Daily Times

At a time when the Indo-Pak relations are awash with jingoism and nationalistic hyperbole; coupled with the heightened tension at the border that has the possibility of escalating into a low-intensity war, the real issues affecting the well-being of the people have scarcely received the attention it deserves.

Three recent findings recently released by the Lancet’s Global Burden of Diseases 2016, 2016 Global Hunger Index and 2016 Social Progressive Index, have shown that the performance of India and Pakistan in bettering the lives of their citizens has left a lot to be desired.

The 2016 Global Hunger Index, jointly published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH) shows that although the level of hunger in the developing world has declined by 29 percent since 2000, it continues to remain distressingly high, with 795 million people still facing hunger, roughly one in four children affected by stunting, and 8 percent of children affected by wasting.

As per the findings, over 28 percent of Indian population is still facing the problem of hunger. It is for this reason India has been ranked 97 out of 118 in the Global Hunger Index, behind Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh among others, but ahead of Pakistan, and three other Asian countries. Pakistan has been ranked at 107.

The findings show that India and Pakistan have a long way to go before they are able to achieve the United Nations goal to end hunger by 2030. At the current rate of progress, both the countries may find it difficult to meet the goal of zero hunger by 2030. The report also highlights that a vast majority of children below five years of age are undernourished and stunted. It is a wake-up call for both the countries to focus their energies in the social sector to improve the wellbeing of their citizens, instead of diverting the resources on purchasing state of the art weapons.

The Lancet report ‘Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries: a baseline analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015’ has ranked India 143rd out of 188 countries. Pakistan has been ranked 149 with the SPI of 38. Perhaps, the only consolation for India is that it is ranked six places higher than Pakistan.

The Global Burden of Diseases studies the progress made by countries in meeting their targets on health-related goals, one of the UN’s sustainable development goals, India’s achievement in health care has been found dismal. India’s performance does not compare favourably even with smaller countries like Singapore (85-rank 2), Japan (SDG 76: Rank 27), Korea (73-rank 35), Malaysia (SDG 69: Rank 46), Indonesia (SDG 60: Rank 91), China (SDG 60: Rank 92), Thailand (SDG 56: Rank 112,), Myanmar (SDG 46: Rank 135), Philippines (50 –rank 127). Pakistan has been ranked 149 out of 188 countries.

Among the BRICS Nations, India has made the least progress in health-related goals.

Although India has managed to lift millions of people from poverty, yet its progress has been found well short of other countries like China. In 2016, Global Hunger Index, India has been ranked way below China. India has been ranked 97 out of 118 developing countries with GHI of 28.5, as compared to China which has been ranked 28th with GHI of 7.7. Even countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh have been ranked higher than India. The ranking is done on the basis of 0-100 score, where ‘0’ represents zero hunger and 100 represent an alarming and distressing situation. Pakistan’s performance is even worse, with an overall rank of 107 and with GHI of 33.4.

In a report published by UNICEF, India has over 61 million stunted children under five years as a result of malnutrition. The report says that lack of adequate food has been the primary cause of death, under-nutrition and stunting. This, coupled with the lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene practices has led to illnesses and life-threatening diseases like diarrhoea. The report goes on to say that as much as 50 percent of malnutrition is caused, not by a lack of food or poor diets, but due to poor water, poor sanitation facilities and unhygienic practices. Another report “The South Asia Health Atlas 2016,“ compiled by UNICEF shows that Pakistan was home to 244,746 of the one million babies who died within 28 days of birth in 2015.

The third publication “The Social Progress Index 2016” relates to the progress made by countries in three broad areas, including Basic Human Needs (Nutrition, Water and Sanitation, Shelter and Personal Safety), Foundations of Well-Being (Access to Basic Knowledge, Health and Wellness, Ecosystem and Sustainability) and Opportunity (Personal rights, Personal Freedom and Choice, Access to Advanced information and Tolerance and Inclusion).

The Social Progress Index 2016 has placed India and Pakistan under “Low Social Progress” by ranking them 98 and 107 out of the 143 countries surveyed. Even China, which has made tremendous progress in social development, has been placed under “Low Middle-Class Progress”. Although China has been ranked higher than India, its performance is way behind developed countries like Finland, UK, Denmark and Australia. Among the Asian countries, only Japan finds a place under ‘High Social Progress’. The report recommends a robust and holistic measurement framework for national, social and environmental performance to benchmark success and accelerates progress.

Another report, Census 2011, released by the Government of India, has revealed that as many as 7.8 million Indian children are forced to earn a livelihood, while studying, while 84 million children don’t go to school, which represents that nearly 20 percent of the children who have not benefited from compulsory education, as provided in the Right to Education Act. The quality of education, especially at the primary level, and particularly in rural areas, is abysmal, mainly due to lack of good schools, trained teachers, and inadequate infrastructural facilities. It is also worthwhile to mention here that not a single Indian institution of higher education finds a place in the world’s 100 best academic institutions ranking.

If India truly aspires to emerge as a global power, it needs to invest heavily in health, education, nutrition and other human capital so that the poor people begin to enjoy the benefits of economic growth. On the other hand, if it neglects investments in human capital, it would lead to inequity and social tension, which can hurt its economic growth.

It is hoped the policy makers of both the countries take stock of the findings by the international institutions and focus their efforts and energy on improving the well-being of the people by allocating enough resources in welfare programmes. This can be done by engaging with one another to find a peaceful solution to the many contentious issues so that precious resources are not diverted to the defence sector.

The writer is an independent columnist and political commentator