To the hungry man, a piece of bread is face of god - Gandhi

According to recently published Global Hunger Index, India is ranked 63

rd
(out of 120

behind the sub
!aharan countries "hich is a gra#e matter of concern$
Global Hunger Index is kind of measurement of upto "hat extent a country is succeeding or failing in fight
against hunger$
Global hunger index is calculated using % indicators&
'$ (roportion of people undernourished
)$ (roportion of children fi#e "ho are under "eight * + ,-. in cae of India
%$ /ortality rate of children under 0 years age
According to another sur#ey, '12
th
of the total "orld population goes hungry e#ery day$ 3hich means the
problem of hunger has to be addressed globally too$
4ne of the fundamental acts of ci#ili5ation is to ensure that people get enough food as hunger is not
negotiable thing$ 3e need to identify the causes and effecti#e implementation of beautifully crafted policies$
Is it the scarcity of food the reason for "orld"ide hunger6 7es it is but the ma8or factor is una#ailability of
food$ 9nough food is produced globally so that no one goes hungry but the problem is food doesn:t reach the
needy$ 3e need to stress on efficient management of food so that no one stays hungry$
Hunger & is not merely going "ithout food for fe" hours but upto such an extent that it is deleterious to
one:s health$ Going hungry consistently for days depri#es body of the essential nutrients, proteins and
energy that is needde to keep going$ This leads to decrease in mental and physical capabilities of the person$
Effect of hunger on society&
'$ /other gi#ing birth to malnourished child as she suffers from hunger, the malnourished child instead
of becoming human capital for the country becomes burden$
)$ ;hildren death due to malnutrition*inc I/<, failure of the state
%$ Impedes economic gro"th of the country
Why are we facing the challenge?
1. (o#erty & lo"s earning lo" purchasing parityless spending on nutritious foodmalnutrition
2. Illiteracy & lack of kno"ledge lack of re=uired skilldon:t get "ell paid 8obsless earning and
the abo#e cycle again repeats
3. ;limate change & uncertain "eather patterns, drought, early rain or no rain or hea#y rainfall destroys
standing crop food scarcity price rise not affordable by poor people hunger state
4. >ailure to in#est in agriculture de#elopment technologies by the go#ernment no other source of
income or support to farmers if the standing crop fails due to climate uncertainty
5. 9thnic conflicts, #iolence & unstable societies unstable food productionunstable income source
po#erty riseless spending by poor people on food hunger increases
0$ !ocial ine=uality & une=ual acces to resources like education, food *"omen1girl child discriminated
7. ?o" nutritional and educational status of "omen & poor health of mother malnourished
childliability for the family to take care of
What can be done?
The traditional approach to fight against hunger needs re#amp$ 3e need some inno#ati#e approaches and
better implementation strategies$
Inno#ati#e approaches need to address other issues along "ith the fight against hunger as "e shall see no"$
'$ Instead of gi#ing aid only *the traditional approach "e should help the people to become self
sufficient
>or e$g$ In Africa aid gi#en in the form of food grains is sored in food banks$ The storage facilities
being pro#ided by the aid gi#ers$ At the time of bad har#est grains are gi#en as loan to be returned
"ith interest after the next har#est season$ This encourages them to "ork hard to gro" better crops
that pro#ide high yield$ >ood grain banks pro#ide employment to the in-charge of the banks that
protect, manage the bank, and keep account of the records of the loans$
Also the surplus grain production is gi#en to school for school feeding programmers$ This has dual
benefits- '$ /ore number of students enrolling to school
)$ Healthy nutritious food to children
%$childre getting education*additional benefit

2 enabling the !icti"s
Hunger #ictims *generally the small marginal farmers don:t ha#e storage facilities for storing
surplus production "hich gets "asted$ A"areness programmes regarding "here they can sell their
farm produce, ho" to adopt better agriculture technologies to increase the yield should be
conducted$
3 #ontract far"ing
>armers get guaranteed market for their produce$ A price is fixed about fixed =uantity of produce
bet"een the farmer and the contractor "hich is agreed upon by both of them for future produce$ The
contractor has to pay e#en if crop dies because of climate condition "hich assures farmer of
continuous income throughout the year$ In case of higher yield the entire produce has to be sold at
the fixed price, farmer doesn:t get the extra money for surplus crop produced$
$ %etter agriculture &ractices'
Training, e=uipments, tools along "ith storage facilities to enble farmers to store surplus crop "hich
can be used during the time of crsis
( )nno!ati!e a&&roach
a The school feeding programme helps to eliminate hunger and also gi#es add on benefit of
education to children$ Also it protects children from getting into begging for satisfying the
hunger$ It also curbs child labor$ !chool feeding programme can be associated "ith small and
marginal farmers to gi#e them platform to sell their produce$
>or instance, @ra5il runs school feeding programmes for "hich '1%
rd
of food is to be mandatorily
procured from small and marginal farmers$
b ;all for food
<ecently started in A!$ ?eft o#er or excess food at homes, hotels, restaurants can be gi#en to the
needy 8ust by making a simple phone call$ The #olunteers come at your doorsteps to collect the
food and then distribute to the needy$
0$ )n!ol!ing other fronts to &artici&ate $
3e can in#ol#e BG4s, non-profit organi5ations, social acti#ist to come for"ard and contribute for
the human cause$ Their ideas and initiati#es should be encouraged and implemented$ 9$g$ @ill and
/elinda gates foundation- pro#iding food or millions
2$ Go!ern"ent refor"s $
Ha#ing immensely talented bureaucrats crafting "orld class, policies for people:s "elfare is not the
end$ 3ell intentioned schemes should be properly implemented to get desired results$better
outcomes of policies beeter crop yield-decrease in hunger state
* +wareness and education '
professional courses on agriculture de#elopment, agribussines, nutrirional science, to fulfill the need
of smart and dedicated people to fight against hunger, de#elop ne" solutions, design ne" strategies$
@y Cyoti Dilip <ai8ada
,eferences'
'$ Eideos on hunger *T9D$com
)$ Be"spapers& The Hindu, Times 4f India, Indian 9xpress