Digest This! A Third Of The World's Starving Population Lives In India
The contrast between the amount of food being wasted in India and people starving is painful.
Four-year-old Usha weighs only five kilos. Her eyes are dry and her skin flaky, her limbs are barely able to support her as she tries to stand up - she falls down exhausted. She tries to shove a handful of grovel in her mouth, and cries out of hunger when she is unable to consume it. Her mother, Rina, isn¡¯t apathetic to her cries, but is emotionally and physically too weak to tend to Usha - or her three other children. Having lost her job when the tea estate - where she and her husband worked at - closed down, she hasn¡¯t been able to arrange for food for her family.
Her husband managed to arrange for basic food on debt for their children for an initial few weeks. The couple survived on ¡®rotation eating¡¯- where he ate on certain days and she on the others - so as to ensure at least a meal to each, once every 2 days.
Soon he succumbed to starvation. Rina faces a similar fate, as do her children.
BCCL/Representational image
The Tea gardens of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal are famous for their excellent quality of produce. They employ the local population in picking only the finest tea leaves to ensure that the highest quality of the beverage is produced for the tastiest cup.
However, the crisis in the tea industry has prompted many estate owners to shut operations abruptly, rendering numerous workers jobless and penniless- without any compensation or support.
Coupled with the lack of skill sets as well as opportunities, most of these tea estate workers have no source of income. These people therefore have no food or aid.
A large chunk of the population in various other Indian states such as parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and even remote parts of Maharashtra, face similar situations as Rina and her family. They are often economically and also logistically deprived of means of securing adequate food to survive.
BCCL
In the same year about 21 million tones of wheat is lost to rotting or infestation in India. Most of this produce is soiled during transportation or storage, where the facilities are ill-equipped. This quantity of wheat is enough to feed an entire nation. Statistically, the United Nations Development Program has estimated that about 40 percent of the food produced in India is wasted every year.
The Agriculture Ministry pegs this loss as amounting to food worth INR 50,000 crore every year.
Most of the food is lost because the transportation and storage systems are not effective enough, but it is also important to note that there is no system in place that allows for the transfer of excess food from areas of pilferage to areas of shortage. The excess food, after selling and distribution to local channels is stored away, to be decided about later. This then rots and wastes. This also abets the problem of inflation and rising food costs of different food products in different regions of the country.
BCCL
Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, beating serious ailments and accidents. About a third of the world¡¯s starving population is in India.
In 2001, a PIL was filed with the Supreme Court of India, highlighting this situation. It stated that while a large chunk of the population was starving, food was rotting in government granaries in Rajasthan. Infact, there was a surplus to an extent that the granaries had run out of space and the grains were placed outside the facilities, where they were eventually destroyed by rains.
The PIL asked for the Right to Food be recognized, and the central and state governments¡¯ negligence in the matter to be brought to light.
BCCL
In a landmark judgement, which is hailed across the globe, the Supreme Court of India linked the Right to food to Article 21 of our constitution ¨C which upholds the ¡®right to life with human dignity¡¯.
The court ruled that the availability of food is non-negotiable in sustaining life. It guided that all ration (public distribution shops), should be functional and fair, and that it was the duty of the Food Corporation of India to ensure that food grains do not rot or get wasted. In a spectacular example of its dedication to the implementation of the order, the court also laid out schemes related to employment, mid-day meals, availability of fair priced foods, and directed that the state governments put them into operation.
This case has been going on since 2001. It has positively impacted the starvation problem in India, and greatly aided the work of the National Food Council and other government and non-government bodies working to eradicate starvation in India. Many schemes have been implemented that help provide job security as well as availability of basic food for sustenance, at subsidized prices. Moreover, better and advanced storage areas (such as mega food parks) are being introduced, to ensure that food stays usable for longer.
There has also been movement in transporting produce to food shortage hit or poverty stricken areas.
AP
However, probably the most impactful progress has been in terms of individual citizen initiatives. Most government authorities focus on rural areas with food shortage as there is a larger number of the population that is suffering. It is also easier to collate this data, as these pockets have historically displayed this problem (due to economic or geographical regions, or natural disasters).
The urban poor often get neglected- as is often difficult to trace them. Many responsible citizens are taking it upon themselves to amend this. Various cities have individuals and groups that collect food from areas of wastage and distribute them to the hungry. A large number of popular restaurants ensure that the leftovers from the day are handed over to NGOs while they are still edible.
This is commendable as restaurants, function venues and events record the highest amount of food wastage.
BCCL
The paradox of the hunger problem is that, while individual efforts may be a drop in the ocean; every drop does make the ocean. Therefore, a collective nexus between court and government endeavours that aim to overhaul national systems and individual attempts to rectify is obligatory to ensure that Usha is able to grow up to be a healthy baby, and not succumb to hunger.
