Realities of food insecurity: India worse than Ethiopia in many indicators

Realities of food insecurity: India worse than Ethiopia in many indicators India sees itself as an emerging world power, but doubts about the direction of its development remain.

Realities of food insecurity: India worse than Ethiopia in many indicators on Business Standard.

India sees itself as an emerging world power, but doubts about the direction of its development remain.

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» Despite India’s fast economic growth and poverty

reduction over the past few decades, food insecurity remains very high. This puzzle has been named the “South Asian enigma”. Some indicators of food insecurity, especially child undernourishment rates, are now worse in India than in Ethiopia. This is despite the fact that Ethiopia has only a quarter of India’s per capita income and has suffered many famines in the 20th century.

A comparison of how the governments of these two countries manage food insecurity suggests that the key to resolving the South Asian enigma lies in the nourishment and sanitation of children in their first 1,000 days of life – from conception to their second birthday.

Support for pregnant women - Food

Insecurity

The malnutrition of Indian children often starts in the womb. Just over half of adult Indian women are iron deficient, compared with 23% of Ethiopian women. Iron deficiency in pregnancy can lead to the child having a low weight and health problems.

One reason for the difference is the lack of support for poor pregnant women in India. India’s National Food Security Act, passed in 2013, ruled that all pregnant Indian women should receive a stipend of 6,000 rupees. But the money usually manages to cover only the costs of delivery. It is also given only in a woman’s first pregnancy, excluding more than half of India’s annual births.

Many poor Indian women bear heavy workloads throughout their pregnancies, which compromises both their own and their unborn children’s nourishment. In contrast, poor Ethiopian women receive support from the government-run Productive Safety Net Programme from the fourth month of pregnancy until their child’s first birthday.

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Food Insecurity in India News Source : BS & Business Standard