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<ul><li>The Indian <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> has issued a notice to the central government asking it to respond to allegations that nearly four crore <keyword id="52453" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ration-Cards">ration cards</keyword> were cancelled because they were not Aadhaar-linked.</li><li>The plea filed with India’s apex judicial institutional added that the cancellation of these cards has led to an increase in <keyword id="99953" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="starvation-deaths">starvation deaths</keyword> across the country.</li><li>The Supreme Court has taken up the case at a time when food India’s insecurity is reportedly at an all time high, worsened by the COVID-19 lockdowns.</li></ul>Koili Devi lost her 11-year daughter to starvation after her family’s ration card was cancelled for not being linked to their Aadhaar number. The local authorities, however, claimed that the death of Santoshi Kumari was due to malaria — not hunger. The fight on whether or not the right to food, as promised by Article 47 of the Indian Constitution, is being impeded by Aadhaar card linkages has now reached the Supreme Court and the bench wants answers from the central government. The story of Koili Devi Devi maintains that Santoshi had allegedly not eaten for eight days before her death on 28 September 2017. She was even unable to avail the mid-day meal that she usually received at school due to the Durga Puja holidays at the time. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> In a video with Right to Campaign activist, Dheeraj Kumar, Devi explains that the local ration dealer refused to give her family rations for six months on the grounds that their ration card had not been linked — or ‘seeded’ — to their Aadhaar card. Devi’s husband was mentally ill and hence, unable to work. She and her other daughter tried to get some income cutting grass on farms, but that only put around ₹80 to ₹90 in their pocket per week. Even jobs under India’s employment guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, were not available at the time to provide the family with any kind of disposable income. In the moments before Santoshi lost consciousness, Devi claims that her child asked for rice. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“I went to get rice but I was told that no ration will be given to me. My daughter died saying ‘bhat, bhat’.”" auname="Koili Devi told ANI."></div> Now, the question isn’t just about Devi’s right to food, but the right of nearly four crore families whose ration cards have allegedly been cancelled, without prior notice, because they were not linked to the country’s biometric identification system -- Aadhaar. ‘One nation, one ration card’ has made things worse While the central government has been asked to explain themselves, states too have a role to play. Even Solicitor General Aman Lekhi told the petitioner to take the case to the relevant high court. This is because in states where starvation deaths are happening due to lack of a ration card, the administration is blaming them either on malaria or diarrhoea instead — like in the case of Devi and her daughter Santoshi. “In fact, [they blame it on] anything but the lack of food,” said the petitioner's report after obtaining responses from states. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“The Union of India casually gives an explanation that these cancelled cards were bogus. The real reason is that the technological system based on iris identification, thumb prints, non-possession of Aadhaar, non-functioning of the internet in rural and remote areas, etc, led to large scale cancellation of ration cards without notice to the family concerned.”" auname="Report filed by the petitioner, Koili Devi, to the Supreme Court of India"></div> In Odisha, for instance, families were being denied access to food through the public distribution system (PDS) after the state started to implement the central government’s ‘one nation, one ration card’ programme in September 2019, according to <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/society/odisha-families-are-being-denied-rations-due-to-aadhaar-linking-problems/article29863013.ece">The Hindu.</a> The programme required ration card holders to link their accounts to their Aadhaar in an exercise called ‘Aadhaar seeding’. The process helps the government weed out ghost names, which appear on multiple ration cards. These names can then be removed from the list of beneficiaries. But, the system is not foolproof as seen in Odisha’s case. “Tribals either do not have Aadhaar cards or the identification does not work in tribal and rural areas,” Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is representing Devi, told the court. Koili Devi’s case reaches the Supreme Court The Supreme Court has taken up the case at a time when the COVID-19 has intensified <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-exacerbates-indias-hunger-problem/a-55299109">food insecurity</a> in India. The pandemic has caused a lot of disruption to the local, regional and national food supply chains. The 2020 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World <a href="https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000117811/download/?_ga=2.262188741.854084085.1598210713-1475771515.1598210713">(SOFI)</a> report shows that India retains the dubious distinction of being the country with the largest population of food insecure people. Moreover, last year’s Hunger Watch Report dubbed the hunger situation in India as ‘grave’. Overall, on the <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/pdf/en/2020.pdf">Global Hunger Index</a>, India currently ranks 94 out of the 107 country database and is in the ‘serious’ hunger category. <div type="image" title="Aadhaar PDS beneficiers" msid="81570484" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Number of Ration Card beneficiaries deleted over the last 10 months&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Gonsalves told the court that regardless of the challenges, the right to food — which is symbolised by the ration card — cannot be curbed or cancelled because a person does not have Aadhaar identification. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/finnish-photographer-jp-metsavainio-took-over-a-decade-and-1000-hours-of-photography-to-create-this-picture-of-the-milky-way-and-20-million-stars/slidelist/81563516.cms">It took over a decade and 1,000 hours of photography to create this picture of the Milky Way</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/elon-musk-turns-down-1-million-for-the-tweet-he-was-selling-as-an-nft/articleshow/81546434.cms">Elon Musk turns down $1 million for the tweet he was selling as an NFT</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-has-no-plans-of-suspending-the-use-of-the-astrazeneca-vaccine-covishield-vaccinations-will-go-on-with-full-vigour/articleshow/81552070.cms">India has no plans to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine — ‘Covishield vaccinations will go on with full vigour</a>

A Dalit mother lost her ration card and then her child to starvation — her fight for justice has now become a national cause at the Supreme Court

<ul><li>A new study highlights that a nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in the deaths of 125 million people. </li><li>The resulting pollution from the nuclear attacks would get trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in <keyword id="1711044" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-cooling">global cooling</keyword>. </li><li>The drop in temperatures could trigger mass starvation following a reduction in the ocean’s productivity and vegetation growth. </li></ul>The brewing tensions between India and Pakistan have to simmer down. Otherwise, the possible consequences could be disastrous. If a nuclear war were to break out between the countries, not only would it result in mass casualties but worldwide collateral damage, according to a new study published in <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/10/eaay5478">Science Advances</a>. "India and Pakistan are of special concern because of a long history of military clashes including serious recent ones, lack of progress in resolving territorial issues, densely populated urban areas, and ongoing rapid expansion of their respective nuclear arsenals," the environmental study stated. Scientists predict that India and Pakistan may have 400 to 500 nuclear weapons between themselves, by 2025. They would only have to use a fraction of those weapons to unleash destruction. Blocking out sunlight According to the study, if India uses 100 of its nuclear weapons to target urban centers in Pakistan. And, if Pakistan reciprocates by launching 150 of its own nuclear missiles, the death toll could reach 125 million. The resulting smoke from on-ground nuclear fires would get trapped in the lowest level of the atmosphere — the troposphere, which is 10 to 15 kilometers above the Earth’s surface — and spread around the globe in a matter of weeks. The density of the smoke would block out 20-35% of the incoming sunlight followed by global cooling of 2 degrees Celsius to 5 degrees Celsius. And, it could take the Earth more than 10 years to recover from the catastrophe. "Such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world," said <a href="https://news.rutgers.edu/nuclear-war-between-india-and-pakistan-could-kill-millions-worldwide/20190924">Alan Robock</a>, the lead author of the study. The domino effect Global cooling is only one immediate after-effect of the nuclear war between India and Pakistan. It would also mean that precipitation would fall by an average of 15-30% worldwide with the regional impact being much greater. Because there will be less rain, vegetation growth will also decline by 15-30% and the ocean’s productivity would be affected by 5-15%, triggering mass starvation across the world. The researchers clarify that it’s unlikely that either country will actually unleash nuclear weapons but they could be used by accident — for instance, if either of their defence systems were hacked. "The only way to prevent this is to eliminate them (nuclear weapons)," stated Robock.

A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in 125 million deaths, global cooling and mass starvation

<ul><li>Ceasefire violations along the India-Pakistan border — the <keyword id="44759" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Line-of-Control">Line of Control</keyword> (LoC) have tripled in comparison to 2018. </li><li>Pakistan’s Prime Minister, <keyword id="14676" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Imran-Khan">Imran Khan</keyword>, also recently accused India of being behind the <keyword id="9482297" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="karachi-stock-exchange-attack">Karachi Stock Exchange attack</keyword>. </li><li>Tilak Devasher, a member of the National Security Advisory Board, believes that Pakistan is trying to ‘piggyback’ on India’s border tensions with China. </li></ul>Pakistan is trying to divert India’s attention as it goes up against China in Ladakh. The number of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) has tripled in comparison to two years ago. In addition to the chaos along the border, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan accused India of being behind the Karachi Stock Exchange terrorist attack. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; width: 468pt; table-layout: fixed;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Month </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ceasefire violations in 2018 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ceasefire violations in 2020 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">April </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">176 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">387 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">May </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">104 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">382 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">June </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">19 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">302 </td></tr></tbody></table>Source: <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/india-keeps-tight-watch-on-pakistan-as-ceasefire-violations-rise-at-loc-amid-china-standoff/452855/">Government Data</a> “Pakistan is trying to piggyback on what China’s been doing in Ladakh,” said Tilak Devasher, member of the National Security Advisory Board, during Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House webinar. <div type="image" title="karachiattack" msid="76762385" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Car damaged during the Karachi Stock Exchange attack&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> According to him, Pakistan thinks it can be the beneficiary rather the initiator in creating border issues with India. Even in its interaction with China, Pakistan is — at best — filling in gaps of information but does not play a primary role. Pakistan reportedly deployed around two divisions worth of troops, around 20,000 soldiers, along the LAC in the Eastern Ladakh sector, according to ANI. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the military media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces — has denied any such developments. However, Devasher believes that the possibility cannot be discounted. “It may be trying to get India to divert its attention from one front activity to two-front activity,” said Devasher. Karachi Stock Exchange attack Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, said that there was “no doubt” that India was behind the Karachi Stock Exchange attack on June 30. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava responded saying, “India rejects these absurd comments on the terrorist attack on Karachi. Pakistan cannot shift the blame on India for its domestic problems,” during a virtual press conference on July 2. “We would ask Pakistan that they may wish to reflect on this and on their own government’s position, including their Prime Minister’s description of the global terrorist as a martyr,” he said. According to Devasher, the Karachi Stock Exchange attack may have been a force flag operation done by the Imran Khan government itself. Despite Pakistan’s instigations, India and China are currently engaged in military and diplomatic level talks to de-escalate tensions along the border. “We expect the Chinese side to sincerely follow up and ensure the expeditious restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas as per bilateral agreements and protocols,” said Srivastava. Both sides have emphasised the need for an expeditious, phased and step-wise de-escalation as a priority. According to the MEA, the two sides will continue their meetings in the future to resolve the issues to mutual satisfaction. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/article/a-nuclear-war-between-india-and-pakistan-would-result-in-125-million-deaths-global-cooling-and-mass-starvation/articleshow/71417075.cms">A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in 125 million deaths, global cooling and mass starvation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/foreign-policy/news/three-reasons-why-china-showed-aggression-against-india-on-border-according-to-a-former-diplomat/articleshow/76462632.cms">China wants India to stay in its lane — three reasons why China is puffing its chest, according to a former diplomat</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/not-only-india-hong-kong-taiwan-vietnam-and-japan-also-facing-chinese-army-aggression-on-border-issue/slidelist/76418800.cms">China’s aggression isn’t only aimed at India — but at least four other countries in the region</a>

Pakistan is trying to ‘piggyback’ on India-China border dispute as LoC ceasefire violations triple

The <keyword id="37837" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pakistan-army">Pakistan Army</keyword> shelled mortars along the <keyword id="44759" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Line-of-Control">Line of Control</keyword> in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, a defence spokesman said on Thursday. The <keyword id="6354416" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Army">Indian Army</keyword> retaliated to the shelling that took place on Wednesday night. "Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked <keyword id="87640" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ceasefire-violation">ceasefire violation</keyword> by firing of small arms and shelling with mortars along the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector in district Poonch around 2100 hours on Wednesday", the spokesman said. The firing stopped at 2330 hours. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/article/a-nuclear-war-between-india-and-pakistan-would-result-in-125-million-deaths-global-cooling-and-mass-starvation/articleshow/71417075.cms">A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in 125 million deaths, global cooling and mass starvation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/isro-launches-satellite-to-keep-an-eye-on-pakistan-china-and-bangladesh/articleshow/67634701.cms">India responds to China-Pakistan satellite launch with its own border surveillance satellites</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/risat-2br1-launch-on-may-22-to-defend-indias-borders-from-the-sky/articleshow/69202151.cms">India’s largest ever ‘eye in the sky’ will take on its neighbours</a>

New year begins with a ceasefire violation on the India-Pakistan border

<ul><li>"Action has been initiated" against <keyword id="8181189" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="pakistani-drones-smuggling-arms">Pakistani drones smuggling arms</keyword> and ammunition into India, said <keyword id="15141" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Air-Force">Indian Air Force</keyword> (IAF) Chief — Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria. </li><li>He stated that the drone smuggling is a space violation issue and the necessary steps will be taken. </li><li>Three consignments of weapons, ammunition, narcotics and counterfeit currency were seized by the Punjab police in September. </li></ul>Drones smuggling arms and ammunition across the border is the new threat that India faces from its neighbour Pakistan, according to the new Indian Air Force (IAF) chief — Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria. "Small drones are a new threat and some procurements are already in process to tackle the issue. It is a space violation issue and necessary action has been initiated in this aspect," stated Bhadauria at the annual Air Force Day press conference. The heightened security on the Indo-Pak border means that terrorists have had to shift their smuggling routes to Punjab to deliver weapons, ammunition, narcotics and counterfeit currency. So far, three such consignments have been caught by the Punjab police. They believe that the packages are being airdropped into the state by Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) and Khalistan Zindabad Force terrorists, with help from the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) this side of the border. <div type="image" title="drones" msid="71440585" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Drones recovered near the Indo-Pak border over the last around one month&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 Inquiry by the <keyword id="6362387" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="national-investigation-agency">National Investigation Agency</keyword> (NIA) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is already looking into the multiple cases of drones being used by Pakistan to smuggle arms into India. According to Pakistani Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, these drones are GPS-enabled and can carry upto 10 kilograms. The first consignment was caught on 12 September 2019 where the police seized four AK 56 rifles, two AK 47 rifles with 180 rounds, six magazines and 11,000 bullets. The second consignment was much larger. On 22 September 2019, the police recovered five AK 47 rifles with 16 magazines and 472 rounds, four Chinese-made point 30 bore pistols with eight magazines and 72 rounds, nine hand grenades, five satellite phones, two mobile phones and two wireless sets along with ₹1 million (₹10 lakh) in counterfeit currency. They were found in the possession of KZF terrorists. The latest consignment which was seized on 24 September 2019, consisted of four AK 47 rifles, 10 magazines and 200 cartridges. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/military-defense/article/a-nuclear-war-between-india-and-pakistan-would-result-in-125-million-deaths-global-cooling-and-mass-starvation/articleshow/71417075.cms">A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in 125 million deaths, global cooling and mass starvation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/military-defense/news/india-has-called-paks-nuclear-bluff-twice-ex-army-officers/articleshow/71427011.cms">India has called Pak's nuclear bluff twice: Ex-Army officers</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pakistan-issued-its-most-explicit-threat-of-war-against-india-yet-as-the-2-nuclear-powers-clash-over-kashmir/articleshow/71296226.cms">Pakistan issued its most explicit threat of war against India yet as the 2 nuclear powers clash over Kashmir</a>

Action initiated against Pakistan for using drones to smuggle arms, says Indian Air Force Chief

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

It is true that <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> is home to millions of hungry stomachs and often witnesses deaths due to starvation (the main <keyword id="6366401" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Driver">driver</keyword> behind the recently passed National Food Security Act). But there is another side to the Indian food story. Even as the country is trying to sort out its food issues through various government schemes and breakthroughs in agricultural &amp; farming technology, it is also playing host to hundreds of international <keyword id="41941" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="fast-food">fast food</keyword> chains who are now settling down nicely and gaining ground in the country’s cultural and food landscape. 
 While rapid urbanisation across the country has witnessed a burst of sorts in terms of floating and migrant population, urban spaces are also turning into impersonal pockets and succumbing to the side effects of a globalised <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword>. With changing lifestyle, the nouveau riche, the well-heeled and the well-travelled people are rapidly taking to the global brands that rule the fast food culture worldwide. On the other hand, the international fast food brands are also experimenting with local flavours to add more zing to their cuisine and cater better to the multi-cultured Indian society. 
 
Consequently, taste buds at home are changing fast and India has more appetite for pizzas, burgers, fries and subs, made to suit its spice-loving palate. But the foodies here also make sure that they don’t miss out on local delicacies – be it vada pav, idli or dosa. 
 This strange brew of local and global is the new food reality in India, fuelling a new boom for both brands of fast food, satiating the hunger of millions and satisfying their penchant for taste. Just as <keyword id="33542" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Burger-King">Burger King</keyword>, <keyword id="6377922" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Starbucks">Starbucks</keyword>, KFC, McDonald’s, Dominos, Au Bo Pain, US Pizza and Pizza Hut are setting up shops across major cities, their desi counterparts such as Vada Pav, Shanti Sagar, KC Das, Adiga’s, Nirula’s and the likes also remain a quintessential part of the ever- expanding food courts and eat-on-the-go chains and hotels. 
 
In a survey conducted a couple of years ago, PricewaterhouseCoopers indicated that China and India’s economies were expanding more rapidly than the rest of the world. Even though India has developed a taste for the western food a bit late in the day (the early 1990s witnessed some resistance towards western brands), the country is now surely rolling out the red carpet. The upsurge in malls in every major Indian city has further triggered the growth as they essentially host all international fast food brands looking to expand in India. 
 Bolstering the PwC study, the Credit Rating Information Services of <keyword id="105160" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="India-Ltd">India Ltd</keyword> or CRISIL – the India unit of Standard &amp; Poor’s – has recently said that the fast food business will be worth a whopping $1.1 billion in the next three years and it is bound to grow rapidly in the near future. Interestingly, global brands hold an aggregate <keyword id="34527" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="market-share">market share</keyword> of 63% market in India. 
 
The quantum jump in urban development, coupled with the rise in number of women professionals (mostly from nuclear families) who are working as many hours as their male counterparts or even more, has led to a significant increase in disposable income. That means fast food brands have become even more appealing to urbanites because of their snob value and convenience. 
 
However, global brands are not the only hot items among this growing segment. Unless the brands make some considerable changes in their cuisine, they are soon expected to face tough competition from local brands, which have now branched out into franchises. 
 
As the fast food market in countries like the US is becoming increasingly crowded, many brands have decided to expand rapidly in India. But the game has not been an easy one, despite the fact that pizzas, burgers and sandwiches account for about 80% of the domestic fast food sales. Currently, Domino’s is the fastest expanding western brand in India. 
 
Still, the proof of the pudding is in its eating and the global fast food chains have, over a period of time, realised that ‘global’ flavours alone cannot win the Indian palette. Hence, the local flavours subtly blended with the core ones to co-exist harmoniously. In came the paneer and the masala versions, in order to attract more customers who seemed to be moving away for a while. 
 With <keyword id="22195" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Inflation">inflation</keyword> in India hitting about 8% over the past few months, multinational fast food outlets are finding that the customers are backing out from spending too much on a pizza or sandwich meal. As a result, the global brands are forced to come out with innovative methods to retain the customers – offering free goodies either in the form of a smaller meal for lesser price or value-added services such as ‘buy one, get one free’ that will amount to ‘greater value for money.’ 
 
During such difficult times when the economy is not forecasting too many bright days ahead, stores are out with offers that may cause a slight dent in their earnings, but that should not affect their operations overall. In a way, these are indirect benefits as cutting down on product prices does not make sense in the current scenario. But with these measures in place, the brands hope to get a breather before entering the competition with full force and hopefully, on expansion mode!

Global
& Local Fast Food Chains Are Feeding On India’s Insatiable Appetite

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oppenheimer-film-leaves-out-new-mexicans-exposed-atom-bomb-radiation-2023-7">The film "Oppenheimer"</a> is filled with terrible visions of nuclear war from the father of the atom bomb.</li><li>But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-career-of-j-robert-oppenheimer-father-of-atomic-bomb-2023-6">J. Robert Oppenheimer</a> didn't know about the worst-case scenario: nuclear winter.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oppenheimer-fact-vs-fiction-what-the-movie-got-right-wrong-2023-7">Christopher Nolan's new film "Oppenheimer"</a> is filled with the titular physicist's worst nightmares of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-disaster-dos-and-donts-2019-9">nuclear war</a>.Ominous visions of mushroom clouds bursting from city after city, stacks of fire rising past the clouds, and ripples of radiation engulfing Europe haunt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cillian-murphy-asked-to-learn-about-physics-for-oppenheimer-2023-7">Cillian Murphy's J. Robert Oppenheimer</a>.As the director of the secret Los Alamos laboratory, where a group of scientists developed and tested the world's first atom bomb, Oppenheimer was well aware of the power his lab was unleashing.He famously called it "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oppenheimer-famous-quote-become-death-destroyer-worlds-from-hindu-scripture-2023-7">Death, the destroyer of worlds</a>."But he only knew half the story.<div type="image" title="castle bravo shrimp nuclear test blast bikini atoll mushroom cloud noaa" height="777" width="1036" msid="102119380" hostid="261" sizebytes="26666"></div>Oppenheimer's night terrors pale in comparison to the worst-case scenario scientists predict today. An outbreak of nuclear war, with hundreds or thousands of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-hide-during-nuclear-blast-room-corners-avoid-hallway-doors-2023-2">atomic explosions</a>, could send the planet into an apocalyptic state called nuclear winter, in which billions of people would starve to death."Nuclear weapons are the greatest danger that the world faces and has been facing for a long time, but we've forgotten about it," Alan Robock, a professor at Rutgers University and a pioneer of nuclear-winter research, told Insider.So far, he added, "I think we've been very lucky."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-survive-after-nuclear-war-what-to-eat-2020-1">Nuclear winter</a> is a theory, based on models and debated within the scientific community — like many of the predictions atomic scientists made in Oppenheimer's time. Here's how it goes.<h2>What nuclear winter would be like: dark, cold, and irradiated, with up to 5 billion deaths</h2><div type="image" title="four lines of grey dead trees close up in a dry field" height="1500" width="1999" msid="102119382" hostid="261" sizebytes="1101054"></div>It would start with nuclear bombs setting cities ablaze. Each nuclear explosion would ignite countless little fires, which can coalesce into huge, uncontrollable firestorms.In the event of an ongoing back-and-forth of nuclear attacks, all those firestorms could send so much soot into the stratosphere that it forms a belt around the planet and blocks out the sun, causing temperatures to drop by up to 15 degrees Celsius. This global cooling could last years.The darkness, cold, and radiation from nuclear fallout would destroy much of Earth's plant and animal life.<div type="image" title="trinity nuclear bomb test large yellow bubble rising above cloudy surface of earth in the night" height="1500" width="2845" msid="102119383" hostid="261" sizebytes="406326"></div>Five scientists, including Carl Sagan, first proposed this theory in a 1983 paper.Since then, a team of cross-disciplinary scientists, including Robock, has combined climate models and food-production simulations to better understand the possibility of nuclear winter.Last year, they published <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=1e7e6499b5f5f5ee5c75d75bf42ad89d4438a3b25f91f70eee2a56271ab406ae&amp;postID=64bee3ef75976ff3ff4ccf1e&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs43016-022-00573-0">findings</a> that fish and livestock would not be able to sustain the world if nuclear winter wiped out crops. They concluded that a nuclear war between the US and Russia could cause 5 billion people to starve to death."More than 10 times as many people would die from starvation than would die from the direct effects [of the bombs]," Robock said.Even a smaller nuclear war between India and Pakistan could send millions of tons of soot into the atmosphere and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1919049117" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cause global food shortages</a>, they've calculated. Robock and his colleagues estimated that scenario would kill about 2 billion people."I hope [the movie] will make people ask questions about why we still have nuclear weapons, how could they possibly be used, and why we would need them," he said.

'Oppenheimer' leaves out the most terrifying, deadly risk of nuclear weapons because nobody knew about it until the 1980s

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Afghanistan has been under Taliban rule for about a year now. </li><li>Surrounded by the country's economic collapse and lack of resources, the children of Afghanistan are suffering. </li></ul>A year into the Taliban takeover, children in Afghanistan are in facing death, suffering, and an uncertain future. With forced labor, malnutrition, and education restrictions dampening the population, Asuntha Charles, a humanitarian aid worker, told Insider that Afghan children are in urgent need of support. Since the Taliban takeover, the US and its international partners froze roughly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-admin-refuses-release-billions-frozen-afghanistan-funds-2022-8">$10 billion of the country's assets</a> leaving the people who remain inside the country in dire need of outside aid."It's not the right moment for the international communities to stay away from Afghanistan, but to provide more and more support so that the future generation is not affected, but able to see life and hope," said Charles, who is from southern India.Charles has been working with World Vision for about two years and has lived in Afghanistan for roughly 20 years. The Christian-based organization focuses on aiding children facing poverty and justice.Since the Taliban regained control in August of last year, economic collapse, drought, and the aftermath of a substantial earthquake have devasted the region and the people who live there."One thing gives me real worry is about the future of both girls and boys in this country. Because the future generation is really losing lot of opportunities because of so many factors," Charles told Insider.A study by an NGO called Save the Children <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/14/one-million-children-in-afghanistan-engaged-in-labour-ngo">found that an estimated one million children</a> had been forced into child labor by February."It's really going to have not only physical but psychological impact on the children who are in this country now," Charles added.It's not uncommon for children in the Taliban-controlled region to work to survive.After school, some children, boys mostly, are forced to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/23/afghanistan-child-labor-kids-education/">sell items</a> to make money for food or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/feb/22/children-on-the-edge-of-life-in-afghanistan">search for litter to burn for warmth</a>.Girls have been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/23/1088202759/taliban-afghanistan-girls-school">barred from receiving an education</a> beyond primary school, a dramatic regression in women's rights that had been made in the region over the last 20 years.And outside of education, the lives of Afghanistan's youth are at stake.<a href="https://www.unicef.org/protection/protecting-children-from-explosive-weapons">Hundreds of children</a> have died while playing outside as a result of explosive weapons that remained from the war. And, by February, roughly 5 million children were close to starvation, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/feb/22/children-on-the-edge-of-life-in-afghanistan">The Guardian</a>. And, as of August, about 90% of households in the country don't have enough food to survive, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-taliban-humanitarian-crisis-children-dying-every-day/">CBS News reported</a>.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-poverty-marriage-taliban-6edf1acfd3849773b3cf6be1c2eb61fa">Some parents</a> have faced the impossible decision of selling their children into marriage or at the bazaar in order to feed the rest of the family."That's why we really want to continue to advocate that this is not the right moment to forget the people of Afghanistan and especially the children, and the global has to stand by them, and that's very, very crucial," Charles told Insider.She acknowledged the numerous humanitarian issues going on across the globe, but said she doesn't want the world to forget about Afghanistan."There are so many crises globally, so people tend to also associate with different conflicts," Charles continued, "So, that type of frustration exists among people, that they are forgotten."

Child labor, malnutrition, and education restrictions have put the future of Afghanistan's youth in peril: 'This is not the right moment to forget the people of Afghanistan'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia and <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> export nearly a third of the world's wheat and barley, over 70% of sunflower oil, and also supply corn.</li><li>About 90% of Ukraine's wheat and other <keyword id="12168891" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="grains" source="Orion">grains</keyword> are being held up by Russian blockades of the Black Sea coast.</li></ul>LONDON — Russian hostilities in Ukraine are preventing grain from leaving the "breadbasket of the world" and making food more expensive across the globe, threatening to worsen shortages, hunger and political instability in developing countries.Together, Russia and Ukraine export nearly a third of the world's wheat and barley, more than 70% of its sunflower oil and are big suppliers of corn. Russia is the top global fertilizer producer.World food prices were already climbing, and the war made things worse, preventing some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from getting to the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia.Weeks of negotiations on safe corridors to get grain out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports have made little progress, with urgency rising as the summer harvest season arrives."This needs to happen in the next couple of months (or) it's going to be horrific,'' said Anna Nagurney, who studies crisis management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is on the board of the Kyiv School of Economics. She says 400 million people worldwide rely on Ukrainian food supplies. The U.N. Food and <keyword id="11963490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="agriculture" source="Orion">Agriculture</keyword> Organization projects up to 181 million people in 41 countries could face <keyword id="13544066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="food-crisis" source="Orion">food crisis</keyword> or worse levels of hunger this year.Here's a look at the global food crisis:<h2>What's the situation? </h2>Typically, 90% of wheat and other grain from Ukraine's fields are shipped to world markets by sea but have been held up by Russian blockades of the Black Sea coast.Some grain is being rerouted through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is a drop in the bucket compared with sea routes. The shipments also are backed up because Ukraine's rail gauges don't match those of its neighbors to the west.Ukraine's deputy agriculture minister, Markian Dmytrasevych, asked European Union lawmakers for help exporting more grain, including expanding the use of a Romanian port on the Black Sea, building more cargo terminals on the Danube River and cutting red tape for freight crossing at the Polish border.But that means food is even farther from those that need it."Now you have to go all the way around Europe to come back into the Mediterranean. It really has added an incredible amount of cost to Ukrainian grain,'' said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.Ukraine has only been able to export 1.5 million to 2 million tons of grain a month since the war, down from more than 6 million tons, said Glauber, a former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Russian grain isn't getting out, either. Moscow argues that Western sanctions on its banking and shipping industries make it impossible for Russia to export food and fertilizer and are scaring off foreign shipping companies from carrying it. Russian officials insist sanctions be lifted to get grain to global markets.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other Western leaders say, however, that sanctions don't touch food.<h2>What are the sides saying?</h2>Ukraine has accused Russia of shelling agricultural infrastructure, burning fields, stealing grain and trying to sell it to Syria after Lebanon and Egypt refused to buy it. Satellite images taken in late May by Maxar Technologies show Russian-flagged ships in a port in Crimea being loaded with grain and then days later docked in Syria with their hatches open.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has provoked a global food crisis. The West agrees, with officials like European Council President Charles Michel and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying Russia is weaponizing food.Russia says exports can resume once Ukraine removes mines in the Black Sea and arriving ships can be checked for weapons.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov promised that Moscow would not "abuse" its naval advantage and would "take all necessary steps to ensure that the ships can leave there freely."Ukrainian and Western officials doubt the pledge. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week that it may be possible to create secure corridors without the need to clear sea mines because the location of the explosive devices are known.But other questions would still remain, such as whether insurers would provide coverage for ships. Dmytrasevych told the EU agriculture ministers this week that the only solution is defeating Russia and unblocking ports: "No other temporary measures, such as humanitarian corridors, will address the issue."<h2>How did we get here?</h2>Food prices were rising before the invasion, stemming from factors including bad weather and poor harvests cutting supplies, while global demand rebounded strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic.Glauber cited poor wheat harvests last year in the United States and Canada and a drought that hurt soybean yields in Brazil. Also exacerbated by climate change, the Horn of Africa is facing one of its worst droughts in four decades, while a record-shattering heat wave in India in March reduced wheat yields.That, along with soaring costs for fuel and fertilizer, has prevented other big grain-producing countries from filling in the gaps.<h2>Who's hardest hit?</h2>Ukraine and Russia mainly export staples to developing countries that are most vulnerable to cost hikes and shortages.Countries like Somalia, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt and Sudan are heavily reliant on wheat, corn and sunflower oil from the two warring nations.<div type="image" title="Farmer Serhiy gestures standing near a mound of grain in his barn in the village of Ptyche in eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022. Russian hostilities in Ukraine are preventing grain from leaving the “breadbasket of the world&quot; and making food more expensive across the globe, raising the specter of shortages, hunger and political instability in developing countries." height="5267" width="7023" msid="92308795" hostid="261"></div>"The burden is being shouldered by the very poor," Glauber said. "That's a humanitarian crisis, no question.'' Beside the threat of hunger, spiraling food prices risk political instability in such countries. They were one of the causes of the Arab Spring, and there are worries of a repeat.The governments of developing countries must either let food prices rise or subsidize costs, Glauber said. A moderately prosperous country like Egypt, the world's top wheat importer, can afford to absorb higher food costs, he said."For poor countries like Yemen or countries in the Horn of Africa — they're really going to need humanitarian aid," he said.Starvation and famine are stalking that part of Africa. Prices for staples like wheat and cooking oil in some cases are more than doubling, while millions of livestock that families use for milk and meat have died. In Sudan and Yemen, the Russia-Ukraine conflict came on top of years of domestic crises.UNICEF warned about an "explosion of child deaths" if the world focuses only on the war in Ukraine and doesn't act. U.N. agencies estimated that more than 200,000 people in Somalia face "catastrophic hunger and starvation," roughly 18 million Sudanese could experience acute hunger by September and 19 million Yemenis face food insecurity this year.Wheat prices have risen in some of those countries by as much as 750%."Generally, everything has become expensive. Be it water, be it food, it's almost becoming quite impossible," Justus Liku, a food security adviser with the aid group CARE, said after visiting Somalia recently. Liku said a vendor selling cooked food had "no vegetables or animal products. No milk, no meat. The shopkeeper was telling us she's just there for the sake of being there." In Lebanon, bakeries that used to have many types of flat bread now only sell basic white pita bread to conserve flour.<h2>What's being done? </h2>For weeks, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been trying to secure an agreement to unblock Russian exports of grain and fertilizer and allow Ukraine to ship commodities from the key port of Odesa. But progress has been slow.A vast amount of grain is stuck in Ukrainian silos or on farms in the meantime. And there's more coming — Ukraine's harvest of winter wheat is getting underway soon, putting more stress on storage facilities even as some fields are likely to go unharvested and because of the fighting.Serhiy Hrebtsov can't sell the mountain of grain at his farm in the Donbas region because transport links have been cut off. Scarce buyers mean prices are so low that farming is unsustainable. "There are some options to sell, but it is like just throwing it away," he said.U.S. President Joe Biden says he's working with European partners on a plan to build temporary silos on Ukraine's borders, including with Poland, a solution that would also address the different rail gauges between Ukraine and Europe.The idea is that grain can be transferred into the silos, and then "into cars in Europe and get it out to the ocean and get it across the world. But it's taking time," he said in a speech Tuesday. Dmytrasevych said Ukraine's grain storage capacity has been reduced by 15 million to 60 million tons after Russian troops destroyed silos or occupied sites in the south and east.<h2>What's costing more?</h2>World production of wheat, rice and other grains is expected to reach 2.78 billion tons in 2022, down 16 million tons from the previous year — the first decline in four years, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said. Wheat prices are up 45% in the first three months of the year compared with the previous year, according to the FAO's wheat price index. Vegetable oil has jumped 41%, while sugar, meat, milk and fish prices also have risen by double digits.The increases are fueling faster inflation worldwide, making groceries more expensive and raising costs for restaurant owners, who have been forced to increase prices.<div type="image" title="Halimo Hersi, 42, right, buys wheat flour from a shopkeeper in the Hamar-Weyne market in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, May 26, 2022." height="3800" width="5066" msid="92308796" hostid="261"></div>Some countries are reacting by trying to protect domestic supplies. India has restricted sugar and wheat exports, while Malaysia halted exports of live chickens, alarming Singapore, which gets a third of its poultry from its neighbor. The International Food Policy Research Institute says if food shortages grow more acute as the war drags on, that could lead to more export restrictions that further push up prices.Another threat is scarce and costly fertilizer, meaning fields could be less productive as farmers skimp, said Steve Mathews of Gro Intelligence, an agriculture data and analytics company. There are especially big shortfalls of two of the main chemicals in fertilizer, of which Russia is a big supplier."If we continue to have the shortage of potassium and phosphate that we have right now, we will see falling yields," Mathews said. "No question about it in the coming years."

EXPLAINER: How did Russia-Ukraine war trigger a food crisis?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Four endurance running athletes are setting out to trek part of the route that the Donner Party traveled in the 1840s on a five-day trip with "modern equipment and wildness gear," <a href="https://apnews.com/article/truckee-sacramento-california-reno-d32484c91a9f3e5ddf1e12dc2577bbd1">The Associated Press</a> reported.</li><li>The Donner Party was a group who got stuck in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in their travel from Illinois to California in 1846, who infamously reportedly partook in cannibalism to survive, according to <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/donner-party">History.com</a>. </li></ul>Four endurance running athletes are setting out to trek part of the route walked by the Donner Party in the 19th Century. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/truckee-sacramento-california-reno-d32484c91a9f3e5ddf1e12dc2577bbd1">The Associated Press</a> reported that endurance runners Tim Twietmeyer, Bob Crowley, Jennifer Walker Hemmen, and Elke Reimer will take "modern equipment and wildness gear" on a five-day trip to walk part of the route that the Donner Party traveled in the 1840s.In 1846, Jacob and George Donner led around 90 emigrants to travel westward from Illinois, according to <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/donner-party">History.com</a>. This group, later dubbed the "Donner Party," aimed to end up in California, when they got stuck in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, eventually with some members reportedly and infamously partaking cannibalism for survival, according to <keyword id="29052" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="history">History</keyword>."In correspondence, journals, and later, interviews, they freely admitted that when everything else was gone, they turned to cannibalism," historian Michael Wallis told the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/06/donner-party-cannibalism-nation-west/">National Geographic</a>. "They were suffering hypothermia and starvation; they were delirious. But, they knew that out in the snowbanks was this great store of protein: people who had already died."Twietmeyer and Crowley have spent seven years learning about the Donner party's travel, and the group will now attempt to follow the track once walked by the members of the Donner Party, according to the AP. According to the AP, Crowley came to believe "that cannibalism was but a footnote of a bigger story about 'perseverance, passion, and grit'" as he researched more about the Donner Party.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/australian-woman-diedtrying-to-take-photo-at-262-foot-cliff-2020-12">An Australian woman fell to her death while trying to take photo at edge of 262-foot cliff</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/iowa-church-bought-forgave-5-million-medical-debt-in-state-2020-12">An Iowa church bought and forgave $5 million in medical debt</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/hundreds-of-people-in-india-were-hospitalized-from-a-disease-yet-to-be-identified-2020-12">Hundreds of people in India were hospitalized with a disease yet to be identified</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/fire-burned-iconic-manhattan-church-new-york-liberty-bell-2020-12">A fire destroyed an iconic church housing New York's Liberty Bell, which rang in the nation's birth in 1776</a></li></ul>

You Searched For "starvation deaths india" and got 11 results

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EXPLAINER: How did Russia-Ukraine war trigger a food crisis?

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4 endurance athletes are setting out to trek the route of the Donner Party from the 19th century

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