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As much as 870 million, which is 1/8th of the world’s population live in extreme hunger and poverty and survive on less than USD 1.25 a day. More people are killed by Hunger than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Millions of women, men and children die every year because of chronic persistent hunger – approximately two million are children. The World Hunger Day seeks to encourage citizens in both the developed and developing countries to show their solidarity and support to enable 870 million people to end their hunger and poverty and lead a sustainable life. Poverty is not something which is new for the people of world. One of the millennium development goals is eradicate poverty by 2015. India is estimated to have 33% of the world's poor. As much as 32.7% of Indians are below the poverty line while 68.7% survives on less than USD 2 per day.[1] The govt. schemes which are working towards tackling poverty are Jawhar Gram Samridhi Yojna, Integrated Rural Development programme, National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), National family Benefit Scheme (NFBS), Rural Housing-Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), National Maternity Benefit Scheme, ANNAPURNA, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Something which is new is Food security and its impact on livelihood of the farmers. The food security bill which promises to alleviate extreme hunger and guarantees very cheap food to India’s poor but there are concerns about its formulation and sustainability. 5kg in total of rice, wheat, pearl millet and sorghum (a cereal) will be provided to 67% of total Indians almost covering everyone under USD 2 per day. Pregnant women and children under the age of 16 will be targeted mainly through this bill which is positive as it's includes those who are really needy of nutritious food. However, the expenses incurred due to this will be 0.8% to 1.1% of GDP. This is a serious increase in a state where the government does not have adequate resources as it is. The impact on livelihood is definitely a concern which can’t be over looked upon. The food which will be available at economical prices will misrepresent the market and farmers who can’t sell their produce to the government-assured program will lose out on the open market because prices will be forced down. So, they might get food at a low price but they won’t earn much from their produce. This trend is not good for the farmers in India who face severe problem in marketing their crop produce after harvest due to lack of remunerative prices for the end-products. Several times, the farmers are forced to opt for distress sale leaving them in a vulnerable condition due to poor market prices. It is unfortunate that some section of farmers’ are vulnerable to higher cost of cultivation accompanied by the unreasonable market prices. Globalization has brought openness in trade, but it could not ensure better market prices. Hence there is a need to regulate the marketing policies of the agriculture sector for the welfare of the farming community, which is much more impactful measure to ensure food security in India.
[1] World Bank Report, 2010 Swati Singh is an expert content writer. She is very experienced content writer. She has written many of articles on Striipes. Source:http://www.zimbio.com/Society/articles/YPUHUFKze9H/Fiinovation+Being+Hunger+Free?add=True
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