The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said: Rising food, rents, and energy prices, and inadequate social protections threatened the rights of people on the lowest incomes, including to food and housing. The HRW has warned: The UK could become known as a “human rights abuser,” if it does not reverse a series of controversial laws. The NGO criticized Britain’s[Read More…]
Waiving off the subsidized price in no way covers even the cost of buying 5 kgs of ration from the open market The Right to Food Campaign condemns the sheer insensitivity of the Central Government’s policy decision which will result in reducing the ration entitlement of 81 crore people by 50%. Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, (NFSA), all[Read More…]
India is the second largest food producing country in the world and we are number one in the production of milk, pulses, rice, fish, vegetables and wheat. Despite this, a large population of the country is a victim of malnutrition. According to the United Nations’ report ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022’, people’s struggle with[Read More…]
In the hunger map of present day world, Somalia is probably the most seriously affected country of the 21st century. Somalia is reported by the UN to have lost 260,000 lives in and around 2011 to hunger and famine deaths, one of the very few countries in the world to have such a high number of recorded hunger deaths in[Read More…]
In May the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC-22), prepared by UN agencies and other expert groups, issued a clear warning stating that the acute hunger situation in world, including its extreme forms, is worse now than ever before since this annual report started being prepared. Then in mid-September the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, which[Read More…]
On 17 October 2022, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), released its annual Global Multidimensional Poverty Index(GMPI) report ‘Unpacking deprivation bundles to reduce multidimensional poverty’. The GMPI 2022 compares acute multidimensional poverty for 111 countries in developing regions. These countries are home to 6.1 billion people, three-quarters of the world’s population. Of these[Read More…]
The Global Report on Food Crisis has been drawing attention to the people affected by acute hunger annually for seven years, and this year its recently presented estimates stated that as many as 205 million spread over 45 countries are affected by acute food insecurity and need urgent assistance. To this were later added 17 million people from 8 other[Read More…]
The recent statement of our finance minister regarding the dollar and the rupee gives some indication of the same. In this statement given in New York, she said that the value of the rupee has not decreased, the position of the dollar has strengthened. Depreciation of rupee or appreciation of dollar means the same thing. It is true that the[Read More…]
Right to Food Campaign flags the alarming situation of hunger in the country and the lack of adequate response by the government The Right to Food Campaign held a press conference in Delhi on October 21, 2022 highlighting the situation of hunger in India, the inadequate policy response of the government, the Global Hunger Index report, the status of compliance[Read More…]
Our country, which aspires to be a global leader, is currently suffering from hunger in such a way that even in the 2022 Global Hunger Index, it ranks worse than neighboring countries Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. In the report released on the ranking of 121 countries, India is at 107th position, while neighboring Pakistan is at 99th position.[Read More…]
World Food Program says that now needs are sky-high and resources are rock bottom Possibilities of not just increase of hunger but even of starvation deaths have been voiced by several international agencies during the greater part of this year. This is particularly true for the Horn of Africa region where the situation has been reported to be the most[Read More…]
As a new analysis revealed that the global ranks of the superrich soared to a record number, a coalition of charity groups said Tuesday that hundreds of millions of people around the world are hungry—and that someone starves to death every four seconds. At least 238 international and local charities from 75 countries signed an open letter noting that “a staggering 345 million[Read More…]
India is the second largest food producing country in the world and ranks first in the production of milk, pulses, rice, fish, vegetables and wheat. Despite this, a large population of the country is suffering from malnutrition. According to the United Nations’ ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022’ report, people’s struggle for survival has increased[Read More…]
As government efforts to contain it fails even in rich nations, the world’s hunger and livelihoods crisis is rapidly escalating into an emergency. Western leaders and media have been blaming Russia and the war in Ukraine for this unfolding catastrophe, but the facts say otherwise. A month ago, the Food and Work Network, a coalition of academics, community activists, and[Read More…]
The worldwide cost-of-living crisis is pushing an additional 71 million people in the world’s poorest countries into extreme poverty, warned the a new report by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday The report said: “The war in Ukraine has severely disrupted global markets for food and energy due to both countries’ large global market shares. Before the war, Russia[Read More…]
One of the less discussed side-effects of the Ukraine war is that it is likely to have aggravated the hunger crisis in many countries of Africa. Some of the countries more affected by hunger , like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), had been getting substantial parts of their wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine, and to[Read More…]
The war in Ukraine is increasing food prices, which is increasing hunger in Africa. An AP report from Mogadishu, Somalia cited Ayan Hassan Abdirahman, who is now paying twice as much as she did just a few months ago to buy the wheat flour she uses to make breakfast each day for her 11 children in Somalia’s capital. Abdirahman has[Read More…]
There is a terrifying prospect that in excess of a quarter of a billion more people will fall into extreme levels of poverty in 2022 alone. Without immediate radical action, we could be witnessing the most profound collapse of humanity into extreme poverty and suffering in memory. That is according to Oxfam International Executive Director Gabriela Bucher. She adds this scenario[Read More…]
In the lead up to the semi-annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank being held in Washington this week, the global aid agency Oxfam has produced a report detailing the horrendous impact of rising inflation, coming on top of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, for almost half the world’s population. It said the[Read More…]
For the world’s vulnerable populations already reeling from one of the worst economic shocks and an unprecedented hunger and livelihoods crisis resulting from the Covid-19 lockdowns, Russia’s war in Ukraine poses an existential threat. In this two part series researcher Sajai Jose looks at the way food production across the globe is set to fall due to supply chain disruptions[Read More…]
For the world’s vulnerable populations already reeling from one of the worst economic shocks and an unprecedented hunger and livelihoods crisis resulting from the Covid-19 lockdowns, Russia’s war in Ukraine poses an existential threat. In this two part series researcher Sajai Jose looks at the way food production across the globe is set to fall due to supply chain[Read More…]
The Modi government’s indifference to the plight of the poor is now pathological. The Indian government’s rhetoric about ‘Amrit Kaal,’ an era of plenty, masks a consistent denial of the fact that the country is caught in a spiralling hunger and livelihoods crisis, the worst in its independent history, and one largely created by official policies. The 2022-2023 Union Budget[Read More…]
Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean is at its highest point since 2000, after a 30 percent increase in the number of people suffering hunger from 2019 to 2020, says a new UN report. According to the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2021, in just one year, and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of[Read More…]
Nutritious food is considered essential for a healthy life, but 300 million people, or 40 percent of the world’s population, do not have enough money to eat nutritious food. This is stated in a report released at the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021 held in Rome from 26 to 28 July. The report was jointly released by Food Price[Read More…]
Hunger and poverty are so intertwined that reports concerning one have implications for the other, and a palpable common factor is food security. The release of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2021, on the eve of the observance of World Food Day (16 October), and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October) has naturally generated both[Read More…]
World Food Day ( October 16 ) may be just the right time to reconsider several highly controversial decisions taken in recent times which will create several avoidable problems in food and farming sectors. The Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Sh. Piyush Goyal said whle addressing a press conference in Shimla ( lead news in Amar Ujala dated 26[Read More…]
Come 16 October – and the world once again is together as one, to focus on the most basic need for a person’s survival: food! The first ‘World Food Day’ was observed in 194, to mark the launch of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Ever since, the day is marked to highlight the need and[Read More…]
Efforts to prevent infant, child and maternal deaths across the country have proved futile. According to a recent report released by UNICEF, shocking information has come to the fore that six lakh children died in India in 2016. More dire is the fact that a quarter of the world’s infant deaths occur in our country, which has an infant mortality[Read More…]
The number of people in the world affected by hunger continued to increase in 2020 under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, says the annual UN report – The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – published on Monday. According to the report, “Even in Northern America and Europe, where the lowest rates of food insecurity are found,[Read More…]
Climate crisis has pushed communities in Madagascar to the verge of starvation. The World Food Programme (WFP) says resources are scarce in the country after the worst drought in four decades. The WFP said more than a quarter of people are suffering in one area. And $78.6 million is needed to fight the crisis. Climate change is the driving force[Read More…]
Serious distortions of world food system are reflected in rather curious statistics that as many as a billion people suffer from hunger but almost double this number also suffer from obesity. However it should be clarified that obesity is not generally the result of overeating as much as this is the result of unhealthy foods churned out and promoted on[Read More…]
Madagascar is in great pain. Theodore Mbainaissem, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) sub-office in Ambovombe, southern Madagascar, says: “Seeing the physical condition of people extremely affected by hunger who can no longer stand…children who are completely emaciated, the elderly who are skin and bone…these images are unbearable… People are eating white clay with tamarind juice, cactus leaves, wild[Read More…]
While the sufferings of several sections of population increased this year in India, perhaps it is the silent sufferings of children and students which increased the most. Whether it is nutrition or health or education or exposure to special risk situations and violence, from all points of view there appears to have been all-round deterioration in the condition of children.[Read More…]
When the government announced special Covid relief and stimulus package, perhaps the most welcomed feature was that of free food grain ( mainly cereals and a little pulse ) for the needy sections of society. Despite several limitations, this fulfilled an important need in a society experiencing widespread hunger in Covid times. When this provision was extended up to November[Read More…]
Have we won the fight against COVID? Wait, let us rephrase that. Do you think we have won the fight against COVID? One may assume that we have left the worst behind. After all, amid the Unlock v5, as with its predecessor, the country is finally opening up. One sees the streets bustling, traffic jams jostling and shops abuzz; while[Read More…]
Just like clockwork, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has set off another ‘heartfelt’ warning to the rest of the world, saying that, if conditions in the West African Sahel region continues to deteriorate, areas in four concerned countries could slip into famine, this was stated in the FAO’s Early Warning Analysis of Food Insecurity Hotspots and includes; Northeastern[Read More…]
Over two-thirds say nutritional quality has worsened and quantity has reduced (in September-October) compared to pre-lockdown The Right to Food Campaign is shocked with the worsening situation of hunger, although it is more than five months since the lockdown has ended. This emerged in the presentation of the Hunger watch study carried out by Right to Food Campaign and Center[Read More…]
Since the hungry billion in the world community believe that we can all eat if we set our common house in order, they believe also that it is unjust that some men die because it is too much trouble to arrange for them to live. Stringfellow Barr Citizens of the World (1954) World Food Day was set by[Read More…]
A report released by Oxfam in July 2020 states, “COVID-19 is deepening the hunger crisis in the world’s hunger hotspots and creating new epicentres of hunger across the globe. By the end of the year 12,000 people per day could die from hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than will die from the disease itself.” Like other regions in the world,[Read More…]
All around the world, the coronavirus and its restrictions are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, cutting off meager farms from markets and isolating villages from food and medical aid. Virus-linked hunger is leading to the deaths of 10,000 more children a month over the first year of the pandemic, according to an urgent call to action from the[Read More…]
Co-Written by Sandeep Pandey and Kushagra Kumar One of the writers of this article is reminded of an incident, when he was teaching at Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar which was then functioning from a campus in Chandkheda in Ahmedabad. On 16 December, 2011, a dog picked up a 2 months old boy child Akash who was lying on ground[Read More…]
Co-Written by Ruchi Sachan & Aditya Bordalai “Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice”- Jacques Diouf, Former Director General of FAO Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seeks to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by the year 2030. “Every year, around 9 million people die of hunger; that’s more[Read More…]
The world’s progress in eliminating poverty is set to suffer a major setback due to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing more people to survive on less than $1.90 per day, the World Bank has said in a recent statement (Press release no.: 2020/193/EXC). “The pandemic and shutdown of advanced economies could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty[Read More…]
The death of a 5-year old girl in Hesatu village (Donki GP, Latehar district) on 16 May 2020 is widely attributed to hunger by local villagers. Nimani, about 5 years old, was the daughter of Jaglal Bhuiyan and Kalawati Devi. This Dalit family of ten (husband, wife and eight children aged from 4 months to 12-13 years) has no land[Read More…]
I don’t know if you came across a piece of news from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, published a few days back in several national dailies. No wonder you might have missed it, it was (purposely) snug in one tight corner of most papers like a hibernating animal, meant to be left untouched. Well, the news was that a twenty-seven-year-old, hungry man, Sunil[Read More…]
Why Government Clarification on NREGA Budget Cut is Not Convincing 
The incredible story of how East African culture shaped the music of a state in India 
Why is Telangana blocking the entry of poor children into private schools? 
The Indian Republic and its unproductive 49% 
Melbourne University Adopts Anti-Semitic & Holocaust-Ignoring IHRA Definition Of Anti-Semitism 
LA VIE EN ROSE 
Working With Generation Alpha 
The Hope Lies With The Generation Z 
Ihan Omar Removed from Foreign Affairs Committee 
80th anniversary of Battle of Stalingrad 
Fraternity @ Frontiers 
Forever Chemicals, Everywhere 
Grossly Inadequate Budget Allocation for NREGA in FY 2023-24 
White Revolution of India—Myths and Reality 
Has SEBI investigated overseas companies reported to be related to the Adani Group? 
Ukrainian Army Injured Ukrainian Civilians With Illegal Mines: Human Rights Watch 
A War Where Even Victory May Come in the Form of An Unprecedented Calamity 
Ennu Swantham Sreedharan – A Moving Tale of Examples that Go Over Precepts 
US and China cooperation In building and linking super-grids 
Diplomatic Cables Prove Top U.S. Officials Knew They Were Crossing Russia’s Red Lines on NATO Expansion 
The Votes That Weren’t Cast 
50th death anniversary of Amilcar Cabral 
Hindenburg Affair: More to It Than Meets The Eye Unanswered Questions 
Aerial Bombings in Chhattisgarh: CDRO Fact Finding Team Stopped 
Palestine: Platitudes Don’t Bring Peace 
Union Budget 2023-24: Betrayal to the people of India 
Toughest Reaction To Any Military Attempt Of U.S., Warns North Korea 
Kashmir Imbroglio: Creating Binary between Nehru and Patel! 
Remembering Shanti Bhushan 
The Black Gold(s) 
The Schadenfreude of Brexit 
Palestine is My Cause: Arabs Reaffirm Support for Palestinians, Rejection of the Occupation 
NPC Calls for Release of Journalist Austin Tice 
Anger, Yes Fascism NO!! 
Using the ruse of the recovery of Government land as a weapon to disempower 
Lower allocations this year can make food and nutrition situation difficult for the poor 
Union Budget 2023-24 Fails to Live up to Expectations of People 
Voices of Minors working in Informal Sector from Maharashtra 
Pakistan Is Facing Major Economic Crisis 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
