Hungry at home

Rohit Khanna, TNN Jun 5, 2013, KOLKATA: Around 100 kilometres down south of Jalpaiguri at a place called Dheklapara, middle aged Shaki Oraon was busy collecting wild yams. It is a common practice for the tea garden workers to collect wild yams to feed their pet pigs. But here at Dheklapara tea garden, the man in his early fifties is collecting yams for his family members, who will have these instead of cereals in meals. Around 600 families living in the Dheklapara tea estate area find it difficult to arrange two square meals every day. Forget about their protein intake, these families can't even buy vegetables and often find it difficult to save as little as Rs 25 to arrange for a subsidized weekly ration.

It is not the case of Dheklapara Tea Estate alone, but an estimated 4 out of every 100 households in rural Bengal go to sleep hungry. The incidence of hunger in India is so far the highest in West Bengal. A recent report of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reveals that about 3.8-3.9% rural households in Bengal do not get adequate food per day during some months of the year. For rural India, "the percentage of households not perceiving themselves as getting adequate food throughout the year was 2.1% or less."

The 66th round of National Sample Survey Organisation data, published recently, shows that food insufficiency is the highest among agriculture labour households. For some months of the year, food insufficiency is as high as 6.3% in agriculture labour households of Bengal. Apart from seasonal variations in the adequacy of food, six out of every 1,000 households in rural Bengal do not get adequate food throughout the year.

Economist Abhirup Sarkar feels that this is not the first time Bengal has topped the hunger list. "I would say that there has been a climbdown from what it was seven-eight years back. There are problems of distribution and low purchasing power despite government sponsored schemes like NREGS. We had done a study a few years back and found similar results then."

An NSSO official explained that the main question in the schedule on the subject was: "Do all members of your household get two square meals every day?" Those who answered yes were asked further questions on the subject.

A state agriculture department official said, "Both state and central governments try to ensure that there is no food shortage at the ground level. But there could be cases where lack of purchasing power leads to inadequacy of food." The state government officials are of the opinion that poor law and order situation in areas like Purulia has affected relief measures targeted for the economically weaker section.

According to Sugata Marjit, while the country has a tolerable level of poverty around 30%, it can easily be assumed that 5% of them are very poor. "The problem is mainly owing to distribution of food. I am not surprised at the figures. If the country can have such high levels of poverty, there will be a section who is the poorest among them."

A comparative study across states shows that rural Odisha is better off than Bengal with 4% households reporting inadequacy of food during some months of the year. The national average for that is much better at 2.1%. The report finds that 1.2% of rural households in Assam, 1.1% in Bihar, and 1% in Chhattisgarh reported not getting adequate food every day during some months of the year.