By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
NEW DELHI, India– In a development charity’s report released to coincide with UN World Food Day; countries such as India and China have been praised for their efforts to tackle hunger. However the ActionAid International’s “anti-hunger scorecard”, which ranks government efforts to combat hunger, critiques India, amongst other countries for their inaction in attempting to alleviate the problem of providing the “Right to Adequate Food” to their people. This report ranks 51 countries where ActionAid has a presence or has data reliable enough to make comparisons.
The ‘Right to Adequate Food’ comes from the UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right to adequate food is a human right for all, to have regular and permanent access, either directly or by financial means to adequate and sufficient food.
The study estimates that globally one billion people are malnourished, which roughly represents one in seven of the world’s population. The report criticizes the economically liberal India. It states the ranks of the hungry have swelled by 30 million people since the mid-1990s, with nearly half of children in the country being under weight, placing it at number 22 after countries such as Ethiopia and Lesotho. The study also reveals a contrast in the country where although India was ranked in the top three developing countries on the social protection indicator, many have gone hungry as a result of “poor implementation.” India ranks sixth in developing nations in legal framework for addressing hunger and food rights, but the poor implementation of these laws and schemes has made it futile and difficult for the common man to have a right to adequate food. Babu Matthew, director of ActionAid India said “The dark side of India’s economic growth has been that the excluded groups have been further marginalized, compounding their hunger, malnutrition and even leading to starvation deaths.”
The report notes the reason hunger in India exists is not because there is not enough food, but the population does not have access to it, and the exploitation of natural resources has led to “horrific displacement” of people, making many in the country poverty stricken. Anne Jellema, the international policy director for ActionAid stated “It is the role of the state and not the level wealth, that determines progress on hunger.”
Jellema also implored that “Massive and urgent support to poor farmers, and social welfare programmes for vulnerable groups, are needed to reverse growing global hunger. At the World Food Summit next month, donor countries need to announce an additional 23 billion dollars to support these measures.”
For information, please see:
BBC News-Mixed Messages in Hunger Report– 16 October 2009
Kaiser Family Foundation- World Food Day Marked, ActionAid International Releases Hunger Report– 16 October 2009
Hindustan Times- Half of India’s Children Malnourished, say NGO Report-17 October 2009
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations- Right to Food
