Comments
The Indian Government's handling of hunger has been sharply criticised in a new report by British charity Oxfam.
India failed to make “even a tiny dent” in the number of hungry people between 1990 and 2005, despite doubling the size of its economy, the Oxford-based charity said in its Growing A Better Future report on global food prices, published on Tuesday.
In that period, the number of hungry people rose by a staggering 65 million, the report said. “You have roughly one in four of the world's hungry in India, and with all the growth that the country's achieved its clear that something is very wrong,” said Ms Kirsty Hughes, head of public policy at Oxfam.
The charity contrasts the situation with that of Brazil, pointing the finger at government policy. “Ultimately, it comes down to Government failure in India and Government success in Brazil, where a purposeful political leadership was buttressed by a strong citizens' movement led by people living in poverty,” the report notes.
The report points to Brazil's Zero Hunger campaign, launched in 2003 and strongly backed by former President Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and included a range of projects from cash transfers to poor mothers to water tank construction and loans. The programme has received widespread praise, including from the Food and Agriculture Organisation. By contrast, India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the fertiliser subsidy programme have failed to make inroads, the report argues.
“Sadly, India failed to prioritise hunger or develop a coherent strategy,” writes author Mr Robert Bailey.
The report provides a bleak picture of the future for India and the rest of the world. The average cost of key crops will rise by 120-180 per cent by 2030 with climate change, ecological degradation, rising energy and bio fuel demands, population growth and the increasing role of institutional investors in commodity markets among the contributing factors.
Biggest contributor
The biggest single contributor, according to the report, is climate change – accounting for around half the predicted rise.
The report is also critical of government action globally – arguing that the 2008 spike in food prices was badly handled by government policies including price and export controls or economy-wide subsidies – actions it argued only reduced incentives for food producers, or added to a nation's fiscal woes.
“We want this to be a positive campaign,” says Hughes, “There is a lot of good work happening but the question is about how you disseminate that,” she said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.