India is the second country worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic after the USA. Speaking in terms of healthcare facilities, population, and resource availability, India’s situation has worsened after the pandemic. In a population of 1.38 billion people around 8.8 million live below the poverty line. These people’s livelihood depends upon the daily wages they receive from their work which has been shut down due to the lockdown restrictions. Therefore, it is evident that India is not just dealing with a pandemic but also, hunger and starvation on many levels, which is quite ironic, considering the fact that it is one of the largest food producers in the world.

According to the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020, India ranks 94 out of 107 surveyed nations. As per the report, approximately 14% of its population is undernourished and it has a mortality rate of children below the age of 5 years at 3.7%. Children and women are not receiving proper nutrition vital for their survival. In a recent interview with the Asian Times Financial, Sujeet Ranjan, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security said –“India is not just battling COVID 19 outbreak but is also fighting existing undernutrition induced by the pandemic.”

The daily wage workers were already living in a dilapidated condition way before the pandemic had entered India. Some of them could hardly afford a single meal per day. However, after the pandemic, almost 400 million workers working in the informal sector have been forced to live in poverty with minimum to no food availability.

It is not like the government has no plans to address this. There are various organizations and departments that are responsible for taking care of the poor and needy and providing them with proper health and nutrition such as the Department of Food and Public Distribution. In fact, certain NGOs came forward to help such people during the Covid-19 times such as, the Youth Feed India Program under SAFA Organization, Goonj, SEEDS, and others. However, for such a large population this is not enough. Due to the drastic reduction in school visits by students and restrictions in school nutrition programs because of the lockdown, the poorest of the children who depend on these programs have been deprived of nutrition and resulted in high fatality and resultant mortality.

Apart from the poor implementation process and lack of proper monitoring, lack of political support and will has also played a major role in the suffering of these poor people. Dr. Arun Gupta from the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPI) said in agreement with this argument, “While the country runs a plethora of initiatives, few are pursued with the serious intention of delivering the desired outcomes. Consider the Food Security Act (2013). While it aims to provide subsidized food to two-thirds of 1.3 billion Indians, it has never been able to reach that target. The Act also talks about providing all the four foods – cereals, pulses, fruits, and dairy-categories necessary for complete nutrition but the government provides only cereals and pulses.”

The need of the hour is to build not only a strong foundation for the healthcare system but also for the upliftment and benefit of the undernourished population of India.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.