Dr. John Mohan Razu
The Government of India headed by the BJP party believes in poverty elevation and not in poverty alleviation. Over the years poverty ratio seem to have been fluctuating, but not to the extent as of now. For example, India was ranked 102nd on the Global Huger Index, as against an index of 117 countries. It was the lowest ranked among the South Asian countries (the rest being ranked between 66 and 94and way behind the other BRICs nations, the lowest of which was South Africa at 59. To cite something of the past years there has been steady improvement. India’s rank slipped since 2015, when it was ranked 93. Even Pakistan which used to be the only country in South Asia to rank below India has pulled ahead in the 2019 ranking to 94th place. It simply means India has slumped to 102 in hunger index, 8 ranks below Pakistan.
The GHI score, which reflects data from 2014 to 2018, is based on the proportion of a country’s child population that is undernourished, share of children under five years of age who have insufficient weight for their height or whose height is not commensurate to their age and the mortality rate of under five children. “Because of its large population, India’s GHI indicator values have an outsized impact on the indicator values for the region. India’s GHI indicator values have an outsized impact on the indicator values for the region. India’s child waste rate is extremely high at 20.8 per cent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report,” stated the report of Global Hunger Index. The data further proves that India’s poor scores were pulling down South Asia to a point where it does worse than sub-Saharan Africa.
The report further states that only 9.6% of children between 6-23 months in India were fed a minimum acceptable diet. However, a recent Union health Ministry survey had in fact put that figure at an ever lower 6.4%. While making a comparative analysis the GHI report praised the progress made by Bangladesh attributing it to “robust economic growth and attention to “nutritive-sensitive” sectors such as education, sanitation, and health”. The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with O being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst. The above data shows that India is lagging behind nations in South Asia. We keep lauding about our defense capabilities, space research and technological advancements, but waylaid when it comes to providing basic nutritious food for the infants under five.
What does the above data indicate? Children are our future and it is in dire need of nutritious feeding. At 20.8%, India’ child wasting ratio is the highest of any country in this year’s Global Hunger Index. The data reveals about children under five who have low weight to their age and height. This shows that India tops the child stunting rate, which has more share under five children with low height for their age, reflecting chronic under nutrition—a whopping 37.9%.. The present Government should be ashamed of itself for the present ranking plummeting to 102 out of 117 nations, despite some steady strides in alleviating poverty. The data shows the government has elevated poverty. When our neighbors could do better, why India failed and where it failed? It is about poverty and abject poverty and hunger wherein millions of infants under five years live. Why it is so important because of the fact that 90% of the brain grows in the first thousand days of human life. Nerves grow in the first 1000 days of human life. Nerves grow and connect and build the scaffolding which will determine how one will think and feel and learn all through adulthood. Studies keep emphasizing that proper nutrition and stimulation in these early years can make future decades 50% more productive.
This is science and for India in order to be productive should concentrate and allocate huge sums to develop the brains of those under-five. It is scientifically proven and agreed upon. There should not be any politics to be played with young lives because they are our young ones and India’s future. Enough of playing with those innocent lives and let us be cautious of them. It is the responsibility of the State to take care of the little infants so that they become strong, innovative and productive citizens of this country. The present government could allocate huge sums to all other sectors, whereas for this sector that deals with the human resources and the future of India allots paltry sum. It is mandatory on the part of the Government to find resources because 9.8% of all children between 6-23 months are being fed a minimum acceptable diet.
Number of studies on poverty has been carried out such as Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations by Gunnar Myrdal and others like Amartya Sen, C.T. Kurien and many others across the world. It was a timely reminder that Abhijit Banerjee has resurrected the nations’ conscience particularly the conscience of India. India gave the team so much of raw material to prove that poverty exists despite Garibi Hatao, Acche Din Lao, etc. The face of poverty has not changed, rather deepened. It can be seen from the very faces of our infants—the future of India. If the present is not taken care of, then the future of India is a big question mark. All these years the present dispensation hoodwinked and somehow managed to conceal the incidence of poverty and mal-nutrition in India. After the Global Hunger Report and Abhijit Nobel work it is now abundantly clear that poverty exists in India and please do not invent something to hide it.
Politicians and others have been playing with ‘politics of poverty’. Now the real face of Modian India is unmasked. Publication of Poor Economics Abhijit in 2012, shortly after the publication of Poor Economics to the bewilderment and dismay of the current dispensation got the Nobel award smashed the assumption of $5 trillion economy. Indian economy is in dire strait. The poor do not have any money to meet both the ends. They hardly have any purchasing capacity—to buy and sustain their lives with nutritious food. This is why almost major portion under-five is mal-nourished. Abhijit in his works made an inquiry into why many children are still in the grip of severe acute malnutrition and why the existing interventions have failed them. He traces the causes and thus offers solutions. In his seminal work along with his wife and his colleague they linked both the micro and macro dynamics of economics and show that there should be more emphasis on this segment because for Nobel laureates: “The poor are no less rational than anyone else—quite the contrary. They have to be sophisticated economists just to survive”. Dismissal of their findings and thesis could be disastrous and futile because they are professionals and the data provided concurs with the outcome of research objectives.
