India: Hungry for global power, or just plain hungry?
Filed under: Economy, People, Goldman Sachs
Since 2001, Goldman Sachs (GS) has been touting the wonders of the rapidly advancing BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- as the global economic powerhouses of the coming decades. Citigroup (C) recently jumped on the bandwagon with a report that noted the growing economic influence of China and India and highlighted stocks poised to take advantage of their newfound prosperity.The growing excitement over BRIC obscures a key problem in India. Although the country is enjoying more prosperity than ever, it continues to have severe problems with feeding its population. In India, 46 percent of children up to age three are malnourished, according to a report from the Institute of Development Studies, and an average of 2,000 to 3,000 children die of starvation every day. Overall, 25 percent of India's citizens don't get enough to eat on a daily basis; this is a higher percentage than sub-Saharan Africa.
Starvation offers an interesting glimpse into the demographics of India's economic boom of the last five years. While the ranks of the country's middle class have swollen, the benefits of this advancement have fallen on a narrow segment of the population: 400 million Indians have moved out of relative poverty since 1985 -- they now make at least $5 per day -- but 880 million Indians still live on less than $2 per day.
Many analysts claim that the country's economic woes lie in traditional notions of caste, community, religion, and region, which encourage a fractured, divisive cultural perspective. The malnutrition study noted that women and those of lower castes were routinely excluded from programs designed to decrease hunger; other studies have determined that India's 150 million Muslims are given reduced access to education and government employment. In various Indian regions, issues of violence, population growth, and political power also affect the citizens' ability to enter the middle class.
While part of India's failure to feed its citizens is a function of traditional prejudices, it also reflects a lack of combined political will: India's various cultural and geographical groups vie with the country's centralized government for resources, power, and cultural identification. For many Indians, this fracturing has led to an exaggerated self-reliance and a lack of political involvement.
Contrast that with China, where a centralized totalitarian government has effectively dealt with hunger. In 2001, both countries committed to halve the number of their malnourished citizens by 2015. China has reached its target, but India, at its current rate of progress, won't achieve this goal before 2043.
India's lower castes aren't the only group to be undermined by the boom years. Even its middle class, ostensibly the beneficiaries of the country's economic surge, finds itself done in by the country's shifting fortunes. Reporting on a rise in suicide among middle-class Indians, The Times of India notes that upwardly mobile professionals often lose touch with their traditional communities while still lacking the upper classes' financial cushion in tough times. The same government that fails to guarantee food to its poorest citizens is not effectively reaching out to some of its wealthiest.
India's malnutrition woes offer an important warning. Early childhood malnutrition is directly connected to a host of lifelong problems, including low IQ and antisocial behavior, studies have shown. That means that India's next generation of workers -- today's children -- may become a drain on the economy. Can India sustain its impressive year-over-year economic growth if its children are going hungry?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-14-2009 @ 12:56PM
sumeet said...
May be $5 a day is nothing in usa but it can be a great deal in india.
Let me do a comparioson of things avaliable in usa as compared to india .
1 burger in usa = $ 4 to $ 5
1 burger in India = Rs 20 = may be 30 cents
1 small soda = $1.99
In India = Rs 10 may be 15 cents
1 month grocessery = $500
In india Rs 5000 or $ 100
1 month cable from comcast = 59.99
In India it is avaliable for Rs 200 or $ 4 ..which included HBO , and 100 s of other paid channels.
1 month internet in usa is $ 40
India it is $ 10
MPG of a car in usa is about 25 miles per gallon
small cars in india gives 20 km per liter which is about 75 km per gallon
Most of the people drive a scooter or a motorcycle which gives about 75 km per liter or 300 km per gallon or about 150 miles per gallon .
Compare these small things.. these makes a lot of difference.
We cannot get an estimate of a living if we convert it in us dollar..I am not saying $ 5 a day is huge but it is not a real deal when we try to comare and see what we get in usa for $5.
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10-14-2009 @ 1:19PM
Indian said...
" 400 million Indians have moved out of relative poverty since 1985 -- they now make at least $5 per day -- but 880 million Indians still live on less than $2 per day."--thats about 1.4 billion. But the population of India is 1.15 billion.
Also 880 million people living on less than $2 per day?- Not a chance, the no.s are bloated.
Although I accept some of the facts like caste, region and religion playing an important role in the everyday life of Indians, I think the no.s are too huge to believe.
Can you just give the sources(links to them if they are on Internet) frm where you got the facts in the article?
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10-14-2009 @ 4:13PM
Usama Syed said...
@Indian: The numbers don't add up. What numerics were used to calculate the population that's escaped poverty, and the population that lives under poverty?
10-14-2009 @ 3:05PM
Prak said...
I think this study is skewed. Did anyone take inflation into account. Cost of food has probably gone up 150% so 2$ in 1985 was probably worth way more than 5$ is worth now so I am not sure that anyone has moved out of poverty.
Also, I'm not sure where the data came from but I don't think Muslims are given less opportunities for education or employment.
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10-14-2009 @ 11:25PM
Dale said...
Get your numbers right then your reporting may seem to have some credibility
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10-20-2009 @ 6:18PM
AgniVayu said...
I always wonder why the Western media keeps attacking on India on "caste". It obviously to label India into a neat little category, just like China is associated with human rights violations. This is done to boost Western (White) ego's and make them feel superior.
First of all caste or casta is a Portuguese word, so it's nothing to do with India, it's a racial hierarchy found in central and South America is a traditional catholic/Christian caste way of organizing derived from medieval Europe (serfs, lords etc..).
The Indian word Jathi is actually ethnicity or tribe not a caste. Although some tribes/ethnicities were associated with certain jobs, however this ceased to exist long time ago. The Indian government has an elaborate affirmative action system (affirmative action concept was pioneered by India) to help poorer ethnic groups in India.
Just like many European last names are caste names but they don't do that type of work, example "Potter, Shoemaker, Smith, famer, schwarzenegger (means blacksmith in German).
I actually consider India as relatively very united, it has twice the population of the European Union (4 times the population of the U.S. ) and is one country unlike the divisive people of Europe (who fought each other in two world wars in the 20th century). All the failures of India can be attributed to a poor lethargic government, but this is changing fast primarily due to a dynamic and fast growing private sector. The 2043 figure is bogus, India will meet these goals by 2020.
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11-07-2009 @ 10:18AM
Ankash said...
Its Bruce Watson cut and paste information found on the net.
880 million people living on 2 dollars a day. What are you smoking Bruce. ? India is the second fastest growing economy in the world. You think all beggars running around here or what. Bruce, West just got a shock and awe with the first wave of Indian Diaspora. The real shock is going to be more in the coming decades.
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11-18-2009 @ 4:21AM
krishna said...
Well, the whole world seems to be obsessed with telling only one story about India, that is poverty. Come on world wake up. Rear other stories about India and grow with India. You know the great saying by every corporates "people are our asset". Dear Indian's stop reading only one story. Find novel and stories from different perspectives about India. If not write one such story. And share it at www.MyIndiaMyNews.com And whey media writes this type of stories? They want a contract. And they want to convince themselves that they are better off than Indians. Live for yourself, no need to convince anybody.
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11-18-2009 @ 4:21AM
krishna said...
http://www.MyIndiaMyNews.com