UN Secretary General says 820 million people do not have enough to eat

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres showed concern for the worldwide food situation where "more than 820 million people do not have enough to eat". In contrast to this, there is about one billion tonnes of food which is wasted every year. As a message on the 'World Food Day' that was released by the UN India, he said, "It is unacceptable that hunger is on the rise at a time when the world wastes more than one billion tonnes of food every year." World Food Day has been recognized as a call for zero hunger in a world that has proper food available and affordable for everyone and everywhere. 

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Transformation of food systems is needed

Guterres also went on to say that a transformation of food systems is needed to reach any sustainable development goals and for that he hopes to hold a Food Systems Summit in 2021. He then said, "As a human family, a world free of hunger is our imperative." He then warned that change of climate is an alarming sign which causes great threat to food.

As per the reports of UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, India itself has a population of 194.4 million malnourished people which makes it the world's largest with 14.5%. Around 20.8 % of children who are below the age of five years are underweight. In the same way, 37.9% of children in that age group are unable to develop properly. Over 51.4% of Indian women in the reproductive age of 15-49 years are anaemic.

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India to gift 75,000 mt tonnes wheat to Afghanistan 

India will gift 75,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan in the month of November as announced by Ambassador Vinay Kumar on October 16. The announcements were made during his speech at the 37th anniversary of the Afghan Red Crescent Society's Special Week. India shipped its first cargo of wheat through the Chabahar port in Iran which had to pass by the waters of Pakistan in the month of October 2017. The government of India supplied 1.1 million tones of grain for Afghanis as a grant. The Indian envoy then spoke about cooperation between India and ARCS which comprised of the financial aid that is being provided by the Indian government to treat children in Afghanistan from congenital heart disease. "During the last four years, around 2000 Afghan children in the age group of 4 months to 18 years have been treated with India's assistance of USD 4 million," he said.

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(With inputs from PTI)