An Empty Cornucopia

Indians live in a country impoverished by hunger, one-fourth of its population endure it on a daily basis. Both children and adults go hungry as a result of the economy and cultural traditions. Despite a growing economy, substantial food production, and programs created to stop hunger, it persists. The widespread problem of hunger in India negatively affects many of its people.

Hunger in India affects many people, particularly vulnerable children under the age of five. In India, nearly sixty percent of the children are wasted, stunted, and underweight. Wasted children, also called acutely malnourished children, have a five to twenty times higher risk of dying from common illnesses. The stunted forty-eight percent of children (“Nutrition”) have a low height for their age because of an inadequate food supply (Haq). Also, forty-four percent of children under age five are underweight (“Superpower?”). In addition, eighty percent of children do not receive enough vitamins necessary for survival and seventy percent are anemic, a form of iron deficiency caused by chronic hunger (Sinha). In Uttar Pradesh, a heavily populated state in northern India, “children have resorted to eating mud,” and when the news spread, officials delivered food and “told the villagers to keep quiet” ( Chamberlain). The large number of malnourished children leads to several hunger-related deaths. Malnutrition results in half of all child deaths in India (Sinha). Due to hunger, millions of people, both children and adults, suffer.

Hunger also affects adults in many ways, especially women. Nearly one-third of adults in India have a BMI below 18.5 (Sinha). Furthermore, twenty-three percent of married men and fifty-two percent of married women develop anemia ...

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