(Daily News Scan - DNS English) World Food Day 2019
Important Points:
Food plays a significant role in everyone’s life. It is the basic material required by the body for survival. Many countries and people have insufficient resources of food and nutrition. Over 820 million people suffer from hunger, which is a challenge for everyone around the globe. The governments and International bodies around the globe take several measures to eradicate hunger and its accompanying problems. But despite several actions and measures huge numbers of people remain at the risk of hunger. World Food Day is a step towards eradication of malnutrition and fighting from hunger.
World Food Day is a day dedicated for action towards tackling global hunger. It is celebrated every year on 16 October across the world. It was constituted in the year 1979 by its member countries. The World Food Day celebrates the foundation of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in the year 1945. On this day events are organized in more than 150 countries to promote awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all.
It works on international efforts to defeat hunger and also to improve the economies by helping member countries modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices. The goal of this agency is to ensure that people have regular access to enough high quality food to lead active, healthy lives.
It has 194 member states and is currently working actively in 130 countries worldwide. FAO has identified five key priorities in which the organization can work well to achieve a world without hunger, malnutrition and poverty in a sustainable manner. The organization is working toward attaing the 2030 agenda of the Sustainable Development Goal-2 of achieving zero hunger.
The zero hunger vision has five elements- all food systems are sustainable from production to consumption, an end of rural poverty by doubling small scale producer’s income and productivity, adapting food systems to eliminate loss or waste of food, access to adequate food and healthy diets for everyone around the year and an end to malnutrition in all forms.
In INDIA this day is celebrated by various NGO’s to emphasize the importance of healthy food.
However, the condition of hunger and malnutrition in India is very depressing. There are a large number of people and children who suffer from hunger, malnutrition and its other forms. The country produces more than enough food to feed its population but still it has huge hungry population.
Rural India has a large number of malnutrition affected children of less than 5years. Mothers who are illiterate or have less than 5 years of education are also found to be affected by malnutrition. There are a larger percentage of girls affected by malnutrition in the country. Poverty and climate change, poor health, sanitation and child care practices are the reasons behind not achieving zero hunger.
To address these issues and eradicate malnutrition and hunger from the country, Indian government has brought several Act and schemes. These basically provide food security and health or medical facilities to the people. Among these schemes are-
- Mid day meal for children to promote school education and also to provide them with one time of meal.
- National Rural Health Mission to improve the quality of health care in rural areas with a sub goal of reducing infant mortality rate.
- National Food security Act 2013, which provides legal right to 67% (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban area) of the population to get food grains at a subsidized price through Public Distribution System.
- Integrated Child Development Service focuses on nutrition and health education, immunization, preschool non formal education
- National Nutrition Mission renamed as Poshan Abhiyaan was launched in 2018, with the aim to make malnutrition free India by 2022
- National Health Mission
- National Rural Drinking Water Programme
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
- And various schemes promoting agriculture like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture.
Despite several schemes and efforts the reports issued by the Food and Nutrition Security Analysis India 2019, authored by Government of India and United Nations World Food Programme malnutrition rate is high in India.
To overcome this issue we first need to understand that malnutrition is a multidimensional issue which has several factors associated with it. Hunger is not associated only to food production but also to its access and distribution. Food production systems need to be enhanced with better accessibility in all parts of the country. Government policies should focus on promoting connections between sustainable agriculture, nutrition, health and education. Formulating policies that support better agricultural investments, providing agriculture subsidies and incentives, promoting child and women health care, nutrition programmes, and boosting the production and consumption of climate resilient native nutritional crops are some of the elementary practices that will be crucial in defeating hunger and creating a zero hunger world by 2030. Moreover, making the nation free from hunger can be achieved with efforts of each and every individual.
