India lifted 271 mn out of poverty in 2006-16 at fastest rate globally: UN

The report identifies 10 countries - Bangladesh, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and Vietnam - to illustrate the level of poverty reduction.

India lifted 271 million people out of poverty between 2006 and 2016, recording the fastest reductions in the multidimensional poverty index values during the period with strong improvements in areas such as "assets, cooking fuel, sanitation and nutrition," a report by the United Nations said.

The 2019 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) was released Thursday.

ALSO READ: 3 times higher poverty rates in Indian households with children: Survey

The report said that in the 101 countries studied 31 low income, 68 middle income and 2 high income - 1.3 billion people are "multidimensionally poor", which means that poverty is defined not simply by income, but by a number of indicators, including poor health, poor quality of work and the threat of violence.

The report identifies 10 countries, with a combined population of around 2 billion people, to illustrate the level of poverty reduction, and all of them have shown statistically significant progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 1, namely ending poverty "in all its forms, everywhere".

The 10 countries are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and Vietnam.

The report said that within these 10 countries, data shows that 270 million people moved out of multidimensional poverty from one survey to the next.

"This progress was largely driven by South Asia. In India, there were 271 million fewer people in poverty in 2016 than in 2006, while in Bangladesh the number dropped by 19 million between 2004 and 2014," it said.

The report noted that of the 10 selected countries for which changes over time were analysed, India and Cambodia reduced their MPI values the fastestand they did not leave the poorest groups behind.

Poor diet leads to hundreds of deaths in India every year: Lancet study

The study estimates that one in five deaths globally -- equivalent to 11 million deaths -- are associated with poor diet.

Poor diet leads to hundreds of deaths in India annually, according to a Lancet study which found that globally one in five people die due to the lack of optimal amounts of food and nutrients on their plates.

The report, which tracked trends in consumption of 15 dietary factors from 1990 to 2017 in 195 countries, showed that almost every region of the world could benefit from rebalancing their diets.

The study estimates that one in five deaths globally -- equivalent to 11 million deaths -- are associated with poor diet, and diet contributes to a range of chronic diseases in people around the world.

In 2017, more deaths were caused by diets with too low amounts of foods such as whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds than by diets with high levels of foods like trans fats, sugary drinks, and high levels of red and processed meats.

Low intake of whole grains -- below 125 grammes per day -- was the leading dietary risk factor for death and disease in India, the US, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Russia, Egypt, Germany, Iran, and Turkey.

In Bangladesh, low intake of fruits -- below 250 grammes per day -- was the leading dietary risk.

In 2017, the countries with the lowest rates of diet-related deaths were Israel, France, Spain, Japan, and Andorra. India ranked 118th with 310 deaths per 100,000 people.

The UK ranked 23rd (127 deaths per 100,000), and the US ranked 43rd (171 deaths per 100,000) after Rwanda and Nigeria (41st and 42nd).

China ranked 140th, with 350 deaths per 100,000 people, researchers said in a statement.

The findings highlight the urgent need for coordinated global efforts to improve diet, through collaboration with various sections of the food system and policies that drive balanced diets.

"This study affirms what many have thought for several years -- that poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world," said Christopher Murray, at University of Washington in the US.

"While sodium, sugar, and fat have been the focus of policy debates over the past two decades, our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium, or low intake of healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds, and vegetables," said Murray.Keep Reading : Business Standard

India houses 24% of world's malnourished; 30% of stunted children under 5

India has shown improvement in reducing child stunting but with 46.6 million stunted children, the country is home to over 30.9% of all stunted children under five--the highest in the world.

Increased food security and access has led to fewer malnourished and anaemic Indians in 2017 than in the preceding decade, but India needs to do much more to meet its nutrition goals, the 2018 Global Nutrition Report (GNR 2018) has shown.

India is not on track to achieve any of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) nine nutrition goals--reduce child overweight, wasting and stunting, diabetes among women and men, anaemia in women of reproductive age and obesity among women and men, and increase exclusive breastfeeding--by 2025, says the report.

The nine goals were adopted by WHO member countries in 2012 and 2013 to reduce all forms of malnutrition by 2025.

The fifth such report, compiled by GNR’s Independent Expert Group comprising academics, researchers and government representatives, was released at the ‘Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition’ conference in Bangkok, Thailand on November 29, 2018. The conference was jointly organised by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

India has shown improvement in reducing child stunting but with 46.6 million stunted children, according to the report, the country is home to over 30.9% of all stunted children under five--the highest in the world.

India, however, has shown no progress or declining parameters related to six other global nutrition goals (information on two goals is not available).

Only 94 of 194 countries are on track to achieve at least one of the nine global nutrition targets, says the report. “While [globally] there has been progress in reduction of stunting, there has been slow reduction of anaemia and underweight in women while overweight and obesity is getting worse,” said Corinna Hawkes, co-chair of the report and Director of the Centre for Food Policy, at the release of the report.

India reduces numbers of undernourished, but still bears 23.8% of the global burden of malnourishment

India had 195.9 million undernourished people--or people with chronic nutritional deficiency--in 2015-17, down from 204.1 million in 2005-07, according to FAO data. The prevalence of undernourishment has also gone down from 20.7% in 2005-07 to 14.8% in 2015-17.

India, however, still accounts for 23.8% of the global burden of malnourishment, and has the second-highest estimated number of undernourished people in the world after China, according to FAO.

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88% of marginalised children beaten at school; 91% parents okay with it

71% of children believed it's okay to be beaten up 'for a reason', having been taught its for 'their own good' and 'necessary'.

A toxic combination of poverty, poorly-paid teachers with anti-migrant prejudice and a lack of training on nonviolent discipline in government schools means marginalised children are significantly more likely to experience corporal punishment, said a new study.

Corporal punishment is a form of violence against children and is illegal in India.

Yet 80% of marginalised children report being punished by teachers, while an average of 43% said they were regularly beaten, up to three times a week, according to a new report by Agrasar, an NGO. In some schools the number of regularly beaten students rose to 88%.

The abuse does not end along with the school day. The majority of these children also experienced beatings at home (74%), while a similar proportion of parents admitting to doling out beatings at home (71%).

These are the findings of a survey from a randomised sample of 521 children and 100 parents in Gurugram, an area which experienced a 29% increase in migrant arrivals between 2000 and 2011, largely from poorer states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

However, “given that the same mechanisms of economic deprivation and social exclusion are at work, the findings apply to disadvantaged children elsewhere in India”, the report said.

No positive outcomes of corporal punishment have been found, while it is established that physical and mental forms of abuse can have a detrimental effect on child health and wellbeing, including mental-health problems, behavioural issues and cognitive ability, according to the report.(Business Standard)

The fear and stress associated with corporal punishment can create “school-phobia”, leading to increased dropouts, low-retention rates and poor academic scores, significantly impacting on education outcomes, the report said. Children who have experienced such abuse are also more likely to display criminal behaviour, commit violent crimes as adults and suffer from substance abuse.

In 1992, India became one of 128 countries to agree to the United Nations (UN) Convention of Rights of the Child 1989, which outlawed school corporal punishment and required the government under article 28(2) to ensure that “school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity”... Read More

Being food insecure: Rising income inequalities linked to unhealthy diets

While there are obvious health implications associated with hunger and not eating a healthy diet, there are other less obvious implications associated with the struggle to access food.

One in every five people in the UK today are living in poverty – that is, living with a household income below 60% of the median national income when housing costs are considered. And according to recent research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, two-thirds of children in poverty live in a working family. These rates are expected to increase sharply by 2021-22, assuming there is no change in government policy.

Poverty is linked directly to how people access food. A recent Social Market Foundation (SMF) study confirms a growing body of academic research that shows that food is a key component of household budgets. When these budgets are stretched, families trade down on their food choices. One in three low income households in the survey indicate that they purchase cheaper and less healthy food in order to make their budgets stretch. Many adults reported cutting back on their own food consumption so that others in their family, such as children, can eat.

Geography plays an important role in the affordability of food. The cost of food available to people will depend on what format of shop is located in an area, for example. Research by the consumer charity Which? shows that convenience shops charge more for the same items compared to larger format shops. On top of this, small shops have fewer product lines, tend not to carry own-brand value labels, and have a limited selection of fruits and vegetables.

Food deserts

The SMF study also found that more than a million low-income households live in areas known as “food deserts”. These are areas where access to good quality food is likely to be a challenge because there is an absence of such food available to purchase. The study defines a food desert as the presence of two or fewer VAT-registered food shops in areas based on population concentrations of between 5,000 to 15,000 people. These areas will be smaller in urban places compared to rural places. What the study shows is that nearly one in ten areas that are classed as income deprived can also be considered a food desert.

The important thing to understand about this research is that it identifies areas where there are likely to be high concentrations of people on low income who will have the added burden of having to travel further than others to access food. This will insure an additional cost for them in terms of time or money. If you have £20 a week spend on food, not unusual for the poorest fifth of the population, then you don’t want to be spending some of that on the transport to get to the shops. You want that money to go toward food.

On top of this, you must carry what you get, so you will choose food items that are easy to carry and make decisions about what you really need. A bag of potatoes is heavy. Vegetables take up a lot of volume and go off quickly. Fruit is expensive.. Read More

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