United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says that there are one billion hungry people on the globe.
And as if he is very much concerned about this. I have watched him close and found that he is least perturbed in any way when people suffer due to the governments inactions or actions.
This is actually a shocking and shameful revelation. The recession in economy also has led to a dramatic rise in hunger across the world.
Ban has warned that the food crisis that is showing its head is a wake-up call for everyone since tomorrow by 2050 the planet's population will touch 9.1 billion people, it is over two billion more than today.
"This day, more than 17,000 children will die of hunger. One every five seconds! The world has more than enough food. Yet, today, more than one billion people are hungry," he said.
According to the Global Hunger Index 2009 the countries that have scored between 20 and 30 points are in an alarming condition. The index ranked countries on a 100-point scale, with zero being the best having no hunger and 100 being the worst score.
Combining three leading indicators into one index the index measures global hunger by ranking countries. The three indicators are prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.
Some interesting statistics is listed below from which we could see how pathetic the Indian Government is functioning.
Let us take some Asian countries hit by hunger and malnutrition, starting with India, and also the world's most hunger-ridden nations. . .
According to the 2009 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 65th out of 88 countries, with a hunger rate of 23.9.
India, which was largely unaffected by the severe recession, however appears to have made little progress in tackling hunger and malnutrition issue.
The situation remains 'alarming' in the country on this front, according to the Global Hunger Index 2009.
Countries like Uganda (38th); Mauritania (40th); Zimbabwe (58th) and many others possess a better record compared to India on this front. It is pity that when even war-torn nations could manage to combat the scourge of hunger, India which boasts of being the second fastest growing economy in the world languishes far behind. Millions in the country starve for want of food. Farmers commit suicide. Though the government is very well aware of all these they do not want to solve this problem. What is necessary is the local politician should take initiative in solving the problem.
Almost 21 per cent of the Indian population was undernourished (between 2003 and 2005), 43.5 per cent Indian children under the age of five were underweight (between 2002 and 2007) and the under five-year-age infant mortality rate in 2007 was 7.2 per cent.
Syrian Arab Republic in West Asia is considered as one of the least hungry nations on the planet. It has a hunger rate of 5.2 per cent,
The Syrian main occupation are oil and agriculture. It is a country which is neither rich nor poor.
The country though not is a industrialized country it is performing well in the industry sectors. Tourism fetches good income. Although the nation suffers from low investment, corruption, inefficiency and conflicts, it has managed to combat hunger very well.
In the 2nd spot is the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago with a hunger rate of 5.4; followed by Paraguay(5.6) and Suriname (5.6), both jointly in the third position.
China which least bothers about human sufferings is doing well in fighting poverty and especially hunger. In 2008, it stood at the 15th spot with a hunger rate of 7.1 points. In 2009, it has jumped up to the 5th position with a hunger rate of 5.7, even though it has a huge population.
It shares the 5th spot with Colombia which also has a hunger rate of 5.7.
China's economy is among fastest growing in the world. It is fourth most visited countries in the world with 62 million inbound international visitors in 2008.
It is a member of the WTO and is the world's third largest trading power behind the US and Germany. It is among the world's favourite destination for foreign direct investment.
Venezuela's hunger rate is 6.1 points, the same as Georgia, and it ranks 8th in the world in the list of least hungry nations.
Venezuela makes most of its money from petroleum. So much so that it's per capita income is $13,500. The country also has rich mineral resources, as also gold and diamond mines.
The country has some of the world's largest natural gas reserves.
Although almost 30 per cent of the nation's population is estimated to live on as less as $2 per day, Venezuela has largely won the battle against hunger.
Sri Lanka, Rank 35
Sri Lanka, with a hunger rate of 13.7, ranks 35th, way ahead of India and Pakistan.
Sri Lanka has an agrarian economy and is heavily dependent on tourism too. Its most widely known export is tea.
The nation also has a booming export sector, with textiles exports being one of the mainstays of the economy. Fishing, petroleum, industry too add to the nation's economy.
Nepal ranks 55th in the list of hungry nations, but still performs much better than India or Pakistan. Even then Nepal's hunger rate is quite high at 19.8.
Pakistan, Rank 58
Pakistan ranks 58, with a hunger rate of 21 points.
Pakistan's economic growth rate is much lower than India's, but the Asian nation seems to have done better than its neighbour at curbing hunger.
The Pakistani economy is mainly agrarian in nature, although the services sector has been rising rapidly in the last few years.
The country is also getting a lot of foreign investment in its telecommunications, manufacturing, real estate and power sectors.
Bangladesh, Rank 67
Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in the world. It is also one of the hungriest with a hunger rate of 24.7.
With most of its working population consisting of farmers, Bangladesh is primarily an agrarian society. However, agriculture is not a very productive occupation for the nation, as millions in the country go hungry everyday.
Rice and tea are the nation's major exports, but the country's major portion of exports earnings are generated from its booming textiles and garment industry.
Comoros, Rank 73
Amongst the world's poorest and hungriest nations is Comoros, with a hunger rate of 26.9 points, the country ranks 73rd in the world.
Lack of economic growth and extreme poverty have been plaguing Comoros for long. The nation has a fairly okay agricultural sector, with fishing, forestry, etc helping the economy.
The country also suffers from lack of basic infrastructure, low literacy, lack of good educational institutes, high unemployment, etc.
One of the main reason we can attribute for the declining of food stock and cultivation is global warming and climate change.
Every government has an umpteen task before them especially India who has to send its officials through nook and corners of India and invest in viable environment friendly projects and create employment.
Agriculture occupation which is dwindling in India because of lack of rainfall should get boost by linking rivers and building canals.
Lastly, we can rightly conclude that India will never step in itself to remove the problems that it is facing.
The same thing will apply to other countries also. Since every government are power mongers and are unwilling to improve the welfare of their people. Politicians are only interested to loot whatever they can before they are thrown out of power.
In these situations, it is only we who have a tremendous responsibility to step in and come forward to encourage investments in environment friendly projects.
We call upon you to join our Carbon Advice Group and partner with us to bring about sea change in the functioning and policies of the government all over the world.
