 World over October 16th every year is observed as World Food Day. What comes to your mind when you hear the word World Food Day? Gallas and celebrations highlighting the various cuisines of the world, right? But we mark World Food Day every year for a different reason. World Food Day is marked to remind our policy makers to address the issue of hunger. As far as India is concerned, we have addressed hunger for the most part due to our successful public distribution system. But the issue of malnutrition still lingers. Have you ever stopped and wondered what does hunger actually mean? Does it have a definite definition? See, hunger in simple terms is the desire to consume food. We all get hungry, right? But everybody does not have the luxury of availability of food to fulfill the desire to consume food. So, what happens at this time? See, as a result of inadequate diet over time, the human body gets used to having less food. So, after a while, the body does not even demand more food. In such case, hunger is not even expressed. But this lower intake of essential calories, proteins, fat and micronutrients would result in underdevelopment of the human mind and the human body. And this is exactly why objective indicators are used to capture human problems scientifically rather than subjective articulation by individuals. Some of the objective indicators include calorie consumption, body mass index, the proportion of malarist children and the childhood mortality. See, among these indicators, calorie intake refers to the most proximate aspect of hunger. There are certain levels of calorie intake requirements which need to be obtained for the better development of the human mind and the human body. Indian Council of Medical Research recommends per person per day calorie norms of 2,400 kcal for rural areas and 2,100 kcal for urban areas. But the per capita calorie intake varies considerably across different expenditure classes. This is because low income families will be able to afford only fewer calories than high income category. This is the basic about hunger. Now, let us see the hunger situation prevailing on the global level. See, on the global level, food and nutrition security continues to be undermined. No, you may think how such a basic thing is getting undermined. One reason is the percentage of people in the top level of the social status always get food. They don't have to experience hunger problem that is faced by the people who are in the bottom of the social status. This is one of the main reason why the hunger problem is often getting undermined. No, coming to the other reason. See, we all are facing the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, spiraling food inflation, war. So, the author is saying that these problems cloud the hunger problem which we have to take care of immediately. And the author also gives us reason why he is saying that action should be taken immediately. As per estimates today, around 828 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat. And over 50 million people are facing severe hunger. The Hunger Hotspot Outlook 2020-23 warns about the escalating hunger. And the report says that over 205 million people across 45 countries will need emergency food assistance to survive. Know that Hunger Hotspot Outlook is a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Program. These reports are the reason why the author is saying immediate action is necessary to address hunger. Now coming to the hunger problem in India. See, recently the Global Hunger Index 2022 was published. And India got 107th rank out of 121 countries evaluated. And it performed poorly compared to its South Asian counterparts and its neighbors. And as per the Global Hunger Index, India is in the serious category of hunger level. Now, apart from this, the National Family Health Survey 5 report says that there is a twin problem of malnutrition in India. One scenario is people are getting overnourished. The other is people are getting undernourished. The National Family Health Survey 5 reports shows that the percentage of obese children and adults rose in India in the last 5 years. Moreover, as a part of the survey, several of India's nutritional indicators have shown only minor improvements since National Family Health Survey 4, which was conducted in 2015-16. This is a worrying factor. Why? See, there was only a 3 percentage decline in the child stunting. That is, from 38.4 in National Family Health Survey 4 to 35.5 in National Family Health Survey 5. And in the case of child wasting, there was only a 1.7% decline. But the percentage of children under 5 who are severely wasted has increased by 0.2%. Apart from this, children under the age of 5 who are overweight have increased from 2.1% in National Family Health Survey 4 to 3.4% in National Family Health Survey 5. Like I said before, on the one hand, overnutrition is increasing, but at the same time, malnourishment is not getting proper solution. Why do you think is the reason for this condition in India? See, India has an inspiring journey towards better production and achieving self-sufficiency in agricultural production. India has gone through the phases of the Green Revolution and it has incorporated technologies in agriculture to increase the production. And as far as the result is concerned, India is one of the largest agricultural product exporter. During 2021-22, it recorded $49 billion in total agricultural exports. This is a 20% increase from the year 2020-21. Now you may ask, if India is having enough stock to export, then how come there is hunger problem in India which is so critical? See, the main culprit here is the climate shocks. These climate shocks have raised concerns about India's wheat and rice production in recent times. Since agriculture in India is seasonal, climate shocks have affected the availability of food grains in India. The second factor is the increasing population. According to the World Population Prospects 2022, India will be the most populous country by 2023. And by 2030, India's population is expected to raise to 1.5 billion. This is also one another reason why a percentage of India's population is facing the problem of hunger and malnutrition. So, what should be done? And what are the multi-faceted approaches that India should take to address the issue of hunger and malnutrition? See, as we saw earlier, climate shocks are one of the reasons for hunger problem in India. So, it is important to place a greater focus on climate adaptation and resilience building in agriculture. See, the nutrition and agriculture production are not only impacted by climate change, but it is also linked to environmental sustainability. Soil degradation by excessive use of chemicals and non-judicious use of water has resulted in declining nutrition value of food products. And this needs urgent attention from the government. Earlier, we saw the problem of increasing population rate. So, to address the demand supply mismatch, agri-food system have to provide sustainable support. And there is also an increased need to move away from conventional input-intensive agriculture towards more inclusive, effective and sustainable agri-food systems. Fourthly, millets currently have received renewed attention. This is because the crops are good for nutrition, health and also the planet itself. Other than this, they have many benefits. See, they are climate smart crops and they are hardier than other cereals. They need fewer inputs and they are less extractive for the soil. They can revive soil's health. Additionally, their genetic diversity ensures that agro-biodiversity is preserved. And the major benefit is it increases the yield of the farmers. See, the Tejasvini program of Madhya Pradesh showed that growing millets meant nearly 10 times increase in income for the farmers. So, miller production should be encouraged because all parties who are involved in the miller production are beneficiaries. Apart from this, initiatives should be taken by the government regarding better production and improving food access mainly for vulnerable populations. So, these are the steps or the approaches that India should take to address the problem of malnutrition and hunger. Having said that, let us see the initiatives that are taken by the government to address the issue of hunger. See, one of India's greatest contribution to equity in food is its National Food Security Act 2013. This act integrates the targeted public distribution system, the PM-Potion Scheme and the Integrated Child Development Services. The safety nets and inclusions are linked with public procurement and buffer stock policy. This was visible during the global food crisis of 2008-12 and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, we all saw that the vulnerable and the marginalized people in India continued to be buffered by the targeted public distribution system. Additionally, the government continues to take various measures to improve programs with digitization and measures such as rise fortification, better health and sanitation. India is currently in a unique position. With the western powers ignoring the issue of hunger and malnutrition, India can share its expertise with the global south and become a torch bearer for addressing the issue of global hunger. This will help raise India's stature among the world nation. It will also help India's long-term geopolitical goals. Along with our government, we also must take steps and measures to address the issue of hunger. To know more about various social issues that India is facing and the steps that India is taking to address it, listen to the Daily Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iesakadami. Thank you.