India: Malnutrition becomes 'national shame'

Geeta, a 27-year-old mother of three, living on the outskirts of the
national capital region looks vacant at the queries of malnourishment.
For her,gathering cereals for the two square meals of her family is a
luxury. Her four-year-old daughter, the youngest of her children,
looks too tiny for her age - about whichGeeta seems blissfully
unaware. Fighting hunger is their struggle; malnourishment is alien.
The cause and effect of millions of Geetas was highlighted by a recent
report on India's malnourished populations.
This was a well-known fact. Until about two decades ago, India ranked
among the poorest countries of the world. The disparity is glaring now
because India boasts of the fastestnumber of growing"dollar
millionaires".
A study that has just beenreleased by the prime minister of India,
Manmohan Singh, revealsthat 42 per cent of Indianchildren are
suffering from malnutrition, whichmanifests directly from abject
poverty. This is probably the biggest problem that the largest
democracy, and the second fastest growing economy in the world, faces
today.
One of the important parameters of the burgeoning Indian economy is
that it hosts the world's largest youth population under 25. That
growth story is facing the challenge of becoming stunted if the
country does not address this issue on time. The Indian cabinet has
taken the first step, by approving the Food Security Bill. But they
have miles to go and millions of dollars to spend before they can
ensure healthy future generations.
Report on malnourishment
The report, based on a survey conducted by the Naandi Foundation, has
been made at the insistence of the Citizens' Alliance against
Malnutrition which comprises young parliamentarians, artists,
directors, social activists and policymakers. The HUNGaMA (in Hindi,
hungama is a "stir" or"ruckus") Report registers shaming figures.
Forty-two per cent of children under five are underweight and 59 per
cent have stunted growth.
The surveyors reached more than 73,000 households in 112 districts
across nine states, wherein 74,020 mothers shared their stories and
109,093 children stepped onto weighing machines for the survey.
Children from householdsidentifying as Muslim or belonging to
"Backward Castes or Tribes" generally have worse nutrition.
In the districts in focus, fewer than 7.6 per cent of mothers had
heard theword for "malnutrition" in their regional language.
When asked why they did not give their children more non-cerealfoods,
93.7 per cent mothers said they did notdo so because non-cerealfoods
were expensive.
The report highlights the linkages between education and health,
sanitation and hygiene, drinking water and nutrition.
Food security bill
The prime minister of India was the first to react to the
report."There are nearly 160 million children in the country below the
age ofsix years," he said. "The problem of malnutrition is a matter of
national shame. Despite impressive growth in ourGDP, the level of
under-nutrition in the country isunacceptably high."
In the words of Nobel laureate and welfare economist Dr Amartya Sen:
"Famines are very easy to publicize, people dying of hunger is one
thing. But people being underweight, stunted, their lifestyle, their
probability of survival being diminished, all thatis not so visible.
My worryis the sentiment of country gets upset when it (GDP growth
rate) goesfrom eight per cent to seven per cent. The sentiment of
India doesn't get affected by the higher number of under-nourished
children than anywhere else. I think the food security bill, despite
its faulty design, is a good move in this direction - that we care
about the lives of Indians."
Jay Panda is a member ofparliament with Biju Janata Dal, the ruling
party in the eastern state of Orissa. He is also a member of the
alliance that assembled the report, and told Al Jazeera: "The fact is
that, while India has been progressing quite a lot inthe last 20
years, the fight against malnutrition has made little progress. So we
need to prioritize it."
Fifty per cent of Indian women are anemic and 836m people live under
less than Rs20 (38 US cents) a day. The manifesto of the ruling
Congress party promised the enactment of a "rightto food" act, if
their alliance, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), was voted back
to power. In light of these figures, the food security bill, cleared
by the IndianCabinet, is a pro-poor legislation that would target the
hungry and malnourished of India. The bill would guarantee cut-price
grain to 63.5 per cent of India's 1.2bn people.
Biraj Patnaik, the principal adviser on the right to food to the
Supreme Court Commissioners, said: "It's a moral imperative."
Subsidy burden
However, this piece of legislature also faces strident resistance - as
critics say the food security bill would add asmuch as $7.5bn to
India's subsidy burden.
Article 25 of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, adopted by all
United Nations member states in 1948, lists the right to food among a
state's obligations. Article21 of the Indian constitution, which
provides a fundamental right to life and personal liberty, has been
repeatedly interpreted by the Indian Supreme Court as enshrining
within it the right to food. Article 47 of the Indian constitution
obliges the Indian state to raise the standard of nutrition of its
people.
The most recent round ofthe National Family Health Survey in 2006
confirmed that the child malnutrition rate in Indiais almost double
that of sub-Saharan Africa.
As Dr Sen points out, malnutrition may not be a screaming crisis, but
if left unattended, it has the ability to cause damage of unlimited
magnitude. A new law, subsidy, focus and collective consciousness may
be required to deal with it.
Geeta may not have heard of the bill, but if the will of the
legislature finally asserts it, millions might be saved the pangsof
hunger.

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