Colin Todhunter has provided some data on the deteriorating level of health in India.
India leads the world in terms of underweight people. Almost
half the nation’s under-5s are underweight, the prevalence of underweight
children in India is among the highest in the world. Some 102 million men and
101 million women are underweight, which makes the country home to over 40
percent of the global underweight population. For obesity, in 2014, it was in
fifth position globally with 9.8 million obese men or 3.7 percent of the global
obese men's population. Among women, India is globally ranked third, with 20
million obese women or 5.3 percent of global population.
Western style fast-food outlets have already been soaring in
number throughout the country. Pizza Hut now operates in 46 Indian cities with
181 restaurants and 132 home delivery locations, a 67 percent increase in the
last five years). KFC is now in 73 cities with 296 restaurants, a 770 percent
increase. McDonalds is in 61 Indian cities with 242 restaurants as compared to
126 restaurants five years back, a 92 percent increase). According to a study
published in the Indian Journal of Applied Research, the Indian fast food market
is growing at the rate of 30-35 percent per annum. Heart disease, liver damage,
stroke, obesity and diabetes are just some of the diseases linked to diets
revolving around fast-food. By 2030, the number of diabetes patients in India
is likely to rise to 101 million (World Health Organisation estimate). The
number doubled to 63 million in 2013 from 32 million in 2000. Almost 8.2
percent of the adult male population in India has diabetes. The figure is 6.8
percent for women. Frequent consumption of fast food has been associated with
increased body mass index as well as higher intakes of fat, sodium, added
sugars and sugar-sweetened beverages and lower intakes of fruits, vegetables,
fibre and milk in children, adolescents and adults. Fast food also tends to
have higher energy densities and poorer nutritional quality than foods prepared
at home and in comparison with dietary recommendations
India is one of the world’s largest users of pesticides and
a profitable market for the corporations that manufacture them. Ladyfinger,
cabbage, tomato and cauliflower in particular may contain dangerously high
levels because farmers tend to harvest them almost immediately after spraying.
Fruit and vegetables are sprayed and tampered with to make them more colourful,
and harmful fungicides are sprayed on fruit to ripen them in order to rush them
off to market. Consider that if you live in India, the next time you serve up a
good old ‘wholesome’ meal of rice and various vegetables, you could take in
half a milligram of pesticide also. That would be much more than what an
average North American person would consume. The School of Natural Sciences and
Engineering (SNSE) at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore in
2008, reported that many crops for export had been rejected internationally due
to high pesticide residues. Moreover, India is one of the largest users of
World Health Organization (WHO) class 1A pesticides, including phorate,
phosphorus, phosphamidon and fenthion that are extremely hazardous. Kasargod in
Kerala is notorious for the indiscriminate spraying of endosulfan. The
government-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala aerially sprayed the harmful
pesticide on cashews for a period of over 20 years. Consequently, it got into
rivers, streams and drinking water.
The World Socialist
Party (India): 257 Baghajatin ‘E’ Block (East), Kolkata – 700086,
Tel: 2425-0208,
E-mail:
wspindia@hotmail.com
Website:
http://www.worldsocialistpartyindia.org/
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