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India has emerged as the world’s fastest growing economy. However, Asia’s third largest economy just ranked 97th among 118 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the <keyword id="108578" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Food-Policy-Research-Institute">International Food Policy Research Institute</keyword> (<keyword id="6557928" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ifpri">IFPRI</keyword>). This puts the country behind even <keyword id="6354759" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</keyword>, <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword>, <keyword id="6355112" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Iraq">Iraq</keyword>, and <keyword id="6354767" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nigeria">Nigeria</keyword> in the hunger map. 
 
India’s policy addressing hunger and malnutrition in all age groups has a feast of questions and a famine of answers. India’s hunger, being worse than any sub-Saharan country, needs crisis management and a long term vision. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">ALSO READ: Excise duty in cigarette hiked. Tobacco farmers in India are struggling to make ends meet</a> 
 Be it <keyword id="4227644" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="manohar-das">Manohar Das</keyword> of <keyword id="4227647" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tewri">Tewri</keyword> village in <keyword id="6360371" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jharkhand">Jharkhand</keyword>, who works in hundred days of wage-employment or <keyword id="4227646" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="shib-baksha">Shib Baksha</keyword> of <keyword id="4227645" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="amlasol">Amlasol</keyword> village in <keyword id="61773" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="West-Midnapore">West Midnapore</keyword> district of <keyword id="6357783" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="West-Bengal">West Bengal</keyword>, who works as contract labour at nearby village, the thin line that connects them is the ignorance about ‘<keyword id="2209492" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi-Sarkar">Modi Sarkar</keyword>’. The only thing they understand by the government is getting staples at Rs 2/kg and free goodies. However, staples alone can’t fulfill nutritional needs, as a result they end up with stunted growth and other diseases. Not everyone is as lucky as them. Their neighbours, unable to procure <keyword id="49514" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="bpl">BPL</keyword> (below poverty level) identity cards and Ration Cards aren’t entitled to these basic facilities and have to starve most of the days. Only feast they can think of is ant eggs roast during the scorching summer months. 
 
 
 
India’s overall GDP growth is expected to end at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">7.1% this financial year</a>, as compared to 4.6% two years back. While food still counts as the basic requirement of human existence, India is a country that not only produces enough, but ironically, there is never enough for its ever growing population to eat. Funnily, while millions go hungry, for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">India storage of surplus food</a> has always been a problem. 
 
 
 
India’s hunger-management disaster 
While development in many sectors is acknowledged, what is lesser known is that India has also made considerable progress on many social fronts, such as fertility decline, expansion of schooling and bridging the gender gap in education, especially at the primary and lower secondary levels. However, there is one <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">area of human development</a>, where India has been a disaster: tackling hunger and malnutrition. 
 
Child malnutrition rates in India are extraordinarily high- among the highest in the world, with nearly one-half of all children under 3 years of age being either underweight or stunted. Indeed, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">child malnutrition rates </a>are higher in India than in many countries of sub-Saharan <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword>, even though income levels are significantly higher and levels of infant and child mortality are lower in India. 
 
 
 
Pediatric malnutrition Prevalence of child malnutrition in India has remained stubbornly high even after nearly a half-century of respectable agricultural productivity growth and two decades of post-reform economic growth and prosperity in the country. Adding more support to the view that child malnutrition is weakly correlated with income is the finding that among children of mothers with 10 or more years of schooling as well as mothers from the top income quintile, around one-quarter are underweight. Even in a relatively prosperous and dynamic state like <keyword id="6354766" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gujarat">Gujarat</keyword>, child malnutrition rates have been stagnant over the past decade. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">ALSO READ: HOW INDEPAY IS MAKING RURAL INDIA CASHLESS</a> 
 The <keyword id="121300" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Family-Health-Survey">National Family Health Survey</keyword> (NFHS) found that a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">significant number of adults</a> in India suffer from malnutrition. Almost 58 per cent of pregnant women aged 15-49 were found to be anaemic. The Global Food Security Index also revealed that Indians lack adequate quantities of iron, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">Vitamin A and protein in their diets</a>. 
 
 
 
“Half of the children who die before five years of age have malnutrion as a cause in their pathogenesis. If we look at proportion of weight at birth, 23 per cent of children weigh less than 2.5 kg, which is below normal. This low birth weight has its reason in the womb, which is where they are malnourished already before being born. Low birth weight increases over time and so by the time they are three-years-old, half the children are malnourished. Because of poor sanitation we have widespread <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">faecal oral contamination</a>. Water and food sources have high degrees of contamination and it results in diarrhoea and other gastro intestinal illnesses, which increases the child mortality rate,” said renowned public health specialist and activist Dr <keyword id="43944" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binayak-Sen">Binayak Sen</keyword>. 
 
 
 
State of famine 
In 1943, three million people died in the infamous <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">Bengal famine</a>. There was no shortage of grain in <keyword id="6356978" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengal">Bengal</keyword> at that time, yet people had nothing to eat. Interpreting the Famine of 1943,<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841"> Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen </a>suggested that the reason for it was the breakdown of the social arrangement in distributing food. To put the matter in a world context, every three seconds somewhere around the world, a child dies of causes related to avoidable malnutrition. "In those three seconds, the world armaments industry spends 120,000 USD in order to keep the system responsible safely in place,” Binayak Sen told <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword>. 
 
 
 
Ignorant policies that do the most harm Skyrocketing prices of daily food items spell more woe for the people, who are already paying "too much" to survive. International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (<keyword id="1367836" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IFAD">IFAD</keyword>) Rural Poverty Report-2011 states, “While international food prices have declined since mid-2008, they are still substantially higher than prior to the price surge, and they are likely to remain at 2010 levels or higher for the next decade.” The report has suggested that about 100 million of world’s rural and urban people have to remain hungry. 
 “It will remain high, the era of cheap food is over," said <keyword id="669006" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Richard-Mahapatra">Richard Mahapatra</keyword>, managing editor of Down to <keyword id="6359982" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="earth">Earth</keyword>. "This is because productivity of agriculture is low and thus impacts production. This is the supply side issue. Also the rainfed areas that contribute a signifcant amount of foodgrain is not getting the policy focus. Even though the new second Green <keyword id="24385" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="revolution">Revolution</keyword> is aimed at that, it seems to be flawed. Now, the demand side. Demand is increasing but we don't have robust distribution mechanism. So, it creates further price rise. Also, there is huge diversion of agricultural lands to other uses. Combined with low productivity, less lands and absence of distribution mechanism, we are set for high price rise.” 
 Due to the PDS (<keyword id="89442" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Public-distribution-system">Public Distribution System</keyword>) and the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">public wage programmes</a> starvation deaths have definitely come down, he contended. Often we call cheap food grain programmes as populist. They are indeed popular as poor find them useful and their starvation is avoided with this entitlement. 
 
 
 
Adult malnutrition 
“Roughly 33-35 per cent of the entire Indian population have a BMI below 18.5, which is indicative of calorie malnutrition. They aren't getting enough food to eat. More than one-third of India is on a chronic basis not getting proper food to eat. Low BMI is also restricting people’s immunity,” said Binayak Sen. 
 “Without addressing nutritional status, there can be no adequate development. Food Security Act does nothing for betterment of nutritional status of the poeple as such. <keyword id="250148" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Bill">The Bill</keyword> is like 'something is better than nothing'. Five kilos of wheat per person per month make two chapattis per day. With two chapatis the nutritional question isn’t answered. This terrible nutritional deficit is yielding polarization in society,” he added. 
 
Urban malnutrition 
In villages, people stay in close bond with each other, who can be approached for help in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">times of crisis</a>. Migrating people in cities start living in slums and ghettos, where they have to live with people unknown and untrustworthy. Moreover, people fight here to make ends meet, which actually leads to self-centric attitude. 
 
Red corridor hunger 
“People who are in chronic situation and stable famine are able to withstand only because of their access to natural resources like land, water and forest," opined Binayak Sen. "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">Access to this resources was unrestricted</a>. Designating the common properties as commodities that can be owned by corporates is restricting poeple’s right to access and in a way right to live. Any form of resistance is labelled as insurgency. First they try civil ways and then take recourse in military measures. People have to confront. Application of eminent domain needs to be questioned. Under 5th schedule, govt has to ensure people’s access to natural resources but there is not a single instances of government intervening.” 
 
“They have mapped it as red corridor but poeple’s deprivation hasn't been mapped yet," said Sen. 
 
"We need to relook at the arm forces and UAPA laws. Whole discourse in election has become restricted to attitudes to development. Development is about accessing resources. Nobody is saying there are vital issues involved. What is going to happen to the poeple whose right has been denied? State will not be thwarted in its course. There needs to be a contestaion in the level of people. They need to raise the issue.” 
 
Business Insider’s Take 
Agriculture contributes around 16 per cent to<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841"> India’s GDP</a>; it is coming down over the years. But still 60 per cent people depend on this. What does this mean? Is it that it is reliable as a source of livelihood or people don't have any other source thus depend on agriculture? In both the cases, shifting people out of agriculture is going to be a tough challenge. Industries or the service sectors have their own limitation and can't absorb such a huge number of people. Strategically, this will be a blunder as we kill out food self-sufficiency.

BI Investigation: India’s food nightmare is killing millions of
children across the country every day

The entire list and exciting facts about the 30 assembly constituencies going to polls in West Bengal on March 27

<ul><li>BJP’s <keyword id="1692903" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharati-Ghosh">Bharati Ghosh</keyword> is contesting from West Bengal's Debra Assembly constituency.</li><li>Ghosh, a former IPS officer with 23 years in service, has 19 criminal charges against her.</li><li>She is contesting against Trinamool Congress candidate Humayun Kabir, who is also a former IPS officer.</li></ul>Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state vice president, Bharati Ghosh who is contesting from West Bengal's Debra Assembly constituency, has an impressive bank balance with declared assets worth ₹19 crore making her the wealthiest politician contesting from West Bengal (WB). But, she also has a lofty list of <a href="https://adrindia.org/content/west-bengal-assembly-elections-2021-phase-ii-analysis-criminal-background-financial">criminal charges</a> against her that amount to 19 in total (53 serious Indian Penal Code [IPC] charges and 56 other IPC charges) and no conviction. Of these, she has 12 charges under IPC Section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 5 charges under IPC Section-307 (related to attempt to murder), 4 charges under IPC Section-354 (related to assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 2 charges under IPC Section-468 (related to forgery for the purpose of cheating), among many others. One of the 19 female candidates from WB out of 171, Ghosh is a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who was in service from January 1994 to Dec 2017. A decorated police officer, Ghosh was the police chief for over six years in West Midnapore. During this time she was instrumental in capturing Maoist leaders like Koteswar Rao and containing Maoism in general. However, she retired <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-wb-bjp-candidate-bharati-ghosh-moves-sc-seeking-stay-of-arrest-warrant-against-her/376583">two days after</a> she was transferred by Mamata Banerjee to a comparatively less alluring post as the commandant of a battalion of the State Armed Police in Barrackpore on December 26, 2017. She has also worked in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police and had a brief stint at the United Nations under various capacities and had <a href="https://www.ibtimes.co.in/who-bharati-ghosh-harvard-educated-un-peacekeeper-went-being-mamata-banerjees-cop-daughter-759233">won</a> six medals during her time there. Her impressive educational background includes a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Jadavpur University, bachelor’s in law from Burdwan University, and has studied at Harvard University and the London School of Economics. Ghosh eventually fell out of her close association with Mamata Banerjee and joined the BJP in 2019. Ghosh contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Ghatal constituency the same year. At the time, there was a rather infamous <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/bharati-ghosh-in-row-caught-saying-will-drag-tmc-men-out-beat-them-up-like-dogs-5710743/">incident</a> that occurred when in response to Ghosh's bold statement that she will bring goons from Uttar Pradesh to "drag TMC men out, beat them up like dogs,” she was accosted by an angry TMC mob a few weeks later that led her to scale the walls of a temple and seek <a href="https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/bricks-for-bharati-1502755203.html">refuge</a> at the Keshpur police station. She apparently made this statement on hearing TMC workers in Anandapur village (in Medinipur) were hindering people from voting in the Lok Sabha elections. In a separate incident, two days before polling began in Ghatal, her car was stopped and the police seized ₹1,13,815 in cash that according to Trinamool was perhaps going to be used to incentivise the people to vote for her. Ghosh, however, lost that election to Trinamool Congress candidate Deepak Adhikari (alias Dev) by a margin of 107,973 votes. Earlier this month, Ghosh moved the Supreme Court to seek a stay of an arrest warrant against her and to quash the FIRs against her in connection with the 2019 Lok Sabha poll violence case for alleged voluntary causing hurt, wrongful restraint and attempt to murder. The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly/arrest-warrant-against-bharati-ghosh-to-be-kept-in-abeyance-sc/article34025625.ece">granted</a> the stay till the conclusion of the West Bengal Assembly Elections. She maintains that these are all "false" cases being used as a tool to prevent her from pursuing her political career. In <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bengal-saw-693-cases-of-violence-during-2019-lok-sabha-polls/articleshow/81321892.cms">total</a>, there were 693 poll violence incidents and 11 deaths, in the state, during the 2019 general elections. This year, Ghosh is contesting against Trinamool Congress candidate Humayun Kabir, who is also a former IPS officer. However, unlike Ghosh, he does not have any active legal cases against him. The former police commissioner of Chandernagore, Kabir, joined TMC in February, this year. Kabir was the one who ordered the <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/humayun-kabir-ex-ips-officer-who-ordered-arrest-of-bjp-men-over-slogans-joins-trinamool-2366633">arrest</a> of three BJP members who were trying to incite disquiet by raising the slogan "Goli Maaro..." during a rally held by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, in January 2021. Miffed BJP members accused Kabir of being partisan to the Trinamool Congress because his wife, Anindita Das, is also a member of the party. However, Kabir resigned from his post a few days after the incident and joined the Trinamool Congress in February 2021. Ghosh may have had an impressive career trajectory but it is yet to be seen whether the burden of the criminal charges against her will dampen her political aspirations. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/elections/news/6-out-10-highest-income-candidates-in-west-bengals-phase-2-election-are-fighting-from-one-of-indias-most-backward-districts/slidelist/81701447.cms">6 out 10 highest income candidates in West Bengal’s phase 2 election are fighting from one of India's most backward districts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/elections/news/checkout-the-list-of-bjp-tmc-and-congress-candidate-names-in-first-phase-west-bengal-election/articleshow/81704142.cms">The entire list and exciting facts about the 30 assembly constituencies going to polls in West Bengal on March 27</a>

Bharati Ghosh, BJP's West Bengal contestant from Debra, has a robust bank balance along with a rather long rap sheet

Kolkata, Apr 16 () Betel leaf or 'paan' farmershave urged the West Bengal government to fix a minimum supportprice for their produce, as the ongoing lockdown has resultedin "huge losses", an official said on Thursday.Betel leaves are mostly cultivated in South 24Parganas district, which accounts for over 50 per cent of theoutput, besides Nadia and Midnapore districts."We seek immediate government support to fix a minimumprice, as our realisation is far below our costs. The crisishas hit one lakh families associated with the trade," AllBengal Betel Leaf Farmers Samity Secretary Kartik Das told.'Paan' is widely consumed in India in differentfillings as an after-food mouth freshener.Das said 1,500 pieces of betel leaf are being sold atRs 200, which is "significantly lower" than normal prices."We also demand that the commission should be at parwith government-controlled markets -- 5 per cent. In theKakdip market in South 24 Parganas, we have to pay 9 per centcommission," Das claimed.He said middlemen were taking advantage of thecoronavirus-induced lockdown, leaving farmers in the lurch. CORR BSMRBT RBT

West Bengal betel leaf farmers urge govt to fix MSP due to 'huge losses' amid lockdown

Extremely severe cyclone storm cyclone ‘Fani’ hit <keyword id="6357961" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="odisha">Odisha</keyword> earlier in the morning and is now moving northwards. The cyclone had moved close to north coastal Andhra before it made landfall in neighbouring Odisha. 12.30pm West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the state was prepared to combat the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani that is likely to affect six southern districts, while urging people to stay alert and not to panic. The cyclone made landfall on neighbouring Odisha's eastern coast on Friday morning. Despite extensive damage caused by near 200 kmph winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall, no loss of life has been reported so far. It is now located 418 km southwest of Kolkata and 364 Km, southwest of the East Midnapore district sea resort Digha. Six districts in Gangetic West Bengal likely to be affected are East and West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Kolkata. 12.15pm As a precaution against cyclone 'Fani', the Indian Railway has cancelled 223 trains in the Bhadrak-Vizianagaram section, along the coastal lines of Odisha on the Kolkata-Chennai route till May 4, officials said. A senior Railway Ministry official told IANS: "140 Mail and Express trains and 83 passenger trains have been cancelled till May 4 afternoon on the Bhadrak-Vizianagaram section (along Odisha coastline) of Kolkata-Chennai route." He said that nine trains have been diverted and four trains have been short terminated. 12.00pm As per PIB, Cyclonic Storm 'Fani' lay centered at 10.30 Hours IST today. Puri reported maximum sustained wind speed of 142 Kmph gusting to 174 kmph as of 07.30 IST today. It is very likely to move north-north eastwards and weaken into a very severe cyclonic storm during next 3 hours. 11:46 a.m. West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reportedly cancelled all her political rallies. "We are monitoring the situation 24x7 and doing all it takes. I appeal to all people to cooperate. Be alert, take care and stay safe for the next two days," she tweeted. 11:30 a.m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 11:02 a.m. In Andhra Pradesh, about 20,000 people have reportedly been shifted to 126 relief camps in Srikakulam district, where seven 'mandals' (blocks) are likely to be affected by the cyclone, IANS reported. The area is also under red alert asking people to take preventive measures. 10:55 a.m. Extremely severe cyclone storm cyclone ‘Fani’ hit Odisha earlier in the morning and is now moving northwards. The cyclone had moved close to north coastal Andhra before it made landfall in neighbouring Odisha. The cyclone “is very likely to move North-Northeastwards and further weaken into a “severe cyclonic storm”during the next six hours, the Indian Met Department has said. 10:40 a.m. The cyclone “is very likely to move North-Northeastwards and further weaken into a “severe cyclonic storm”during the next six hours, the Indian Met Department has said.

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BI Investigation: India’s food nightmare is killing millions of children across the country every day

Suchayan Mandal

The entire list and exciting facts about the 30 assembly constituencies going to polls in West Bengal on March 27

BI India Bureau

Bharati Ghosh, BJP's West Bengal contestant from Debra, has a robust bank balance along with a rather long rap sheet

Kavita Majumdar

West Bengal betel leaf farmers urge govt to fix MSP due to 'huge losses' amid lockdown

PTI

Cyclone Fani updates: Relief operations underway, 4,000 storm shelters set up in Odisha

BI India Bureau

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