A national exigency called hunger
The country is dreaming of becoming world super power under the able leadership of Prime Minister Modi. In keeping with this dream, the country often credits itself with economic and technological progress and releases data to support that claim too. The country dreams of roaming the surface of the moon and living on Mars. Yet, amidst all this, the reality that often hurts the dreams is that of millions of countrymen going without food. We may have got political freedom, but freedom from hunger is still a farfetched dream. Government data says more than 50% of the people suffer from malnutrition today.
According to the economic survey of 2017-18, malnutrition of mothers and children is the biggest challenge India is facing currently. Shortage in supply of nutritious food, malnourishment and unhealthy food habits, insufficient consumption of water for drinking, lack of hygiene and inadequate health services are contributing factors to this menace which leads to three out of ten children suffering through their lives. Malnutrition causes irreversible damage to children. It ruins their childhood. It affects their physical and mental health. Most children suffer from malnutrition even before they are born because of the lack of proper nutrition and attention given to pregnant mothers. Nearly 20% of children are born with less than average bodyweight. About 90% of the brain development happens in the first two years of their birth. Malnourishment leads to complicated health conditions of children, including insufficient brain development and turns them into victims of early setting in of diabetes and cardiac problems. With increase in physically unfit generation, the productivity of the country gets affected too.
Over 33.6% women in the country suffer from long term malnourishment. About 55% of them are anemic. Hence, more than half of the women are having babies under most dangerous conditions. Due to anemia, India’s overall loss to GDP stands at Rs 1.5 lakh crore. This figure is more than three times of the budgetary allocation to health in 2017-18. A family of a newborn is eligible to get nutritious food for the baby worth up to Rs 10,332 up to 45 months since the birth of the child.
But the scheme is suffering a massive blow due to corruption and adultrated food supply for this purpose. The recent amendment to National Maternity Benefit Scheme ensures postpartum women are given six months paid maternity leave. Crores of women working in unorganized and private sectors are kept away from this facility. More than 95% of women working in private and unorganized sectors are from very poor background and they have to return to work within a short span of time. Hence they can neither nourish their bodies that have gone through most challenging time, nor can they feed their children for six months since they fear loss of their jobs if they do not return to work as soon as possible.
One stark reality we need to understand is about the link between malnutrition and our socio-economic problems. We are trying to tackle challenges such as TB etc in isolation, as health challenges and we try to find remedies. But we fail to see the link between TB and malnutrition, as a socio-economic challenge. Hunger is the mother of all diseases in our nation. According to World Health Organisation, Diarrohea leads to worms. Consumption of polluted drinking water, living in unhygienic surroundings and unhealthy lifestyle lead to health problems. These health challenges affect the growth of children at a very young age and then the body loses its ability to extract and use nutrition from foods in later stages of life.
Indian body composition is smaller than that of the poorest countries that consume least calories of foods in the world. Children fall easy prey to diseases when they go without nutrition. And when ill, does any child have the capacity to study?
We hope to see the best of scientists and sportspersons being born in India. We hope to see our young men and women succeed. But, when children are born malnourished, and continue to experience challenges of malnourishment, how do we expect them to succeed?
Government says population is the reason for poverty. What we are unable to see is the inefficient distribution of resources that lead to such conditions worsen. With note ban and control on sale of cattle is leading to increased hunger indices.
Our politicians have hundreds and thousands of crores to buy another politician when they want to come together and enjoy the perks of power. At the same time, a common person standing in the queue returns home empty handed. The recent economic crises has pushed the poor further into poverty and the rich into affluence. If this continues, the country may have to declare hunger as a national exigency soon!
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Karnataka cabinet to take up caste census report amid internal opposition
Bengaluru (PTI): Amid what appears to be a caste conundrum, the Karnataka cabinet will hold a special meeting on Thursday to discuss the contentious Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as 'caste census'.
According to official sources, the cabinet is considering referring the report to a cabinet sub-committee or an expert committee for further examination.
With Siddaramaiah already indicating that the report will be debated in both houses of the state legislature, sources said it may also be referred to a joint legislative committee. There is also the possibility of convening a special session of the legislature.
The cabinet is likely to deliberate on the report’s recommendation to increase OBC reservation in the state from the current 32 per cent to 51 per cent, sources said adding that the demand for a fresh survey or recounting may also come up.
Several communities, especially Karnataka's two dominant ones -- Vokkaligas and Veershaiva-Lingayats -- have voiced strong objections to the survey, terming it "unscientific". They have demanded that the report be rejected and a fresh survey be conducted.
Objections have also been raised by various sections of society, including from within the ruling Congress party.
However, not all voices are critical. Several leaders and organisations representing Dalits and OBCs among others are in support of it and want the government to release it, pointing out that about Rs 160 crore of public funds has been spent on the exercise.
Given the strong disapproval from the two politically influential communities, the report may turn out to be a political hot potato for the government, as it may set the stage for a confrontation with Dalits and OBCs among others demanding its release and implementation.
The survey's findings are said to be at odds with the "traditional perceptions" of the caste composition in Karnataka, especially the numerical strength of Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas, making it a politically sticky issue. Ministers from these communities are expected to voice their objections during the cabinet meeting, sources said.
Both Veershaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas and a few other communities have claimed that their sub-castes have been divided among different categories of OBC, resulting in a decrease in the population. They have alleged that many households were left out from the survey or undercounting.
Amid growing opposition to the survey report, the CM had on Wednesday assured that his government would not let any injustice happen to anyone.
After a long wait, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes' report was placed before the cabinet for the first time on April 11.
The Siddaramaiah-led government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state.
The State Backward Classes Commission, under its then chairperson H Kantharaju, was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018 towards the end of Siddaramaiah's first tenure as Chief Minister, and the report was finalised by his successor K Jayaprakash Hegde in February 2024.
