Food insecurity worsened around the world in 2023, with about 282 million people suffering from acute hunger due to conflicts, particularly in Gaza and Sudan, according to this report by the United Nations agencies and development groups. According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), nearly 282 million …
Ethnobotanist and director-general of Amity Foundation's Institute of Biotechnology at Thiruvananthapuram, Palpu Pushpangadan, tells P R J Pradeep that India can learn a lot from China about making native knowledge the basis of development Why do you say that India needs to learn a lot from China? The Chinese primarily …
Even as we celebrate 60 years of Indian democracy, with millions of our people hungry, cynical and insecure, and living under the barrel of the gun (of the state or the extremists), we need to worry about the reach and quality of our political process. The National Rural Employment Guarantee …
Hunger is unpalatable. For a government that wishes to assert that it is not callous, it is particularly so. But hunger, with a capital H, is a pill that millions of people in Madhya Pradesh continue to swallow. In 2005 and 2006, Frontline reported acute malnutrition from Sheopur and Shivpuri …
in a repeat of last year's grim toll, over 20 children, including infants, died of malnutrition and other diseases in two gram panchayats in Orissa's Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary since January 2007. A report by an independent fact-finding team links poverty, unhygienic drinking water and absence of healthcare facilities to the …
Kalavati Barai of Raipur Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri has been watching the consistent deterioration of her family of six over the past four years. In March this year, her husband succumbed to severe anaemia and related complications. "I couldn't feed him, so he died,' she states simply. Since the tea …
the central government's food assistance schemes haven't worked. The 61st round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (nsso) report on Public Distribution System and Other Sources of Household Consumption, 2004-05, shows that only 28 per cent of the rural poor have benefited from any such scheme. For urban areas, the …
AT the time of independence, India faced the twin problems of acute and chronic undernutrition of its children. This was essentially a result of low dietary intake because of poverty and low purchasing power, high prevalence of infection because of poor access to safe drinking water, sanitation and health care …
India's children continue to face a huge backlog of deprivations. For instance, India in 2005 reported an IMR of 58 deaths per 1000 live births. In contrast, China reported in 2005 an IMR of 23 and Bangladesh of 54. Neonatal deaths that account for 65% of infant mortality remain exceptionally …
Anaemia is a widespread condition in India. The biggest cause is malnourishment and iron-poor diets. Though the best remedy is a good diet, anaemia has spawned a huge market for iron supplements, usually of the expensive variety (see box: Market slice). A 2006 market survey by the Drug Action Forum-Karnataka …
The World Health Organization (WHO) has calculated that by 2020 human-triggered climate change could kill 300,000 people worldwide every year. By 2000, in fact, climate change was already responsible for 150,000 excess deaths annually
Delhi 2020: They are already calling it the year without winter. From January itself, temperatures across northern India have soared to 35 degrees Celsius. Much of the Gangetic plain has been transformed into one vast dust bowl. The wheat crop has failed and farmers are committing suicide by the droves. …
Malnutrition is the underlying cause of half of under-five child deaths. So even though the proximate cause of children dying may be measles, diarrhoea, diphtheria, jaundice or malaria, the real reason is that they are so weakened by malnutrition that their small bodies are unable to withstand infection. Half of …
The third National Family Health Survey (nfhs) was carried out during 2005 and 2006. Preliminary findings reveal: Child n In Madhya Pradesh, 60.3 per cent of the children under three are underweight. This is the highest in the country: the problem exists in both urban and rural areas. 53.5 per …
GUARANTEES for social services have been kicking in of late. After guarantees for rural employment and education, people will find it easier to get an anganwadi on demand. On December 13, 2006, the Supreme Court has ordered the government to set up 8 lakh more anganwadi centres in the next …
Assam is the highest tea producer state in the country. There is scarcity of reliable information on health and nutritional status among tea garden population of Assam to enable initiating public health response to their health needs.
The Sahariya tribal population in Sheopur district continues to suffer from hunger and malnutrition. LIFE for the Sahariya tribal people in Madhya Pradesh is an unending struggle against hunger, malnutrition, disease and, above all, neglect. In August 2006, Frontline reported hunger-related deaths in Sheopur district, which has a high concentration …
as the Simlipal National Park in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district closes during monsoon to protect wildlife, it turns into a graveyard for its human inhabitants, reports an independent working group on protected areas. In June, an infant's death inside the sanctuary sparked off an investigation by this group of local ngos …
NP-NSPE, 2006 seeks to address two of the most pressing problems for the majority of children in India, namely, hunger and education by: Improving the nutritional status of children in classes I – V in Government, Local Body and Government aided schools, and EGS and AIE centres; Encouraging poor children, …
"THE tribals need to change their attitude and lifestyle," said R.K. Dixit, the Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) of Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh, in response to a query about continuing reports of children starving to death in the region. The Sahariyas, one of the poorest tribal communities in Madhya …
