–92.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990–92, the number of hungry people has fallen by over 200 million. The sheer size of Asia makes it a region of extremes: 217 million Asians have overcome hunger since 1990–92; yet, it is still the region where two-thirds of the world’s hungry live.<br /> <br /> • The vast majority of hungry people live in developing regions, which saw a 42 percent reduction in the prevalence of undernourished people between 1990–92 and 2012–14. Despite this progress, about one in eight people, or 13.5 percent of the overall population, remain chronically undernourished in these regions, down from 23.4 percent in 1990–92.<br /> <br /> <strong>* Undernourishment:</strong> A state, lasting for at least one year, of inability to acquire enough food, defined as a level of food intake insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements. For the purposes of this report, hunger was defined as being synonymous with chronic undernourishment.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the [inside]Global Hunger Index 2013[/inside]-The Challenge of Hunger: Building Resilience to achieve food and nutrition security (published in October 2013), brought out by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and Institute of Development Studies (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/GHI%202013.pdf" title="GHI 2013">click here</a> to download the report):<br /> <br /> • The GHI combines three equally weighted indicators into one score: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the proportion of children dying before the age of five. The 2013 GHI has been calculated for 120 countries for which data on the three component indicators are available and for which measuring hunger is considered most relevant.<br /> <br /> • An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates improvement in the country’s hunger situation.<br /> <br /> • India's GHI score was 32.6 in 1990, 27.1 in 1995, 24.8 in 2000, 24.0 in 2005 and 21.3 in 2013. India's GHI score (21.3) in 2013 is worse than China (5.5), Sri Lanka (15.6), Nepal (17.3), Pakistan (19.3) and Bangladesh (19.4).<br /> <br /> • India's proportion of undernourished in the population declined from 26.9 percent during 1990-1992 to 17.5 percent during 2010-12. Its prevalence of underweight in children under five years declined from 59.5 percent during 1988-1992 to 40.2 percent during 2008-12. The proportion of children dying before the age of five declined from 11.4 percent in 1990 to 6.1 percent in 2011.<br /> <br /> • Nineteen countries still have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming”. Most of the countries with alarming GHI scores are in Africa south of the Sahara. The only exceptions are Haiti, India, Timor-Leste, and Yemen.<br /> <br /> • South Asia has the highest 2013 GHI score, although it witnessed the steepest absolute decline in GHI scores since 1990, amounting to almost 11 points. Compared with the 1990 score, the 2013 GHI score is 34 percent lower in South Asia.<br /> <br /> • The number of the hungry in the world has remained unacceptably high: In 2010–2012, about 870 million people were chronically undernourished, and according to FAO, this number declined only slightly to 842 million in 2011–2013.<br /> <br /> • The 2013 world GHI fell by close to 34 percent from the 1990 world GHI, from a score of 20.8 to 13.8.<br /> <br /> • The world has made some progress in reducing hunger since the early 1990s. If the recent slowdown can be reversed, the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the share of hungry people in the world between 1990 and 2015 may be within reach. But we are not on track to meet the 1996 World Food Summit’s more ambitious goal of halving the number of hungry people in the same time period. In 1990–1992, 1 billion went hungry. Today, about 870 million, or 1 in 8 people worldwide, still suffer from hunger.<br /> <br /> **page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the FAO report titled: [inside]Food Wastage Footprints: Impacts on Natural Resources (2013)[/inside] (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/FAO%20report%20on%20food%20wastage.pdf" title="FAO report on food wastage">click here</a> to download):<br /> <br /> • India and China are the major contributors of the water footprint of cereals in their respective regions.<br /> <br /> • Wastage of cereals in Asia is a significant problem, with major impacts on carbon emissions and water and land use. Rice's profile is particularly noticeable, given its high methane emissions combined with a large level of wastage.<br /> <br /> • Fruit wastage contributes significantly to water waste in Asia, Latin America, and Europe, while large volumes of vegetable wastage in industrialized Asia, Europe, and South and South East Asia translates into a large carbon footprint for that sector. Excluding Latin America, high-income regions are responsible for about 67 per cent of all meat waste.<br /> <br /> • FAO estimates that each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted.<br /> <br /> • Food that is produced but not eaten each year guzzles up a volume of water equivalent to the annual flow of Russia’s Volga River and is responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the planet’s atmosphere. Similarly, 1.4 billion hectares of land – 28 per cent of the world’s agricultural area – is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted.<br /> <br /> • Beyond the environmental impacts, food wastage costs some $750 billion annually to food producers.<br /> <br /> • Fifty-four percent of the world's food wastage occurs "upstream" during production, post-harvest handling and storage, according to FAO's study. Forty-six percent of it happens "downstream," at the processing, distribution and consumption stages.<br /> <br /> • As a general trend, developing countries suffer more food losses during agricultural production, while food waste at the retail and consumer level tends to be higher in middle- and high-income regions -- where it accounts for 31-39 percent of total wastage -- than in low-income regions (4-16 percent).<br /> <br /> • In developing countries, significant post-harvest losses in the early part of the supply chain are a key problem, occurring as a result of financial and structural limitations in harvesting techniques and storage and transport infrastructure, combined with climatic conditions favorable to food spoilage.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the FAO report titled: [inside]The State of Food and Agriculture 2013[/inside]-Food Systems for Better Nutrition,<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf </a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3301e/i3301e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3301e/i3301e.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • The present report argues that improving nutrition and reducing economic and social costs must begin with food and agriculture. Addressing malnutrition requires a multisectoral approach that includes complementary interventions in food systems, public health and education. Within a multisectoral approach, food systems offer many opportunities for interventions leading to improved diets and better nutrition. Agricultural production and productivity growth remain essential for better nutrition, but more can be done. Both traditional and modern supply chains offer risks and opportunities for achieving better nutrition and more sustainable food systems.<br /> <br /> • Evidence from India indicates that the rural–urban divide in malnutrition may hold for adults. Guha-Khasnobis and James (2010) found a prevalence of adult underweight of around 23 percent in the slum areas of eight Indian cities, while the prevalence in rural areas in the same states was close to 40 percent.<br /> <br /> • For India, Stein and Qaim (2007) estimated that the combined economic cost of iron-deficiency anaemia, zinc deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and iodine deficiency amounts to around 2.5 percent of GDP.<br /> <br /> • Household surveys from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique and the Philippines find that dietary diversity is strongly associated with household consumption expenditure (Hoddinott and Yohannes, 2002).<br /> <br /> • Fortifying rice served in school lunches in India led to statistically significant declines in iron-deficiency anaemia, from 30 percent to 15 percent for the treatment group, while anaemia remained essentially unchanged for the control group (Moretti et al., 2006).<br /> <br /> • Agricultural productivity growth was associated with reductions in the prevalence of child malnutrition in most countries, including India, during the period of rapid adoption of Green Revolution technologies and up until the early 1990s. Since 1992, however, agricultural growth has not been associated with improved nutrition among children in many Indian states (Headey, 2011).<br /> <br /> • Various explanations have been offered for the persistence of high levels of undernutrition in India. These include economic inequality, gender inequality, poor hygiene, lack of access to clean water and other factors beyond the performance of the agriculture sector. However, the phenomenon remains largely unexplained and additional research is needed (Deaton and Drèze, 2009; Headey, 2011).<br /> <br /> • Evidence from farm input subsidy programmes in India and Malawi indicates that they can significantly boost agricultural production and farmers’ incomes, albeit at a high budgetary cost (HLPE, 2012), but the impact of such policies on nutrition has not been well studied.<br /> <br /> • Adding micronutrients to soils in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan enhanced yields by 20–80 percent and a further 70–120 percent when micronutrients were added in conjunction with nitrogen and phosphorous (Dar, 2004).<br /> <br /> • Sales of processed and packaged foods are growing quickly in developing countries. In India, small independent grocers called kirana stores, ubiquitous in urban and rural areas, sold over 53 percent of packaged foods at the retail level in 2010.<br /> <br /> • A study from India demonstrated that women who used a groundnut decorticator were able to process around 14 times more groundnuts and used significantly less physical effort than those doing so by hand. Similarly, a new hand tool designed for making ridges for vegetable crops allowed women to double the number of rows finished in one hour (Singh, Puna Ji Gite and Agarwal, 2006). Such innovations in technology may open up opportunities for women to earn higher incomes or to use their time (and increased income) for added attention to the family.<br /> <br /> • FAO’s most recent estimates indicate that 12.5 percent of the world’s population (868 million people) are undernourished in terms of energy intake, yet these figures represent only a fraction of the global burden of malnutrition. An estimated 26 percent of the world’s children are stunted, 2 billion people suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiencies and 1.4 billion people are overweight, of whom 500 million are obese.<br /> <br /> • Since 1990–92, the estimated number of undernourished people in developing countries has declined from 980 million to 852 million and the prevalence of undernourishment has declined from 23 percent to 15 percent (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2012).<br /> <br /> • Between 1990 and 2011, the prevalence of stunting in developing countries declined by an estimated 16.6 percentage points, from 44.6 percent to 28 percent. There are 160 million stunted children in developing countries today, compared with 248 million in 1990 (UNICEF, WHO and The World Bank, 2012).<br /> <br /> • The global prevalence of combined overweight and obesity has risen in all regions, with prevalence among adults increasing from 24 percent to 34 percent between 1980 and 2008. The prevalence of obesity has increased even faster, doubling from 6 percent to 12 percent.<br /> <br /> • The social burden due to child and maternal malnutrition has declined almost by half during the last two decades, while that due to overweight and obesity has almost doubled, yet the former remains by far the greater problem, especially in low-income countries. Undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies must therefore continue to be the highest nutrition priority for the global community in the immediate future.<br /> <br /> • The social cost of malnutrition, measured by the “disability-adjusted life years” lost to child and maternal malnutrition and to overweight and obesity, are very high. Beyond the social cost, the cost to the global economy caused by malnutrition, as a result of lost productivity and direct health care costs, could account for as much as 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to US$3.5 trillion per year or US$500 per person. The costs of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are estimated at 2–3 percent of global GDP, equivalent to US$1.4–2.1 trillion per year.<br /> <br /> • Partial estimates approach suggests that malnutrition in all its forms may impose a cost of US$2.8–3.5 trillion, equivalent to 4–5 percent of global GDP, or US$400–500 per person. Global losses in economic productivity due to undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies have been estimated at more than 10 percent of lifetime earnings and 2–3 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) (World Bank, 2006).<br /> <br /> • A recent study estimates a cumulative output loss due to non-communicable diseases, for which overweight and obesity are key risk factors, of US$47 trillion over the next two decades; on an annual basis and assuming a 5 percent rate of inflation, this is equivalent to about US$1.4 trillion in 2010 (Bloom et al., 2011).<br /> <br /> • Research showed that investing US$1.2 billion annually in micronutrient supplements, food fortification and biofortification of staple crops for five years would generate annual benefits of US$15.3 billion, a benefit-to-cost ratio of almost 13 to 1, and would result in better health, fewer deaths and increased future earnings (Micronutrient Initiative, 2009).<br /> <br /> • It has been estimated that world food and feed prices would be 35–65 percent higher, average caloric availability 11–13 percent lower and the percentage of children malnourished in developing countries 6–8 percent higher had the Green Revolution not occurred (Evenson and Rosegrant, 2003).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the [inside]NSS 66th Round Report titled: Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households July 2009-June 2010 <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">(published in February, 2013)</span>[/inside], MoSPI, GoI, <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf">http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_report_547.pdf</a>:<br /> <br /> • The report is based on information collected during 2009-10 from 100794 households in 7428 villages and 5263 urban blocks spread over the entire country.<br /> <br /> <strong>TRENDS IN PERCEIVED ADEQUACY OF FOOD, 1993-94 TO 2009-10</strong><br /> <br /> • The all-India percentage of households reporting getting two square meals every day throughout the year has gradually increased over the last 16 years from 94.5% to about 99% in rural India and from about 98% to 99.6% in urban India. The gap between the rural and urban percentages has narrowed appreciably.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of rural households reporting not getting two square meals every day in any month of the year has dropped from 0.9% to 0.2% in rural India between 1993-94 and 2009-10, while the corresponding proportion of urban households has dropped from 0.5% to 0.0%.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of rural households reporting not getting two square meals every day in some months of the year has fallen from 4.2% to 0.9% in rural India and from 1.1% to 0.3% in urban India over the 16-year period.<br /> <br /> <strong>INTER-STATE VARIATION</strong><br /> <br /> • In rural India the percentage of households not perceiving themselves as getting adequate food throughout the year was 2.1% or less in all major States except West Bengal (4.6%) and Odisha (4.0%). In these two States, about 3.8-3.9% rural households reported that they did not get adequate food every day in some months.<br /> <br /> • 1.2% of rural households in Assam, 1.1% in Bihar, and 1.0% in Chhattisgarh reported not getting adequate food every day in some months.<br /> <br /> • As many as 0.8% of rural households in Bihar and 0.6% in West Bengal reported that they did not get enough food every day in any month of the year.<br /> <br /> • In urban India the percentage of households not perceiving themselves as getting adequate food throughout the year was less than 1.3% in all major States except Madhya Pradesh, where it was 2.5%.<br /> <br /> • In urban India the percentage of households reporting that they did not get enough food every day in any month of the year was 0.1% or less in every major State except Odisha. In Odisha, 0.6% of urban households belonged to this category, while 0.5% felt that they did not get enough food every day in some months.<br /> <br /> <strong>VARIATION ACROSS HOUSEHOLD TYPES AND SOCIAL GROUPS</strong><br /> <br /> • Among different household types in rural India, the percentage of households perceiving themselves as not getting enough food every day throughout the year was 1.1% or less for all household types except agricultural labour households. Among agricultural labour households, 1.9% reported not getting enough food every day in some months and 0.2% reported not getting enough food every day in any month of the year.<br /> <br /> • Among rural agricultural labour households the percentage reporting insufficient food in some months was as high as 12% in Manipur, 10% in Odisha, 6.3% in West Bengal, and 6% in Tripura.<br /> <br /> • In the rural sector, the percentage of households reporting adequate food intake in only some months of the year was 1.8% for Scheduled Tribes, 1.3% for Scheduled Castes, 0.4% for Other Backward Classes and 0.9% for Others.<br /> <br /> • In the urban sector the Scheduled Castes had a noticeably higher percentage of households reporting adequate food intake in only some months of the year than the rest (0.8% compared to 0.2-0.3% for all other groups).<br /> <br /> <strong>MONTHS OF FOOD INADEQUACY</strong><br /> <br /> • Perceived food inadequacy was most common in the months of January and February for West Bengal and Odisha, February and March for Assam, and March for Chhattisgarh.<br /> <br /> • Among households reporting food inadequacy in some months of the year, the most commonly reported number of scarcity months was ‘2’. This was followed by ‘3’. More than 4 months of food scarcity were reported by very few households.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">[inside]Summary of the National Food Security Bill 2013[/inside] (revised version, as tabled in Parliament, 22 March 2013) can be accessed from <a href="tinymce/uploaded/Summary%20of%20the%20National%20Food%20Security%20Bill%202013_1.pdf" title="NFSB 2013">here</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">The revised version of National Food Security Bill 2013 tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2013 gives legal entitlement to 67 percent population for subsidised grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System. The National Food Security Bill 2013 can be accessed from <a href="tinymce/uploaded/National_Food_Security_Bill_2013.pdf" title="National Food Security Bill 2013">here</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">A critique of the National Food Security Bill cleared by the Cabinet can be accessed from <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/right-to-food-campaign-rejects-the-national-food-security-bill-cleared-by-the-cabinet-20034.html">here</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">A critique of the Standing Committee’s recommendations on the National Food Security Bill can be accessed from <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/why-the-parliament-should-reject-the-standing-committees-recommendations-on-the-food-security-bill-rtfc-19099.html">here</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">To know more about the recommendations of the Standing Committee pertaining to the National Food Security Bill, please read the newsalert titled: <a href="https://im4change.org/news-alerts/parliamentary-prescriptions-revive-hunger-debate-19054.html">Parliamentary prescriptions revive hunger debate</a>. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> </div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><strong>Salient features of the National Food Security Bill, 2009:</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• President Pratibha Patil on June 4, 2009 said that a National Food Security Act would be formulated whereby each BPL family would be entitled by law to get 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 a kg, a promise made by the Congress before general elections 2009. Many would agree that the proposal for a Food Security Bill has come at the right point of time when the world has already witnessed food crisis in 2008 that pushed millions of people to the brink of poverty and undernutrition*.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The draft Food Security Bill is going to provide 25 kg of wheat/ rice to BPL households at Rs. 3/- per kg. For some, it is just old wine in a new bottle and would rely excessively on existing infrastructure and logistical support of the public distribution system (PDS)*.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• If made into a law, the draft Food Security Bill would reduce the allocation for a below poverty line (BPL) household (e.g. in the case of Antodaya Anna Yojana) from 35 kg of rice/ wheat per month to 25 kg of rice/ wheat per month. This would appear contradictory to many who expected the Bill to be a benign effort of the UPA-II (2009-****) to ensure food security. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are possibilities of increased food subsidies amounting to Rs. 70,000 crore per annum if the Bill becomes a law, which might be opposed by those who prefer to follow neo-liberal doctrine. Subsidies are usually opposed on the pretext of distortion in prices, inefficiency and leakages. The Interim Budget 2009-10 estimate of the food subsidy bill in 2009-10 was of the amount Rs. 42,490 crore%^. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The exact number of BPL households may vary according to the definition of poverty line one selects. In that case, it would be difficult to target the original BPL households under the new Food Security law. There are four different estimates for the number of BPL households: one by Prof. Arjun Sengupta (</span><a href="http://www.nceus.gov.in/"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">www.nceus.gov.in</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">), another by Dr. NC Saxena (</span><a href="http://www.sccommissioners.org/"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">www.sccommissioners.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">), World Bank estimates and the Planning Commission estimates%$. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• According to Prof. Arjun Sengupta who chaired the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector, 77% of the population of India lives below the poverty line. Dr. NC Saxena, a retired civil servant acting as a Commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court, feels that half the country’s population of 1.15 billion is below the poverty line, which he apparently defines as a monthly per capita income of Rs 700 in rural areas and Rs 1,000 in urban areas. While a Planning Commission estimate puts the number of below poverty line (BPL) families at 62.5 million, state governments estimate that this number is closer to 107 million. Some experts feel that availing the public with more number of BPL ration cards help the state-level politicians to win elections through populist means. The World Bank’s figure for the percentage of population below the poverty line in India is 42 per cent, based on 2005 data%$.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• According to the Economic Survey 2008-09, the Uniform Recall Period (URP) Consumption distribution data of National Sample Survey (NSS) 61st Round places the poverty ratio at 28.3 per cent in rural areas, 25.7 per cent in urban areas and 27.5 per cent for the country as a whole in 2004-05. The corresponding poverty ratios from the Mixed Recall Period (MRP) consumption distribution data are 21.8 per cent for rural areas, 21.7 per cent for urban areas and 21.8 per cent for India as a whole. While the former consumption data uses 30-day recall/reference period for all items of consumption, the latter uses 365-day recall/reference period for five infrequently purchased non-food items, namely, clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and institutional medical expenses and 30-day recall/reference period for remaining items. The percentage of poor in 2004-05 estimated from URP consumption distribution of NSS 61st Round of consumer expenditure data are comparable with the poverty estimates of 1993-94 (50th Round) which was 36 per cent for the country as a whole. The percentage of poor in 2004-05 estimated from MRP consumption distribution of NSS 61st Round of consumer expenditure data are roughly comparable with the poverty estimates of 1999-2000 (55th Round) which was 26.1 per cent for the country as a whole</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Instead of better implementation of the already existing schemes such as the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) etc., the Food Security law might make things unduly worse and unnecessarily complicated. A cynical question here would be: Is the Food Security Bill going to replace all such food related schemes that existed before its enactment? </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• If the Bill is about ensuring food security, how can it leave those who may not fall below the poverty line but are already exposed to food insecurity? The Rome Declaration (1996) made during the World Food Summit states that ‘food security is achieved when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active life’. Food security is about nutrition security too. If that is the case, the Food Security Bill has to rethink about the quality of foodgrains supplied and distributed. The Food Security Bill must also aim at providing fortified foodgrains along with edible oils, salt and essential spices. A balanced diet would ensure both food and nutrition security. The basket of commodities, which would be available to the consumers, should reflect local tastes and preferences and must include locally grown cereals and legumes. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The alternative draft Food Security Bill that has been prepared by Prof. Jean Dreze and his team and which has been scrutinized by 10, Janpath, according to media resources, has clauses to make the various food related programmes running in the country more accountable and transparent. It has focused on public accountability and more coverage of BPL households under the yet to be enacted Food Security law. Prof. Dreze's draft points out that subsidy would not rise due to reduction in allocation for rice/ wheat per BPL household**.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• If targeting of BPL households is done under the Food Security Bill, then that would lead to inclusion (including the non-poor) and exclusion (excluding the poor) errors. It would be wiser to go for universalization (rather than targeting) as was recommended by the Committee on Long Term Grain Policy under the chairmanship of Prof. Abhijit Sen (2000-02). </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are apprehensions that sustainability of Food Security law would be at peril if India faces lower agricultural production due to poor harvest, drought etc. in the future. Is India ready to rely upon food imports and food aid to ensure right to food at all cost? At present, the country has been facing shortage in south-west monsoon rainfall that might affect agricultural production and prices of commodities. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Is India ready to rely exclusively upon biotechnology for increasing its agricultural production so as to ensure food security for all? Much of debates have already taken place on the usefulness and pitfalls of GMOs. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Some analysts feel that India presently has adequate buffer stocks to enact and implement the Food Security law*. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Food Security law is nothing but a gimmick so as to increase the popularity of the UPA II. This is a forward-looking step to ensure vote for the Congress so that Rahul Gandhi could lead UPA-III. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Seeing the popularity of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which helped the Congress to win the 2009 parliamentary elections, the newly constituted Government has thought of bringing out the Food Security Act within the first 100 days of its stay in the office for the second time.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The World Development Report 2008-Agriculture for Development, which has been brought out by the World Bank mentions that India presently faces the problem of depleting ground water level that makes agriculture unsustainable and poses risk to environment. If rice is one of the foodgrains that is going to be supplied when the Food Security Act comes into being, then more and more farmers would go for cultivation of rice by looking at the price incentives offered by the Government. In the Punjab region, overexploitation of groundwater takes place thanks to the huge subsidies given on electricity. Moreover, minimum support prices (MSP) for rice increase the financial attractiveness of rice relative to less water-intensive crops, which makes depletion of ground water table more obvious.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>* Govt. to introduce Food Security Bill soon, </em></span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4743682.cms"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4743682.cms</em></span></a><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>%^ UPA’s proposed food security law faces big challenges,</em></span><br /> <a href="http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/10004521/UPA8217s-proposed-food-secu.html"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/10004521/UPA8217s-proposed-food-secu.html</em></span></a><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>%$ Poverty of thought, </em></span><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/povertythought/362649/"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/povertythought/362649/</em></span></a><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>** The hungry tide,</em></span><br /> <a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20090713&fname=Food+Security+%28F%29&sid=1"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em>http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20090713&fname=Food+Security+%28F%29&sid=1</em></span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:small"><em> </em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The [inside]2013 Hunger Report-Within Reach Global Development Goals (2012)[/inside] calls for a final push to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets by 2015. Extraordinary progress has occurred in countries around the world and it is possible to replicate these achievements in more. The 2013 Hunger Report focuses special attention on the U.S. role in achieving the MDGs by 2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The 2013 Hunger Report explains why partnerships between governments around the world and between governments and civil society are crucial to achieving rapid progress against hunger and poverty. It discusses the challenges that must be overcome, which depends on strong leadership to meet these challenges head on. The report argues that in the next set of global development goals every country should set it owns national goals.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the 2013 Hunger Report-Within Reach Global Development Goals (2012), published by Bread for the World Institute, <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><a href="http://www.bread.org/institute/">http://www.bread.org/institute/</a></span>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India has experienced economic growth rates of 7 percent or higher every year since 1990—yet nearly half the children in the country (48 percent) are stunted because of malnutrition, and India’s child mortality rate is currently 40 percent too high for the country to achieve the MDG target.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Compare India’s performance to that of Bangladesh, a much poorer country, whose GDP grew by only 3 percent annually over the same period, but whose rates of child stunting declined from 68 percent to 43 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Between 2002 and 2010, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an average of 8 percent annually. Over the same period, Brazil’s GDP grew by 4 percent annually. But Brazil was able to reduce poverty by 4.2 percent per year, compared to 1.4 percent per year in India.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India leads all other countries in the number of women and children dying each year of preventable causes. It has the highest number of malnourished children and the highest number of people living in poverty. India lags far behind China and Brazil—also emerging economic powers—in reducing hunger. China and Brazil have already met the MDG target of halving hunger by 2015, but at its current rate of progress, India will not halve hunger until 2042.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, underweight prevalence rate among children aged 0-59 months declined from 64 percent in 1993 to 61 percent in 2006 among the poorest 20 percent while the same declined from 37 percent in 1993 to 25 percent in 2006 among the richest 20 percent. Therefore, a greater reduction in underweight prevalence occurred in the richest 20% of households than in the poorest 20%. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Under the new National Food Security law, 180 of India’s 240 million households would gain the right to subsidized rations. Indian civil society organizations are lobbying the legislature to use the new law to create stronger linkages between food security and nutrition security.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s own development challenges show up clearly in primary education, where standards vary dramatically and in some parts of the country are as low as Afghanistan and Yemen, war-town countries near the bottom of the Human Development Index.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, child mortality rates differ widely across areas of the country. In West Bengal, more than 50 percent of parents believe the correct treatment for children with diarrhea is to reduce fluid intake, exactly the wrong thing to do; while in a different state, Kerala, fewer than 5 percent of parents think this is the correct treatment. It’s not a coincidence that child mortality is three times higher in West Bengal than in Kerala. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Poor understanding about the importance of proper feeding practices, combined with inadequate sanitation, is one of the main contributors to child mortality in India. Exclusive breastfeeding until the age of six months is a key factor in child survival. Breastfeeding takes time but otherwise is free.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• 90 percent of India’s water resources go to the agricultural sector, but only 10 to 15 percent ends up nourishing crops, with much of the rest wasted.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Percentage of rural population in India with access to improved water source was 90.0% during 2007-2010 while the same in China was 85.0%. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2012, China (1350 million) is the most populous country followed by India (1260 million). By 2050, India (1691 million) would become the most populous country to be followed by China (1311 million). Global food demand is projected to increase by 50 percent by 2030.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, percentage of agricultural land area to the total was 60.5% during 2009-10 while the same for China was 56.2%. Average cereal yield (kg per hectare of harvested land) in India during 2007-2010 was 2,537 kg per hectare while the same for China was 5,521 kg per hectare. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In South Asia, 94 percent of women in the richest 20 percent of households receive prenatal care, while only 48 percent of the poorest 20 percent have access to such care. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Globally, an estimated 165 million children under-five years of age, or 26 percent, were stunted (i.e., height-for-age) in 2011—a 35 percent decrease from an estimated 253 million in 1990.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 percent in 1990 to 24 percent in 2008—and preliminary estimates indicate in 2010 it fell below half the 1990 rate.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Among the world’s population who lack access to improved drinking water sources, 83 percent live in rural areas.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The share of agricultural development assistance declined from 17 percent of all development assistance in the late 1980s to 6 percent by the late 2000s. In 2000, net official development assistance stood at $55.4 billion. By 2009, when adjusted for inflation, it reached $152.2 billion. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• There are an estimated 942 million working people globally—nearly 1 in 3 workers worldwide live below $2 a day. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• One of the key recommendations of the 2013 Hunger Report is that a post-MDG global development framework should include a bull’s-eye goal to end hunger and poverty in every country in the world by 2040. It has also been recommended that a post-2015 global development framework should address climate change within the context of a clear overall focus on poverty.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012[/inside], produced by FAO, WFP, IFAD, </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf</a> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2845e/i2845e00.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2845e/i2845e00.pdf</a>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• New estimates suggest that the increase in hunger during 2007–10 – the period characterized by food price and economic crises – was less severe than previously estimated. More recent GDP estimates suggest that the “great recession” of 2008–09 resulted in only a mild slowdown in GDP growth in many developing countries, and increases in domestic staple food prices were very small in China, India and Indonesia (the three largest developing countries).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Total number of undernourished people in India stood at 240 million during 1990-1992, 224 million in 1999-2001, 238 million in 2004-06, 227 million during 2007-2009 and 217 million during 2010-2012.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Proportion of undernourished in total population of India stood at 26.9 percent during 1990-1992, 21.3 percent during 1999-2001, 20.9 percent during 2004-06, 19.0 percent during 2007-2009 and 17.5 percent during 2010-2012.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, stunting and iron and iodine deficiencies result in productivity losses equivalent to 2.95 percent of GDP annually.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, land distribution is more unequal, and yield growth has not sparked as much reduction in poverty and undernourishment.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• 41.9 percent of arable land in India during 2008 was equipped for irrigation as compared to 40.1 percent in 2004. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Cereal dependency ratio in India [i.e. cereal imports divided by {(cereal production plus cereal import)-cereal export}] stood at 0.5 percent in 2008 as compared to 1.5 percent in 2007. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Indian villages close to towns and cities have a better record of reducing poverty than others.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• An evaluation of India’s Mid-Day Meals Programme found that girls in the programme were 30 percent more likely to complete primary school.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Subsidies, which act as safety nets to poor are widely used in Bangladesh, India and throughout the Near East. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Bangladesh, the share of government spending going to health is about double that of the country’s large neighbours, India and Pakistan.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• About 870 million people are estimated to have been undernourished (in terms of dietary energy supply) in the period 2010–12. This figure represents 12.5 percent of the global population, or one in eight people. The vast majority of these, 852 million, live in developing countries, where the prevalence of undernourishment is now estimated at 14.9 percent of the population.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The global number of hungry people declined by 132 million between 1990-92 and 2010-12, or from 18.6 percent to 12.5 percent of the world's population, and from 23.2 percent to 14.9 percent in developing countries - putting the MDG target within reach if adequate, appropriate actions are taken. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The new estimates show that progress in reducing hunger during the past 20 years has been better than previously believed, and that, given renewed efforts, it may be possible to reach the MDG hunger target at the global level by 2015. However, the number of people suffering from chronic undernourishment is still unacceptably high, and eradication of hunger remains a major global challenge. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The number of hungry declined more sharply between 1990 and 2007 than previously believed. Since 2007-2008, however, global progress in reducing hunger has slowed and leveled off. As a result, the developing world as a whole is found to be much closer to achieving the MDG target of reducing by half the percentage of people suffering from chronic hunger by 2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The current assessment pegs the undernourishment estimate for developing countries at slightly more than 23.2 percent of the population in 1990–92 (substantially higher than previously estimated), thus implying an MDG target of 11.6 percent for 2015. If the average annual decline of the past 20 years continues to 2015, the prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries would reach 12.5 percent, still above the MDG target, but much closer to it than previously estimated.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The share of the world’s undernourished people has declined most rapidly in South-Eastern Asia and Eastern Asia (from 13.4 to 7.5 percent and from 26.1 to 19.2 percent, respectively), while declining from 6.5 to 5.6 percent in Latin America. Meanwhile, the share has increased from 32.7 to 35.0 percent in Southern Asia, from 17.0 to 27.0 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and from 1.3 to 2.9 percent in Western Asia and Northern Africa.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• For developing countries as a whole, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 23.2 to 14.9 percent over the period 1990–2010, while the incidence of poverty has declined from 47.5 to 22.4 percent, and that of child mortality from 9.5 to 6.1 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Agricultural growth is particularly effective in reducing hunger and malnutrition. Most of the extreme poor depend on agriculture and related activities for a significant part of their livelihoods. Agricultural growth involving smallholders, especially women, will be most effective in reducing extreme poverty and hunger when it increases returns to labour and generates employment for the poor.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Measures such as cash transfers, food vouchers or health insurance are needed for the most vulnerable who often cannot take immediate advantage of growth opportunities.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2012-2021[/inside], <a href="http://www.oecd.org/site/oecd-faoagriculturaloutlook/">http://www.oecd.org/site/oecd-faoagriculturaloutlook/</a> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>India specific observations: </strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Food inflation moderated in 2012 as compared to 2011 in many of the large Asian countries with a strong deceleration in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, often falling by 40% or more. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In China and India, crop production is expected to grow by more than 50% between 2000 and 2030 and 10% to 20% between 2030 and 2050.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A number of African and South Asian countries have experienced significant decreases in food expenditure shares, often from 50%, or more, to approximately 30-35%. In India, the share of household budgets allocated to food expenditures is 35.4 percent in 2012.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India the annual population growth rate is expected to decline from 1.46 percent during 2002-2011 to 1.20 percent during 2012-2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Three countries namely China, India and Thailand are expected to expand production and to increase their contributions to world ethanol production by 2-3% each over the outlook period 2012-2021. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Strong growth in coarse grains output is anticipated in China, the European Union, Brazil, India, Argentina, Mexico and Canada during 2012-2021. Asian countries will continue to dominate rice production.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ethanol production (as biofuel) in India is expected to rise from an average 1976 million litre during 2009-11 to 4194 million litre in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Biodiesel production in India is expected to rise from an average 330 million litre during 2009-11 to 1297 million litre in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Wheat production in India is anticipated to rise from an average 82470 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 88739 thousand tonnes in 2021. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Wheat consumption in India is predicted to rise from an average 82249 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 91602 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Coarse grain production in India is expected to rise from an average 39110 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 44184 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Coarse grain consumption in India is predicted to rise from an average 36370 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 44822 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Rice production in India is expected to rise from an average from an average 95807 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 118507 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Rice consumption in India is anticipated to rise from an average 92243 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 113176 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Protein meal production in India is expected to rise from an average 16419 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 20343 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Protein meal consumption in India is estimated to rise from an average 11670 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 14149 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Fish and seafood production in India is expected to rise from an average 8869 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 11007 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Milk production in India is estimated to rise from an average 116815 thousand tonnes during 2009-11 to 165632 thousand tonnes in 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Key projections:</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Agricultural output growth worldwide will slow to an average of 1.7 percent annually over the next 10 years, down from a trend rate of over 2 percent per year in recent decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Global cereals production is expected to grow by 1.1% p.a., on average, to 2021 and down from 2.5% p.a. in the previous decade.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The FAO estimates that agricultural production will need to increase by 60% globally (and nearly 77% in developing countries) by 2050 to cope with a larger, more urban and wealthier population, and to raise average food consumption to 3070 kcal per person per day.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Annual agricultural production growth in developing countries is projected to average 1.9% per annum compared to 1.2% per annum in developed countries. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The [inside]Global Monitoring Report 2012: Food Prices, Nutrition, and the Millennium Development Goals[/inside], World Bank/ IMF, <a href="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/global%20monitoring%20report%202012.pdf">http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/global%20monitoring%20report%202012.pdf</a> talks about making countries and communities more resilient in the face of food price spikes. It finds how countries reacted to the last two food price spikes of 2007–08 and 2010–11, and how their reaction affected their progress toward the MDGs. It summarizes effects of food prices on several MDGs. It reviews policy responses—including domestic social safety nets, nutritional programs, agricultural policies, regional trade policies, and support by the international community. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Key findings:</strong><br /> <br /> • In 2011 international food prices spiked for the second time in three years, igniting concerns about a repeat of the 2008 food price crisis and its consequences for the poor. The World Bank Food Price Index rose 184 percent from January 2000 to June 2008.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In February 2011 international food prices again reached the 2008 peak, after a sharp decline in 2009, and stayed close to that peak through September. The international food price spike in 2007–08 is estimated to have kept or pushed 105 million people below the poverty line and in the spike of 2010–11, 48.6 million people.<br /> <br /> • As food and fuel prices rose in 2010 and the first half of 2011, consumer prices rose in tandem in many countries. In emerging and developing countries the median inflation rate rose from 4 percent in 2009 to 6 percent in 2011, but experiences were mixed.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The additional fiscal cost involved in policy responses to 2006–08 price spike was 19.1 percent of total fiscal revenue in India in 2008.<br /> <br /> • Poverty typically rises initially with higher food prices, because the supply response to higher prices takes time to materialize and many poor (farm) households are net food buyers, so higher food prices lowers their real incomes. Higher prices hurt consumers with high shares of household spending on food, as in much of Africa and Asia.<br /> <br /> • In India, children who were thinner in infancy and experienced rapid growth show a higher prevalence of diabetes, giving it the highest numbers in the world, both of malnourished children and of people with diabetes.<br /> <br /> • In India productivity losses to individuals are estimated at more than 10 percent of lifetime earnings, and GDP loss to undernutrition runs as high as 3–4 percent (World Bank 2009).<br /> <br /> • Even moderate adversity, such as low rainfall during the year of birth, has been associated with reduced child growth and increase child morbidity in India (Maccini and Yang 2009).<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, the $1.25 a day poverty rate fell from 54 percent to 36 percent between 1990 and 2008. The proportion of poor is lower now in South Asia than at any time since 1981.<br /> <br /> • The largest number of poor people remain in South Asia, where 571 million people live on less than $1.25 a day, down from a peak of 641 million in 2002.<br /> <br /> • The FAO estimates that in 2008 there were 739 million people without adequate daily food intake.<br /> <br /> • Globally, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 43.1 percent in 1990 to 22.2 percent in 2008. In 2008 1.28 billion people lived on less than $1.25 a day.<br /> <br /> • Less nutritious diets due to inflation caused malnourishment and made people more susceptible to failing health. A malnourished child has on average a seven-month delay in starting school, a 0.7 grade loss in schooling, and potentially a 10–17 percent reduction in lifetime earnings—damaging future human capital and causing national GDP losses estimated at 2–3 percent. So, malnutrition is not just a result of poverty—it is also a cause.<br /> <br /> • South Asia has reached the target on access to safe water and will probably eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015.<br /> <br /> • In India 2.4 million adults and children were living with HIV during 2009.<br /> <br /> • Most of the expansion in land cultivation since 2005–06 (24 million of the 27 million increase) is located in only six countries or regions: China, Sub-Saharan Africa, former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, the Russia Federation, and Ukraine), Argentina, India, and Brazil.<br /> <br /> • Introduction of export restrictions on food exports by Argentina, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine for wheat and China and India for rice, in attempts to decouple domestic markets from global markets to keep domestic food prices low, have in the past compounded the food price problem.<br /> <br /> • India contributes 11 percent of international trade in rice. The most frequent users of protection measures for food over the period were China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation, which together accounted for almost one-third of all trade restrictions introduced on food items since the beginning of the financial crisis.<br /> <br /> • In the recent years, India has improved its market information systems.<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, real official development assistance (ODA) disbursements to Afghanistan increased from $1.6 billion in the 1990s to $27.9 billion in the 2000s, whereas Bangladesh and India experienced a decrease in real ODA disbursements of about 20 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Key findings of the [inside]State of World Population 2011[/inside]: People and possibilities in a world of 7 billion, UNFPA, </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://foweb.unfpa.org/SWP2011/reports/EN-SWOP2011-FINAL.pdf">http://foweb.unfpa.org/SWP2011/reports/EN-SWOP2011-FINAL.pdf</a> are as follows: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Nations like Ethiopia and India have launched campaigns to end child marriages and prevent life-threatening adolescent pregnancies.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• According to projections by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in 2025, India, with 1.46 billion people, will have overtaken China, with 1.39 billion, as the world’s most populous nation. China’s population will then, based on a medium variant, decline to about 1.3 billion by 2050. India will continue to grow to about 1.7 billion by 2060 before beginning to decline. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, where the fertility rate, at 2.5 children per woman, is still well above the replacement level of 2.1, there are more than 600 million people who are 24 years old or younger.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Worldwide, sterilizations account for 18.9 per cent of the modern methods of contraception used by women and 2.4 per cent by men. In India, male condoms, account for a little more than 5 per cent of total contraception. The pill is used by 3.1 per cent of women. Injectables are not provided by the Government.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, the effects of a preference for male children worries demographers, the media, policymakers and many others because of what it has done to sex ratios and the message it sends about how little a society values girls. The issue was heightened by results of the 2011 national census, which showed that in the birth-to-6-year-old age group the number of girls had plunged to 914 for every 1,000 boys, widening the 2001 ratio of 927 girls per 1,000 boys. The new child sex ratio is the biggest gap since independence in 1947. Sex-selective abortions, though illegal, and the sometimes fatal neglect of girls after they are born, are widely assumed to be leading causes of this anomaly. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The southern Indian state of Kerala is one such place that reached fertility and development levels comparable to those in richer countries through gender-sensitive policies that included long established and near-universal education for girls and easy access to health care. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• People under 25 make up 43 per cent of the world’s population.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• There are 893 million people over the age of 60 worldwide. By the middle of this century that number will rise to 2.4 billion. About one in two people lives in a city, and in only about 35 years, two out of three will. People under the age of 25 already make up 43 per cent of the world’s population, reaching as much as 60 per cent in some countries.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The rapid growth of the world population is a recent phenomenon. About 2,000 years ago, the population of the world was about 300 million. It took more than 1,600 years for the world population to double to 600 million. The rapid growth of the world population started in 1950, with reductions in mortality in the less developed regions, resulting in an estimated population of 6.1 billion in the year 2000, nearly two-and-a-half times the population in 1950. With the declines in fertility in most of the world, the global growth rate of population has been decreasing since its peak of 2.0 per cent in 1965-1970.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Average life expectancy globally, leapt from about 48 years in the early 1950s to about 68 in the first decade of the new century. Infant mortality plunged from about 133 deaths in 1,000 births in the 1950s to 46 per 1,000 in the period from 2005 to 2010. Immunization campaigns reduced the prevalence of childhood diseases worldwide.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Fertility, the number of children a woman is expected to have in her reproductive years, dropped by more than half, from about 6.0 to 2.5, partly because of countries’ economic growth and development but also because of a complex mix of social and cultural forces and greater access by women to education, income-earning opportunities and sexual and reproductive health services, including modern methods of contraception.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Asia will remain the most populous major area in the world during the 21st century but Africa will gain ground as its population more than triples, passing from 1 billion in 2011 to 3.6 billion in 2100.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2011, 60 per cent of the world population lived in Asia and 15 per cent in Africa. Africa’s population has been growing 2.3 per cent per year, a rate more than double that of Asia's population (1 per cent per year). The population of Africa first surpassed a billion in 2009 and is expec ted to add another billion in just 35 years (by 2044), even as its fertility drops from 4.6 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 3.0 children per woman in 2040-2045.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Asia's population, which is currently 4.2 billion, is expected to peak around the middle of the century (it is projected to reach 5.2 billion in 2052) and to start a slow decline thereafter.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Although people 24 years old or younger make up almost half of the world’s 7 billion population (with 1.2 billion between the ages of 10 and 19), their percentage of the population in some major developing countries is already at its peak.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]Food sovereignty: Reclaiming the global food system (2011)[/inside] by War on Want, <a href="http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Food%20sovereignty%20report.pdf">http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Food%20sovereignty%20report.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • In 2009, for the first time in human history, over a billion people were officially classified as living in hunger.<br /> <br /> • Per capita food production increased by 8% in South America and 9% in South Asia between 1970 and 1990, but the number of hungry people rose by 19% and 9% respectively in those regions, both key targets of the new green revolution technologies.<br /> <br /> • From 1970 to 1990, the two decades of most rapid Green Revolution expansion, the total food available per person in the world rose by 11%. The estimated number of hungry people fell from 942 million to 786 million, a decline of 16%.<br /> <br /> • Today, despite unprecedented wealth existing in the world, one in seven people go to bed hungry.<br /> <br /> • In 2010 the world’s four largest agrochemical companies and three largest grain traders together chalked up profits of around US$20 billion. The same sum would be enough to settle 20 million families each on their own plot of land, permanently resolving their problem of hunger.<br /> <br /> • Over the last two decades, MNCs have taken control of more than 1,000 once independent seed companies, so that the top 10 seed companies now account for 73% of the world’s commercial seed market (the top three companies alone account for over half).<br /> <br /> • In 1996 Monsanto was not even among the top 10 global seed companies, but by 2009 it was secure in first place, responsible for 27% of the global commercial seed market on its own.<br /> <br /> • By the end of 2007, the top 10 companies were responsible for 89% of agrochemical sales. Combined sales of agrochemical products in Latin America and Asia have now for the first time surpassed combined sales in North America and Europe.<br /> <br /> • The industrial food system discards (in the journey from farms to traders, food processors, stores and supermarkets) between a third and a half of all the food that it produces. This is enough to feed the world’s hungry six times over.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that altogether–including cropping, livestock, transport, fertiliser and land use change–agriculture is responsible for 30% of the global greenhouse emissions that cause climate change.<br /> <br /> • The industrial food system is responsible for the eviction of millions of smallholders from their land, exacerbating rural poverty.<br /> <br /> • Some 150,000 farmers in India, overwhelmed by debts accrued by adopting unsustainable and expensive chemical farming techniques, have committed suicide.<br /> <br /> • Worldwide, up to 10 million hectares of agricultural land are lost annually as a result of severe degradation, largely the result of unsustainable farming practices.<br /> <br /> • The industrial food system is responsible for approximately a third of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions destroying our planet.<br /> <br /> • Around 2.5 billion people–men, women and children–live off the land worldwide, cultivating crops, rearing livestock and catching fish. Many of these farmers are small-scale producers, who are building on the valuable knowledge acquired by their forebears over hundreds of years.<br /> <br /> • Fully 70% of the world’s agricultural land is already devoted to livestock production, and the global production of meat is projected to double from its total of 229 million tones in 2000 to 465 million tonnes in 2050. Expansion of livestock is a key factor in deforestation, especially in Latin America: 70% of previously forested land in the Amazon has been taken over for pasture, while feed crops cover a large part of the remainder.<br /> <br /> • Livestock farming is responsible for 18% of world greenhouse gas emissions – more than all forms of transport put together.<br /> <br /> • World poultry production increased from 8.9 million tonnes in 1961 to 70.3 million tonnes in 2001.<br /> <br /> • Today the USA remains the biggest soya bean producer, with an output of 80.7 million tonnes in the 2009-10 harvest, but Brazil (57 million tonnes) and Argentina (32 million tonnes) are catching up.<br /> <br /> • In 2001 alone the Indian government set up 60 agri-export zones, producing 40 agricultural commodities from mangoes and lychees to basmati rice and cumin. These zones have been bitterly criticised by farmers’ leaders in India, who say that the government should have used barren land for the zones rather than taking over fertile areas that were being used to produce food for the domestic market. They were also angry at the number of small farmers who were expelled from their plots to make way for the agri-export zones.<br /> <br /> • US farmers benefit from billions of dollars in subsidies which make up as much as 40% of US net farm income. This means that US farmers can afford to export their crops at well below production cost and still make a profit. The name for this practice is dumping, and it is supposedly illegal under WTO rules.<br /> <br /> • In recent years new factors are fuelling the land grab. One is biofuels, which are being promoted as a way of reducing the emissions of harmful greenhouse gases from transport. The European Union has passed legislation that requires 10% of transport fuels to come from biofuels by 2020, while the USA spends more than US$6 billion annually subsidising biofuels.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World: How does international price volatility affect domestic economies and food security? (2011)[/inside], which has been produced by IFAD, WFP and FAO, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2330e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2330e.pdf</a>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total number of undernourished people in India during the period 2006-08 was 224.6 million, while that for China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during the same time period were 129.6 million, 41.4 million, 3.9 million and 42.8 million, respectively. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total number of undernourished people in India increased from 167.1 million during 1995-97 to 208.0 million during 2000-02 and further to 224.6 million during 2006-08.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of undernourished in total population in India during 2006-08 was 19 percent, while that for China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during the same time period were 10 percent, 26 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The proportion of undernourished in total population in India increased from 17 percent during 1995-97 to 20 percent during 2000-02 but fell marginally to 19 percent during 2006-08. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During the world food crisis of 2006–08, domestic prices of rice and wheat were very stable in China, India and Indonesia because of government controls on exports of these crops.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Public research institutes in countries such as Brazil, China and India are providing an increasing share of public goods in the area of agricultural research.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, farmers underinvest in bullocks due to volatility in income.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Between 2007 and 2008, the number of undernourished was essentially constant in Asia (an increase of 0.1 percent), while it increased by 8 percent in Africa.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Prices of food commodities on world markets, adjusted for inflation, declined substantially from the early 1960s to the early 2000s, when they reached a historic low. They increased slowly from 2003 to 2006 and then surged upwards from 2006 to the middle of 2008 before declining in the second half of that year. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011–2020 projects that world prices for rice, wheat, maize and oilseeds in the five years from 2015/16 to 2019/20 will be higher in real terms by 40, 27, 48 and 36 percent, respectively, than in the five years from 1998/99 to 2002/03.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the report [inside]Nourish South Asia: Grow a better future for regional food justice[/inside] by Swati Narayan, Oxfam, September, 2011, <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cr-nourish-south-asia-grow-260911-en.pdf">http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cr-nourish-south-asia-grow-260911-en.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • Children are the most vulnerable. In homes, nutritional rehabilitation centres and hospitals, unreported by the media, every single day more than 2000 children die of hunger in India alone.<br /> <br /> • At the peak of food and financial crises, more than 100 million people across South Asia were added to the ranks of the hungry-the highest in four decades.<br /> <br /> • Even after decades of land reforms in India, 41 percent of the rural population is effectively landless.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • Within five years, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has expanded to provide work to 53 million households-roughly 33 percent of India’s rural population in 2009–10.<br /> <br /> • Since it is the panchayats who decide and plan, seventy percent of the ‘public works’ under NREGA chosen have prioritized environmental protection. In just the last three years, as many as 1.9 million ‘works’ have focused on water conservation and drought proofing alone.<br /> <br /> • India had set aside 100 million acres for jatropha cultivation (although in practice, 85 percent of farmers have already stopped its cultivation).<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The Indian government’s aggressive promotion and cultivation of jatropha on 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of plantations, including on regular agricultural land where it will displace existing crops, including food crops, is therefore an example of an especially ill-advised policy. Its ambition to source 20 percent of all its petrol and diesel from biofuels by 2017 should be repealed.<br /> <br /> • Even in the midst of the food price crisis in 2008–9, government food stocks in most South Asia countries were above the buffer norm. Economist Jean Drèze’s graphic description a decade ago of India’s ‘mountains of foodgrains’, in state warehouses which ‘if they are laid in a row, would stretch more than a million kilometres, taking us to the moon and back,’ holds true to this day.<br /> <br /> • Though three quarters of South Asia’s poor live in rural areas, and are largely food producers, most are net purchasers of food. Food remains the biggest item in their household budgets. It is as high as 50 percent in South Asia compared with 17 percent in the United States. Food price inflation is therefore highly regressive as it hurts the poor the most.<br /> <br /> • More than 250 million dalits across South Asia live precariously. Despite being unconstitutional, untouchability has acquired new guises. Dalit farmers in 35 percent of villages surveyed across India were found to be barred from selling their produce in local markets. The musahars, in particular, who rarely own land, are among the most food insecure.<br /> <br /> • Forest dwellers and tribal populations across South Asia are also among the most acute victims of food insecurity.<br /> <br /> • Despite comprising only nine percent of India's population, indigenous tribal adivasis have been disproportionately affected in the race to modernity. In the last three decades, 55 million have been forcibly displaced from their traditional homes and livelihoods in the name of steel mills, large dams and other so-called ‘development projects’.<br /> <br /> • Ninety percent of adivasis are also either absolutely landless or own marginal plots of land that provide them with little or no food security. The Centre for Environment and Food Security in a 2005 survey found that a staggering 99 percent of tribal households face chronic hunger as they could not obtain even two square meals for even a single month in the entire year.<br /> <br /> • Almost one-third of children in the South Asia region are born with low birth weight. Today, 57 percent of the world’s underweight children live in South Asia.<br /> <br /> • Two-thirds of South Asia’s poor people live in a feudal rural landscape. Here, access to land is all important for food security. But land is concentrated in a few hands, largely with men. Though absentee landlordism has been officially abolished, in practice genuine land reform and redistribution has failed across most of South Asia.<br /> <br /> • The South Asian land Gini coefficient is 0.54–which is very unequal. Skewed landholding and the massive scale of rural landlessness are both chronic.<br /> <br /> • Nearly three-quarters of all farmers in South Asia cultivate less than five acres. The majority of farmers do not even own the lands they till. Instead, they remain bound by feudal relations of exploitation<br /> <br /> • Women now form 30 percent of the agricultural labour force in India.<br /> <br /> • Most rural women continue to earn less than men. Worse still, despite their back-breaking labours in the fields, 46 percent of women are in fact ‘contributing family members’ who are unpaid.<br /> <br /> • In India only 40 percent of the poorest are able to gain anything from 11 social programmes which cost the exchequer 2 percent of GDP. The ‘hoarding’ of ‘below poverty line’ (BPL) cards by village officials to fudge records and siphon off food grains and cash is also rampant.<br /> <br /> • The revolving door between government and business is also a threat. Three years ago, the Indian Education Ministry had to stave off severe pressure from private companies eager to replace the $1bn ‘market’ for freshly cooked school meals with packaged biscuits.<br /> <br /> • The onion crisis in India in January 2011, in particular, exposed the invisible role of the middlemen. Consumers had to pay 200–500 times more than the price at which they were purchased from farmers .<br /> <br /> • In India agriculture's contribution to GDP has declined from 62 percent in 1960 to a mere 17 percent in 2011. But the crux of the problem is that more than half the population of the region continues to survive on cultivation.<br /> <br /> • In desperation, a quarter of a million Indian farmers crippled by debt have committed suicide in the last fifteen years. The main culprit is the mismatch between the cost of production and income, which has increasingly begun to pauperise the peasantry.<br /> <br /> • With groundwater tables plunging, loan burdens rising and smaller holdings yielding less and less, ‘farming has become unviable’.<br /> <br /> • Since the fifties, South Asia’s population has more than tripled. In comparison, in the next forty years, it is estimated to increase by only one-third, to 2.3 billion. But with declining agrarian yields, even the current level of food security may prove to be too difficult to maintain with more mouths to feed.<br /> <br /> • Currently, across South Asia, 17–30 percent of the population does not consume the minimum level of globally recommended dietary energy<br /> <br /> • Though food grain production has more than trebled in South Asia over the last 30–40 years, per capita food availability struggles to keep pace. The productivity peaks of the Green Revolution are undeniably over. Even as India's population burgeoned by 17 percent in the last decade, farm output has expanded at just half that rate.<br /> <br /> • The Indian breadbaskets of Punjab and Haryana are heading towards desertification. The once lush, fertile landscape is fast turning grey.<br /> <br /> • Long-established state subsidies for smallholder farmers are also being systematically dismantled. In 2010, India moved to a cash subsidy scheme to replace fertiliser subsidies. The budget for extension services has almost been wiped out. And district agriculture research centres have become almost moribund.<br /> <br /> • More than 55 million tribal peoples were forcibly evicted through land acquisitions between 1951 and 2005. In the tribal-dominated Indian state of Chhattisgarh, a ministry of rural development report itself blamed the government and private companies for the ‘the biggest grab of tribal lands after Columbus’.<br /> <br /> • The Indian government estimates that since 1990 only 1.5 percent of the sown area has transitioned from farm to non-farm use. But even this would have yielded enough to feed more than 43 million hungry people every year.<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, a rise in temperature of 1.5ºC and a precipitation increase of 2 mm could result in a decline of rice yields of 3 to 15 percent.<br /> <br /> • Seven out of nine food crops could deteriorate in yield with just 1–2ºC of warming by 2030. Crop models indicate that average yields in 2050 may decline by about 50 percent for wheat, 17 percent for rice, and about 6 percent for maize from their 2000 levels.<br /> <br /> • Across South Asia, 60 percent of farming is concentrated in rain-fed areas that depend solely on monsoons.<br /> <br /> • Only 41 percent of the grains released by the Indian government reach poor households.<br /> <br /> • Though in 2008 the Indian government in response to the spate of suicides, cancelled the entire debt of $15bn of 40 million smallholder farmers, this has remained a one-off initiative..<br /> <br /> • The governments of Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam–where over two-thirds of the world’s rice is produced–have also explicitly endorsed System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods in their national food security programmes.<br /> <br /> • Each day in India alone around Rs. 130 crores (US$ 27m) of fruits and vegetables spoil before they reach markets.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page** </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to [inside]Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention, Food and Agriculture Organization (2011)[/inside],<br /> <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf">http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf</a>: <br /> <br /> • Roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year.<br /> <br /> • Overall, on a per-capita basis, much more food is wasted in the industrialized world than in developing countries. It is estimated that the per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg/year, while this figure in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only 6-11 kg/year.<br /> <br /> • Food losses refer to the decrease in edible food mass throughout the part of the supply chain that specifically leads to edible food for human consumption. Food losses take place at production, postharvest and processing stages in the food supply chain. Food losses occurring at the end of the food chain (retail and final consumption) are rather called “food waste”, which relates to retailers’ and consumers’ behavior.<br /> <br /> • In low-income countries food is mainly lost during the early and middle stages of the food supply chain; much less food is wasted at the consumer level. Food losses in industrialized countries are as high as in developing countries, but in developing countries more than 40% of the food losses occur at post harvest and processing levels, while in industrialized countries, more than 40% of the food losses occur at retail and consumer levels. Food waste at consumer level in industrialized countries (222 million ton) is almost as high as the total net food production in sub-Saharan Africa (230 million ton).<br /> <br /> • The causes of food losses and waste in low-income countries are mainly connected to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems. Producing food that will not be consumed leads to unnecessary CO2 emissions in addition to loss of economic value of the food produced.<br /> <br /> • Food can be wasted due to quality standards, which reject food items not perfect in shape or appearance. At the consumer level, insufficient purchase planning and expiring ‘best-before-dates’ also cause large amounts of waste, in combination with the careless attitude of those consumers who can afford to waste food.<br /> <br /> • Per capita food loss in Europe and North-America is 280-300 kg/year. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia it is 120-170 kg/year. The total per capita production of edible parts of food for human consumption is, in Europe and North-America, about 900 kg/year and, in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia, 460 kg/year.<br /> <br /> • Per capita food wasted by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg/year, while this figure in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only 6-11 kg/year.<br /> <br /> • In the case of meat and meat products losses and waste in industrialized regions are most severe at the end of the food supply chain—FSC, explained by a high per capita meat consumption combined with large waste proportions by retailers and consumers, especially in Europe and the U.S. Waste at the consumption level makes up approximately half of total meat losses and waste.<br /> </p> <div> <p style="text-align:justify"><em><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to John, Mason, Hunt, Joseph, Parker, David and Jonsson, Urban (1999): Investing in Child Nutrition in Asia, Asian Development Review, Vol. 17, nos. 1,2, pp. 1-32, </span></em><br /> <em><a href="http://Trend%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kcal%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kcal%20in%201998*%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03*%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20resulting%20in%20rising%20food%20stocks%20in%20FCI%20%28Food%20Corporation%20of%20India%29%20godowns*%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished**%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies%20have%20resulted%20in%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29**%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%2072.6%%20in%20India***%20%20*Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan%20**%20Mason,%20John,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32%20***%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20Planning%20Commission,%20Government%20of%20India%20%20%20Read%20more%20%20%20According%20to%20John,%20Mason,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32,%20%20http://www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/adr/pdf/ADR-Vol17-Mason-Hunt-Parker-Jonsson.pdf%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished,%20ranging%20from%2016%20percent%20underweight%20in%20the%20People%E2%80%99s%20Republic%20of%20China%20%28PRC%29%20to%2064%20percent%20in%20Bangladesh,%20and%20a%20similar%20percentage%20are%20deficient%20in%20one%20or%20more%20micronutrients.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Poor%20diet%20and%20infectious%20disease%20interact%20to%20cause%20growth%20failure%20in%20children,%20physiological%20damage%20especially%20to%20the%20immune%20system,%20and%20specific%20clinical%20conditions%20like%20anemia,%20leading%20to%20impaired%20development%20and%20death.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Malnutrition%20is%20the%20largest%20risk%20factor%20in%20the%20world%20for%20disability%20and%20premature%20mortality,%20especially%20in%20developing%20countries,%20and%20is%20entirely%20preventable.%20Eliminating%20malnutrition%20would%20cut%20child%20mortality%20by%20more%20than%2050%20percent,%20and%20reduce%20the%20burden%20of%20disease%20in%20developing%20countries%20by%20about%2020%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies,%20measured%20by%20specific%20signs,%20are%20very%20widespread,%20in%20fact%20more%20so%20than%20general%20malnutrition,%20in%20part%20because%20the%20poor%20first%20meet%20energy%20needs,%20and%20the%20cheapest%20energy%20sources%20are%20the%20lowest%20in%20micronutrients.%20The%20three%20of%20most%20concern%20are%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Anemia%20resulting%20from%20iron%20deficiency%20is%20highly%20prevalent%20and%20showing%20no%20signs%20of%20declining%20in%20Asia.%20More%20than%20half%20the%20women%20of%20reproductive%20age%20are%20anemic,%20and%20children%20are%20similarly%20affected%20%20According%20to%20the%20FAO%20Report-The%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World-2008%20%20ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e02.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20World%20hunger%20is%20increasing:%20The%20World%20Food%20Summit%20%28WFS%29%20%20goal%20of%20halving%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20people%20in%20the%20world%20by%202015%20is%20becoming%20more%20difficult%20to%20reach%20for%20many%20countries.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20most%20recent%20estimates%20put%20the%20number%20of%20hungry%20people%20at%20923%20million%20in%202007,%20an%20increase%20of%20more%20than%2080%20million%20since%20the%201990%E2%80%9392%20base%20period.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20High%20food%20prices%20share%20much%20of%20the%20blame:%20The%20most%20rapid%20increase%20in%20chronic%20hunger%20experienced%20in%20recent%20years%20occurred%20between%202003%E2%80%9305%20and%202007.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20provisional%20estimates%20show%20that,%20in%202007,%2075%20million%20more%20people%20were%20added%20to%20the%20total%20number%20of%20undernourished%20relative%20to%202003%E2%80%9305.%20While%20several%20factors%20are%20responsible,%20high%20food%20prices%20are%20driving%20millions%20of%20people%20into%20food%20insecurity,%20worsening%20conditions%20for%20many%20who%20were%20already%20%20food-insecure,%20and%20threatening%20long-term%20global%20food%20security.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20poorest,%20landless%20and%20female-headed%20households%20are%20the%20hardest%20hit:%20The%20vast%20majority%20of%20urban%20and%20rural%20households%20in%20the%20developing%20world%20rely%20on%20food%20purchases%20for%20most%20of%20their%20food%20and%20stand%20to%20lose%20from%20high%20food%20prices.%20High%20food%20prices%20reduce%20real%20income%20and%20worsen%20the%20prevalence%20of%20food%20insecurity%20and%20malnutrition%20among%20the%20poor%20by%20reducing%20the%20quantity%20and%20quality%20of%20food%20consumed.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Initial%20governmental%20policy%20responses%20have%20had%20limited%20effect:%20To%20contain%20the%20negative%20effects%20of%20high%20food%20prices,%20governments%20have%20introduced%20various%20measures,%20such%20as%20price%20controls%20and%20export%20restrictions.%20While%20understandable%20from%20an%20immediate%20social%20welfare%20%20perspective,%20many%20of%20these%20actions%20have%20been%20ad%20hoc%20and%20are%20likely%20to%20be%20ineffective%20and%20unsustainable.%20Some%20have%20had%20damaging%20effects%20on%20world%20price%20levels%20and%20stability.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20By%20virtue%20of%20their%20size,%20China%20and%20India%20combined%20account%20for%2042%20percent%20of%20the%20chronically%20hungry%20people%20in%20thedeveloping%20world.%20The%20importance%20of%20China%20and%20India%20in%20the%20overall%20picture%20warrants%20some%20analysis%20of%20the%20main%20driving%20forces%20behind%20hunger%20trends%20%20%EF%82%B7%20After%20registering%20impressive%20gains%20between%201990%E2%80%9392%20and%20the%20mid-1990s,%20%20progress%20in%20reducing%20hunger%20in%20India%20has%20stalled%20since%20about%201995%E2%80%9397.%20The%20high%20proportion%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20in%20the%20base%20had%20a%20challenging%20task%20in%20reducing%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20increase%20in%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20can%20be%20traced%20to%20a%20slowing%20in%20the%20growth%20%28even%20a%20slight%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20for%20human%20consumption%20since%201995%E2%80%9397.%20On%20the%20demand%20side,%20life%20expectancy%20in%20India%20has%20increased%20from%2059%20to%2063%20years%20since%201990%E2%80%9392.%20This%20has%20had%20an%20important%20impact%20on%20the%20overall%20%20change%20in%20population%20structure,%20with%20the%20result%20that%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20the%20growth%20in%20minimum%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20had%20outpaced%20that%20of%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20combination%20of%20the%20declining%20per%20capita%20growth%20rate%20in%20total%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20and%20higher%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20resulted%20in%20an%20estimated%2024%20million%20more%20undernourished%20people%20in%20India%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20compared%20with%20the%20base%20period.%20The%20increased%20food%20needs%20of%20the%20ageing%20population%20amount%20to%20about%206.5%20million%20tonnes%20per%20year%20in%20cereal%20equivalent.%20Nevertheless,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20hunger%20in%20India%20decreased%20from%2024%20percent%20in%201990%E2%80%9392%20to%2021%20percent%20in%202003%E2%80%9305,%20marking%20progress%20towards%20meeting%20the%20MDG%20hunger%20reduction%20target.%20%20According%20to%20the%20Report%20on%20the%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20Rural%20India%20%282009%29,%20which%20has%20been%20prepared%20by%20the%20MS%20Swaminathan%20Research%20Foundation%20%28MSSRF%29%20and%20the%20World%20Food%20Programme%20%28WFP%29,%20http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:%20%20%EF%82%B7%20On%20the%20composite%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20of%20rural%20India,%20states%20like%20Jharkhand%20and%20Chhattisgarh%20are%20found%20in%20the%20%E2%80%98very%20high%E2%80%99%20level%20of%20food%20insecurity,%20followed%20by%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Bihar%20and%20Gujarat.%20The%20indicators%20used%20for%20computing%20the%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20in%20rural%20India%20are:%20a%29%20Percentage%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201,890%20Kcal%20/cu/diem;%20b%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water;%20c%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20the%20premises;%20d%29%20Percentage%20of%20ever-married%20women%20age%2015%20%E2%80%93%2049%20years%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20e%29%20Percentage%20of%20women%20%2815%20%E2%80%93%2049%20yrs%29%20with%20CED;%20f%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20and,%20g%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20stunted%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20better%20performers%20include%20Himachal%20Pradesh,%20Kerala,%20Punjab%20and%20Jammu%20and%20Kashmir,%20all%20of%20which%20report%20an%20Index%20value%20below%200.5%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201890%20kcal/cu/diem%20has%20in%20fact%20increased%20in%20the%20states%20of%20Orissa,%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Karnataka,%20West%20Bengal,%20Rajasthan%20and%20marginally%20for%20Punjab.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Almost%202/3rd%20of%20rural%20households%20in%20Jharkhand%20did%20not%20have%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water%20in%202001.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20More%20than%2090%20percent%20of%20rural%20households%20in%20Chhattisgarh,%20Jharkhand,%20Orissa%20and%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20did%20not%20have%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20their%20premises.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20many%20as%20eight%20states%20-%20Andhra%20Pradesh,%20Bihar,%20Gujarat,%20Haryana,%20Karnataka,%20Kerala,%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20and%20Rajasthan%20%E2%80%93%20have%20shown%20increase%20in%20the%20incidence%20of%20anaemia%20among%20women%20in%20the%20reproductive%20age%20group.%20The%20highest%20increase%20in%20anaemia%20levels%20has%20been%20observed%20in%20Andhra%20Pradesh%20%2851%20to%2064%20percent%29,%20followed%20by%20Haryana%20%2848%20to%2057%20percent%29%20and%20Kerala%20%2823%20to%2032%20percent%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20women%20with%20CED%20has%20drastically%20increased%20for%20Assam%20%2828%20to%2040%20percent%29%20followed%20by%20Bihar%20%2840%20to%2046%20percent%29,%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20%2842%20to%2045%20percent%29%20and%20Haryana%20%2831%20to%2033%20percent%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%2012%20out%20of%2020%20states%20under%20consideration%20have%20figures%20higher%20than%2080%20percent%20for%20proportion%20of%20rural%20anaemic%20children.%20Bihar,%20that%20already%20had%20a%20high%20figure%20of%2081%20percent,%20has%20further%20increased%20to%2089%20percent.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20rural%20stunted%20children%20in%20Karnataka%20has%20increased%20from%2039%20to%2043%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20While%20famines%20and%20starvation%20deaths%20remain%20the%20popular%20representation%20of%20the%20contemporary%20problem%20of%20hunger,%20one%20of%20the%20most%20significant%20yet%20understated%20and%20perhaps%20less%20visible%20area%20of%20concern%20today%20is%20that%20of%20chronic%20or%20persistent%20food%20and%20nutrition%20insecurity.%20This%20is%20a%20situation%20where%20people%20regularly%20subsist%20on%20a%20very%20minimal%20diet%20that%20has%20poor%20nutrient%20and%20calorific%20content%20as%20compared%20to%20medically%20prescribed%20norms.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20Targeted%20Public%20Distribution%20System%20%28TPDS%29%20has%20led%20to%20exclusion%20of%20large%20number%20of%20needy%20poor.%20The%20Report%20recommends%20a%20return%20to%20the%20%E2%80%98universal%20PDS%E2%80%99%20that%20existed%20till%201997.%20The%20Report%20also%20recommends%20universalization%20and%20effective%20implementation%20of%20ICDS%20and%20MDMS%20and%20employment%20generation%20programmes,%20like%20National%20Rural%20Employment%20Guarantee%20Scheme%20%28NREGS%29.%20Greater%20involvement%20of%20Panchayat%20Raj%20Institutions%20%28PRIs%29%20in%20food%20delivery%20at%20the%20grassroot%20level%20and%20integration%20of%20food%20and%20nutrition%20security%20objectives%20in%20ongoing%20Government%20initiatives%20like%20the%20National%20Food%20Security%20Mission%20and%20National%20Horticulture%20Mission%20are%20crucial.%20%20%20According%20to%20Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan:%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%201990s%20have%20not%20only%20seen%20a%20steady%20decline%20in%20the%20level%20of%20per%20capita%20food%20availability%20in%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole%20%28taking%20both%20rural%20and%20urban%20India%20together%29;%20the%20absolute%20amount%20of%20per%20capita%20food%20availability%20in%20the%20year%20200203%20was%20even%20lower%20than%20during%20the%20years%20of%20the%20Second%20World%20War-years%20that%20saw%20the%20terrible%20Bengal%20famine.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kilo%20calorie%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kilo%20calorie%20in%201998.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03,%20which%20shows%20that%20the%20situation%20was%20better%20during%20the%20times%20when%20the%20Britishers%20ruled%20over%20India%20compared%20to%20the%20present%20situation.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20fact%20that%20accumulation%20of%20such%20enormous%20foodstocks%20has%20occurred%20despite%20a%20stagnation%20%28or%20even%20a%20marginal%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20during%20the%201990s,%20suggests%20that%20the%20cause%20of%20this%20accumulation%20is%20the%20absence%20of%20adequate%20purchasing%20power%20of%20the%20rural%20population.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20working%20people,%20especially%20in%20rural%20India,%20which%20has%20caused%20growing%20distress%20on%20the%20one%20hand%20and%20an%20accumulation%20of%20unwanted%20foodstocks%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20government%20on%20the%20other.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Not%20only%20has%20there%20been%20a%20remarkable%20decline%20in%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20agricultural%20output,%20but%20this%20rate%20of%20growth,%20whether%20of%20agriculture%20as%20a%20whole%20or%20of%20foodgrains,%20has%20fallen%20well%20below%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201990s%20while%20it%20had%20exceeded%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201980s.%20The%201990s%20were%20indeed%20the%20first%20decade%20since%20independence%20when%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20declined%20in%20absolute%20terms.%20%20According%20to%20the%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v2/11v2_ch4.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20National%20Nutrition%20Monitoring%20Bureau%20%28NNMB%29%20Report%20of%20December%202006%20reveals%20that%20the%20consumption%20of%20protective%20foods%20such%20as%20pulses,%20green%20leafy%20vegetables%20%28GLV%29,%20milk,%20and%20fruits%20was%20grossly%20inadequate.%20Consequently,%20the%20intakes%20of%20micronutrients%20such%20as%20iron,%20vitamin%20A,%20riboflavin,%20and%20folic%20acid%20were%20far%20below%20the%20recommended%20levels%20in%20all%20the%20age%20groups.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20data%20from%20nutritional%20survey%20of%20children%20under%20five%20years%20shows%20that%20the%20prevalence%20of%20signs%20of%20moderate%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29%20%28Bitot%20spots%20on%20conjunctiva%20in%20eyes%29%20and%20that%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20%28angular%20stomatitis%29%20was%20about%200.6%%20and%200.8%%20respectively%20among%20the%20preschool%20children.%20Among%20the%20school%20age%20children,%20Bitot%20Spots%20were%20found%20in%201.9%,%20and%20the%20prevalence%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20and%20of%20mottling%20of%20teeth%20%28dental%20fluorosis%29%20was%202%%20each.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20per%20District%20Level%20Health%20Survey%20%28DLHS%29%20%282002%E2%80%9304%29,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%20very%20high%20%2872.6%%29%20in%20India%20with%20prevalence%20of%20severe%20anaemia%20among%20them%20much%20higher%20%2821.1%%29%20than%20that%20in%20preschool%20children%20%282.1%%29.%20In%20adolescent%20girls,%20educational%20or%20economic%20status%20does%20not%20seem%20to%20make%20much%20of%20a%20difference%20in%20terms%20of%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia.%20Prevention,%20detection,%20or%20management%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20has%20till%20now%20not%20received%20much%20attention.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20is%20very%20high%20among%20young%20children%20%286%E2%80%9335%20months%29,%20ever-married%20women%20%2815%E2%80%9349%20years%29,%20and%20pregnant%20women%20%28Annexure%204.1.3%29.%20Overall,%2072.7%%20of%20children%20up%20to%20the%20age%20of%20three%20in%20urban%20areas%20and%2081.2%%20in%20rural%20areas%20are%20anaemic.%20The%20overall%20prevalence%20has%20increased%20from%2074.2%%20%281998%E2%80%9399%29%20to%2079.2%%20%282005%E2%80%9306%29.%20Nagaland%20had%20the%20lowest%20prevalence%20%2844.3%%29,%20Goa%20was%20next%20%2849.3%%29,%20followed%20by%20Mizoram%20%2851.7%%29.%20Bihar%20had%20the%20highest%20prevalence%20%2887.6%%29%20followed%20closely%20by%20Rajasthan%20%2885.1%%29,%20and%20Karnataka%20%2882.7%%29.%20Moderate%20and%20severe%20anaemia%20is%20seen%20even%20among%20the%20educated%20families%20both%20in%20urban%20and%20rural%20areas.%20There%20are%20inter-State%20differences%20in%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20that%20are%20perhaps%20attributable%20partly%20to%20differences%20in%20dietary%20intake%20and%20partly%20to%20access%20to%20health%20care."><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/adr/pdf/ADR-Vol17-Mason-Hunt-Parker-Jonsson.pdf</span></a></em><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• About half the preschool children in Asia are considered to be malnourished, ranging from 16 percent underweight in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to 64 percent in Bangladesh, and a similar percentage are deficient in one or more micronutrients.</span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Poor diet and infectious disease interact to cause growth failure in children, physiological damage especially to the immune system, and specific clinical conditions like anemia, leading to impaired development and death.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Malnutrition is the largest risk factor in the world for disability and premature mortality, especially in developing countries, and is entirely preventable. Eliminating malnutrition would cut child mortality by more than 50 percent, and reduce the burden of disease in developing countries by about 20 percent</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Micronutrient deficiencies, measured by specific signs, are very widespread, in fact more so than general malnutrition, in part because the poor first meet energy needs, and the cheapest energy sources are the lowest in micronutrients. The three of most concern are vitamin A deficiency (VAD), iron deficiency, usually assessed as anemia, and iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Anemia resulting from iron deficiency is highly prevalent and showing no signs of declining in Asia. More than half the women of reproductive age are anemic, and children are similarly affected</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to [inside]2010 Global Hunger Index[/inside], which has been brought out by International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI), <a href="http://www.ifpri.org/pressroom/briefing/2010-global-hunger-index-crisis-child-undernutrition">http://www.ifpri.org/pressroom/briefing/2010-global-hunger-index-crisis-child-undernutrition</a>: </span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI) is calculated for 122 developing countries and countries in transition for which data on the three components of hunger are available.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Index scores countries based on three equally weighted indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Index ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in practice.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates an improvement in the country’s hunger situation.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• This year’s GHI reflects data from 2003-2008—the most recent available global data on the three components of hunger.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Since 1990, the world’s GHI score has decreased by nearly 25 percent. However, global hunger remains at a “serious” level.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa continue to suffer from the highest levels of hunger, with regional scores of 22.9 and 21.7, respectively.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Vietnam made the most absolute progress in improving their scores between the 1990 GHI and 2010 GHI. In the same period, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Tunisia, and Turkey made the most relative progress in reducing hunger.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Undernutrition signifies deficiencies in energy, protein, and/or essential vitamins and minerals. Undernutrition is the result of inadequate intake of food—in terms of either quality or quantity—or poor utilization of nutrients due to infections or other illnesses, or a combination of these two factors.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Bangladesh, India, and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children in Asia– 40 percent.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>Bangladesh: </em>Over the past 25 years, Bangladesh has made significant progress in reducing its under-five mortality rate, as well as the prevalence of underweight and stunted children. Despite these improvements, 54 out of every 1,000 children do not survive to their fifth birthday and a staggering 43 percent of Bangladeshi children are stunted, accounting for almost 4 percent of stunted children worldwide.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>China: </em>Between 1990 and 2002, China reduced child malnutrition from 25 percent to 8 percent with a highly successful poverty alleviation strategy; effective large-scale health, nutrition, and family-planning interventions; and increased spending on water, sanitation, and education.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>India: </em>Between 1990 and 2008, the prevalence of underweight children dropped from 60 percent to 44 percent, while the under-five mortality rate fell from 12 percent to 7 percent.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 2005-06, about 44 percent of Indian children under age five were underweight and 48 percent were stunted. Because of the country’s large population, India is home to 42 percent of the world’s underweight children and 31 percent of its stunted children. </span></div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em>Malaysia:</em> Between 1990 and 2005, the proportion of children who were underweight decreased from 22 percent to 7 percent. This impressive reduction can be attributed to rapid economic growth, as well as interventions targeted to women and young children.<br /> <br /> • <em>Thailand: </em>During the 1980s, Thailand halved malnutrition from 50 percent to 25 percent by using targeted nutrition interventions and creating a widespread network of community volunteers to help change people’s behavior.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><em>According to The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises, which has been brought out by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1683e/i1683e.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1683e/i1683e.pdf</a>: </em><br /> <br /> • The number of undernourished people in the world remains unacceptably high at near the one billion mark despite an expected decline in 2010 for the first time since 1995. This decline is largely attributable to increased economic growth foreseen in 2010 – particularly in developing countries – and the fall in international food prices since 2008.<br /> <br /> • A total of 925 million people are still estimated to be undernourished in 2010, representing almost 16 percent of the population of developing countries. The fact that nearly a billion people remain hungry even after the recent food and financial crises have largely passed indicates a deeper structural problem that gravely threatens the ability to achieve internationally agreed goals on hunger reduction: the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the 1996 World Food Summit goal.<br /> <br /> • In the 22 countries identified by this report as being in protracted crisis (or containing areas in protracted crisis), the most recent data show that more than 166 million people are undernourished, representing nearly 40 percent of the population of these countries and nearly 20 percent of all undernourished people in the world.<br /> <br /> • This unacceptably high degree of hunger results from many factors, including armed conflict and natural disasters, often in combination with weak governance or public administration, scarce resources, unsustainable livelihoods systems and breakdown of local institutions.<br /> <br /> • On average, the proportion of people who are undernourished is almost three times as high in countries in protracted crisis as in other developing countries (if countries in protracted crisis and China and India are excluded). There are approximately 166 million undernourished people in countries in protracted crisis – roughly 20 percent of the world’s undernourished people, or more than a third of the global total if China and India are excluded from the calculation.<br /> <br /> • A deeper analysis of the relationship between protracted crisis and food security outcomes shows that changes in income, government effectiveness, control of corruption and the number of years in crisis are significantly related to the proportion of the population who are undernourished. These factors, plus education, are also all significantly related to a country’s Global Hunger Index.<br /> <br /> • Based on the latest available data, the total number of undernourished people in the world is estimated to have reached 1 023 million in 2009 and is expected to decline by 9.6 percent to 925 million in 2010. Developing countries account for 98 percent of the world’s undernourished people and have a prevalence of undernourishment of 16 percent – down from 18 percent in 2009 but still well above the target set by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1.<br /> <br /> • International cereal prices have declined in recent months and are below their recent peaks, reflecting ample global cereal supplies in 2009/10 and prospects for large crops in 2010, but food prices in most low-income food-deficit countries remain above the pre-crisis level of early 2008, negatively affecting access to food by vulnerable populations.<br /> <br /> • Vulnerable households deal with shocks by selling assets, which are very difficult to rebuild, by reducing food consumption in terms of quantity and variety and by cutting down on health and education expenditures – coping mechanisms that all have long-term negative effects on quality of life and livelihoods.<br /> <br /> • The majority of the world’s undernourished people live in developing countries. Two-thirds live in just seven countries (Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan) and over 40 percent live in China and India alone.<br /> <br /> • The region with most undernourished people continues to be Asia and the Pacific, but with a 12 percent decline from 658 million in 2009 to 578 million, this region also accounts for most of the global improvement expected in 2010.<br /> <br /> • Developing countries as a group have seen an overall setback in terms of the World Food Summit goal (from 827 million in 1990–92 to 906 million in 2010), while some progress has been made towards MDG 1 (with the prevalence of hunger declining from 20 percent undernourished in 1990–92 to 16 percent in 2010).<br /> <br /> • The proportion of undernourished people remains highest in sub-Saharan Africa, at 30 percent in 2010. As of 2005–07 (the most recent period for which complete data are available), the Congo, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria had already achieved MDG 1 and Ethiopia and others were close to achieving it; in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, the proportion of undernourishment had risen to 69 percent (from 26 percent in 1990–92).<br /> <br /> • In Asia, Armenia, Myanmar and Viet Nam had achieved MDG 1 and China and others were close to doing so, while in Latin America and the Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica and Nicaragua had achieved MDG 1 and Brazil and others were approaching the target reduction.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the FAO Report-[inside]The State of Food Insecurity in the World-2008 [/inside] </span><a href="http://Trend%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kcal%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kcal%20in%201998*%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03*%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20resulting%20in%20rising%20food%20stocks%20in%20FCI%20%28Food%20Corporation%20of%20India%29%20godowns*%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished**%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies%20have%20resulted%20in%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29**%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%2072.6%%20in%20India***%20%20*Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan%20**%20Mason,%20John,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32%20***%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20Planning%20Commission,%20Government%20of%20India%20%20%20Read%20more%20%20%20According%20to%20John,%20Mason,%20Hunt,%20Joseph,%20Parker,%20David%20and%20Jonsson,%20Urban%20%281999%29:%20Investing%20in%20Child%20Nutrition%20in%20Asia,%20Asian%20Development%20Review,%20Vol.%2017,%20nos.%201,2,%20pp.%201-32,%20%20http://www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/adr/pdf/ADR-Vol17-Mason-Hunt-Parker-Jonsson.pdf%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20About%20half%20the%20preschool%20children%20in%20Asia%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20malnourished,%20ranging%20from%2016%20percent%20underweight%20in%20the%20People%E2%80%99s%20Republic%20of%20China%20%28PRC%29%20to%2064%20percent%20in%20Bangladesh,%20and%20a%20similar%20percentage%20are%20deficient%20in%20one%20or%20more%20micronutrients.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Poor%20diet%20and%20infectious%20disease%20interact%20to%20cause%20growth%20failure%20in%20children,%20physiological%20damage%20especially%20to%20the%20immune%20system,%20and%20specific%20clinical%20conditions%20like%20anemia,%20leading%20to%20impaired%20development%20and%20death.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Malnutrition%20is%20the%20largest%20risk%20factor%20in%20the%20world%20for%20disability%20and%20premature%20mortality,%20especially%20in%20developing%20countries,%20and%20is%20entirely%20preventable.%20Eliminating%20malnutrition%20would%20cut%20child%20mortality%20by%20more%20than%2050%20percent,%20and%20reduce%20the%20burden%20of%20disease%20in%20developing%20countries%20by%20about%2020%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Micronutrient%20deficiencies,%20measured%20by%20specific%20signs,%20are%20very%20widespread,%20in%20fact%20more%20so%20than%20general%20malnutrition,%20in%20part%20because%20the%20poor%20first%20meet%20energy%20needs,%20and%20the%20cheapest%20energy%20sources%20are%20the%20lowest%20in%20micronutrients.%20The%20three%20of%20most%20concern%20are%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29,%20iron%20deficiency,%20usually%20assessed%20as%20anemia,%20and%20iodine%20deficiency%20disorders%20%28IDDs%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Anemia%20resulting%20from%20iron%20deficiency%20is%20highly%20prevalent%20and%20showing%20no%20signs%20of%20declining%20in%20Asia.%20More%20than%20half%20the%20women%20of%20reproductive%20age%20are%20anemic,%20and%20children%20are%20similarly%20affected%20%20According%20to%20the%20FAO%20Report-The%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20the%20World-2008%20%20ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e02.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20World%20hunger%20is%20increasing:%20The%20World%20Food%20Summit%20%28WFS%29%20%20goal%20of%20halving%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20people%20in%20the%20world%20by%202015%20is%20becoming%20more%20difficult%20to%20reach%20for%20many%20countries.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20most%20recent%20estimates%20put%20the%20number%20of%20hungry%20people%20at%20923%20million%20in%202007,%20an%20increase%20of%20more%20than%2080%20million%20since%20the%201990%E2%80%9392%20base%20period.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20High%20food%20prices%20share%20much%20of%20the%20blame:%20The%20most%20rapid%20increase%20in%20chronic%20hunger%20experienced%20in%20recent%20years%20occurred%20between%202003%E2%80%9305%20and%202007.%20FAO%E2%80%99s%20provisional%20estimates%20show%20that,%20in%202007,%2075%20million%20more%20people%20were%20added%20to%20the%20total%20number%20of%20undernourished%20relative%20to%202003%E2%80%9305.%20While%20several%20factors%20are%20responsible,%20high%20food%20prices%20are%20driving%20millions%20of%20people%20into%20food%20insecurity,%20worsening%20conditions%20for%20many%20who%20were%20already%20%20food-insecure,%20and%20threatening%20long-term%20global%20food%20security.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20poorest,%20landless%20and%20female-headed%20households%20are%20the%20hardest%20hit:%20The%20vast%20majority%20of%20urban%20and%20rural%20households%20in%20the%20developing%20world%20rely%20on%20food%20purchases%20for%20most%20of%20their%20food%20and%20stand%20to%20lose%20from%20high%20food%20prices.%20High%20food%20prices%20reduce%20real%20income%20and%20worsen%20the%20prevalence%20of%20food%20insecurity%20and%20malnutrition%20among%20the%20poor%20by%20reducing%20the%20quantity%20and%20quality%20of%20food%20consumed.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Initial%20governmental%20policy%20responses%20have%20had%20limited%20effect:%20To%20contain%20the%20negative%20effects%20of%20high%20food%20prices,%20governments%20have%20introduced%20various%20measures,%20such%20as%20price%20controls%20and%20export%20restrictions.%20While%20understandable%20from%20an%20immediate%20social%20welfare%20%20perspective,%20many%20of%20these%20actions%20have%20been%20ad%20hoc%20and%20are%20likely%20to%20be%20ineffective%20and%20unsustainable.%20Some%20have%20had%20damaging%20effects%20on%20world%20price%20levels%20and%20stability.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20By%20virtue%20of%20their%20size,%20China%20and%20India%20combined%20account%20for%2042%20percent%20of%20the%20chronically%20hungry%20people%20in%20thedeveloping%20world.%20The%20importance%20of%20China%20and%20India%20in%20the%20overall%20picture%20warrants%20some%20analysis%20of%20the%20main%20driving%20forces%20behind%20hunger%20trends%20%20%EF%82%B7%20After%20registering%20impressive%20gains%20between%201990%E2%80%9392%20and%20the%20mid-1990s,%20%20progress%20in%20reducing%20hunger%20in%20India%20has%20stalled%20since%20about%201995%E2%80%9397.%20The%20high%20proportion%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20in%20the%20base%20had%20a%20challenging%20task%20in%20reducing%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20increase%20in%20the%20number%20of%20undernourished%20in%20India%20can%20be%20traced%20to%20a%20slowing%20in%20the%20growth%20%28even%20a%20slight%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20for%20human%20consumption%20since%201995%E2%80%9397.%20On%20the%20demand%20side,%20life%20expectancy%20in%20India%20has%20increased%20from%2059%20to%2063%20years%20since%201990%E2%80%9392.%20This%20has%20had%20an%20important%20impact%20on%20the%20overall%20%20change%20in%20population%20structure,%20with%20the%20result%20that%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20the%20growth%20in%20minimum%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20had%20outpaced%20that%20of%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20combination%20of%20the%20declining%20per%20capita%20growth%20rate%20in%20total%20dietary%20energy%20supply%20and%20higher%20per%20capita%20dietary%20energy%20requirements%20resulted%20in%20an%20estimated%2024%20million%20more%20undernourished%20people%20in%20India%20in%202003%E2%80%9305%20compared%20with%20the%20base%20period.%20The%20increased%20food%20needs%20of%20the%20ageing%20population%20amount%20to%20about%206.5%20million%20tonnes%20per%20year%20in%20cereal%20equivalent.%20Nevertheless,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20hunger%20in%20India%20decreased%20from%2024%20percent%20in%201990%E2%80%9392%20to%2021%20percent%20in%202003%E2%80%9305,%20marking%20progress%20towards%20meeting%20the%20MDG%20hunger%20reduction%20target.%20%20According%20to%20the%20Report%20on%20the%20State%20of%20Food%20Insecurity%20in%20Rural%20India%20%282009%29,%20which%20has%20been%20prepared%20by%20the%20MS%20Swaminathan%20Research%20Foundation%20%28MSSRF%29%20and%20the%20World%20Food%20Programme%20%28WFP%29,%20http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:%20%20%EF%82%B7%20On%20the%20composite%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20of%20rural%20India,%20states%20like%20Jharkhand%20and%20Chhattisgarh%20are%20found%20in%20the%20%E2%80%98very%20high%E2%80%99%20level%20of%20food%20insecurity,%20followed%20by%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Bihar%20and%20Gujarat.%20The%20indicators%20used%20for%20computing%20the%20index%20of%20food%20insecurity%20in%20rural%20India%20are:%20a%29%20Percentage%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201,890%20Kcal%20/cu/diem;%20b%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water;%20c%29%20Percentage%20of%20households%20not%20having%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20the%20premises;%20d%29%20Percentage%20of%20ever-married%20women%20age%2015%20%E2%80%93%2049%20years%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20e%29%20Percentage%20of%20women%20%2815%20%E2%80%93%2049%20yrs%29%20with%20CED;%20f%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20anaemic;%20and,%20g%29%20Percentage%20of%20children%20in%20the%20age%20group%206%20%E2%80%93%2035%20months%20who%20are%20stunted%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20better%20performers%20include%20Himachal%20Pradesh,%20Kerala,%20Punjab%20and%20Jammu%20and%20Kashmir,%20all%20of%20which%20report%20an%20Index%20value%20below%200.5%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20population%20consuming%20less%20than%201890%20kcal/cu/diem%20has%20in%20fact%20increased%20in%20the%20states%20of%20Orissa,%20Madhya%20Pradesh,%20Karnataka,%20West%20Bengal,%20Rajasthan%20and%20marginally%20for%20Punjab.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Almost%202/3rd%20of%20rural%20households%20in%20Jharkhand%20did%20not%20have%20access%20to%20safe%20drinking%20water%20in%202001.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20More%20than%2090%20percent%20of%20rural%20households%20in%20Chhattisgarh,%20Jharkhand,%20Orissa%20and%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20did%20not%20have%20access%20to%20toilets%20within%20their%20premises.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20many%20as%20eight%20states%20-%20Andhra%20Pradesh,%20Bihar,%20Gujarat,%20Haryana,%20Karnataka,%20Kerala,%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20and%20Rajasthan%20%E2%80%93%20have%20shown%20increase%20in%20the%20incidence%20of%20anaemia%20among%20women%20in%20the%20reproductive%20age%20group.%20The%20highest%20increase%20in%20anaemia%20levels%20has%20been%20observed%20in%20Andhra%20Pradesh%20%2851%20to%2064%20percent%29,%20followed%20by%20Haryana%20%2848%20to%2057%20percent%29%20and%20Kerala%20%2823%20to%2032%20percent%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20women%20with%20CED%20has%20drastically%20increased%20for%20Assam%20%2828%20to%2040%20percent%29%20followed%20by%20Bihar%20%2840%20to%2046%20percent%29,%20Madhya%20Pradesh%20%2842%20to%2045%20percent%29%20and%20Haryana%20%2831%20to%2033%20percent%29.%20%20%EF%82%B7%2012%20out%20of%2020%20states%20under%20consideration%20have%20figures%20higher%20than%2080%20percent%20for%20proportion%20of%20rural%20anaemic%20children.%20Bihar,%20that%20already%20had%20a%20high%20figure%20of%2081%20percent,%20has%20further%20increased%20to%2089%20percent.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20proportion%20of%20rural%20stunted%20children%20in%20Karnataka%20has%20increased%20from%2039%20to%2043%20percent%20%20%EF%82%B7%20While%20famines%20and%20starvation%20deaths%20remain%20the%20popular%20representation%20of%20the%20contemporary%20problem%20of%20hunger,%20one%20of%20the%20most%20significant%20yet%20understated%20and%20perhaps%20less%20visible%20area%20of%20concern%20today%20is%20that%20of%20chronic%20or%20persistent%20food%20and%20nutrition%20insecurity.%20This%20is%20a%20situation%20where%20people%20regularly%20subsist%20on%20a%20very%20minimal%20diet%20that%20has%20poor%20nutrient%20and%20calorific%20content%20as%20compared%20to%20medically%20prescribed%20norms.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20Targeted%20Public%20Distribution%20System%20%28TPDS%29%20has%20led%20to%20exclusion%20of%20large%20number%20of%20needy%20poor.%20The%20Report%20recommends%20a%20return%20to%20the%20%E2%80%98universal%20PDS%E2%80%99%20that%20existed%20till%201997.%20The%20Report%20also%20recommends%20universalization%20and%20effective%20implementation%20of%20ICDS%20and%20MDMS%20and%20employment%20generation%20programmes,%20like%20National%20Rural%20Employment%20Guarantee%20Scheme%20%28NREGS%29.%20Greater%20involvement%20of%20Panchayat%20Raj%20Institutions%20%28PRIs%29%20in%20food%20delivery%20at%20the%20grassroot%20level%20and%20integration%20of%20food%20and%20nutrition%20security%20objectives%20in%20ongoing%20Government%20initiatives%20like%20the%20National%20Food%20Security%20Mission%20and%20National%20Horticulture%20Mission%20are%20crucial.%20%20%20According%20to%20Patnaik,%20Utsa%20%282003%29:%20Agrarian%20Crisis%20and%20Distress%20in%20Rural%20India,%20Macroscan:%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%201990s%20have%20not%20only%20seen%20a%20steady%20decline%20in%20the%20level%20of%20per%20capita%20food%20availability%20in%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole%20%28taking%20both%20rural%20and%20urban%20India%20together%29;%20the%20absolute%20amount%20of%20per%20capita%20food%20availability%20in%20the%20year%20200203%20was%20even%20lower%20than%20during%20the%20years%20of%20the%20Second%20World%20War-years%20that%20saw%20the%20terrible%20Bengal%20famine.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Average%20calorie%20intake%20per%20diem%20in%20rural%20area%20India%20has%20declined%20from%202309%20kilo%20calorie%20in%201983%20to%202011%20kilo%20calorie%20in%201998.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Per%20capita%20yearly%20net%20availability%20of%20foodgrains%20has%20declined%20from%20199.0%20kg%20during%201897-1902%20to%20141.50%20kg%20in%202002-03,%20which%20shows%20that%20the%20situation%20was%20better%20during%20the%20times%20when%20the%20Britishers%20ruled%20over%20India%20compared%20to%20the%20present%20situation.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20fact%20that%20accumulation%20of%20such%20enormous%20foodstocks%20has%20occurred%20despite%20a%20stagnation%20%28or%20even%20a%20marginal%20decline%29%20in%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20during%20the%201990s,%20suggests%20that%20the%20cause%20of%20this%20accumulation%20is%20the%20absence%20of%20adequate%20purchasing%20power%20of%20the%20rural%20population.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20period%20of%201990s%20has%20seen%20significant%20curtailment%20of%20purchasing%20power%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20working%20people,%20especially%20in%20rural%20India,%20which%20has%20caused%20growing%20distress%20on%20the%20one%20hand%20and%20an%20accumulation%20of%20unwanted%20foodstocks%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20government%20on%20the%20other.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Not%20only%20has%20there%20been%20a%20remarkable%20decline%20in%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20agricultural%20output,%20but%20this%20rate%20of%20growth,%20whether%20of%20agriculture%20as%20a%20whole%20or%20of%20foodgrains,%20has%20fallen%20well%20below%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201990s%20while%20it%20had%20exceeded%20the%20rate%20of%20growth%20of%20population%20in%20the%201980s.%20The%201990s%20were%20indeed%20the%20first%20decade%20since%20independence%20when%20per%20capita%20foodgrain%20output%20in%20the%20country%20declined%20in%20absolute%20terms.%20%20According%20to%20the%2011th%20Five%20Year%20Plan,%20http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v2/11v2_ch4.pdf%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20National%20Nutrition%20Monitoring%20Bureau%20%28NNMB%29%20Report%20of%20December%202006%20reveals%20that%20the%20consumption%20of%20protective%20foods%20such%20as%20pulses,%20green%20leafy%20vegetables%20%28GLV%29,%20milk,%20and%20fruits%20was%20grossly%20inadequate.%20Consequently,%20the%20intakes%20of%20micronutrients%20such%20as%20iron,%20vitamin%20A,%20riboflavin,%20and%20folic%20acid%20were%20far%20below%20the%20recommended%20levels%20in%20all%20the%20age%20groups.%20%20%20%EF%82%B7%20The%20data%20from%20nutritional%20survey%20of%20children%20under%20five%20years%20shows%20that%20the%20prevalence%20of%20signs%20of%20moderate%20vitamin%20A%20deficiency%20%28VAD%29%20%28Bitot%20spots%20on%20conjunctiva%20in%20eyes%29%20and%20that%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20%28angular%20stomatitis%29%20was%20about%200.6%%20and%200.8%%20respectively%20among%20the%20preschool%20children.%20Among%20the%20school%20age%20children,%20Bitot%20Spots%20were%20found%20in%201.9%,%20and%20the%20prevalence%20of%20B-complex%20deficiency%20and%20of%20mottling%20of%20teeth%20%28dental%20fluorosis%29%20was%202%%20each.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20As%20per%20District%20Level%20Health%20Survey%20%28DLHS%29%20%282002%E2%80%9304%29,%20the%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20is%20very%20high%20%2872.6%%29%20in%20India%20with%20prevalence%20of%20severe%20anaemia%20among%20them%20much%20higher%20%2821.1%%29%20than%20that%20in%20preschool%20children%20%282.1%%29.%20In%20adolescent%20girls,%20educational%20or%20economic%20status%20does%20not%20seem%20to%20make%20much%20of%20a%20difference%20in%20terms%20of%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia.%20Prevention,%20detection,%20or%20management%20of%20anaemia%20in%20adolescent%20girls%20has%20till%20now%20not%20received%20much%20attention.%20%20%EF%82%B7%20Prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20is%20very%20high%20among%20young%20children%20%286%E2%80%9335%20months%29,%20ever-married%20women%20%2815%E2%80%9349%20years%29,%20and%20pregnant%20women%20%28Annexure%204.1.3%29.%20Overall,%2072.7%%20of%20children%20up%20to%20the%20age%20of%20three%20in%20urban%20areas%20and%2081.2%%20in%20rural%20areas%20are%20anaemic.%20The%20overall%20prevalence%20has%20increased%20from%2074.2%%20%281998%E2%80%9399%29%20to%2079.2%%20%282005%E2%80%9306%29.%20Nagaland%20had%20the%20lowest%20prevalence%20%2844.3%%29,%20Goa%20was%20next%20%2849.3%%29,%20followed%20by%20Mizoram%20%2851.7%%29.%20Bihar%20had%20the%20highest%20prevalence%20%2887.6%%29%20followed%20closely%20by%20Rajasthan%20%2885.1%%29,%20and%20Karnataka%20%2882.7%%29.%20Moderate%20and%20severe%20anaemia%20is%20seen%20even%20among%20the%20educated%20families%20both%20in%20urban%20and%20rural%20areas.%20There%20are%20inter-State%20differences%20in%20prevalence%20of%20anaemia%20that%20are%20perhaps%20attributable%20partly%20to%20differences%20in%20dietary%20intake%20and%20partly%20to%20access%20to%20health%20care."><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e02.pdf</span></a>: </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• <em><strong>World hunger is increasing: </strong></em>The World Food Summit (WFS) goal of halving the number of undernourished people in the world by 2015 is becoming more difficult to reach for many countries. FAO’s most recent estimates put the number of hungry people at 923 million in 2007, an increase of more than 80 million since the 1990–92 base period.</span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <em><strong>High food prices share much of the blame: </strong></em>The most rapid increase in chronic hunger experienced in recent years occurred between 2003–05 and 2007. FAO’s provisional estimates show that, in 2007, 75 million more people were added to the total number of undernourished relative to 2003–05. While several factors are responsible, high food prices are driving millions of people into food insecurity, worsening conditions for many who were already food-insecure, and threatening long-term global food security.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• <em><strong>The poorest, landless and female-headed households are the hardest hit: </strong></em>The vast majority of urban and rural households in the developing world rely on food purchases for most of their food and stand to lose from high food prices. High food prices reduce real income and worsen the prevalence of food insecurity and malnutrition among the poor by reducing the quantity and quality of food consumed.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Initial governmental policy responses have had limited effect: To contain the negative effects of high food prices, governments have introduced various measures, such as price controls and export restrictions. While understandable from an immediate social welfare perspective, many of these actions have been ad hoc and are likely to be ineffective and unsustainable. Some have had damaging effects on world price levels and stability.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• By virtue of their size, China and India combined account for 42 percent of the chronically hungry people in thedeveloping world. The importance of China and India in the overall picture warrants some analysis of the main driving forces behind hunger trends</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• After registering impressive gains between 1990–92 and the mid-1990s, progress in reducing hunger in India has stalled since about 1995–97. The high proportion of undernourished in India in the base had a challenging task in reducing the number of undernourished</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The increase in the number of undernourished in India can be traced to a slowing in the growth (even a slight decline) in per capita dietary energy supply for human consumption since 1995–97. On the demand side, life expectancy in India has increased from 59 to 63 years since 1990–92. This has had an important impact on the overall change in population structure, with the result that in 2003–05 the growth in minimum dietary energy requirements had outpaced that of dietary energy supply</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The combination of the declining per capita growth rate in total dietary energy supply and higher per capita dietary energy requirements resulted in an estimated 24 million more undernourished people in India in 2003–05 compared with the base period. The increased food needs of the ageing population amount to about 6.5 million tonnes per year in cereal equivalent. Nevertheless, the prevalence of hunger in India decreased from 24 percent in 1990–92 to 21 percent in 2003–05, marking progress towards meeting the MDG hunger reduction target.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> </div> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]Report on the State of Food Insecurity in Rural India (2009)[/inside], which has been prepared by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and the World Food Programme (WFP),</span><br /> <a href="http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp197348.pdf:</span></a></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• On the composite index of food insecurity of rural India, states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are found in the ‘very high’ level of food insecurity, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. The indicators used for computing the index of food insecurity in rural India are: a) Percentage of population consuming less than 1,890 Kcal /cu/diem; b) Percentage of households not having access to safe drinking water; c) Percentage of households not having access to toilets within the premises; d) Percentage of ever-married women age 15 – 49 years who are anaemic; e) Percentage of women (15 – 49 yrs) with CED; f) Percentage of children in the age group 6 – 35 months who are anaemic; and, g) Percentage of children in the age group 6 – 35 months who are stunted</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The better performers include Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, all of which report an Index value below 0.5</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The proportion of population consuming less than 1890 kcal/cu/diem has in fact increased in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan and marginally for Punjab.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Almost 2/3rd of rural households in Jharkhand did not have access to safe drinking water in 2001.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• More than 90 percent of rural households in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh did not have access to toilets within their premises.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As many as eight states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – have shown increase in the incidence of anaemia among women in the reproductive age group. The highest increase in anaemia levels has been observed in Andhra Pradesh (51 to 64 percent), followed by Haryana (48 to 57 percent) and Kerala (23 to 32 percent).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The proportion of women with CED has drastically increased for Assam (28 to 40 percent) followed by Bihar (40 to 46 percent), Madhya Pradesh (42 to 45 percent) and Haryana (31 to 33 percent).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> ', 'credit_writer' => 'Rural Expert', 'article_img' => '', 'article_img_thumb' => '', 'status' => (int) 1, 'show_on_home' => (int) 1, 'lang' => 'EN', 'category_id' => (int) 10, 'tag_keyword' => '', 'seo_url' => 'hunger-overview-40', 'meta_title' => '', 'meta_keywords' => '', 'meta_description' => '', 'noindex' => (int) 0, 'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'most_visit_section_id' => null, 'article_big_img' => null, 'liveid' => (int) 40, 'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'edate' => '', 'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {}, '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ '*' => true, 'id' => false ], '[dirty]' => [], '[original]' => [], '[virtual]' => [], '[hasErrors]' => false, '[errors]' => [], '[invalid]' => [], '[repository]' => 'Articles' } $imgtag = false $imgURL = '#' $titleText = null $descText = ' KEY TRENDS • As per the 2019 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102) *13 • As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index report,...' $foundposition = false $startp = (int) 0 $endp = (int) 200preg_replace - [internal], line ?? include - APP/Template/SearchResult/index.ctp, line 35 Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413 Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374 Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 880 Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
