“Nourish to Flourish”

Compiled by: Ketan Suri

Kuldeep Kumar Mulk Raj Patel Syed Ashar Ali Md. Sarwar Ali

INTRODUCTION

• What is Malnutrition??

A medical condition caused by an improper or insufficient diet .

A category of diseases that includes under nutrition, obesity and overweight, and micronutrient deficiency among others.

Also it is frequently used to mean under-nutrition from either inadequate calories or inadequate specific dietary components for whatever reason.

Most of the seven billion people in this world suffer from malnutrition.

Half do not have enough to eat and the rest of us eat too much.”

A malnourished person finds that their body has difficulty doing normal

things such as growing and resisting disease. Physical work becomes

problematic and even learning abilities can be diminished. For women,

pregnancy becomes risky and they cannot be sure of producing nourishing

breast milk.

When a person is not getting enough food or not getting the right sort of

food, malnutrition is just around the corner. Disease is often a factor, either as a result

or contributing cause. Even if people get enough to eat, they will become malnourished

if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micronutrients - vitamins

and minerals - to meet daily nutritional requirements.

Ineffective and corrupt PDS system:

Due to lack of punctuality and initiative, food stored in buffer stock gets rotten

In order for the food facilities to improve,

the PDS system should be free from corruption and made effective through stricter laws and inspections

2. Green revolution

Despite having advanced techniques in agriculture, many farmers still use archaic methods of agriculture.

Government aid to the farmers for acquiring means to do scientific agriculture thereby increasing productivity.

CAUSES

3. Mid- Day Meals improper implementation:

Surprise inspection and initiatives to ensure proper implementation. Hygiene should also be improved.

Careless and disconcerted officials given the job of this policy implementation resulting into mishaps (for instance Bihar mid-day meal fiasco)

4. Increase Welfare Funding:

Money has been segregated on welfare oriented purposes such as infrastructural development.

A small portion from taxes and funds should be utilized to heed this problem of malnutrition.

5. Awareness

People are not fully aware of the problem and still continue to be unaware and ignorant. People in the rural areas are not reached out.

Awareness should be created by arranging welfare programmes, workshops, etc. Communication media like T.V., newspapers, etc. along with aid and initiatives from N.G.O.s and organizations can play a major role.

6.Uniform Industrial development

Industrial Sector is developing rapidly resulting in harm to the environment and losses to agricultural sector in the form of unemployment.

Laws and norms governing industrial setup and development should be made such that forest cover is not cleared or agricultural sector does not suffer.

7. Self sufficiency and poverty reduction

Persons “Below Poverty Line” are not equipped with means to earn for their living resulting in malnutrition.

Govt. aid and employment opportunities should be provided to such people so that they become self-sufficient and help themselves.

8. Rural Development and Urban Reconstruction

Rural areas are not developed to the extent to which they can contribute towards increasing food production. The excess resources in urban areas get exhausted and

used up due to population migration.

Scientific farming methods should be promoted in rural areas and eco-friendly approach should be adopted in urban areas so that an equilibrium can be established

and food production could be increased.

9. Emergency protocols for malnourished

There is a need for treatment facilities in cases of emergency to heed those in dire need of care and treatment.

Emergency protocol cells along with initiatives from govt. agencies, N.G.O.s can help in achieving these objectives easily.

The problem of malnutrition has been rampant in the country. An analogy and a parallel frame can be made with the countries of Africa like Sudan or Somalia. Despite international organisation like UNICEF and WHO , the policies have failed to reach all countries. In order to avoid such situation of rampant malnourishment and malnourishment to occur in India, proper policy implementation and stricter rules governing the welfare for the people needs to be implemented. People should be made self-reliant and independent. If these aforesaid solutions are implemented, the situation of mal-nourishment will be eradicated and India will rise in standards of both living and growth.

1. UNICIF survey report of 2012

2. HUNGaMA survey report 2013

3. Malnutrition matters-meeting quality standards in nutritional care

4. Urban Poverty and Urbanization – 2001, Reena Bhasin

5. Handbook of Families and Poverty – 2008, D. Russel Crane