Dear Editor,
India is set to become the world’s youngest country by 2020 with 64 per cent of our population will be in the working age group. Given the West starts aging, this will offer India the most effective resources. Unfortunately, 4 out of 10 children of our country suffer from stunted growth as a result of malnutrition according to the report of Public Health Foundation of India. Thus Indian economy is going to face the Himalayan problem of stunted and unskilled workforce in future which will further degrade our resources into liability.
Ironically, according to a study, two-third of food to feed 600 million poor Indians is lost as hungry million do not have enough purchasing power to buy the same. Now, government itself can buy it from farmers with minimum support price (MSP). It will certainly stop the incidents of farmers’ committing suicide. The excess food can then be distributed to students in addition to the midday meal. This will attract more students to school and address the issues like illiteracy, school dropout, child labour, hunger and malnutrition.
Yours,
Sujit De, Kolkata