World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on October 16. The day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the founding of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) OF THE United Nations in 1945. Many other organisations concerned with food security such as the World Food Programme, International Fund for Agricultural Development also celebrate the day.
The day is marked not only to celebrate the amazing food that we get to eat every day, but to also spread awareness about those who struggle to get even one meal in a day.
The day was first established in November 1979. The idea was suggested by former Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr Pal Romany. Since then the day has been celebrated by more than 150 countries around the world.
Most of the themes for the day over the years have revolved around agriculture and investment in the sector to increase production. Investment in agriculture, along with education and health, can help in turning around the situation of hunger.
However, despite knowing the fact that agriculture needs investment, the sector has been starving for both public and private investments.
The world today faces two major problems. One is the issue of providing a healthy diet which affects both the rich and the poor causing lifestyle issues such as obesity, diabetes. On the other hand, there is the issue of hunger which leads to malnutrition, death, and abnormal growth in children.
Hunger in India
India ranks 102nd out of 117 countries in the 2019 Global Hunger Index. It sits just below Niger and a place above Sierra Leone. The world’s second most populous country and the 5th largest economy in the world is home to a quarter of the world’s undernourished people. Around 21.25% of the population still lives on less than $1.90 a day. Despite so much economic growth, India still is grappling with high levels of poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition. In the last two decades, the income gap between the rich and the poor has increased. The Covid-19 pandemic is only going to make the situation worse.
To tackle the situation, the World Food Programme is taking many steps along with the Government of India. The Indian government has also been running many food security related schemes but the implementation has been a challenge. The government, in 2013, had enacted the National Food Security Act which ensured food grains at subsidised rates to approximately two-thirds of the Indian population. However, the fight to end hunger is far from being over.
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