People who claim “India is achieving” must consider this article and must think twice before voting.
China, that other Asian economic powerhouse, sharply reduced child malnutrition, and now just 7 percent of its children under 5 are underweight, a critical gauge of malnutrition. In India, by contrast, despite robust growth and good government intentions, the comparable number is 42.5 percent. Malnutrition makes children more prone to illness and stunts physical and intellectual growth for a lifetime.
Amartya Sen, the Nobel prize-winning economist, lamented that hunger was not enough of a political priority here. India’s public expenditure on health remains low, and in some places, financing for child nutrition programs remains unspent.
Indian women are often the last to eat in their homes and often unlikely to eat well or rest during pregnancy. Menon’s institute, based in Washington, recently ranked India below two dozen sub-Saharan countries on its Global Hunger Index.
Of course, the government cannot solve the problem stated at last. This has to be solved with in the four walls of every home. I have seen women eating last in a family or to be clear, in a big family. Even educated women do this. Eating last is not a problem at all. When the family dinner starts by 9:00PM, and if the pregnant lady eats at 9:30PM at last, I don’t think this as a problem. The real problem occurs only when women waits for men to come home and when they stay hungry until the men came home and ate. Most of the time it occurs out of love and some times it occurs out of compulsion. The reason may vary but the outcome is the same always. Women must think and change; as we expect the government to behave in the same way.
Filed under: Social Issues , Child Hunger, Indian Government, Woman
