South Asians Eating Grass to Acquire Nuke Subs

[Shinigami]

Q. Later this decade, you will face an Indian nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed ballistic submarine that threatens the current strategic balance in South Asia. How do you intend to respond?

A. The strategic dimension of India’s naval buildup is a cause of concern not only for us but for the entire Indian Ocean region. I feel nuclearization of the Indian Ocean does not augur well for peace and stability in the region. We are mindful of this development and taking necessary measures to restore the strategic balance.

Interview: Adm. Asif Sandila, Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan Navy | Defense News | defensenews.com

since when did Pakistan become the official spokesman for the entire indian ocean region. only pakistan is complaining about IN's build up

 

[Screambowl]

I don't think, we would need any Nuclear submarines for Pakistan and neither Pakistan need it for India. Why is Pakistan so worried about it then?
Indian Military is never Pakistan centric while Pakistan Military is India Centric, why would they want to go for N subs. Doesn't make any sense but yes it is their decision.

 

[Bobby]

I dont give a damm about any data ....... I have seen people having below poverty line card and owning cars
these surveys/data are heavily inaccurate

Lets solve a case which will help you to gauge actual poverty levels in India

Population 1.2 billion
Median age 25 yrs (i.e 50% of population is below 25yrs of age)
Assumption 30% population is below 18 years

So Population above 18 yrs is 70%
I am assuming 18 years is the age when an average Indian owns a mobile phone

70% 1.2 billion = 840 million
Number of mobile phone in use in India : 850 million
List of countries by number of mobile phones in use - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

let the number of mobile users in India is X
Assuming 30 % of them use two sims
total connections X + .3X = 1.3X
1.3X=850million
X= 650 Million

So 650 million out of 840 million adults can afford mobile connections
So extrapolating this data for 1.2 billion gives 920 million

(This calculation estimates data just for mobile phone affordability)

Now if you have a bare minimum IQ then you will be able to gauge Poverty in India

Nice calculation...I agree with you

 

[RiazHaq]

Nice calculation...I agree with you

Let me try and bring you back to reality.

Here are some excerpts of BBC's Soutik Biswas's review of Pulitzer-winning New Yorker reporter Katherine Boo's "Beautiful Forevers":

"We try so many things," a girl in Annawadi, a slum in Mumbai tells Katherine Boo, "but the world doesn't move in our favour".

Annawadi is a "sumpy plug of slum" in the biggest city - "a place of festering grievance and ambient envy" - of a country which holds a third of the world's poor. It is where the Pulitzer prize winning New Yorker journalist Boo's first book Behind the Beautiful Forevers is located.

Annawadi is where more than 3,000 people have squatted on land belonging to the local airport and live "packed into, or on top of" 335 huts. It is a place "magnificently positioned for a trafficker in rich's people's garbage", where the New India collides with the Old.

Nobody in Annawadi is considered poor by India's official benchmarks. The residents are among the 100 million Indians freed from poverty since 1991, when India embarked on liberalising its economy.
-----------
She used more than 3,000 public records, many obtained using India's right to information law, to validate her narrative, written in assured reported speech. The account of the hours leading to the self-immolation of Fatima Sheikh derives from repeated interviews of 168 people as well as police, hospital, morgue and court records. Mindful of the risk of over interpretation, the books wears its enormous research lightly.
-----------
The local councillor runs fake schools, doctors at free government hospitals and policemen extort the poor with faint promise of life and justice, and self-help groups operate as loan sharks for the poorest. The young in Annawadi drop dead like flies - run over by traffic, knifed by rival gangs, laid low by disease; while the elders - not much older - die anyway. Girls prefer a certain brand of rat poison to end their lives.
--------------
Boo has an interesting take on corruption, rife in societies like India's. Corruption is seen as blocking India's global ambitions. But, she writes, for the "poor of a country where corruption thieved a great deal of opportunity, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained".

On the other hand, Boo believes, corruption stymies our moral universe more than economic possibility. Suffering, she writes, "can sabotage innate capacities for moral action". In a capricious world of corrupt governments and ruthless markets the idea of a mutually supportive community is a myth: it is "blisteringly hard", she writes, to be good in such conditions. "If the house is crooked and crumbling", Boo writes, "and the land on which it sits uneven, is it possible to make anything lie straight?

BBC News - Is hope a fiction for India's poor?

 

[CZAR]

Riaz: And Indian govt lies about defense spending by excluding big chunks of military spending by hiding it under non-military headings. The actual Indian defense spending is closer to 4% of GDP.

Mr. Haq you are turning increasingly notorious. Your assessment of the India's defence spending of 4% is based more on pak's fears about implications of the india's modernisation program, rather than "hard facts".

"Hard Facts" - remember, that once upon a time you used to rely on them in your blogs, and comment incessantly on how your analysis is based on data and not on perceptions?!?

Indian govt "lies"?!?!? And other than the founder of Pak Alumni, Riaz Haq is also the founder of the ISI?? You can tell about the indian govt lying through your secret "sources", I presume?? You obviously have the details of Indian military spending and access to the contract details such as terms of payment for rafale, globemaster, etc etc to arrive at a very specific figure of 4% of Indian GDP - as the defence spending.

Hard facts - In the last budget, as per the Finance Minister - a total of 1.8% of GDP was allocated for defence spending. Google it. You'r pretty good at it. I have faith in you.

Ashmit (India)

 

[CZAR]

Riaz: India’s total external public debt has risen to $326 billion while foreign exchange reserves have dropped to $293 billion, according to the RBI data reported by the Indian Express newspaper.

The Reserve Bank of India is concerned over the increasing shift from equity to debt to fill India's widening current account gap. The latest available data indicates that foreign debt inflows in January so far have amounted to $3.21 billion versus $1.7 billion through equity inflows.

Recent $1.1 billion bail-out of Reliance Communications by state-owned Chinese banks is the clearest indication yet that the situation is also becoming dire in India's private sector with its mounting foreign debt.

With its external debt higher than its reserves and growing twin deficits, India is also bankrupt. And it's starving its children to satisfy its ego.

.........


The only one suffering from bankruptcy, is you Mr. Haq –bankruptcy of ideas.

Your near amateurish claims about the “failing” status of the Indian economy wouldn’t hold water if questioned by my dog. Especially, given the pitiable position of the pak economy.

Let’s first begin with talk of military spending. You said something about satisfying ego. Given that pak has consistently allocated a greater share of its GDP for the armed forces – your wholesale dismissal of military spending appears to be more apt for pak. Fighting emasculation and salvaging what’s left of pak pride, by holding onto the sword not realizing that it’s a double edged sword.

As for facts – India allocated USD 36 billion dollars for FY12. Importantly it accounted for only 1.8% of the GDP. The pak economy reduced to rubble, could only afford USD 6 billion – which adds up to 2.6% of GDP. The facts tell a different story about excessive military spending, Mr. Haq.

“the situation is also becoming dire in India's private sector with its mounting foreign debt.”

You obviously lack understanding of the Indian markets. Dire situation in India’s private sector? Sure, due to concerns on the policy front and easy liquidity in the pre euro-crisis period – telecom, infra, metal, mining, realty and small tech firms are facing pressure on the debt front. But to paint the whole of the Indian private sector with the same brush is plain stupid (even my dog wouldn’t do it). I would advise you to check the “cash in hand” in balance sheets of companies such as RIL, Piramal, HUL, Infosys, ITC, TCS to name a few. The list can go on. Most FMCG, Auto, IT, Banking, Pharma, Consumer Durable companies are in the pink of health, despite short term pressure on the bottomlines.

In fact, the first case of FCCB redemptions turning sour was in the case of pharma company Wockhardt. The company has been paying back the bondholders, by simply selling off a business vertical. Meanwhile, there is no fear of liquidation of the company and it continues to boast of a strong product pipeline. A case in point, that even the current adverse scenario can be easily overcome. And guess what? No Chinese bank was involved.


“With its external debt higher than its reserves and growing twin deficits, India is also bankrupt.”

India’s external debt, according to you is USD 326 billion and the reserves are USD 293 billion. Firstly, let’s not be stupid here. It’s not like 326 billion dollars of debt is maturing this year. On the other hand, pak does have to repay USD 8 billion to IMF in 2012, which is roughly half of pak’s forex reserve.

Secondly, as per the your figures, India’s external debt is 111.2% of its reserves. Let’s take a look at pak. It’s reserves stand at a lowly figure of USD 16.69 billion. However, external debt stands at a whooping USD 60.1 billion (as of 30 Jun, 2011). In percentage terms, pak’s external debt is over 360% of its reserves.

Add to the external debt worries, the stark reality of little or no confidence in the pak currency. It’s been in a state of free fall for last few years, only adding to the pain of carrying such a large burden. Meanwhile, the Indian currency has been one of the best performers, so far in 2012. Lets also not forget that India, both in absolute terms and percentage terms, attracts greater FDI and FII interest than pak - allowing india greater maneuverability.

As the debt to GDP burden of the two nations, India’s debt to gdp ratio is currently pegged at 65%. As for pak, things only seem to be getting worse. The Debt Policy Statement released by pak ministry of finance, expects the ratio to balloon to 65.2% of GDP by 2014.

But despite the similar looking figures, there is a world of difference between the respective debt burden that has to be shouldered. Pak is saddled with foreign debt and a currency that inspires little confidence – which amplifies the burden manifold, and allows little breathing space.

On the other hand, a large chunk of india’s total debt is rupee denominated and owed to state run Public Sector Banks (PSBs). This stark difference allows positions india in a more flexible position as the govt can tweak norms, via the PSBs, to tackle the public debt menace.

And these issues with pak, serve only as the tip of an iceberg. Infact in a recent development, the IMF ridiculed growth estimates of 4.2% put forth by the pak govt. The IMF suggests, that the best pak can mange this fiscal would be 3.4%. The IMF has also expressed fears about the ballooning fiscal deficit, which it expect to rocket up to 7%, against the govt’s projection of 4.7%.

Questioning the govt’s stats of unemployment, the IMF observed that the country needs to develop at 7% annually to absorb the manpower, or face acute unemployment.

It also expressed fears over alarming rates of growth in government borrowing and domestic debt (136% and 28.42%, respectively). Meanwhile, the pak rupee has weakened by 27% between 2008 and 2011, trading in the vicinity of 90-USD. Also inflation continues to stay in double digits, with the Consumer Price index rising by 10.1% in Jan (YOY). And finally, the debt repayment of USD 8 billion to imf in 2012.

A few words to summarize pak economy - Limited inflows, falling reserves, falling rupee, limited ability for central bank to intervene, growing debt, debt repayment, high inflation, high unemployment, fiscal deficit at 7% of GDP, 6% hike in oil prices and the domino effect, loose monetary policy of central bank, vulnerability to global shocks – and after all this, a Pakistani is lecturing India on sound economics.

 

[RiazHaq]

Riaz: India’s total external public debt has risen to $326 billion while foreign exchange reserves have dropped to $293 billion, according to the RBI data reported by the Indian Express newspaper.

The Reserve Bank of India is concerned over the increasing shift from equity to debt to fill India's widening current account gap. The latest available data indicates that foreign debt inflows in January so far have amounted to $3.21 billion versus $1.7 billion through equity inflows.

Recent $1.1 billion bail-out of Reliance Communications by state-owned Chinese banks is the clearest indication yet that the situation is also becoming dire in India's private sector with its mounting foreign debt.

With its external debt higher than its reserves and growing twin deficits, India is also bankrupt. And it's starving its children to satisfy its ego.

.........


The only one suffering from bankruptcy, is you Mr. Haq –bankruptcy of ideas.

Your near amateurish claims about the “failing” status of the Indian economy wouldn’t hold water if questioned by my dog. Especially, given the pitiable position of the pak economy.

Let’s first begin with talk of military spending. You said something about satisfying ego. Given that pak has consistently allocated a greater share of its GDP for the armed forces – your wholesale dismissal of military spending appears to be more apt for pak. Fighting emasculation and salvaging what’s left of pak pride, by holding onto the sword not realizing that it’s a double edged sword.

As for facts – India allocated USD 36 billion dollars for FY12. Importantly it accounted for only 1.8% of the GDP. The pak economy reduced to rubble, could only afford USD 6 billion – which adds up to 2.6% of GDP. The facts tell a different story about excessive military spending, Mr. Haq.

“the situation is also becoming dire in India's private sector with its mounting foreign debt.”

You obviously lack understanding of the Indian markets. Dire situation in India’s private sector? Sure, due to concerns on the policy front and easy liquidity in the pre euro-crisis period – telecom, infra, metal, mining, realty and small tech firms are facing pressure on the debt front. But to paint the whole of the Indian private sector with the same brush is plain stupid (even my dog wouldn’t do it). I would advise you to check the “cash in hand” in balance sheets of companies such as RIL, Piramal, HUL, Infosys, ITC, TCS to name a few. The list can go on. Most FMCG, Auto, IT, Banking, Pharma, Consumer Durable companies are in the pink of health, despite short term pressure on the bottomlines.

In fact, the first case of FCCB redemptions turning sour was in the case of pharma company Wockhardt. The company has been paying back the bondholders, by simply selling off a business vertical. Meanwhile, there is no fear of liquidation of the company and it continues to boast of a strong product pipeline. A case in point, that even the current adverse scenario can be easily overcome. And guess what? No Chinese bank was involved.


“With its external debt higher than its reserves and growing twin deficits, India is also bankrupt.”

India’s external debt, according to you is USD 326 billion and the reserves are USD 293 billion. Firstly, let’s not be stupid here. It’s not like 326 billion dollars of debt is maturing this year. On the other hand, pak does have to repay USD 8 billion to IMF in 2012, which is roughly half of pak’s forex reserve.

Secondly, as per the your figures, India’s external debt is 111.2% of its reserves. Let’s take a look at pak. It’s reserves stand at a lowly figure of USD 16.69 billion. However, external debt stands at a whooping USD 60.1 billion (as of 30 Jun, 2011). In percentage terms, pak’s external debt is over 360% of its reserves.

Add to the external debt worries, the stark reality of little or no confidence in the pak currency. It’s been in a state of free fall for last few years, only adding to the pain of carrying such a large burden. Meanwhile, the Indian currency has been one of the best performers, so far in 2012. Lets also not forget that India, both in absolute terms and percentage terms, attracts greater FDI and FII interest than pak - allowing india greater maneuverability.

As the debt to GDP burden of the two nations, India’s debt to gdp ratio is currently pegged at 65%. As for pak, things only seem to be getting worse. The Debt Policy Statement released by pak ministry of finance, expects the ratio to balloon to 65.2% of GDP by 2014.

But despite the similar looking figures, there is a world of difference between the respective debt burden that has to be shouldered. Pak is saddled with foreign debt and a currency that inspires little confidence – which amplifies the burden manifold, and allows little breathing space.

On the other hand, a large chunk of india’s total debt is rupee denominated and owed to state run Public Sector Banks (PSBs). This stark difference allows positions india in a more flexible position as the govt can tweak norms, via the PSBs, to tackle the public debt menace.

And these issues with pak, serve only as the tip of an iceberg. Infact in a recent development, the IMF ridiculed growth estimates of 4.2% put forth by the pak govt. The IMF suggests, that the best pak can mange this fiscal would be 3.4%. The IMF has also expressed fears about the ballooning fiscal deficit, which it expect to rocket up to 7%, against the govt’s projection of 4.7%.

Questioning the govt’s stats of unemployment, the IMF observed that the country needs to develop at 7% annually to absorb the manpower, or face acute unemployment.

It also expressed fears over alarming rates of growth in government borrowing and domestic debt (136% and 28.42%, respectively). Meanwhile, the pak rupee has weakened by 27% between 2008 and 2011, trading in the vicinity of 90-USD. Also inflation continues to stay in double digits, with the Consumer Price index rising by 10.1% in Jan (YOY). And finally, the debt repayment of USD 8 billion to imf in 2012.

A few words to summarize pak economy - Limited inflows, falling reserves, falling rupee, limited ability for central bank to intervene, growing debt, debt repayment, high inflation, high unemployment, fiscal deficit at 7% of GDP, 6% hike in oil prices and the domino effect, loose monetary policy of central bank, vulnerability to global shocks – and after all this, a Pakistani is lecturing India on sound economics.

Most agree that North Korea is a failed state based essentially on the fact that the state starves its people to build nukes. Now, it turns out that hunger in India is worse than in the failed state of North Korea.

Here's an excerpt from Times of India on persistent and pervasive hunger in India:

With 21% of its population undernourished, nearly 44% of under-5 children underweight and 7% of them dying before they reach five years, India is firmly established among the world's most hunger-ridden countries. The situation is better than only Congo, Chad, Ethiopia or Burundi, but it is worse than Sudan, North Korea, Pakistan or Nepal.

Today India has 213 million hungry and malnourished people by GHI estimates although the UN agency Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) puts the figure at around 230 million. The difference is because FAO uses only the standard calorie intake formula for measuring sufficiency of food while the Hunger Index is based on broader criteria.

Superpower? 230 million Indians go hungry daily - Times Of India

 

[CZAR]

Most agree that North Korea is a failed state based essentially on the fact that the state starves its people to build nukes. Now, it turns out that hunger in India is worse than in the failed state of North Korea.

Here's an excerpt from Times of India on persistent and pervasive hunger in India:

With 21% of its population undernourished, nearly 44% of under-5 children underweight and 7% of them dying before they reach five years, India is firmly established among the world's most hunger-ridden countries. The situation is better than only Congo, Chad, Ethiopia or Burundi, but it is worse than Sudan, North Korea, Pakistan or Nepal.

Today India has 213 million hungry and malnourished people by GHI estimates although the UN agency Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) puts the figure at around 230 million. The difference is because FAO uses only the standard calorie intake formula for measuring sufficiency of food while the Hunger Index is based on broader criteria.

Superpower? 230 million Indians go hungry daily - Times Of India

Really?! That’s the best you can manage? You think an arbitrary article that you quote, refutes my arguments about the financial mismanagement that has come to represent the pak economy?

Hope you don’t think that a politically correct and morally upright position on hunger, adds any muscle to your ill-conceived arguments about the “resurgence” of pak, in relation to India.

Secondly as far is hunger and undernourishment are concerned. You blindly quote UN agencies such as FAO, not realizing that the database of FAO itself pegs the “undernourishment” levels in pak at higher levels than in India.
FAO: FAO Hunger Portal

According to FAO, undernourishment or chronic hunger affects 19% of India’s population. In case of pak, one in every four, or 25% of the population reels under the burden of chronic hunger. So in absolute terms, India does have more “hungry” people, but in percentage terms a greater share of pak is ailing from this disease.

Moreover, the chronic hunger in pak is only getting worse according to a WFP report. The report argues that even before the disastrous floods, over 80 million or nearly half of pak’s population was believed to be “food insecure”. The report also adds that the percentage of population dependant on “food assistance” has from 38% in 2003 to 49% in 2009. The report also observes that barely 50% of pak’s population has access to clean toilets and drinking water.
Pakistan: 8 Hunger Facts | WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Other disturbing trends include the near lethal cocktail of “feudalism, absence of land reforms, denial of rights to peasants and corporate farming” for the agriculture sector.
Corporate farming to heighten food insecurity | Business | DAWN.COM

So, with WFP and FAO pointing to greater “chronic hunger” in pak, it appears that by your logic pak is closer to N. Korea and hence, to the “failed” tag as well. Besides you guys have more in common. A military as a centre of power, nuclear proliferation, transfer of technology on ballistic missiles, defunct economy, dependence on foreign aid, now hunger, and also high rankings on various “failed state” indices, etc, etc. Congratulations.

So given, that you have little to say in response to the pitiable condition of the pak economy and clearly, pak itself has a quite a bit of ground to cover on social indicators – your incessant India obsession begs the question – have you heard the saying about living in a glass house?

---------- Post added at 12:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 AM ----------

Most agree that North Korea is a failed state based essentially on the fact that the state starves its people to build nukes. Now, it turns out that hunger in India is worse than in the failed state of North Korea.

Here's an excerpt from Times of India on persistent and pervasive hunger in India:

With 21% of its population undernourished, nearly 44% of under-5 children underweight and 7% of them dying before they reach five years, India is firmly established among the world's most hunger-ridden countries. The situation is better than only Congo, Chad, Ethiopia or Burundi, but it is worse than Sudan, North Korea, Pakistan or Nepal.

Today India has 213 million hungry and malnourished people by GHI estimates although the UN agency Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) puts the figure at around 230 million. The difference is because FAO uses only the standard calorie intake formula for measuring sufficiency of food while the Hunger Index is based on broader criteria.

Superpower? 230 million Indians go hungry daily - Times Of India

Really?! That’s the best you can manage? You think an arbitrary article that you quote, refutes my arguments about the financial mismanagement that has come to represent the pak economy?

Hope you don’t think that a politically correct and morally upright position on hunger, adds any muscle to your ill-conceived arguments about the “resurgence” of pak, in relation to India.

Secondly as far is hunger and undernourishment are concerned. You blindly quote UN agencies such as FAO, not realizing that the database of FAO itself pegs the “undernourishment” levels in pak at higher levels than in India.
FAO: FAO Hunger Portal

According to FAO, undernourishment or chronic hunger affects 19% of India’s population. In case of pak, one in every four, or 25% of the population reels under the burden of chronic hunger. So in absolute terms, India does have more “hungry” people, but in percentage terms a greater share of pak is ailing from this disease.

Moreover, the chronic hunger in pak is only getting worse according to a WFP report. The report argues that even before the disastrous floods, over 80 million or nearly half of pak’s population was believed to be “food insecure”. The report also adds that the percentage of population dependant on “food assistance” has from 38% in 2003 to 49% in 2009. The report also observes that barely 50% of pak’s population has access to clean toilets and drinking water.
Pakistan: 8 Hunger Facts | WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Other disturbing trends include the near lethal cocktail of “feudalism, absence of land reforms, denial of rights to peasants and corporate farming” for the agriculture sector.
Corporate farming to heighten food insecurity | Business | DAWN.COM

So, with WFP and FAO pointing to greater “chronic hunger” in pak, it appears that by your logic pak is closer to N. Korea and hence, to the “failed” tag as well. Besides you guys have more in common. A military as a centre of power, nuclear proliferation, transfer of technology on ballistic missiles, defunct economy, dependence on foreign aid, now hunger, and also high rankings on various “failed state” indices, etc, etc. Congratulations.

So given, that you have little to say in response to the pitiable condition of the pak economy and clearly, pak itself has a quite a bit of ground to cover on social indicators – your incessant India obsession begs the question – have you heard the saying about living in a glass house?

 

[kingkobra]

Riz Haq,

You are being clever here by deliberately using words like "South Asians", Hunger, Nukes like a seasoned Propagandist.

Your pathetic attempt to show India as some how similar to Pakistan or at least doing things that Pakistan did like actually "eating grass for making Bombs" makes people puke once they find out the article is written by a Pakistani, who sings the same song of "India is the cause of all ills" but in a different tune.

You could act Pacifist all you want but you cannot hide your Pakistani brand self-righteousness and self-pity in your agenda driven article whose only aim is to say .."Ok, i cannot argue that Pakistan is hopelessly obsessed about destroying India and getting increasingly suicidal at it but I am going to make the case that India is doing something similar too".

instead of consulting a shrink for the treatment of this compulsive writing of "how Pakistan is similar to India, hence India is doing bad too", you keep attempting the same feat again and again with different titles in your blog. how pathetic really it must be to be you. A person who goes so low using innuendos to battle out ones self pity about his country by writing nonsense about other countries.

PS .For all Indians, Notice the Pakistanis and a few Bangladeshis specifically use the word "south Asians" to form a new common identity(which they rejected in'47) just to associate their societies' ills to India and Indians, claiming some kind of parity for their countries with India. These people have fucked up the reputation of the region and now searching new ways to attribute India the same ills cleverly by using crafted words.

you nailed it brother

 

[nalandapride]

you nailed it brother

Here is a simple logic. Indian economy is 10 times of Pakistan and population is some 7 times of Pakistan. Pakistan has an army of 6 million soldiers and budget of $9 billion. If we really went in Pakistan's way we would have to maintain Army of some 42 million soldiers (taking population into account) and defence spending of $90 Billion(considering economy).

So, I am sure we Indians are not eating grass for defence budget it is still 1.8% of GDP. We would have ben eating grass if we had maintained army of 42 million soldiers and defence budget of $90 Billion.

 

[RiazHaq]

These days, Indian policymakers are debating how to create a vast new food entitlement program. There is talk of poor households struggling to cope with high food prices and malnourishment among their children.

What you don’t hear much about, however, is the most tragic and outrageous consequence of India’s failure to feed its people adequately: starvation deaths.

India is a nation that prides itself on having been self-sufficient in food production for decades and having leaped forward economically over the past 20 years. So it isn’t surprising that public officials and even many in the media are reluctant to face up to the painful reality that hunger persists in 2012. Starvation doesn’t fit neatly into the story of a “shining” India.

But India is also a nation with about 360 million people living under the official poverty line – more than any other country – and starvation is all too real.

Just ask Paro Devi of Manjhladih village in the eastern state of Jharkhand. Her husband, Padamchand Hazra, earned $1.50 per day doing construction labor and riding a cycle rickshaw. Food was always scant in their house. They were surviving on a razor’s edge.

In the summer of 2010, the government-run food distribution program in the area shut down when the local ration dealer stopped distributing grains. The dealer said he simply ran out of inventory, but a senior local official said the village had been given a full allotment of food and shouldn’t have run out.

Around the same time, construction work dried up. The family went days without food. Mr. Hazra grew thin and weak, and was unable to work.

One day, “about six in the evening,” Ms. Devi recalled, “he asked me to put the khattiya (makeshift bed) outside. He wanted food. He kept asking for it but there was no food in the house.”

That night, Mr. Hazra died.

I set out last September with my colleague Ankita Aggarwal from the Centre for Equity Studies, a New Delhi think tank, to investigate deaths that bore the hallmarks of starvation in three Indian states: Bihar, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh — the country’s “hungriest”, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, a non-partisan group that advocates policies to fight hunger and poverty.

Each state fares worse than the abysmal national averages in nearly all nutrition indicators, including height for weight and age of children and mortality rate for children under five years old.

Historically oppressed and disenfranchised lower castes and tribal populations – known as “scheduled castes” and “scheduled tribes” — are the poorest of the poor and the most at risk. It is no surprise that most reported starvation deaths occur in these communities. In Bihar the under-five mortality rate for scheduled castes is 113 deaths per 1,000 births, compared to the state-wide average of 85 and the all-India average of 74.

We visited 30 scheduled castes and scheduled tribe families that had reportedly lost at least one man, woman, or child because of a lack of food in the house. Our goal was to reconstruct exactly what happened in each case. What were the living conditions that led to these catastrophes? What was the government response? What should policymakers do to correct this as they write a national food security law?

One of the clear themes that emerged was that India’s current system of distributing food to the needy is seriously flawed. Inefficient planning leaves grain rotting in government warehouses rather than getting to the hungry. Botched government surveys leave poor families without the ration cards to which they are supposed to be entitled. Corrupt ration shop dealers pilfer food and sell it on the black market rather than to intended beneficiaries.

Drawing clear lines between chronic malnutrition, hunger and starvation isn’t straightforward. One international standard for measuring hunger is the body mass index, or BMI, which refers to an individual’s weight relative to height – a proxy for body fat. The internationally acknowledged threshold for a “normal” BMI is 18.5. An individual with a BMI of 17 to 18.4 is “undernourished”, someone with a BMI of 16.0 to 16.9 is considered “severely malnourished” and a BMI less than 16 signifies a person is “starving”.

Based on government estimates that 35.6% of Indian women and 34.2% of Indian men have BMIs less than 18.5, the Planning Commission’s India Human Development Report states, “If India is not in a state of famine, it is quite clearly in a state of chronic hunger.”

Dr. John Butterly, executive director of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire and co-author of “Hunger: The Biology and Politics of Starvation,” says chronic malnutrition often leads to a compromised immune system and makes a person unable to fight off organisms “that a normally fed human would barely notice.”

Hunger doesn’t happen in isolation. Inevitably, our research exposed us to a range of economic and social ills in rural India and led us to incredible stories – tales of totally defunct public food and work programs, corruption, broken hand pumps for water, decrepit dirt roads, and caste exploitation.

In the coming days, we’ll be telling these stories, hoping to show empirically why India needs to overhaul its approach to hunger.

India is a food surplus nation but according to the International Food Policy Research Institute’s 2011 Global Hunger Index, it ranks 67th out of 81 countries and has more than 200 million food-insecure people, the most in the world. (The Hunger Index measures hunger based on the percentage of a country’s population that is undernourished, the proportion of children under five years old who are underweight, and the mortality rate of children under five.)

In mid-January, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called India’s malnutrition problem a national shame after a survey revealed that 42% of the nation’s children are underweight. Officials in the prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

In a statement in response to written questions, an official at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the public health system should ensure all needy citizens can access medical care. “Those who are malnourished are likely to be amongst the ‘poorest of the poor’ towards whom the public health system has an added responsibility as this is the only avenue where they can receive free medical care and attention,” the statement said. It is difficult to generalize why starvation deaths occur, the statement said, because there are special local factors at play in every case.

The entire debate over food security – the push by many in civil society for a universal “right to food” – has its roots in starvation deaths. In 2001, activists blamed Rajasthan state for failing to stop a string of hunger-related deaths, especially with millions of tons of unused grains in government warehouses.

That and other national woes were the catalysts for the public interest litigation filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties in 2001, which resulted in the Supreme Court’s decision to convert nine food, work and nutrition programs into legal entitlements. The heart of the PUCL’s case was that the Indian Constitution’s right to life as spelled out in Article 21 entitles Indians to a right to food.

Eleven years and nine court orders later, the right to food case is still going and is largely responsible for pushing the government to develop food security legislation, which is expected to be debated in Parliament in the coming months. The draft bill would give 75% of rural Indians and 50% of urban Indians access to discounted rice and grains.

The Centre for Equity Studies is involved in the food security debate, advocating reforms based on our extensive research into hunger and starvation. CES is also producing a book on the history of India’s right-to-food movement. Harsh Mander, the organization’s director, is also a member of the National Advisory Council, an independent body of experts that advises the government on social development issues, including food security.

Starving in India: The Forgotten Problem - India Real Time - WSJ

 

[The HBS Guy]

What bull crap!

Pakistanis again clubbing India with themselves to hide their own faults.

India is not the one where Polio still exists.

India is not the one where 30% of kids at schooling age do not go to school.

India is not the one where 50% of the population does not have enough food to eat.

-----

There's no way India can be clubbed with Pakistan. No way at all.

 

[RiazHaq]

What bull crap!

Pakistanis again clubbing India with themselves to hide their own faults.

India is not the one where Polio still exists.

India is not the one where 30% of kids at schooling age do not go to school.

India is not the one where 50% of the population does not have enough food to eat.

-----

There's no way India can be clubbed with Pakistan. No way at all.

I agree. Pakistan has much less hunger and poverty than India, according to IFPRI and World Bank reports.

Based on hunger data collected from 2003 to 2008, IFPRI reported that Pakistan's hunger index score improved over the last three consecutive years reported since 2008 from 21.7 (2008) to 21.0 (2009) to 19.1 (2010) and its ranking rose from 61 to 58 to 52. During the same period, India's index score worsened from 23.7 to 23.9 to 24.1 and its ranking moved from 66 to 65 to 67 on a list of 84 nations.

The latest World Bank data shows that India's poverty rate of 27.5%, based on India's current poverty line of $1.03 per person per day, is more than 10 percentage points higher than Pakistan's 17.2%. Assam (urban), Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are the only three Indian states with similar or lower poverty rates than Pakistan's.

Haq's Musings: India and Pakistan Comparison Update 2011

 

[MastanKhan]

Mr Haq,

Why do we need to bring in the poor and the starving into the discussion---. They are alreadu living a miserable life---do we really need to harp on it.

Pakistanis need to focus on the threat that we are facing---either the terrorist or the indian---. Being sarcastic about the poor and starving indians is not going to stop the sorities being flown by 140 SU30 MKI's and other aircraft---.

Mr Haq----a good strategy is to never insult and humiliate or degrade a bigger enemy than yourself---.

Here is a video for you----don't insult the big boy---


Bully Gets Slammed By Fat Kid - YouTube

 

[Icewolf]

What bull crap!

Pakistanis again clubbing India with themselves to hide their own faults.

India is not the one where Polio still exists.

India is not the one where 30% of kids at schooling age do not go to school.

India is not the one where 50% of the population does not have enough food to eat.

-----

There's no way India can be clubbed with Pakistan. No way at all.

Dude 70% of your populous is poor

About 70 percent of India is poor: Top adviser - Yahoo! India Finance