MALNUTRITION- A MENACE TO INDIA'S FUTURE

-VIDHI KUMAWAT

India ranked 94th out of 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. GHI is a publication prepared by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerlife. It uses parameters to record hunger at regional, national, and worldwide levels. The score is allocated on a scale of 100. The final rank is given based on the total score gained from the four parameters. It is not the rank that portrays a country's ground situation but the score which a country gets out of a total of hundred defines its reality.

WHAT FACTORS PULL INDIA AT THE BOTTOM?

India shares its rank with Sudan. India scored worse than its neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. India's score is 27.2 and it falls in the 'serious' category.

Of the four parameters used for preparing the GHI, one is the number of child wasting, a sign of acute undernourishment, and child stunting, a sign of chronic undernourishment. In India, 35% of children are stunted (shorter heights with respect to their ages) and 17.3% are wasted (low weights with respect to their heights). India has the highest prevalence of child wasting in the world.

What are the reasons behind such a high level of malnourishment which leads to child wasting and stunting?

1- Poor maternal health

India stands at par with African countries in the number of undernourished children. African children are healthy at birth but as they become toddlers undernourishment starts to kick in. On the other hand, Indian children are very much prone to wasting during the early six months of their lives. The child mortality rate in India is 3.7% which is another parameter to calculate the GHI. Poor maternal health results in undernourishment of infants. According to reports published by several government organisations 27% of girls are married before the legal age of 18 years, and 8% of adolescent girls have begun childbearing in their teens. Almost half of the women have no access to any sort of contraception. These poor indicators have dire consequences for the child's health as well.

2- High food insecurity for poor and vulnerable groups

As per the reports, three out of four rural Indians cannot afford the cheapest possible diets that meet the requirements set by the government's premier nutrition body. According to the reports, thousands of students entered schools with an empty stomach and dependent on mid-day meals. The plight of these children increased after the pandemic, they are forced to work for their survival due to the disruption of MDMS (Mid-day Meals Scheme) and Integrated Child Development Services.

The government claims that India has sufficient foodgrain stocks in the country for all its citizens and it can export grains as well. But the physical existence is far more different. Despite having sufficient food grains in the country 190 million people in our country daily sleep with an empty stomach.

Several programmes like POSHAN (Prime Minister's overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan, launched on March 8, 2018, on the occasion of the International Women's Day, directs the attention of the country towards malnutrition and address it in a mission-mode. The envisaged target of fulfilling the distribution of food was affected by the pandemic making the situation worse.

WHAT HAS TO BE DONE?

1-Reformations inconsideration - for benefiting women

In his speech on 74th Republic day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned creating a Committee to decide to make any reform in the legal age of marriage. Several factors will be taken into consideration before passing any law pertinent to change in the legal age; whether it should be extended to 21 or not.

If the legal age of marriage is set to 21, then it will help eradicate early pregnancies which often occur due to pressure from elders and girls will be able to pursue higher education and become self-reliant.

2- Zero Hunger Challenge

Zero Hunger Challenge was launched in 2012 by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to tackle food security challenges and ensure access to nutritious food by all. It focuses to eliminate all forms of malnutrition and build inclusive and sustainable food systems. All the countries must unite to tackle food insecurity globally. The Indian government is taking stringent actions to implement the policies which aim to eradicate the food crisis across the country. The most recent example to combat chronic anaemia and undernourishment, the government is planning to distribute fortified rice through the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-day Meal Schemes across the country from the next year, with a special focus on 112 aspirational districts, according to a statement from the Food Ministry on Tuesday.

There is no silver bullet to immediately eliminate hunger from the country but stringent policies need to be implemented and some authorities need to be formed to check the functioning of such policies.