Tag: challenges and solutions

Food For Work (FFW) programme was launched in November 2004 in 150 most backward districts of the country. The main objective of this scheme is to intensify the generation of supplementary wage employment. This scheme is open to all rural poor who are willing to do unskilled labour. In return of the work, the workers are supplies food grains or money as they like.

• The focus of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) is on “poor in all areas” and TPDS involves issue of 10 Kg of food grains per family per month for the population Below Poverty Line (BPL) at specially subsidized prices.
• On 1st January, 1992, the Government of India launched a new scheme to revamp the public distribution system (PDS). Under this scheme, the Government has identified 1775 blocks falling in drought prone desert, integrated tribal development project areas and certain designated hill areas.
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) is a Government of India sponsored scheme to provide highly subsidised food to millions of the poorest families. It was launched by the [NDA] government on 25 December 2000 and first implemented in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

Malnutrition or malnourishment is a condition that results from eating a diet in which nutrients are either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health problems. It may involve calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals. Not enough nutrients are called undernutrition or undernourishment while too much is called overnutrition. Malnutrition is often used specifically to refer to undernutrition where there are not enough calories, protein, or micronutrients. If undernutrition occurs during pregnancy, or before two years of age, it may result in permanent problems with physical and mental development. Extreme undernourishment, known as starvation, may have symptoms that include: a short height, thin body, very poor energy levels, and swollen legs and abdomen. People also often get infections and are frequently cold. The symptoms of micronutrient deficiencies depend on the micronutrient that is lacking.

Excessive hunger is also associated with Hyperthyroidism and Grave's disease, an autoimmune disease affecting the thyroid. The thyroid functions to increase the metabolic rate, so an overactive thyroid shows symptoms of hyperactivity, insomnia, or constant hunger that is unsatisfied by eating.

The calorie requirement in rural areas in India has been fixed at 2400 calories per person per day  while in urban areas it is 2100 calories, based on the engagement in physical work. 27.1% population in rural areas as per the Economic Survey 2002–03, consume less than the required calorie standard.

In politics, humanitarian aid, and social science, hunger is a condition in which a person, for a sustained period, is unable to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs. Hunger is not just painful to bear, it is also destructive.

The national calorie standard for poverty line estimation in India is 2400 kcal per day for rural areas and 2100 kcal per day for urban areas.

Destitution also known as Absolute poverty is the poverty so extreme that one lacks the means to provide for oneself. It refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care, education and information. Absolute poverty occurs when people cannot obtain adequate resources which is measured in terms of calories or nutrition to support a minimum level of physical health. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.

Muslims are 13.4% of India's total population and are considered to be a marginalised community in India today because in comparison to other communities, they have over the years deprived of the benefits of socio-economic development.