Indian Hunger and Poverty

[Sreekar]

Hi Folks,
One among many issues in India is Poverty. People are hungry not because of lack of availability of food, or “over” population, but because they are too poor to afford the food. Politics and economic conditions have led to poverty and dependency around the India. Addressing India's hunger therefore implies addressing India's poverty as well. If food production is further increased and provided to more people while the underlying causes of poverty are not addressed, hunger will still continue because people will not be able to purchase food. I strongly feel that political causes require political solutions as well.

In these circumstances, what are the major policy changes which are to be considered in order to eradicate poverty.

-Thanks much,
Sreekar

[Sreekar]

We Need Another Revolution
(source:TimesofIndia -Editorial:Noeleen Heyzer)

In the last decade, developing economies in Asia and the Pacific doubled in size, growing over 7 per cent on average. This growth has garnered much attention and plaudits. Yet, 641 million of the world's poorest - nearly two-thirds of the global total - live in the Asia-Pacific region.

Other statistics are equally shocking. Ninety-seven million children remain underweight. Four million children die before reaching the age of five. Some 566 million people living in rural areas have no access to clean water. And less than a third of rural inhabitants have access to basic sanitation.

These fault lines question the sustainability and validity of the current development paradigm, which leaves millions of people trapped in extreme poverty when so much wealth has been generated in such a short time. Most of the poor are in the rural sector and agriculture is their main livelihood. And this is where the problem lies.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has carried out research which shows that persistent poverty and widening inequality in the region are the result of decades of neglect of agriculture. The analysis shows that growth strategies and economic policies in the region have systematically overlooked the agriculture sector. And this is despite the fact that agriculture is the main livelihood of the poor and still provides employment for 60 per cent of the working population in Asia and the Pacific.

The tremendous potential of the agricultural sector to reduce poverty has been weakened by unfavourable macroeconomic policies that led to high and variable interest rates and inflation in the 1980s as well as the erosion of public services such as agricultural extension services since the 1980s; the failure of agricultural credit policies; and the massive scaling down of public investment in irrigation and rural infrastructure. The list goes on.

Official development assistance (ODA) has shown a similar disregard for the sector. Between 1983-1987 and 1998-2000, ODA for agriculture fell by 57 per cent to an annual average of $5.1 billion. Lending for agriculture by multi-lateral lending agencies, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, showed a downward trend. As a result, growth and productivity in agriculture have stalled. Alongside this, the decline in poverty has been slowing down in the region since the late 1980s.

In China, for example, half of the decline in poverty occurred in the first half of the 1980s when agriculture was given priority. We see this pattern repeat itself time and time again - when agricultural development was placed high on the development agenda, poverty declined rapidly in Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, and many other countries in Asia and the Pacific.

The neglect of agriculture has put enormous pressure on farmers. Low yields, high input prices and low market prices for agricultural produce have led to a vicious cycle of low income and stagnation. Massive scaling down of public services, particularly in irrigation and agricultural extension services, has dealt a blow to the sector. The distress in rural areas is reflected in rising farm indebtedness and suicides in many countries. The figures are tragic and astounding - in India alone, almost 87,000 farmers committed suicide between 2001 and 2005.

Unless the neglect of agriculture is addressed, poverty will not be reduced significantly in the region, and inequalities will widen further. In turn, this will jeopardise the economic prospects of our countries and the social cohesion of our communities. The 2008 survey shows that improving agricultural labour productivity could have a profound impact on poverty reduction.

For example, raising the region's average agricultural labour productivity to the level seen in Thailand would take 218 million people - a third of the region's poor - out of poverty. India,China, Bangladesh and Indonesia would gain the most. Large gains in reducing poverty are also possible through the comprehensive liberalisation of global agricultural trade, with the potential to take another 48 million people out of poverty. Our research also shows that raising productivity in agriculture will reduce income inequality significantly.

If more reasons were needed for our call to focus on agriculture, then one need only look at the rising food prices that are being felt across the region. With the demand for biofuel apparently unstoppable, the region needs a renewed and urgent effort to revive its agricultural sector to increase food production and stop food prices from spiralling even further.

Quite simply, agriculture needs another revolution. Increasing agricultural productivity should be at the centre of this new approach. It is crucial that the sector's productivity is improved through increased investment in research and development, human capital, extension services, irrigation and rural infrastructure. Land tenure systems need to be revamped, where necessary.

The rural poor need to be better connected to cities and markets. Macroeconomic policies, credit instruments and crop insurance need to be made farmer-friendly. A market orientation with a focus on quality and standards would be part of this strategy. In short, agriculture should be treated as a high-value added, diversified, marketable sector - not a charity case.

Given its natural limitations, agriculture alone cannot take the region's 641 million poor people out of poverty. Therefore, a gradual transition from agriculture should complement productivity improvements - by empowering the poor, particularly women, with the skills to tap labour market opportunities and by promoting rural non-farm activities and regional growth centres.

-Thanks much,
Sreekar

[Sreekar]

At Anganwadi centers, kids get a nourishing meal
(source:IBNLive News | India News Homepage)

From infant mortality to immunisation, from pre-school education to women's health, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) has policies on everything, which makes it a good scheme on paper.


However, what is missing in most cases is the willingness to implement this scheme. Nonetheless, now some states are proving that the ICDS can indeed be implemented successfully.


Rehana Sultana likes to send her three-year-old child to Anganwadi center in Aminjikkarai in Chennai and she says it makes her child confident, healthy and ready for school. “They teach him stories and songs. He eats well there and they even serve eggs,” says Rehana.


The Tamil Nadu government is setting an example to show that the ICDS can indeed have an impact by providing better infrastructure and a diet that's high on protein and carbohydrates.


“The government has sponsored us with cylinders and cookers so it's easier to cook. The food is tasty also because the quality is good,” says Anganwadi Worker, Hemavathi.


Anganwadi workers are better paid at Rs 2,700 a month and work with a spirit to save the child.


”Even though the salary is less, this job gives me a lot of satisfaction. Preparing food for children is a holy job,” says Anganwadi Worker, Shanthakumari.


”Only a few states like TN and Pondicherry are providing milk because the state governments are providing a lot of money from their own coffers for the scheme. That is why the scheme is making a dent on malnutrition,” says People's Health Movement’s, Samir Garg.


The Chhattisgarh government is advocating ICDS through community health workers. Around 60,000 women in the state go to village households, encouraging women to go to Anganwadi centres and take benefits. These ‘Mitanins’ or friends have become an integral part of mobilizing communities for better health.


“A ‘mitanin’ distributes medicines and gives advice to children on their health. Through various techniques we find out who is weak and who is healthy,” says mitanin, Bindiya Bai


The Pando tribals in Chhattisgarh have been traditionally marginalised and have a history of poor health. With the intervention of the mitanins, today they're a lot more awareness.


“Children of the Pando tribe are very poor and very weak. These people don’t even know if their kids get a balanced diet or not. However, with some efforts, many of them have understood about the significance of a balanced diet,” says Bindiya Bai.


Meanwhile, in Delhi and NCR, Mobile creches are doing what Anganwadi centres fail to do. They look after children of construction workers by opening creches at the construction site itself.


“They leave their kids here and we give them milk. We just do our job,” says Daily Wage Worker, Guddibai.


“We are looking after the medical needs and nutritional requirement of the young children. We are looking after the developmental, educational, recreational needs and getting the parents also roped in so that whatever we are doing gets carried forward whenever they leave,” says Mridula Bajaj of the Mobile Creches.


Mobile crèches provide services to children free of cost and are open all day till the parents are working.


“They get basic education here and it is for their basic welfare, says Administrative Incharge, Construction Site, Amit Rathi.


In Jahangirpuri in New Delhi, 10 women from the community have started women's self help group where they start work at 6 every morning and supply hot cooked food to 126 Anganwadis in the area. The shift to cooked food has increased attendance at the centres.

“Earlier we provided raw rice and cereals, so they would sell it.
However, now we serve cooked food, so the kids at least get to eat it,” says Member of Jahangirpuri SHG, Zubeida.


“My child would litter dry vegetables and dry food. However, as the food is cooked in gravy now, children eat it and at least get a nourishing diet,” says mother, Veermati.


The initiative is not only benefiting children but also empowering these women. With an earning of Rs 1,500 a month, they are earning their independence.


“It is a woman’s job, so even the husbands do not mind us doing this work. We are not going to any factory to work. Cooking food for children helps also helps us to spend time with children,” says Member of Jahangirpuri SHG, Zubeida.


The ideas and initiatives are many, the funds are sanctioned and there's never a shortage of public support. However, all that is required is perhaps the will to see a change.


The financial allocation for ICDS has been increased by a 1000 crores this year and every penny counts for these little children. For the sake of India's future, it can only be hoped that these little ones no longer go to bed hungry and no child loses their lives in a country that is proud of its economic growth.

-Thanks much,
Sreekar

[Sreekar]

World Bank backs 'New Deal' for poor, hungry
(source:The Times of India: No 1 site for Breaking news, views, reviews, cricket, business, lifestyle, sports)

The World Bank on Sunday launched a "New Deal" to fight hunger and poverty and urged governments to take action against a food crisis that has sparked deadly unrest in developing countries.

A doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100 million people in poorer developing countries further into poverty and governments must step in to tackle the issue, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said.

"Based on a rough analysis, we estimate that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty," Zoellick said at the end of the World Bank spring meeting here.

"This is not just a question about short-term needs, as important as those are. This is about ensuring that future generations don't pay a price too."

Calling on governments to begin tackling the issue, Zoellick said: "We have to put our money where our mouth is now so that we can put food into hungry mouths. It's as stark as that."

On the eve of the meetings, Zoellick had said the crisis could mean "seven lost years" in the fight against worldwide poverty.

The food crisis attracted increasing attention at this weekend's spring meetings here of the 185-nation World Bank and its twin institution, the International Monetary Fund, sparking loud warnings of dire consequences.

"Food prices, if they go on like they are doing today ... the consequences will be terrible," IMF managing director Dominque Strauss-Kahn said Saturday.

"As we know, learning from the past, those kind of questions sometimes end in war," Straus-Kahn warned.

At a news conference Sunday, Straus-Kahn reiterated that warning, stressing that this was a "huge problem" which put at risk years of development gains.

Rice, wheat, corn, cooking oil, milk and other foodstuff prices have all risen sharply in recent months, sparking violent protests in many countries, including Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

A World Bank report last week said global wheat prices jumped 181 percent over the 36 months to February, with overall food prices up 83 percent.

Zoellick's statement began with a reference to climate change, stressing the need to make talks inclusive if developing countries were going to be fully involved and treated fairly.

"The drive to address climate change won't work if it's seen as a rich man's club. It is very important to have developed and developing country ministers at the table so that the developing country voices can be heard," he said.

Zoellick said the bank's steering committtee had endorsed his proposed "New Deal" for global food policy, similar in scope to a 1930s program under US president Franklin D. Roosevelt that tackled the problems of the Great Depression.

He said almost half the the minimum 500 million dollars immediately sought by the World Food Program to address the food crisis had been pledged.

Among the New Deal measures is encouragement of sovereign wealth fund investment in Africa to soften the impact of a slowing world economy on the most vulnerable countries.

The World Bank plans to nearly double its lending for agriculture in Africa, to 800 million dollars.

Skyrocketing prices of rice, wheat, corn, cooking oil, milk and other foodstuffs come against a backdrop of a spreading global financial crisis, a US economy teetering on recession and currency market imbalances.

-Thanks much,
Sreekar