India's future goes to bed hungry
Sanchita Sharma
New Delhi

THREE IN four children in India are anaemic and one in three are stunted,
found the National Family Health Survey-III, the largest ever health survey
done simultaneously in 29 states during 2005 and 2006. With 21 per cent
stunted children, Kerala has the best child nutrition indices. The worst is
Uttar Pradesh, where 46 per cent children are underdeveloped, both
physically and mentally, because they do not get quality food to eat.

These statistics are shocking but not new. All three National Family Health
Surveys between 1992 and 2006 have consistently shown that the nutritional
status of children in India is abysmal. "The nutritional status of children
has gone up marginally, but in some states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh,
it has actually worsened. India cannot hope to compete in the global market
in the future if the physical and mental development of children is
 stunted," says Dr Werner Schultink, head, child development and nutrition
programme, UNICEF India.

India's hunger indices - measured by child malnutrition, child mortality and
estimates of the proportion of people who are calorie-deficient -are
marginally better than sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Global Hunger
Index released in October this year, only Bangladesh has worse levels of
hunger than India in South Asia. India is cited as one of the countries that
has been unable to use its available economic resources effectively in
reducing under-nutrition.

The NFHS-III shows that though the nutritional status of children has
improved marginally, the improvement has not been as high as expected, given
the amount of money spent on nutritional supplementation schemes both by the
Centre and states. "The government has implemented existing programmes
halfheartedly and any improvement over the past five years has been due to
pressure from the Supreme Court, " says Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to
the Commissioners to the Supreme Court looking at Right to Food and
Employment Schemes of the government.

To give the Mid-Day Meal Scheme - which ensure the child gets one hot,
nutritious meal every schoolday - a boost, the Centre increased its outlay
by 60 per cent in the 2005-06 Budget, up from Rs 3,345 crore in 2005-06 to
Rs 5,348 crores for 2006-07. As the largest school nutritional programme in
the world, the scheme is meant to provide at least 450 calories and 12 grams
of protein to 12 crore children in over 9.5 lakh primary schools. It doesn't
always happen. sanchitasharma@hinduatantimes.com STATE OF NUTRITION India
ranked an abysmal 93 in a group of 119 developing countries on the Global
Hunger Index, 2006

According to the World Food Programme, nearly 50 per cent
of the world's hungry live in India. About 35 per cent of India's popula
tion - over 350 million - is food-insecure, consuming less than 80 per cent
of the minimum energy requirement Nearly nine out of 10 pregnant women
between 15 and 49 years are malnourished and anaemic Anaemia in pregnant
women causes 20 per cent of infant mortality Of every 1,000 babies born, 67
die before the age of one Out of every 100 girls who enter pri mary
education, only 30 complete it More than 50 per cent children under five are
moderately or severely mal nourished There are 60 million illiterate SC and
ST girls in India, equal to the popula tion of Madhya Pradesh Barely 50 per
cent of all children com plete eight years of schooling

SOURCE: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME, GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX, UNICEF




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