India cannot leverage the advantage of its demographic dividend if it continues to ignore the problems of hunger and malnutrition (“ >Costs of ignoring hunger ,” Oct. 20), which have been shadowing us ever since Independence. Even though India is one of fastest growing economies, the fruits of this growth have yet to be enjoyed by all sections. India has to immediately move towards inclusive growth which takes human development indices into consideration along with economic growth. The fact is that the country has been struggling to reach the targets of the Millenium Development Goals.
Balaji Akiri,
Hyderabad
Blaming the government and the authorities concerned for the plight of millions of Indians still living in poverty and dying of hunger is not the solution. Every one of us is equally responsible. There must be citizen-backed initiatives at the local level to ensure the empowerment of people.
Ramit Chennithala,
Thiruvananthapuram
That India has been removed from the category of “alarming hunger” to the “serious hunger” category is a positive development but the negatives are that 5.5 crore underweight children are still underweight and 6.2 crore children stunted mainly on account of micro-nutrient deficiency. In addition to enhancing food production through family farming, there must be an emphasis on zero food wastage. The big challenge for India is also in population management, as with population increase, the hunger graph must not rise at any cost.
V. Rajagopal,
Tirupati
