India | The Republic Of Hunger | 101 East
Summary
TLDRThe script highlights the paradox of child malnutrition in India, a country with abundant food resources but marred by inequality and government neglect. It discusses the plight of undernourished children, the government's mid-day meal scheme's successes and failures, and the grassroots efforts to combat this issue. The narrative also touches on the politics of hunger, the black market, and the potential impact of malnutrition on India's future workforce.
Takeaways
- 🍞 Mahatma Gandhi emphasized the importance of food as a divine gift, yet in India, over 40% of children suffer from malnutrition, indicating a significant societal issue.
- 👶 Every second child under the age of three in India is undernourished, highlighting a pervasive problem of child malnutrition.
- 💼 There is a stark contrast between the middle class's affluence and the malnourished children's plight, suggesting a lack of awareness or empathy.
- 🌾 Despite India's capacity to produce enough food for its population, millions still struggle with hunger due to systemic issues.
- 🏭 The government's mid-day Meal Scheme attempts to combat child malnutrition by providing free meals in schools, but it has its flaws.
- 🐛 School meals are sometimes of poor quality, with reports of worms and insects, deterring children from consuming them.
- 📊 Malnutrition in India is often 'hidden' as stunted growth is normalized, making it less noticeable compared to the images of malnourishment from Africa.
- 🏥 Government health centers, like Anganwadi, are understaffed and ill-equipped, failing to provide adequate nutrition and care for children.
- 🚑 Lack of accountability in government programs leads to inefficiencies, with resources not reaching those in need, contributing to child deaths from starvation.
- 📉 The government's denial of the severity of malnutrition and its impact on child mortality undermines efforts to address the issue.
- 🌾 Bureaucratic inefficiencies and corruption result in wasted food resources and a failure to distribute them effectively to the needy.
Q & A
What did Mahatma Gandhi say about a piece of bread to a hungry man?
-Mahatma Gandhi once said to a hungry man that a piece of bread is the face of God, emphasizing the importance of food in fulfilling basic human needs.
What is the current situation regarding child malnutrition in India?
-Over 40% of children in India are undernourished, which is considered a constitutional crime due to the country's resources in terms of food and finances.
What is the significance of the mid-day Meal Scheme in India?
-The mid-day Meal Scheme is the world's largest lunch program, providing a free hot meal to every Indian school student from ages 6 to 14, as a way to combat child malnutrition.
Why is there a problem with the mid-day Meal Scheme despite its scale?
-The mid-day Meal Scheme is far from perfect, with issues such as poor quality of food, presence of worms and insects, and inadequate portions, leading to dissatisfaction among children.
How does the lack of a strong welfare system contribute to child malnutrition in India?
-The lack of a strong welfare system, along with mismanagement and corruption, has resulted in many families depending on food handouts that are insufficient or not reaching them at all.
What is the role of NGOs in addressing child malnutrition in urban slums of India?
-NGOs like the one led by Dr. Siddharth Agarwal aim to improve urban health services, organize women's camps for checkups, and provide support to mothers and children, which is crucial in tackling child malnutrition.
What are the challenges faced by government health centers called Anganwadi in providing nutrition to children?
-Anganwadi centers face challenges such as lack of training or equipment, inadequate facilities, and insufficient rations, which hinder their ability to provide proper nutrition to children.
How does the issue of child malnutrition in India compare to that in Sub-Saharan Africa?
-India has a larger problem with child malnutrition than Sub-Saharan Africa, with 25 million children suffering from starvation and higher rates of undernutrition.
What is the impact of chronic hunger and malnutrition on the long-term health and development of children in India?
-Chronic hunger and malnutrition can lead to stunting, irreversible health problems, and lower cognitive development, affecting the children's ability to grow and learn properly.
What are the issues with the distribution of subsidized grain in India?
-Issues with the distribution of subsidized grain include corruption, with some grain being siphoned off and sold on the black market, and inefficiencies in bureaucracy that lead to grain rotting in warehouses.
What is the proposed solution to improve food security and address malnutrition in India?
-A proposed solution is the twenty billion dollar food security bill, which aims to guarantee subsidized wheat and rice prices for a large portion of the population, although it has faced criticism for potential supply and fiscal deficit issues.
Outlines
🥺 Child Malnutrition in India: A Constitutional Crime
The script addresses the paradox of child malnutrition in India, a country with abundant resources. It highlights the stark reality that over 40% of children suffer from malnutrition, despite the nation's capacity to feed its population. The issue is framed as a constitutional crime, reflecting the government's failure to ensure basic rights. The narrative introduces nine-year-old Roshan, whose family prioritizes rent over nutrition, and discusses the government's Mid-Day Meal Scheme, which aims to combat malnutrition in schools but is marred by issues of mismanagement and corruption.
🏥 The Plight of Urban Child Malnutrition and Efforts to Combat It
This paragraph delves into the urban aspect of child malnutrition in India, where despite economic growth, infant mortality and undernutrition rates remain high. It discusses the lack of a strong welfare system and the government's failure to prioritize education and health. The story of Dr. Siddharth Agarwal, who left his medical profession to fight malnutrition, is highlighted. His NGO focuses on improving urban health services and the challenges of reaching children in slums are underscored, including the problem of malnourishment being normalized and the difficulty in tracking and providing adequate care.
🌾 Rural Starvation and the Struggle for Survival
The script shifts focus to rural areas, particularly Madhya Pradesh, where malnutrition rates are among the highest globally. It describes the desperate measures families take to survive, such as eating grass and roots, and the tragic stories of children dying from severe malnutrition. The role of legal advocates and government officials is examined, with allegations of neglect and corruption in the distribution of food and resources. The narrative also touches on the lack of basic facilities and training at Anganwadi centers, which are meant to provide nutrition and support to children and mothers.
📉 Systemic Failures in Monitoring and Distribution of Food Aid
This paragraph discusses the systemic failures in monitoring and distribution of food aid in India. It describes the absence of essential tools for assessing malnutrition levels at Anganwadi centers and the issue of grain rotting in government warehouses due to bureaucracy. The script also addresses the problem of subsidized grain being sold on the black market for profit and the ration card system's flaws, which leave families without proper allocations and subject to the whims of shop owners.
💼 Policy Debates and Grassroots Solutions to Combat Hunger
The final paragraph examines policy debates around a proposed food security bill and the challenges of implementing it, including concerns about farm supply and fiscal deficits. Critics argue for universal entitlement to discounted food, while others advocate for targeted distribution towards the poor. The script introduces grassroots solutions, such as women's committees and community savings pools, as potential ways to empower disadvantaged populations and improve the effectiveness of food distribution systems. It concludes with a reflection on the broader implications of child malnutrition for India's economic future and the importance of addressing this issue for the sake of the nation's workforce and growth.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Undernourishment
💡Malnutrition
💡Stunting
💡Mid-day Meal Scheme
💡Welfare System
💡Accountability
💡Anganwadi
💡Cross-generational Malnutrition
💡Poverty Line
💡Food Security
💡Grassroots Governance
Highlights
Mahatma Gandhi's quote about bread being the face of God highlights the stark contrast to the current reality of child malnutrition in India.
Over 40% of children in India are undernourished, indicating a constitutional crime and denial of rights.
India's middle class shows apathy towards the widespread issue of child malnutrition.
25 million children in India suffer from starvation, a problem more severe than in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mismanagement and corruption in the welfare system contribute to the food crisis in India.
Every second child under the age of three in India is undernourished, a shocking statistic.
The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is the world's largest lunch program, aiming to combat child malnutrition.
Despite being a food surplus nation, India struggles with providing adequate nutrition to its children.
The government's health centers, Anganwadi, are under-resourced and not reaching all children in need.
Cross-generational malnutrition is common in India, leading to a cycle of health problems.
Dr. Siddhartha Agarwal's NGO focuses on improving urban health services to tackle child malnutrition.
Government neglect and lack of accountability are blamed for the high rates of child starvation in India's cities.
In rural areas, families resort to eating grass and roots due to severe food scarcity.
The government's distribution system is flawed, with grain often being sold on the black market or rotting in warehouses.
Cash transfers and biometric cards are being considered to improve the welfare system's accountability.
The proposed food security bill aims to guarantee subsidized food prices but faces criticism for potential misuse.
Empowering local communities and improving grassroots governance is key to addressing malnutrition.
India's economic growth could be hindered by the impact of malnutrition on its future workforce.
Roshan's story represents hope for a future where children no longer endure hunger and can aspire to better lives.
Transcripts
Mahatma Gandhi once said to a hungry man
a piece of bread is the face of God but
in the country where he preached
equality over 40% of children are now
merged here we are resources in terms of
food in terms of finances it means
there's something wrong there's a
negligence there's a denial of Rights
that's why it is a constitutional crime
the one thing that startles me even
today is when I look at the numbers and
I say that every second child under the
age of three is undernourished it just
doesn't make sense there's a huge middle
class apathy in India people don't
really understand that there is so much
child malnutrition their lives are very
very different from the children who are
malnourished it would seem that they
don't care across India 25 million
children suffer from starvation it's a
bigger problem here than sub-saharan
Africa many families depend on food
handouts from a welfare system which
critics say is played by mismanagement
and corruption I'm Joe Ambrose on this
edition of 101's we ask why are
thousands of Indian children dying from
hunger
Hindu festivals elia are often a feeding
frenzy these offerings to celebrate the
birth of Lord Rama bring good karma this
boisterous nation produces enough
Hodja's to feed its 1.2 billion people
yet for millions the fight for food
remains half of all families in India's
urban slums struggle to find food and
experience chronic hunger
nine-year-old Roshan lives on Delhi's
outskirts with her relatives going to
bed hungry is something she's used to
six days out eat then the next six days
I wouldn't eat at all Kolkata Tech okay
when I was small I would eat less
because my stomach would burn whenever I
ate Roshan grew up on a daily diet of
around 600 calories eggs chapatis
sometimes a glass of milk a girl her age
should be consuming three times that
amount she tells us this diet made her
repeatedly sick but for Roshan's family
paying rent was more of a pressing
concern than her nutrition
I used to vomit have a fever
and a constant cold I couldn't eat
properly I didn't always get admitted to
the hospital or be seen by a doctor I'll
just cry UNICEF estimates that one in
three of the world's malnourished
children live in India unless the child
is very severely malnourished and about
to die visibly it's not something that
looks like in this like a stunted child
either the big problem in India is
stunting so if you look at a
four-year-old child who's come to it
might just look like a healthy
two-year-old child but does not look
like the images you see from Africa
weather is family men where you have big
bellies if 80% of your children are
stunted then it just seems normal that
that's the way they are
every school morning meals full of
protein and calories are packed into
pots then carted from factories to
classrooms across India this is one way
the government is trying to combat child
malnutrition through a mid-day Meal
Scheme
it's the world's largest lunch program
by law every Indian school student from
ages 6 to 14 is entitled to a free hot
meal development economist Radhika Cara
says the program has been a great
success 140 million children are being
fed every day and that's pretty massive
the other thing with respect to the food
schemes that are geared towards children
is that they don't differentiate between
rich and poor and they're supposed to be
for everyone but the 50 year old program
is far from perfect
Roshan says she and other children don't
eat the meals school meals are not good
because we find worms and insects in
them and those portions are not even
replaced we are made to eat what's
served if someone gets a worm or insects
in your food and doesn't want to eat it
then he or she Machaut it to the teacher
but the teachers are not shouting at
children for that and that upsets the
kids and they end up leaving school this
alleged neglect is occurring just an
hour from the corridors of power New
Delhi the capital has India's highest
per capita income Roshan lives in a
nation of food surplus which has
witnessed rapid annual economic growth
over the past two decades why do we care
about
we care about growth because we wanted
to translate into a better quality of
life for people and on those things
precisely India has not done very well
infant mortality rates are still very
high rates of undernutrition are very
high
critics say serious rights of child
starvation exist in India's booming
cities because of a lack of
accountability in government programs
we've fallen back on creating a strong
welfare system right from the beginning
and earlier there was the excuse that is
a poor country and we didn't have the
money to do it I don't think that excuse
holds anymore we've been growing fast
but the priority for education for
health for creating public institutions
is completely lacking in these biggest
eyes Uttar Pradesh is also home to the
Taj Mahal but in 400 slums around the
nation's biggest icon half the children
under two are underweight we have a
immense group in this slum a physician
by training doctor siddharth Agarwal
left the profession and made it his
lifelong mission to tackle child
malnutrition his NGO aims to improve
urban health services in cities across
India the doctor shows me a government
health center called an Anganwadi
workers here feed children way babies
and provide help to mothers in villages
and slums across India this two-year-old
girl on the scales is malnourished even
at this tender age there will be
irreversible health problems the jail
would no
optimal development in the land who
lasted a London school and then when the
time rose older the WP if the child ends
up being like a daily way neighborhood
he would work far less there should be
four Anganwadi centers for a slum this
size yet there are only two just a few
blocks from the centre
our crews spotted an unhealthy looking
baby girl we think the worker should see
little Sonny is five month old and just
two kilograms the weight of a newborn
baby sadly she's a textbook case of
severe malnutrition her mother's
underweight and there's many mouths to
feed in a family we see this
cross-generational malnutrition in our
country quite a bit that babies are born
small they grow up to be smaller and in
this particular case we have this
situation right before us where the
mother is stunted and we have to
Mannerist children in the family these
children fall through the cracks and
they worry dr. Sadoff the most the onion
lardy workers have never seen this
family
despite the children's poor health and
their proximity to the center tackling
child malnutrition is hard in urban
areas because migrants move around and
centers - this will outreach that's
where the flowing that system is there
are lots of families outside the
coverage of your own right center and we
are trying to encourage them gently
steadily to take charge of a few more
to help fill the gaps dr. Siddhartha NGO
organizes women's camps where mothers
and children receive checkups from a
private doctor for 20 cents a visit he
believes empowering Indian mothers is
key to investing in their children's
nutrition it's difficult for women and
children to go out to the health center
or the hospitals which are quite distant
if they go out they would end up wasting
at least three to four hours so if we
are able to bring these camps to them
then a greater number of women and
children will be availabe services
in India's rural provinces families
struggle for assistance and infant
mortality is amongst the worst in the
world here in Mara Pradesh lower caste
and tribal groups suffer the most
starvation in this province has been
described as extremely alarming by the
global hunger index the worst
number in sub-saharan Africa of
malnutrition is 24% in Madhya Pradesh we
have 60% children malnourished which is
highest in the world legal advocate such
an Jane works with NGOs here to raise
awareness of food security he blames
government neglect for chronic hunger
and starvation deaths here many
villagers survive by eating grass and
roots this family resorts to eating
seeds collected from cow manure and they
just washed the cow dung and get these
seeds out of it and they are breaking
these seeds and the smaller seed is
eaten by muddy muddy children here and
you can imagine by seeing this situation
that how serious the issue of childhood
hunger this particular committee is and
because they are opposed to see they are
they can't find these seeds fresh in the
forest
so it's very much an act of desperation
in some respect definitely and
definitely I'm sure our government of
officers must not be aware about this
thing in this small district 900
children have died from malnutrition
I don't know how the kids here shrivel
up and die they just do not even eyes
and are presentable there's nothing in
our house by Ivana we're poor we live
hand-to-mouth
along with rather me Prem Bhatia
collects herbs from the forest and sells
them to feed her children women here
always work immediately after childbirth
when her infant son hada ma was dying
last June she did what she could
wouldn't be good either by giving I took
him to the hospital nutrition center but
he didn't get better
ah my name is Lee I was asked to stay
back at a hospital I couldn't spare time
so I brought him back right Nathan
anything he was fed well but I had two
more kids at home to look after sway to
leave and bring him home
Prem body has given birth to seven
children three have died from severe
malnutrition
now her younger son Rajkumar is in poor
condition and she's worried she could
lose him too when I put a lid on but I
want to admit him to the hospital but I
can't Oh welcome my husband is away at a
moment so there's no way I can do
anything about it severely malnourished
children are given this facility from
bottie son should be in this hospital
nutrition center but it's a 90-minute
drive from the village that's time and
money she can't afford
despite malnutrition severe grip on
matter pradesh other states have more
centres of young john Kingsley is the
head district officer he says 70% of
children improve when they stay at the
centre for two weeks we are providing
advanced quick medical facilities as far
as possible in all the villages we are
the in our district we have employed
more than 50 ambulances with hospitals
hard to reach families rely on unknown
wari centres for supplementary meals
like cereals and milk finally ready we
get nothing today what milk
we don't get any government officials
make a record of handouts that don't
even reach us they give something but
writes something else
they clearly fill their own pockets I
add the i/o we get a packet over once a
week any nothing else really Prem Bhatia
neighbor Susheela
also lost a baby to malnutrition the
Anganwadi is supposed to provide her
daily rations because she's eight months
pregnant I don't even know what handouts
they have at the center
no one ever informs us about anything
uncle Watty senate has 40 Sachin and I
visit the local Anganwadi centre which
is manned by just one woman she tells us
she hasn't received any training or
equipment so the centre remains shut
good monitoring is a very integral part
of to assess the level of malnutrition
there is no Psalter scale there is no
Venga scale there is no growth chart
available here she should be providing
hot cooked meal to the children but she
is only receiving some packaged food
here it's it's it's a complete mess
actually
the worker also says she hasn't been
paid in months the salary thing what you
talked about it's a purely it's
transferred to their account
maybe she must not have opened our
account our onion body centers are
working very well and we have a closed
system of monitoring but children have
starved to death two minutes from the
Anganwadi there is no punishment we I
have told that there have been nine
hundred deaths of children in this
particular district but not a single
government official has been punished
such a giant claims local officials are
understating the levels of malnutrition
with no cause attributed to hundreds of
child deaths
in January he referred 19 child deaths
including prom bottie San Parma
- John Kingsley's office the response
was that 12 the children including Parma
died of malaria or other causes not
malnutrition government has been in
denial mode for last 12 years they just
do not consider children are dying
because of malnutrition but we have been
putting all these data in front of them
then that even if children in mother
padishah are dying because of diarrhea
malnutrition is a underlying cause of
all these deaths
we showed photos of Prem Bhatia son in
his dying days - John Kingsley if you
look at that photo how is that not
malnutrition see I am myself accepting
that is malnutrition 10,000 of my
children in this district are
malnourished I am NOT domaine that but
if you look at that photo I mean the
belly is completely bloated that's one
of the 12 that you said did not die from
causes related to malnutrition and with
all due respect I take to differ see
actually we have formed a high-level
team of doctors and they gave the report
such and it must be here to report and
it may not be
I don't think see in this child in this
child if it dies of malaria is it
because of malnourishment we have gone
through each and every death in detail
and now we have taken a decision all the
child deaths will be reported with all
reasons
meanwhile excess grain sits in
government warehouses across a country
we're over a million Indian children die
every year from hunger related illnesses
needy families are supposed to receive
these wheat bags through a government
distribution system but such an says a
lot of the bags get siphoned off and
sold on the black market some grain also
rots because of slow bureaucracy at the
national average around 25% of the total
procurement goes vest every year this is
what we call actually politics of hunger
shops like this one distribute
subsidized grain using a ration card
system to make a profit many owners
operate up to nine shops with only a few
staff families often come to find shops
closed and sometimes they're not given
their proper allocations by the shop
owner what these people do they do fake
entries in the registers and they just
take all this food grain to open market
to the floor Mills because it's a
subsidized grain it's 300% profit they
make out of it but this shop owner says
he doesn't shortchange families and
keeps his shop open six days a week and
therefore they aren't educated someone
else from their household can always
keep check on what's written on their
card people are absolutely happy with
the system and no one has any problem
whatsoever
we came back the next working day to
test that claim the street was empty as
you can see the lock completely shut all
the shutters are down and when we
arrived there was one man at the store
over here and he basically couldn't tell
us whether the shop was open for
business he's since scarpered round the
corner and all that's really left is the
scales on the front porch
we're soon surrounded by angry local
villagers who call the shopkeeper a liar
and say the shop is only open once a
month leading to huge queues of
desperate locals snapping up the grains
to improve accountability some states
are considering cash transfers or
biometric cards if you start guest
transfer we have a patriarchal society
if you give money to a family you never
know how it is being used back in Uttar
Pradesh impoverished families don't have
the documents required to get their
ration entitlements this squatter
settlement is home to a few hundred
children but families here have been
issued cards which say they live above
the poverty line which means they must
buy grains at market price the
authorities are very strict about the
poverty line and very conservative in a
way stingy in giving out below poverty
line cards so there is a truth which we
see before us and there is this paper
which we see before us and which does
not match
dr. siddharth says the poverty line
isn't measured properly and entire slums
are invisible to authorities he
estimates 35 million Indians are not
identified correctly inviting sure the
corruption it is an opening for the
dealer to sell in the black-market there
is no accountability there is nobody
keeping track the dealerships are given
based on local power politics but all of
these can be corrected if there is a
will to correct
helia wants to solve these problems with
a twenty billion dollar food security
bill which will guaranteed subsidized
wheat and rice prices for two-thirds of
the population
critics say there's not enough farm
supply and the fiscal deficit is too
large to introduce such a scheme others
argue the bill doesn't go far enough
saying discounted food should be a
universal entitlement in rural areas the
reason why I think it's important is
that actually the undeserving households
the sort of resources and the energy
that goes into identifying these people
doesn't necessarily justify the cause
but dr. Siddharth believes food
distribution should remain targeted
towards the poor so that more starving
children can reap the benefits I think
there is going to be a very large
proportion of the population which does
not need any food subsidy you will end
up having people who have access to food
subsidy will purchase food grains from
this universal food distribution system
and then use it to supply some industry
or supply someone else at a higher cost
dr. Siddharth says char malnutrition is
best tackled through grassroots
governance his NGO has started a women's
committee who represents urban
communities around the Taj Mahal already
they've identified slums using mapping
and collected a pool of savings through
which families can borrow grains to tide
them over in times of crisis
if we do not think of empowering the
disabled populations then we are
basically ignoring them so any system
which relies heavily on giving away is
not likely to be a very successful
system if the system invests in human
beings not making them recipients of
doles then only that system has any
future India is pedaling along as one of
the largest growing economies it could
be the world's biggest by 2050 but
without adequate social welfare for
children tomorrow's workforce its
economic engine could be greatly
impacted I think it's a pretty serious
problem and we are not going to be able
to just junk all these people into the
CV they are going to be here and so
they'll probably pull down the growth
rate Roshan is eating more and feels
healthier now let them add bell pepper
nuts a team I like to grow up to become
a doctor so I can attend to sick
patients and help them get better I'll
give children biscuits and people's
families would be happy and I'll tell
everyone what they can and should and
eat then if they listen to me it's a
good thing in a country where the sky is
the limit
it's a dream that could change the
future of kids who've endured hunger
like Roshan despite a strong economy and
a comprehensive welfare system to
address starvation malnutrition is
linked to half of child deaths here
it remains India's national shame
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