India is venue of biggest famine, says Binayak Sen

India is the locus of the biggest famine in the world which is only going to worsen over time, according to civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen.

Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of the fifth Kovalam Literary Festival (KLF) here on Saturday, he said that people need to be conscious of what constitutes a famine and what can be done about it.

Quoting a 2005 article, Sen said that the “sudden collapse into starvation” was only the final phase of a famine.

“Famine is not marked by the death of the victim. There is a number of social, economic and political signs that mark a famine which we fail to recognise. The World Health Organisation states that any community with 40 per cent of its population having a body mass index (BMI) less than 18.5 is in a state of famine,” he said.

Child malnutrition is already a known fact with around 44 per cent of deaths under 5 years is due to malnutrition, he said.

“But adult malnutrition is also widespread especially in the poorer sections of society,” Sen said.

“Anyone with BMI less than 18.5 is said to suffer from chronic energy deficiency or hunger. Data from the National Nutritional Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) states 37 per cent adults in the country have BMI of less than 18.5.” This percentage goes higher among weaker sections. In some tribal regions, around 40 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women have BMI less than 18.5, he said.

“By implication, it means large areas of India are famine affected,” Sen said adding that not only was there a deficit in consumption of food grains but also that the deficit was increasing. He deplored the fact that this state of widespread ongoing famine coexists with an abundance of food with national granaries overflowing.

Sen called for the modification of the Food Security Bill so as not to focus on food grains alone and the need to build a popular campaign against “harmful” agricultural practices such as monoculture, use of chemical fertilisers etc. and encourage community storage of food in the long-term.