POVERTY AND HUNGER

POVERTY AND HUNGER

POVERTY

Poverty refers to socially perceived deprivation in terms of basic human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, durable, health, education, connectivity, etc. As per Amartya Sen, Poverty is a failure to achieve certain minimum capabilities, and this lack of capabilities is absolute.

Causes of Poverty

1. Economic Factors
   • Unemployment levels: above 7%.
   • Lack of Finance: for starting a new business, where poor people are denied finance because of lack of collateral.
   • Poor Agricultural growth and meager Income: Approximately 50% of the Indian population works in Agriculture sector which has less than 20% contribution in national GDP, and 52% of farmers are under debt.
   • Rising Inequality: The top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth. This directly hampers level playing field, leading to poverty trap for the Poor.
   • Poor Skills: Just 5.4% of the Indian workforce have formal skilling, pushing major population for low skills jobs like construction laborers and Informal jobs.
   • Increasing inflation: The persistent steep increase in the price of goods and services drastically affects the poor. For BPL people always find it difficult to cope up with these situations and their spending pattern gets affected.
2. Social Factors
   • Health related: with 65% of health expenditure out of pocket [Economic Survey 2020-21], it pushed the families into debt and finally into poverty.
   • Education related: poor learning outcomes, lack of vocational training, ‘degree’ not turning into jobs, increased competition –> Poor employment opportunities –> Poverty.
   • Social cleavages: like caste system, impacting full potential of the Individual.
   • Patriarchal mindset: This impedes women to be a breadwinner of the family and other phenomenon like feminization of poverty.
   • Caste system: Due to rigid caste system, the low caste people could not participate in the game of economic progress.
     • For example: A lower caste person will not be allowed to become a businessman or a trader. 33.3% of the Scheduled Caste group lives in multidimensional poverty.
   • Untouchability: They are not allowed to venture into the general employment opportunities and are forced to do in human jobs like manual scavenging.
   • Population growth: On average, 17 million people are added every year to its population which raises the demand for consumption goods considerably. When the population increases, the scarce resource sharing is at stake which will create a huge poverty gap.

1. Governance related
   • Failure of Social contract: where some poor and unprivileged people fail to receive the government for reasons like lack of proper documents, complex procedures, middle man problem.
   • Inefficient service delivery: because of problems like corruption, self-vested interests of the officials, lack of motivation etc.
   • Lax Rules and regulations: where despite provisions like child labor ban, wage equality norms, these are violated in open.
   • Decentralization related: where institutions like Panchayats are not well-funded to deal with local problems.
   • Politics on poverty: Vote bank politics is also held accountable for poverty in India where various political leaders find it convenient to exclude a huge chunk of the population from the poverty census after getting elected.
     • For example: Minority ethnic communities, tribal groups, and the Dalits are often not included in the list of beneficiaries.

1. Environment
   • Harsh climate: The hot climate of India reduces the capacity of people, especially the rural population, to work, for which production severely suffers. Moreover, absence of timely rain, excessive or deficient rain affects the country’s agricultural production severely.
   • Natural disaster: Frequent floods, famine, earthquakes, and cyclones cause heavy damage to agriculture; as a result, the price of food increases, and access becomes more and more limited, putting many at higher risk of hunger.
2. Other problems like
   • Digital Divide: In the new era of Industrial Revolution 4.0, technology is the new normal and with problems like gender divide, rural-urban divide, it will directly promote poverty.
   • Financial Inclusion: leading to problems like poor service delivery because of DBT reforms, poor savings, no bank finance, and no insurance facilities.

Consequences of Poverty

1. Economic consequences
   • Decreased demand: Leading to lower economic growth.
   • Demographic ‘Bomb’: India, having rich demographic dividend, could turn that into demographic liability with prevailing poverty.
   • Fiscal deficit: Due to increased subsidies, increased expenditure on food security etc.
   • Increased Unemployment: because of poor skill set, lack of funds for business, lower productivity due to improper food intake etc.
2. Political and Governance related
   • Protests and Riots: Poor people are easy target participants for ill-motivated protests.
   • Decreased Political participation: with poor bargaining power and motivation to participate in national affairs.
   • Manipulation of Social cleavages: where poor people are targeted the most to arouse communal disharmony.
   • Service delivery: is impacted as poverty brings many other impacts like no access to technology, poor awareness levels, etc.

1. Social Consequences
   • Illiteracy: leading to poor employment levels.
   • Malnutrition: Leading to wasting, stunting, and high mortality rate, creating poor mental capabilities and increased spending on health services.
   • Child Labor: This leads to low literacy, initiating a vicious cycle of low skill development and consequently low income.
   • Feminization of Poverty: with issues like single mothers and separated women.
   • Social Tensions: like drug abuse, mob lynching, and robbery, which increase with rising poverty.

Measures to deal with Poverty

• Employment generation: Ajeevika Mission, MGNREGA, PM Employment Generation, PM-SVANIDHI, Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, etc.
• Food and nutrition: National Food Security Act, National Nutrition Mission, Mid-Day Meal scheme, Antyodaya Anna Yojana, etc.
• Health: Ayushman Bharat, Matritva Sahyog Yojana, etc.
• Social security and financial inclusion: National social assistance program, Atal Pension Yojana, Jeevan Bima Yojana.

Way Forward

• Active participation: Poverty can effectively be eradicated only when the poor start contributing to growth by their active involvement in the growth process.
• Social mobilisation: This is possible through a process of social mobilisation, encouraging poor people to participate and become empowered.
• Employment opportunities: Help create employment opportunities, which may lead to increases in levels of income, skill development, health, and literacy.
• Infra support: Moreover, it is necessary to identify poverty-stricken areas and provide infrastructure such as schools, roads, power, telecom, IT services, and training institutions.

INCOME INEQUALITY

Income inequality is how unevenly income is distributed throughout a population. The less equal the distribution, the higher income inequality is. Income inequality is often accompanied by wealth inequality, which is the uneven distribution of wealth.

Causes of Inequality

1. Impact of technology and industrialization
   • Skill biased: Technology is skill-biased; thus, those who are able to use technology have increased productivity and wages. The increase in productivity leads to the proliferation of technology, which, in turn, creates a higher demand for skilled workers. This self-reinforcing cycle increases wealth and income inequality.
   • Increasing wage gap: Technology and industrialization also lead to frequent replacement of medium-skill jobs due to automation, increasing the wage gap further.
   • Capital based: A larger fraction of the returns from increased productivity from technology is delivered directly to the capital instead of labour, increasing the wealth and income gap.
   • Failure of Labour Intensive Manufacturing in India: This has created a labour gap, and industries that can provide mass employment are missing.
2. Economic reasons
   • Low productivity sectors: A large number of the labour force work in sectors with low productivity. For example — agriculture.
   • Inflation: Another cause of income inequality is inflation. During inflation, few profit earners gain while most wage earners lose. This is exactly what has happened in India.
   • Weakening labour movement: There is a strong link between labour’s declining share of income worldwide and the strength of labour unions rather than the use of automation and technology.
   • Wealth distribution: When the return on investments is higher than the rate of economic growth of the country, more wealth gets accumulated in the hands of capitalists compared to the labouring class [Thomas Piketty].
   • Wealth Concentration: People who already hold wealth have the resources to leverage the accumulation of wealth, making economic inequality a vicious cycle.
     • For example: Tax evasion leads to undue concentration of incomes in a few hands.
3. Governance policy
   • Regressive Tax: Indirect taxes give maximum revenue to the government, which affects the poor more than the rich, thereby increasing income inequality.
   • Corruption: Increasing corruption again affects the poor and favours the rich class.
   • Administrative Bottleneck: Certain government policies favour one sector over the other. Also, there is a lack of rule of law and enforcement of laws such as the Minimum Wages Act.
   • Unequal benefits out of economic reforms: While the top 1 percent has largely benefited from economic reforms, growth among low and middle-income groups has been relatively slow, and poverty persists.
   • Deregulation and liberalization policies: Since the mid-1980s, deregulation and liberalization policies have led to one of the most extreme increases in income and wealth inequality.

1. Social reasons
   • Education levels: Individuals with different levels of education often earn different wages. This is probably related to reason one: the level of education is often proportional to the level of skill.
   • Gender Issues: Females earn less than men.
   • Rigid social institutions like Caste: Due to which the nature of employment and work is limited.
2. Personal factors
   • Innate abilities: Individuals possessing different sets of abilities may have different levels of wealth. For example – more determined individuals may keep improving themselves and striving for better achievements, which justifies a higher wage.
   • Intelligence: Often believed that smarter people tend to have higher income and hence more wealth. There is a correlation of 0.82 between average IQ and GDP [IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Dr. Richard Lynn].

Impact of inequality:

1. Social:
   • Inhibits human development, social mobility and leads to denial of opportunities to the vulnerable.
   • Perpetuates haves vs have-nots divide.
   • Women empowerment: Due to increase in wage gap, it affects the empowerment of women.
   • De-stabilizes society: Income inequality gives rise to poorer public health and illiteracy, thus increasing crime rates, fueling political instability, and eventually destabilizing society.
2. Economic:
   • Perpetuates poverty: Continues the deprivation of marginalized sections.
   • Slowdown of growth and development of nation: Inequality leads to a lower rate of growth.
3. Political:
   • Social Unrest: Inequalities undermine the voice of the vulnerable and thus hamper democracy, promote corruption, and cronyism.
   • Against constitutional values: This goes against constitutional ideas of equality of status and opportunity and the equitable distribution of wealth.
   • Threat to cooperative federalism: Regional imbalances will pose a serious threat to cooperative federalism.

Government Initiatives

1. Social:
   • Provision of Social Security: through schemes such as PM-JAY, Atal Pension Yojana, etc.
   • Increasing spending on creation of social infrastructure: on education, health, social protection, etc. e.g., Right to Education.
2. Economy Related:
   • Financial Inclusion: through schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana so as to include economically weaker sections and provide access to bank accounts.
   • Support for Entrepreneurship: through MUDRA banks, National hub for SC/ST entrepreneurs.
   • Employment Guarantee Schemes: such as MGNREGA.

1. Policy Level:
   • Reservation Policy: for equality of opportunity.

Way forward

1. Policy Level:
   • Progressive Taxation: for redistribution of resources.
   • Increasing Social Spending: on health, education, etc., to increase efficiency of the working population and achieve a better demographic dividend.
   • A wealth tax on multimillionaires: Given the large volume of wealth concentration, modest progressive taxes can generate significant revenues for governments.
2. Social:
   • Women Empowerment: Increasing LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate) of women will lead to an increase in overall growth and development of the nation.
   • Skill training and Entrepreneurship promotion: to increase job opportunities and support the entrepreneurship ecosystem for better job creation.
   • Transfer Payments: Various types of transfer payments (such as unemployment compensation, soft loans, pensions to freedom fighters, concessions to senior citizens, etc.) have been made to improve the welfare of certain weaker sections of society.
3. Leveraging Technology:
   • Innovation: in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, etc., along with technological reforms.
   • Promotion of digital literacy and internet penetration: for better alignment of the working population with industrial demands.

FOOD SECURITY

Food security is a “situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” [FAO].

Dimensions of Food Security

• Food Availability
• Food Access
• Food Utilization
• Stability in Food Availability
  

Importance of Food Security

1. Social reasons
   • To tackle hunger: India ranks 101/116 in the Global Hunger Index 2021 and is categorized at a ‘serious’ level.
   • To tackle stunting in children: At 17.3%, India has the highest child wasting rate of all countries covered in the GHI.
   • Health expenditure: Food security will ensure better immunity and thus reduce health expenditure.
   • Demographic Dividend: It will ensure cognitive development of citizens and hence, utilize the demographic dividend.
2. Economic reasons
   • Growth of agriculture sector: This will increase its contribution to the GDP, which is currently around 3.4%.
   • Tackle Inflation: Sufficient availability of food is necessary for controlling food prices.
   • Poverty reduction: Around half of India’s population is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors. Thus, it can help in job creation, and subsequently reduce poverty.
   • Exports: India is the 2nd largest producer of wheat, rice. Thus, it has high potential for exports, leading to forex earnings.
3. Global reasons
   • SDG 2: It talks about zero hunger by 2030, for which food security is non-negotiable.

Challenges in attaining food security

1. Social issues
   • Poverty: Even if food is available, due to less purchasing capacity, people do not get sufficient nutrients. India produces more than the estimated amount required to feed the entire population; however, more than 194 million people sleep hungry every day [FAO].
   • Large informal sector: Around 90% of India’s workforce is in the informal sector, implying survival on daily wages, which is variable.
   • Overpopulation: It is difficult to provide food security to 136 crore people with low literacy levels.
   • Gender Inequality: Leads to girl children and women consuming less than required food. Around 53% of women suffer from anemia in India – NHFS IV.
   • Poor literacy levels of parents: Affects nutrition, breastfeeding, and healthy diet of children.
2. Economic issues
   • Poor growth of agriculture sector: Due to lack of improvement in agricultural productivity, owing to inadequate resources and markets needed to obtain agricultural stability.
3. Policy/Administrative issues
   • Poor targeting of schemes: Often leads to exclusion of needy populations.
   • Poor service at PDS Shops: Poor functioning, improper PoS machines, etc.
   • Wastage: Around 62,000 tonnes of food grains were wasted in FCI warehouses between 2011 and 2017.
   • Improper implementation of programs: Such as lack of nutritious food in the Mid-Day Meal scheme.
   • Lack of coordination: Various ministries and departments are involved in food security programs; however, there is a lack of coordination between them.
4. Environmental reasons
   • Vagaries of monsoon: High dependence of the agriculture sector on rains often leads to crop failures.
   • Climate change: Increasing temperatures leading to drought-like conditions and unseasonal rainfall [March 2021 wheat crops in Madhya Pradesh were spoiled] also affect crop production.

1. Other issues
   • Armed Conflicts: Food production is usually reduced, and in some cases collapses, leading to hunger and starvation and forcing large numbers of people to migrate [FAO].
   • Terrain: Difficult to reach populations living in difficult terrains, such as tribals in forest regions.

Consequences of Food Insecurity        

Initiatives taken by government to attain food security

1. Legislation
   • National Food Security Act, 2013: It envisages a rights-based approach, entitling 67% of the population to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
2. Schemes
   • National Nutrition Mission 2018: Ensures convergence with various programs.
   • Integrated Child Development Scheme
   • Mid-Day Meal Scheme, 1995: MDM is the world’s largest school feeding program reaching out to about 11 crore children in Schools and Education Guarantee centers (EGS) across the country.
   • For improving agricultural productivity: National Food Security Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil, and Maize (ISOPOM), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and the e-marketplace.
   • Food Fortification: To increase the nutritional value of food products (milk, oil, salt, etc.).

Way Forward

• Increase agricultural productivity: Through micro-irrigation practices, quality seeds, better storage, and logistics facilities.
• Increase food availability and accessibility: Better targeting under prevalent schemes, promoting localization of storage, household gardens.
• Best practices:
  • Arakunomics model: It follows an “ABCDEFGH” framework centering on: Agriculture, Biology, Compost, Decentralised decision-making, Entrepreneurs, Families, Global Markets, and ‘Headstands’. It is an integrated economic model that ensures profit for farmers and quality for consumers through regenerative agriculture.

MALNUTRITION

Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition covers two broad groups of conditions:

• Undernutrition: It includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age), and micronutrient deficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals).
• Overweight, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer).

Causes of Malnutrition

1. Economic:
   • Low family income: Inability to afford nutritious food.
   • Lack of access to nutrient-dense food: Diet misses out on nutrition.
   • High food prices: Diet patterns change towards cheaper, non-nutritious food.
   • Overnutrition: Leads to obesity and unhealthy, cheaper alternatives.
   • Lack of proper cooking medium: Low access to gas chulhas.
   • Nature of employment: Working parents have less time for child care.
   • Poor infrastructure: Poor storage and food wastage, leading to a decline in per capita availability.
   • Fall in economic growth: This has exacerbated malnourishment in India [Jean Dreze].
2. Social:
   • Maternal Malnutrition: Low antenatal care leading to malnourished babies.
   • Poor Housing: Lack of sanitation, causing ill health.
   • Habits: Lack of awareness or irrational beliefs leading to an inefficient diet.
   • Large Families: Rapid pregnancies leading to inequitable access to food.
   • Water Supply: Contaminated water causing poor health.
   • Conflict: Loss of livelihood and poverty resulting in insufficient food.
   • Migration: Bureaucracy and its need for documentation create a form of social and economic exclusion, leading to a lack of food availability.
   • Open Defecation is a main contributor to malnutrition.

1. Governance
   • Competing issues: Lack of policy focus leading to nutrition being neglected.
   • Issues with PDS: Lack of access to food grains causing food insecurity.
   • Corruption: Leakages in social schemes leading to a decline in availability.
   • Agricultural Pricing: Issues in marketing and logistics.
   • Storage issues: Food wastage.
   • Mismatch between demand and supply.
   • Central government in India has turned its back on social policies: For example, the budget given to the Mid-Day Meal Programme this year is only 11,500 crores compared to 13,000 crores in 2014.
2. Environmental
   • Climate change: Changes in crop patterns causing food insecurity.
   • Floods/Droughts: Damage to crops leading to a decline in availability.
   • CO2: Reduces key nutrients in crops causing nutrient deficiency in the body.
   • Climate refugees: Lack of access to food and sanitation.
3. Individual
   • Poor lifestyle: Insufficient nutrient diet.
   • Medical problems: For example, oncological diseases such as cancer, and pulmonary diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
   • Vaccination: Lack of vaccination leading to poor health.
   • Micronutrient deficiency: Known as “Hidden Hunger”.

Consequences of Malnutrition

1. Health consequences
   • Compromised immune system: Leading to a reduced ability to fight infection.
   • Mental issues: Malnutrition causes apathy, depression, introversion, self-neglect, and deterioration in social interactions.
   • Reproductive issues: Malnutrition reduces fertility, and if present during pregnancy, can predispose the baby to problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke later in life.
   • Death: Malnutrition was the cause of 69% of deaths of children under the age of five in India [UNICEF].
   • Others: Growth failure and stunting, delayed sexual development, reduced strength, etc.
2. Socio-economic consequences
   • Poverty: Due to poor cognitive development, malnourishment leads to poor employment opportunities, resulting in poverty.
   • Poor education levels: Malnutrition is known to hinder brain development, leading to diminished mental ability.
   • Low productivity: Mortality and morbidity associated with malnutrition represent a direct loss in human capital and productivity for the economy.
   • Expenditure in health systems: Undernutrition in early childhood makes an individual more prone to non-communicable diseases later in life, significantly increasing health costs in resource-constrained health systems.
   • Conflicts: Food insecurity, especially when caused by higher food prices, heightens the risk of democratic breakdown, civil conflict, protest, rioting, and communal conflict.

Stakeholders

• Women: Maternal healthcare, lactating and breastfeeding mothers.
• Children: Under 5 children, adolescents, and infants.

• Poor families: Below poverty line families unable to access a nutritious diet.
• Dalit and Tribal Families: Lack of access and discrimination.
• Government: Loss of vital human resources leading to higher cost to GDP.
• Healthcare sector: High burden of diseases and frequent epidemic outbreaks.

Initiatives to tackle malnutrition

1. National initiatives
   • POSHAN Abhiyan: The mission focuses on improving sanitation and hygiene conditions, anemia, antenatal care, and optimal breastfeeding, among other issues, for over 130 million children.
   • National Nutrition Strategy: Aims to reduce all forms of malnutrition by 2030, focusing on the most vulnerable and critical age groups. It assists in achieving the targets identified as part of the SDGs related to nutrition and health.
   • Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS): Targets children up to the age of 6 years, pregnant and lactating mothers, and women aged 16–44. The scheme aims to improve the health, nutrition, and education (KAP) of the target community.
   • National Health Mission: Encompasses two sub-missions, NRHM and NUHM, to achieve universal access to equitable, affordable, and quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to people’s needs.
   • Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: A country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management.
   • Mid-Day Meal Programme: A school meal program in India designed to improve the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide.
   • National Food Security Act: Marks a paradigm shift in the approach to food security from a welfare to rights-based approach. It legally entitles up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under TPDS.
   • Antyodaya Anna Yojana: A government-sponsored scheme providing highly subsidized food to millions of the poorest families.
   • Integrated management of PDS: Aims to introduce nation-wide portability of ration cards under NFSA through the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ plan, allowing migrant beneficiaries to obtain their entitled quota of food grains from any FPS of their choice across the country.
   • FIT India Movement: A nationwide movement in India encouraging people to remain healthy and fit by including physical activities and sports in their daily lives.
2. International initiatives
   • World Food Programme Project: The food-assistance branch of the UN, it is the world’s largest humanitarian organization focused on hunger, food security, and school meal provision.
   • UNICEF Assistance for Women and Children

Way forward

1. Role of Government

• Policy support: Implementing PDS without leakages.
• Decentralisation: Empowering local bodies for more targeted delivery.
• Basic income support: Support for needy families.
• Diversifying PDS: Including milk and eggs.
• Curbing corruption: Reducing leakages and increasing per capita food availability.
• Infrastructure: Improving storage and disbursal.
• Creating sanitary infrastructure: Access to proper housing, clean drinking water.
• Crop Diversification: Growing resilient nutritious crops like millets for food security and also reducing wastage.
• Jan Andolan: India needs a Jan Andolan through strong community involvement and stakeholders.

1. Role of Civil Society
   • Awareness: Proper awareness generation on diets and key requirements.
   • Training: Anganwadi workers to disseminate information regarding food habits to the masses.
   • Workshops at schools and colleges: Promoting healthy eating habits and better nutrition.
2. Role of Family
   • Resolving gender issues: Women empowerment leading to better child-rearing practices.
   • Encouraging Female education: Positive impact on child health.
   • Ending Domestic abuse: Creates a better home atmosphere, improving the health of women and children.
   • Supporting traditional foods: Genetic disposition leads to better nutrient absorption by the body.

Innovative methods from around the world

• Japan and Kerala: Making fast food expensive or imposing a fat tax.
• Monitor Food Fortification: Encouraged by FAO.
• Peru: Through partnerships with NGOs and agencies, Peru’s malnutrition rates declined in 5 years.
• UNICEF’s WASH: Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene program.
• Golden Rice: Developed by the International Rice Research Institute, a genetically modified rice variant used to combat Vitamin A deficiency.