As we approach World Hunger Day 2015 we take stock of the hunger problem both across the world and in India too. The past twenty years have shown great developments in tackling the global issue of hunger. With a Global Hunger Index score of 20.6 in 1990, reduced to 12.5 in 2014, addressing hunger has clearly been given priority in the world. However, despite the attention granted to this issue, there are still around 805 million people globally who suffer with chronic hunger and malnourishment even today. It is to bring awareness of this issue, and to invite people around the world to come together with the affected men, women and children to find a sustainable solution to hunger and poverty, that this day was conceptualised.
World Hunger Day is an annual event that has been created by The Hunger Project UK, and is celebrated on 28th May each year. The theme this year is 'Do something great'. The theme invites people all across the world to get involved in programmes, come up with activities, and get involved in any way they can, and do something great to help reduce hunger and poverty in the world today. The day is a celebration also of the need to work with communities suffering from chronic hunger, and develop a sustainable strategy to help them overcome the problem for good.
India has made great strides in reducing hunger as well. According to a provisional report submitted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNICEF, the score of underweight children in India dropped from 43.5 per cent in 2005-06 to 30.7 per cent in 2013-14. This improvement has been brought about by certain highly effective initiatives introduced by the Government of India to help combat hunger and malnutrition in the country. Some of these have been ensuring better agricultural output, diversifying produce, aiding small and marginal farmers and increasing efficiency, cost effectiveness and nutritional value of services like the Integrated Child Development Service, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, and Targeted Public Distribution System.
However despite these measures hunger remains a big problem in India, increased by issues like the wide economic gap between the rich and poor, and huge quantities of food wasted every year. Akshaya Patra through its mid-day meal programme that provides nutritious food from its 24 kitchen units, to over 1.4 million children across 10 states of India has made some progress in reducing the impact of hunger especially among children in India. Join with us this World Hunger Day 2015 to 'Do something great' and end classroom hunger in India! Donate now!
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