The Oxfam case study done is bias towards the rural places
of Nepal. It is an informative article since there are statistics and facts
about the people who face food insecurity. The reason 31% of the people in
Nepal face food insecurity is because they live in terrains that do not favor
agriculture, the climate changes unpredictably, men of the families go abroad
to work and exporting food is very expensive.
The article is also shares the ways they are trying to solve this
problem. They have come up with ways to irrigate the farms, produce seeds and
harvest crops, creating a bridge between the communities and the traders, building
infrastructures that will help the people, especially from the mountainous
region, to import crops and to train communities (especially women) about new
farming techniques.
Monday, 11 February 2013
Both the articles that were assigned to us to read were related
to food insecurity in India. However,both the writers have fairly different
views on them. In the article written by Madhura Swaminathan in 2001, she
accuses the government of being corrupted. She has an informative article with
adequate statistics given. According to Swaminathan the government is holding
back the food that was supposed to be given to the people under the poverty
line. Instead of distributing the food they sell them to foreign countries in
order to gain some extra money.
The second article, which is written by Biraj Swain in 2012,
deals more with human rights. According to her the people who face food
insecurity are also deprived of their human rights since every human has a
right to live. She thinks that the state governments need to be more
transparent about the distribution of the food, that the media should be more
active about this situation and there should be gender equality in the society.
Her article is persuasive since her tone encourages people to fight for their
basic rights themselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
The two articles have different views about the same problem
in the same country because of the difference in the time they were written at.
They have a gap of 11 years and by 2012 the government had already accepted
that they were responsible to feed the people who are facing food insecurity.
The implementation of it, however, was a problem.
US vs India and Pakistan
The comparison of the meaning of food insecurity between US and India, and Pakistan
After watching the
four different videos on food insecurity, I have learned that food insecurity
has different meanings in different parts of the world. In places like Pakistan
and India, the majority of people are below poverty line. Food insecurity to
them means not being sure about when they will receive their next meal. Their
situation can be miserable to an extent that they choose to live eating their
own excrete. On the other hand, food insecurity in countries like the US means
that a person does not have enough nutrition in his/her food. Since, most of
the population in those countries are struggling workers, they tend to eat junk
food since they are the cheap and do not take a lot of time to prepare.
However, the junk food that those people eat do not have the proper nutrition
that a body needs.
Friday, 8 February 2013
Poverty in India and Pakistan
India (from the video we watched) :
Purpose: To help the less fortunate physically by feeding them and emotionally by loving and caring for them.
Claims: The narrator in the video claims that he saw a man eating his own excreta which made him rethink about his life, leave his job and help the poor.
Agree: I agree with the narrator's argument that caste system should not stop you from helping the people who need your support.
I think it is telling a story which made us relate to the situation.
Pakistan:
Important statistics: 58% of the people are food deprived, 30% suffer from acute symptoms of hunger, 72% of the people in the southern province are food deprived, 63% of people in the south-west province are food deprived, it is the 6th most populated country in the world, 20% of the people earn 6.2% of the country's total income.
They prioritize food over everything else.
Result of poverty: hunger, schools are unaffordable, malnutrition and low quality of diet.
Causes: Natural disasters, very high population and rising unemployment.
Purpose: To help the less fortunate physically by feeding them and emotionally by loving and caring for them.
Claims: The narrator in the video claims that he saw a man eating his own excreta which made him rethink about his life, leave his job and help the poor.
Agree: I agree with the narrator's argument that caste system should not stop you from helping the people who need your support.
I think it is telling a story which made us relate to the situation.
Pakistan:
Important statistics: 58% of the people are food deprived, 30% suffer from acute symptoms of hunger, 72% of the people in the southern province are food deprived, 63% of people in the south-west province are food deprived, it is the 6th most populated country in the world, 20% of the people earn 6.2% of the country's total income.
They prioritize food over everything else.
Result of poverty: hunger, schools are unaffordable, malnutrition and low quality of diet.
Causes: Natural disasters, very high population and rising unemployment.
Introduction
Who is affected?
The people who are unemployed and cannot earn more than 10 dollars a day.
How many are affected?
3/4th of the people in developing countries whereas 1/4th of the people in developed countries.
Is this a major problem?
Yes, this is one of the biggest problem which cannot be dealt with easily.
What are some solutions?
More education programs, job trainings/offers, cottage based industries and a better welfare state.
What is the national perspective?
I come from Nepal which has a poor and unstable government. Homeless and starving people are he major problems in Nepal right now; you see them everywhere! In Nepal there are two extremes: the rich and the poor, while there are barely anyone in between. So far the government of Nepal has not put in a lot of thought about this issue except for hiring a few guards to chase them away from certain areas. The conditions in which the homeless live are very bad and almost all of them are into drugs.
What is the global perspective?
NGOs from all over the world play the most important part in doing charitable work; one of which is taking care of the homeless. There have been many shelters established and programs started to get poverty to a minimum. NGOs give trainings, spread awareness, and give home based jobs to a lot of people in rural areas all over the World. So far they have not been very successful in lowering the numbers of the homeless drastically, but in any way a small change is better than no change at all.
From the eyes of Red Cross
Causes: The increase in population leads to a raise in the price of food since the lands in which the food grow do not go along with the population.
Solution: More food should be growing on the same land. This can be done by genetically modifying crops and getting rid of diseases by using more fertilizers and pesticides.
Cause: Migration, natural disaster, conflict and famine.
When crops fail due to drought, people have to buy food. In this process buyers loose their money whereas the sellers have a capital but loose the food.
Solution: Donating money to invest in agriculture, training, health care, livestock and sanitation system.
Solution: More food should be growing on the same land. This can be done by genetically modifying crops and getting rid of diseases by using more fertilizers and pesticides.
Cause: Migration, natural disaster, conflict and famine.
When crops fail due to drought, people have to buy food. In this process buyers loose their money whereas the sellers have a capital but loose the food.
Solution: Donating money to invest in agriculture, training, health care, livestock and sanitation system.
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