"When India achieved independence, more than 50 years ago, the people of the country were much afflicted by endemic hunger. They still are."
"Estimates of general undernourishment - what is sometimes called protein-energy malnutrition - are nearly twice as high in India as in Sub-Saharan Africa." ~ Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Winner
It's not Cancer,AIDS,TB etc ,the life threatening diseases that are the leading cause of death in the whole world but as a matter of heartbreaking fact,it is mere "Hunger".Unfortunately ,as per UNICEF,1/3 rd of the world's malnourished children live in India.Over 7000 kids die of hunger every day and that is over approx 25 lakhs deaths per year.
According to the Naandi Foundation report ,around 46 percent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 percent are underweight and at least 16 percent are acutely malnourished, or wasted - almost double that of sub-Saharan Africa kids.
More than 900 million Indians below poverty line live on less than Rs.20 a day.
Unemployment,poverty,little education and awareness,lack of basic health care facilities,poor hygiene,age-old customs like child marriages,improper birth control methods,poor health especially of rural women have contributed to the uncontrollable plague of our country,"The child malnutrition".
Despite good economic growth and many welfare programs like Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) etc are being implemented by the Indian government to fight against child malnutrition,it is pretty slow , unsteady and hard to count on.
As per Al Jazeera reports, though welfare programs aimed to aid millions of hungry like school meals to feed poor children across the country and the Anganwadi services to support mothers in every district are in action , the services are plagued by mismanagement and corruption in political level.Infact,school meals carry worms and insects in them, children told Al Jazeera, and the Aganwadi centers are often closed and dysfunctional.
I believe,it's just not the government but the citizens of country as well who can make or break a country.So,it's every citizen's obligation as well to take responsibility in their own hands to help each other as much as they can ,irrespective of any religion,caste creed ,color,status etc to enrich humanity , prosper together and make our nation more prosperous.
As they say,"Charity begins at home." Let's brainstorm ways and means to help our unprivileged countrymen and when it comes to a child ,let us do our every bit as much as we can to help them eat well,grow well,learn well and live well.
I believe every child's fate starts right from his's/her's mother's womb.She is the root and if the base is strong,stronger will be the tree.And like the saying,"Behind every successful man there is a woman." So,let's give all the women of our country especially the rural women,the full support and assistance she needs to learn ,stand on her own feet and take the right decisions in her life- take care of herself and others properly.So,that no one suffers!--This, I strongly believe, should be the first step towards eradicating child hunger.
I recently read in a magazine how a healthy cosmetic company was doing their bit in US & neighboring countries to help the helpless by building schools using "BOTTLES" .They were in fact supporting a good cause promoted by ,"Hug It Forward organization" , a grass-roots organization that facilitates education and awareness by empowering communities in Latin America to build “Bottle schools”.
Bottle schools are schools built using “eco-bricks” a.k.a. plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash. Entire communities come together ,they collect all 1.5 to 2 liter discarded plastic bottles from everywhere and then they stuff those bottles tightly with inorganic trashes like plastic grocery sacks, potato chip bags etc, then line them up between layers of chicken wire and cover them with cement/Adobe. It is infact very simple yet quite strong as this type of building can withstand rain and storms without any adverse effects.Bottle schools are much cheaper and takes less time to build comparatively than traditional schools as well.
So,If we can do something like this concept in our country as well, that would be like double joy,we'll not only clean up the environment (which is also one of our concern) but also clean up the uneducation problem as well.We can provide a simple and doable platform for educating and spreading awareness to every under privilege, from child to adults especially uplifting the women and thereby improving her's and her child's future thereby.I am sure that will certainly have a positive impact on eradicating the child hunger to a great extent.
Just as Amartya sen said ," There is considerable evidence that women's education and literacy tend to reduce the mortality rates of children."
So,if we can encourage our Government and we also volunteer and motivate the rural communities to come together, join hands to create such projects like bottle schools in every rural part of India,it will play a vital role in the overall upliftment of our nation and upliftment of any nations resides in their children-the next generation.Stronger the new generation,more stronger our country's future will be in every aspect .
If that's too much to ask for ,then let us not forget what Sir Claus Moser said "Education costs money. But then so does ignorance."
It's high time,to decide and take measures,which one is the best option here then????
P.S.This is a part of Blogadda and Akshaya Patra's collaborative effort “Blog to Feed a Child” theme where any blog post contributed for the cause, BlogAdda will sponsor meals for an Akshaya Patra beneficiary for an entire year.
So,
I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.
