Anushka R.Saxena
* a Law Student *India is effectively the most predominant nation in South Asia. While this converts into impact and power for the Union government, Indians themselves appear to have not profited much from this. India’s probably weaker neighbours in terms of hunger deaths have in fact better placed themselves.
India, with a population of over 1.3 billion, has seen gigantic development in the previous two decades. Total national output has expanded 4.5 occasions and per capita, utilization has expanded multiple times. Additionally, sustenance grain creation has expanded very nearly multiple times. In spite of the marvellous mechanical and monetary developments, India is not able to give access to nourishment to the countless particularly ladies and youngsters.
Starvation in India Statistics:
As indicated by FAO assesses in The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2018 report, 195.9 million individuals are affected by starvation in India. By this measure, 14.8% of the population is suffering from starvation in India. Kids suffering from starvation in India have a higher danger of death even due to basic diseases, for example, looseness of the bowels, pneumonia, and other diseases which should be easily curable. The Global Hunger Index 2017 positions India at 100 out of 119 nations based on three driving pointers, commonness of squandering and hindering in youngsters under 5 years, under 5 tyke death rate, and the extent of undernourished in the population.
Causes of Starvation in India:
Poverty is the major reason attributed to the starvation in India. However, there are other reasons as well which contribute significantly to the cause of starvation in India. Lack of safe drinking water is another such cause which should not be ignored. Other factors which contribute significantly are diseases and the lack of facilities available in rural areas to fight them along with lack of access to food.
Initiatives by the Government:
A number of initiatives have been in place by the Government over the last few years to minimise the deaths related to starvation in India. For instance –
The Food Security Bill 2013 was enacted on 12 September 2013 as a food security scheme. Under this scheme, the beneficiaries were to be provided 5 kgs of grains every month which included rice, wheat and grains at nominal rates ranging from Rs 1/Kg to Rs 3/Kg.
Public Distribution System (PDS) has been in place since the year 1997. The objective of this scheme was to provide food to the poor at subsidised rates.
A number of other schemes have been launched by the Government from time to time. However, a lot still needs to be done in order to uplift the poor of our country. We all must support the Government in its initiatives in order to help our fellow citizens to uplift themselves and live a respectful life, at least, no one should die of starvation in India when we have an abundance of resources with us.
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