The problem of starvation exacerbated during the Corona period

- Oxfam reports that hunger kills 11 people every minute in the world

- The famine situation in the world due to the Corona epidemic is becoming extremely worrying and the attention of organizations around the world has become focused on fighting the virus which has resulted in the suspension of anti-hunger campaigns.

A report by the international rights group Oxfam has come up with a shocking fact that 11 people die every minute in the world due to hunger. Oxfam says the number of people facing starvation worldwide has increased sixfold in the past year. According to the report, The Hunger Virus Multiply, more deaths are due to starvation than covid. Seven people die every minute due to covid.

According to an Oxfam report, 124 million people worldwide are living in food insecurity or worse. This figure is two crore more than last year.

Two-thirds of these people are facing starvation because of the ongoing military conflict in their country. Oxfam says the Corona epidemic has left more than 3.5 million people starving due to economic problems, climate change and military conflict. Despite the Corona epidemic, global military spending has exceeded 21 billion, six times the amount the UN has allocated to fight hunger.

A recent UN report also revealed that the famine situation in the world is becoming extremely worrying due to the Corona epidemic. More than ten thousand children die every month due to lack of food. The plight of poor countries is deteriorating day by day due to the Corona epidemic.

The report said that the products produced in the villages could not reach the market and food and medical supplies could not reach the villages. The report feared that a shortage of food supplies caused by the corona virus could lead to the deaths of 120,000 children a year.

According to the United Nations, more than five and a half million children are malnourished every month. Four UN agencies have warned that the long-term consequences of rising malnutrition could be devastating. According to the World Health Organization, the effects of the corona crisis on food security are yet to be seen.

Corona transition has pushed countries to the brink of starvation. It is impossible to imagine the situation of poor and developing countries where the economies of developed countries have been shaken by the Corona epidemic.

A UN report on global hunger says that the number of people suffering from hunger has increased by one crore this year compared to last year. The Corona epidemic could starve some 150 million people this year. According to the report, about one in nine people go hungry because of the Corona epidemic.

Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, hunger is a big problem in India. Hunger is on the rise in the country amid the government's growth claims and India's position in the Global Hunger Index is declining. In the Global Hunger Index 2020, India is ranked 9th out of 102 countries and is in the critical range of hunger.

India is in such a dire situation in terms of hunger that it lags behind Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, or even Pakistan, in this ranking. Neighboring Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan are also in the critical range but above India.

17% of India's population is malnourished. In the year 2000, the figure was 12.5 per cent. The percentage of underweight children in the age group of less than five years is 90.5 per cent as against 12.1 per cent in the year 2000.

Similarly, stunting among children under the age of five years is 8.6 per cent, which was 2.7 per cent in the year 2000. The under-five mortality rate is 7.8 per cent, up from 7.5 per cent in 2000. This performance is worrisome for India because globally the index has seen an improvement in levels of hunger and malnutrition.

According to a report by the Global Hunger Index, the situation here is worse than in other South Asian countries due to India's large population. The rate of vesting among children in India is considered to be particularly severe and the highest among all the countries covered in the report. Hunger has a direct effect on nutrition and health. Malnutrition has a direct impact on the mental and physical development, education and intellectual capacity of children. Given that, how weak India's future generation will be is a different matter.

Earlier, a UN report had said that more than 5 per cent of the 30 million people suffering from hunger worldwide were in India.

The UN report claimed that about 12 per cent of India's population was suffering from hunger. Causes of famine include war, conflict, violence, climate change, natural disasters, etc. The question is which of these factors causes more hunger in India? Factors like conflict and violence in India, like in Africa or Latin America, are negligible.

The picture of malnutrition in India is appalling. According to a report by the Indian Council of Medical Research, malnutrition is a major cause of death in children up to five years of age. Malnutrition still kills 4.5 percent of children under the age of five.

Apart from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Nagaland and Tripura have the highest number of malnourished children. According to a UNICEF report, India is worse off than any other country in the world in terms of malnutrition.

The importance of the nutrition campaign is increasing but the shortcomings in implementing such a campaign at the ground level are worrying the experts. Thus, the government implements many schemes to curb hunger and malnutrition in India, but due to bureaucracy and corruption, the benefits of such schemes do not reach the needy.

Rising inflation and skyrocketing food prices are making the poor and low-income people increasingly helpless. Corruption in the public distribution system of foodgrains is well known. Half of the cheap grain made available to the poor does not reach the people and is sold at high prices in the open markets.

Malnutrition has a direct impact on the mental and physical development, education and intellectual capacity of children. Given that, how weak India's future generation will be is a different matter. Children's childhood is disappearing due to malnutrition but their future is also uncertain.

In terms of malnutrition, the situation of women in India is even worse. It is estimated that 51% of young women suffer from anemia. The Corona epidemic has drawn the attention of organizations around the world to the fight against the virus, which has halted anti-starvation campaigns. In backward countries, health as well as other services are struggling against corona and people are not paying attention to the hungry.