Hunger Scorecard: China Improves, India Deteriorates

Koji

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Hunger Scorecard: China Improves, India Deteriorates - BusinessWeek

n a report released to mark World Food Day on Oct. 16 by anti-poverty NGO ActionAid, China gets high marks for hunger alleviation while India is singled out for its deteriorating situation. China has reduced the number of people who go hungry by 58 million in the past 10 years while the number of undernourished people in India has increased by 30 million since the mid 1990s.

The report attributes China’s success in reducing the problem of undernourishment to land reforms that led to greater productivity. The helped China reduce undernourishment levels to 9% of the population. [It did not give a comparable figure for 10 years ago.] In absolute numbers however, China’s problem remains enormous. Some 117 million people go hungry every day, and in most cases, their level of deprivation is extreme. Also, the agricultural improvements have come with a cost. The rise in agricultural productivity has come about thanks to extremely intensive use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides that are the biggest source of water pollution in the country.

In contrast, India’s percentage of hungry was 21% which amounts to a staggering number of 240 million people. The increase in the number of hungry was due in part to the large number of rural people displaced by industrialization [for an in-depth discussion of land issues in India, check out this excellent piece in BusinessWeek magazine by Mehul Srivistava,] and poor infrastructure that prevented available food from being properly distributed. “Hunger exists not because there is not enough food in India, but because people cannot access it,” the report notes.

Much has been written about the contrast between India’s tattered infrastructure and China’s shiny new airports, modern highways and logistics facilities. For a discussion on the check out this blog on relative merits of the two countries. However the Sino-Indian rivalry usually focuses on each country’s economic potential and attractiveness as a foreign investment destination. What the ActionAid report does is remind us of the extraordinary human cost of underinvestment in agriculture and infrastructure to ensure it is distributed properly. When children go hungry—a staggering 47% of children under six in India suffer from malnourishment—they are unable to concentrate in school, making it more likely they will remain caught in the poverty trap of poor education and low income. And the country as a whole suffers from all that potential human capital which never gets realized. This also tends to worsen income distribution. For more on comparisons between rich and poor see this BusinessWeek slide show.
 

Flint

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In sheer numbers, the number of poor has increased, however I believe there has been a decline in percentage terms.
Having said that, clearly the old programs for poverty alleviation have failed, and the current government is undertaking a number of policy changes and reforms in order to ensure that the process speeds up considerably.

I think the Indian government is already quite embarrassed that a "Communist" state like China can do a better job than democratic India. Hopefully, the shock will produce some enlightened thinking and action.
 

thakur_ritesh

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Well quite smart of who so ever did those figures. They say never go on the face value of the figures, they take you for a big ride, dig deeper and you will have your answers.

In mid 1990s india’s population was – 900million
Today’s population – 1.17billion
Number of people added – 220million
Number of additions in malnutrition people in 10yrs – 30 million.
Present number of malnutrition people – 240million
As a % in mid 1990s the malnutrition in India were – 23.3%
As a % today the malnutrition India are – 17.9%

Amazingly the figure put by the author of the article is 21% which shows the population at 1.14billion which is not the case.

These are the stats achieved when India’s gdp growth’s trickle down effect has just started. Nothing to boast about in what I have written since not a single person should go hungry and malnutrition but still India has to quite a large extent got hold of the situation and is working towards eliminating the ill.
 

Koji

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"When children go hungry—a staggering 47% of children under six in India suffer from malnourishment—they are unable to concentrate in school, making it more likely they will remain caught in the poverty trap of poor education and low income"

This statement is telling, since it implies that if the status quo is continued, there are going to be a huge number of poor, uneducated, hungry, and young people that are going to be disgruntled. Which means future instability.
 

thakur_ritesh

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"When children go hungry—a staggering 47% of children under six in India suffer from malnourishment—they are unable to concentrate in school, making it more likely they will remain caught in the poverty trap of poor education and low income"

This statement is telling, since it implies that if the status quo is continued, there are going to be a huge number of poor, uneducated, hungry, and young people that are going to be disgruntled. Which means future instability.
surprisingly the status quo does not exist. did you wonder why the author specifically limited the data to age under 6?

if you have not, the answer is that it suits his agenda of manipulating the fugues well, for had he done it for kids over 6yrs of age the data would have been completely different.

a kid in india in all government schools enter class 1 at the age of 6, where they are served "mid day meal" which is such that it takes care of all their nutrition requirements well and none go malnutrition. today the enrollment in primary education is a near 100% in india, which should tell you the story and this mid day meal scheme will be made available for all kids right up till class 8 or 10, with compulsory formal education of 10 years from the age of 6 to 14/15.
 

Koji

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And yet after those compulsory education years are over, they're back to being hungry. So before those schooling years, 47% of families cannot properly feed their children, and after age 14/15, the education they are given isn't enough for them to utilize to feed themselves.

No matter how he manipulates the percentages, there are undeniably still 240 million hungry. Most of them will be young given India's demographics. That does not worry you?
 

Koji

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Plus I seriously doubt that India maintains near 100% attendance in primary schools.

"At least 40 percent of India's population lives on under US$1.25 a day and in the eastern state of Bihar at least one million children do not receive any form of education, government records show."

India state offers cash to boost school attendance

"Children in Himachal Pradesh scored the highest 94.6 per cent (primary) and 93.2 per cent (middle). Only 86 per cent children in Karnataka attended school regularly. While children in Andhra Pradesh scored 72.7 per cent and 76.6 per cent respectively, Delhi had 73.5 per cent children attending school regularly. It was only natural for Kerala which enjoys the highest literacy rate in the country to record an attendance of 91.4 per cent and 92.0 per cent respectively. Children in Tamil Nadu scored 88.3 per cent and 87.8 per cent.

In Orissa where teachers showed 85 per cent attendance rates, children did not reciprocate. Their attendance is just 66.8 per cent and 69.0 per cent respectively. The attendance scores of students ranged between 60 and 80 per cent in the other states."

Children’s attendance lowest in Bihar, teachers’ presence highest in Bengal
 

nitesh

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Hunger Scorecard: China Improves, India Deteriorates - BusinessWeek

The report attributes China’s success in reducing the problem of undernourishment to land reforms that led to greater productivity. The helped China reduce undernourishment levels to 9% of the population. [It did not give a comparable figure for 10 years ago.] In absolute numbers however, China’s problem remains enormous. Some 117 million people go hungry every day, and in most cases, their level of deprivation is extreme. Also, the agricultural improvements have come with a cost. The rise in agricultural productivity has come about thanks to extremely intensive use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides that are the biggest source of water pollution in the country.
Increase in water pollution is not a good sign in long term as this will create huge problems in long term. Well hope something is getting done in this regard
 

thakur_ritesh

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The net enrollment ratio (NER) for primary education in india for the year 2005:

boys-98%, girls-90%, over all- 94.6% and now we are in 2009, and in 2010 the figure is expected to be 100%.

Total net enrolment ratio in primary education - Demographics - India

Hope you read properly what has been written in my first post, if not then you need to go back and reread my first post in this thread as far as me being bothered on the issue.

Close to 60-70million of the 240million malnutrition form the age group of less than 6years of age, so in effect 60-70million do get taken care of in times to come.

Now coming to the left out number of 170-180million there is no data provided which states their age group. Incase majority of them are between the age group of 15-30, then that is worrisome but I don’t think that is the case.

The primary focus of the government has been to provide employment to people right after the age of 14/15 (10years of formal education) under various schemes, and with nrega in place a vast majority of the young get employed so young between 15-30 years of age group going hungry in vast numbers is highly speculative.
 

nitesh

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What is your point Nitesh?
The first link is to just put across the point that things are improving

the second link I posted to show that 11% people still go hungry in US
 

Tamil

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Plus I seriously doubt that India maintains near 100% attendance in primary schools.

"At least 40 percent of India's population lives on under US$1.25 a day and in the eastern state of Bihar at least one million children do not receive any form of education, government records show."

India state offers cash to boost school attendance

"Children in Himachal Pradesh scored the highest 94.6 per cent (primary) and 93.2 per cent (middle). Only 86 per cent children in Karnataka attended school regularly. While children in Andhra Pradesh scored 72.7 per cent and 76.6 per cent respectively, Delhi had 73.5 per cent children attending school regularly. It was only natural for Kerala which enjoys the highest literacy rate in the country to record an attendance of 91.4 per cent and 92.0 per cent respectively. Children in Tamil Nadu scored 88.3 per cent and 87.8 per cent.

In Orissa where teachers showed 85 per cent attendance rates, children did not reciprocate. Their attendance is just 66.8 per cent and 69.0 per cent respectively. The attendance scores of students ranged between 60 and 80 per cent in the other states."

Children’s attendance lowest in Bihar, teachers’ presence highest in Bengal
The Mid-Day Meals is First Introduce in Tamil Nadu in early 1980's under the Cheif Minister Dr. M.G. Ramachandran (M.G.R)

GOI Source : http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/r/2V/7B/2V7B0501.htm

Basically in India the derived class are Below Par Family Income below 10000/ month, Low-Mid Class 10000-20000 / month, Mid class above 20000-50000 / month, high-Mid class above 50000-100000 / month, all others high class


Things are dramatically changing now when i study our family income is just 8000-10000 in early 2000 but after 2-3 years i earn more than 20k/ mth Indian Middle class is raising much faster then other expect, so our Generation and followers take INDIA much higher.:india:
Note: Avg Pay for a low level worker in building or road works and others are minimum Rs. 100/day. I SAY AVG.

Now the GOI offers the people below par by giving development scheme as compulsory giving work for minimum 100 days in the year, with Rs. 150/day.:dfi-1:

:viannen_10:Rice in govt stores 1 kg is Just Rs. 1 only. Don't believe check Tamil Nadu Govt Web site. http://www.tn.gov.in:goodstuff:
 

Koji

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Close to 60-70million of the 240million malnutrition form the age group of less than 6years of age, so in effect 60-70million do get taken care of in times to come.

Now coming to the left out number of 170-180million there is no data provided which states their age group. Incase majority of them are between the age group of 15-30, then that is worrisome but I don’t think that is the case.

The primary focus of the government has been to provide employment to people right after the age of 14/15 (10years of formal education) under various schemes, and with nrega in place a vast majority of the young get employed so young between 15-30 years of age group going hungry in vast numbers is highly speculative.
NREGA only applies to 100 days of work. So hunger in the age group of 15-30 years is still very probable.
 

amitkriit

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Poverty and Malnutrition in India is a reality and lets face it without bringing our ego into play. Real reason behind this problem is our babudom, which hasn't let benefits of government programs to reach our poors. We read about sub-standard and rotten food items suplied for mid-day meals. Irony is that a bureaucratic system that was specifically designed to keep India in a pathetic state, is being used to drive Indian growth and her pro-public/pro-poor programs. Although another angle must not be missed, i.e. our NGOs have a habit of doing these so-called "Scientific Surveys" just to sell Indian poverty to rich nations, and to make money for themselves.
 

Koji

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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its performance audit of the implementation of NREGA has found "significant deficiencies" in the implementation of the act.

So not only does NREGA only apply to a maximum of 100 work days, it's implementation is poor. Making hunger in the 15-30 age group EVEN more probable.

The Hindu News Update Service
 

thakur_ritesh

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NREGA only applies to 100 days of work. So hunger in the age group of 15-30 years is still very probable.
and interestingly a decent chunk of rural population does not make use of nrega, because they have better paying jobs!

as far as 100days of work is concerned, this figure was to be revised to any where between 180-200days this year but because of the mounting fiscal deficit the finance minister did not take the plunge, but come next year and the number of days will surely increase to the above said number of days, and mind you those 180-200days will not include sundays and public holidays.
 

Koji

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and interestingly a decent chunk of rural population does not make use of nrega, because they have better paying jobs!
I hope those rural jobs you're talking about is not farming. We all know how that's going in India.
 

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