India's malnourished population rises from 189.9 to 194.6 million in 2011-15, blame it on "neo-liberal" model, FAO suggests

By Our Representative
A just released volume, “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015", by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), prepared in coordination with International Fund for Agricultural Development and World Food Programme, has revealed that over the last thee years there has been an absolute rise in undernourished persons in India over the last five years -- from 189.9 million to 194.6 million between 2011 and 2015. The report insists, economic growth alone cannot fight issues of malnutrition.
The FAO report says, higher economic growth in India has "not been fully translated into higher food consumption, let alone better diets overall", adding, this suggests that "the poor and hungry may have failed to benefit much from overall growth."
In percentage terms, the proportion of the undernourished persons to total population has only slid marginally -- from 16.6 per cent to 15.2 per cent, not a very good shortfall. This is compared with China's undernourished persons, who have gone down from 11.7 per cent to 9.3 period during the same period, it points out.
The report comes against the backdrop of well-known pro-Narendra Modi economists Columbia University professor Jagdish Bhagwati and Niti Ayog chairman Arvind Panagariya strongly favouring the view that economic growth is the panacea for improved social sector and poverty reduction.
Calling these economists "neo-liberal", their critics, mainly follows of Nobel Laureate Amrtya Sen believe, however, that without special efforts growth per se cannot lead to poverty reduction. Critics also say, the "neo-liberal" policies under Modi are merely continuation of the former UPA government.
Rise in the number of undernourished persons in India has taken place when there has been a fall in their numbers in the Asia Pacific region, from 535.to 490.1 million during 2011-15. In China it went down from 163.2 million to 133.8 million. Bangladesh similarly showed reduction, albeit little -- from 26.5 to 26.3 million. However, by sharp contrast, quite like India, the number of undernourished persons in Pakistan went up from 38.3 to 41.4 million.
Praising Bangladesh, the FAO says, "A notable exception in terms of performance is Bangladesh, which has made faster progress and has already reached millennium development goal (MDG) hunger target, thanks also to the comprehensive National Food Policy framework adopted in the mid-2000s. Nepal also has not only reached the MDG hunger target, but has almost reached the 5 percent threshold."
As for China’s achievements, the FAO says, they come amidst the country's continued prospects of growth, increasing orientation towards the domestic market, expansion of economic opportunities in internal areas of the country and growing ability of the poor to benefit from developments.
On India, the FAO says, its picture if blurred by "inconsistency" between food consumption and income levels, increasing inequalities, poor data, and challenges of capturing the changing energy requirements of the population. The fact is, in India, "calorie consumption is lower than what per capita incomes and poverty rates would suggest", the FAO insists.

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World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Refugees as criminals? US govt report blames Amit Shah for calling Bangladeshis termites

Counterview Desk
The chapter “Freedom of Movement” of the US State Department’s “India 2018 Human Rights Report”, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as “termites”, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.
Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assam’s final draft list, leading to “uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations”, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term “refugee,” treating refugees like Rohingiyas as “any other foreigners.”
“Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse”, the report says.
Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, a…

Mental health: India's 95% patients "deprived" of medical care, treatment gap 70%

By Moin Qazi*
Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb. An estimated 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million from anxiety disorders. For those who suffer from mental illness, life can seem like a terrible prison from which there is no hope of escape; they are left forlorn and abandoned, stigmatized, shunned and misunderstood.

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

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