While hunger drives all humans to work and make better effort, it is still one of the biggest reasons for deaths on the global platform. We, the homo sapiens breed, have lived long enough to have evolved from apes to this modernised version that has rational thinking and devises better ways of living. It took approximately 4.4 to 7.7 million years to evolve into this form that stands today on two legs. But the most important thing of all living beings is their will to live. It does not matter which species. All the living beings strive for their survival, either by preying on others or feeding off the plants. That is the cycle of nature. And here we are, after these many years of civilization and growth in lifestyle, we come across a heartbreaking news that has a massive figure of 9 million deaths per year because of hunger and hunger related diseases.
Food security has been a major concern in India. In 2022, the Global Food Security Index ranked India at 68th out of the 113 major countries in terms of food security.In 2023, the Global Hunger Index ranked India at 111th out of 125 countries.According to United Nations, there are nearly 195 million undernourished people in India that make up a quarter of the world’s undernourished population. In addition, roughly 43% of children in India are chronically undernourished.Though the current nutritional standards meets 100% of daily food requirements, India lags far behind in terms of a quality protein intake at 20%; this shortcoming can be alleviated by making available protein-rich food products such as soybeans, lentils, meat, eggs, dairy, etc. more readily accessible and affordable for Indian citizens. The stats are disheartening and despite efforts, the results suffer a negative angle. A lack of access to affordable and healthy foods is widespread throughout India. With over 60% of India’s population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, the agricultural sector is critical for both India’s economy and food security levels across the country. However, India’s agricultural sector faces a growing number of challenges, including lower agricultural productivity due to climate volatility and reduced available farmland partially due to India’s rapidly increasing population outpacing economic growth that strains India’s natural resources and land availability.
The food available might be enough but the black market sales in times of crisis and droughts and famines take away the final morsel too. While someone works to earn a two time meal, foods are outrageously wasted too in many parts of the world. The respect that the food deserves for keeping us alive and the salute that we owe to the farmers is unmatched. Yet we continue to live in fantasy that the food we get is received from the supermarket.
It is a true shame when I hear people saying that the farmer got all the limelight for no reason. Stories of these do not matter for people who get things easily by using their money. The common facilities that are made available to us is somebody’s whole life. It is still their dream to have a complete and full meal, and not a restaurant dish. And here we are sitting and working in our cosy place. Things are not really understood until we come in contact with the ground zero reality.
The whole concept of humans is based on the fact of co-dependence. We all need to work and live together. It needs to be understood that the sustainability we are looking for will arise when we start standing for each other, irrespective of caste and class. We all need one another to survive, and if this is not the price we pay now, We may just end up creating more hungry people, killing them, and eventually see ourselves die. Because money can buy, for sure. But you and I cannot feed on it. Money is a means, it is not the food.
References:
- https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/people-and-poverty/hunger-and-obesity/how-many-people-die-from-hunger-each-year
- https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/the-hunger-crisis/world-hunger-facts/
Until next time!
Signing off
So
