As per latest Global Hunger Index (GHI), India is ranked 100th out of 119 countries. What steps do you think should be taken to improve India's ranking?
The global hunger index not only considers calories intake but it also considers child wasting (low weight for height), stunting (lower height than typical for age) and under-5 mortality within the definition of hunger. As per recent Global Hunger Index India is ranked 100th out of 119 countries, which is a miserable performance.
How to improve India’s ranking
- Political commitment
- For the success of poverty eradication programs, political commitment is pre-requisite.
- Convergence
- There should be convergence among various initiatives. Various programs regarding health, nutrition, agriculture, livelihoods, and labor. There is a vicious cycle of poverty-hunger-poor health-poor education-poverty. Only convergence among various initiatives can break this vicious cycle.
- Food Production
- In order to improve food production, small farmers should be trained and supported. Also, modern technology such as genetic modification should be utilized to boost food production.
- Revival of traditional systems
- There should be a focus on revival of traditional agricultural systems so that there is a diverse range of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and vegetables is available to rural communities. Apart from that, it will improve farmer’s income.
- Public distribution system
- There should be an emphasis on decentralized public distribution which works on the principles of localized procurement, storage, and distribution.
- Public participation
- Without the active participation of the public, the government initiatives can achieve only limited success. Therefore focus should be on the involvement of civil society.
- Sanitation
- Various water-borne diseases such as diarrhea are the major reason behind under-5 deaths. Apart from that poor sanitation facilities lead to poor absorption of nutrients. Therefore India should focus on sanitation facilities.
The benefits of demographic dividend can be reaped only when the Indian people are skilled and healthy. The hungry population can never be healthy. Therefore focus should be on poverty and hunger eradication.