In India, Politics and Ideology Around Food Denies Basic Nutrition
By Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, MD
Cattle slaughter bans have been brought in with alacrity in several states in India with little attention being given to the nutritional, economic, cultural and social impact of these bans. Overnight people have lost their livelihood and become vulnerable to vigilante groups that, under the guise of protecting the cow, resort to cruel and inhuman forms of human rights abuse. Farmers at once lose their options of selling less efficient cattle and this leads to agrarian distress and a massive problem of hungry stray cattle. 180 million (15%) Indians consume beef in India and this is one of the cheapest sources of animal foods. It contains good quality, highly bioavailable proteins as well as a good amount of several essential nutrients like zinc, Vitamins of the B complex, E, K, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, copper, Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids etc.
However, now, vigilante groups have taken law into their hands to lynch people in the name of protecting the cow, but this is simply a way of intimidating and targeting Muslim and Dalit communities. Since 2015, 113 people are known to have been killed by vigilante mobs. Many more remain unknown. Several others have faced harassment, threats and bullying. A culture of fear and discrimination purely based on what religion or caste one belongs to and therefore what one eats, has been created and enabled at all levels of state mechanisms.
The judiciary, media, police, administration, bureaucracy, political parties are party to these human rights abuses. The gruesome nature of this violence is that one doesn’t even need to possess beef; just the suspicion of possessing beef can cost you your life. People have been attacked even for Facebook posts.
So in effect, the government imposes a ban and vigilante groups implement it!
And, as though anti-cattle slaughter laws were not bad enough, there is a frenzied politicking around providing eggs in the legally mandated school mid day meals for children up to 14 years of age, a majority of whom are from meat and egg consuming Dalit, Adivasi and other caste groups subject to socio-political discrimination and lacking access to justice and representation.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISCKON) openly propagates a hierarchical caste system of graded inequity. Through its arm The Akshaya Patra Foundation, the organisation has been given a government contract in different states of the country to provide the important mid-day meals as in schools. However, the organisation doggedly refuses to provide eggs, onion or garlic in the government schools claiming that the near vegan ‘sattvik’ diet is good for the child’s senses and sensibilities.
These monotonous and bland meals are often not even eaten by the children, thus eliminating any potential benefit this mid-day meal program might have. Some have called it “religious indoctrination through food”. The damage that this does to a child’s relationship with the foods traditional eaten at homes and of her own culture is deep and long lasting.
In the meantime, the EAT Lancet Commission comprising of 19 Commissioners and 18 co-authors from 16 countries is audacious in bringing more plant-based ‘guidelines’ for the planet without so much as a consultative process with communities that are going to be devastated by these ‘policies’.
The sheer lack of ethics of these kind of racist/casteist/patriarchal interventions needs to be challenged at all fronts. The amount of power and control over multilateral agencies and governments that these individuals/corporates hold, is a real cause for concern.
India has repeatedly been held out as a ‘great example’ of a plant-based diet by the EAT-Lancet Commission. In the backdrop of rampant malnutrition in the country, this exalted view has to be held with the contempt that it deserves. It shows how little evidence matters to these ‘leaders and changers’ of the world.
The impact of this will be huge and often irreversible. These interventions have to be opposed by all those who have an interest in and respect sustainability, food sovereignty, diversity, local cultures and good nutrition.
Malnutrition in India manifests in many forms – stunting, undernutrition, anaemia and deficiencies of minerals and vitamins such as zinc, Vitamin A, B12, calcium, folate to name a few. These deficiencies, some of which could easily be reversed with a nutrient dense diet including more animal sourced foods, can contribute to the numerous health issues that the country faces such as maternal and infant deaths, diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disease, tuberculosis etc.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) which was released on October 2017 and tracks the state of hunger worldwide, shows India’s GHI score at 31.4 which is at the high end of the serious category. Other statistics show that only 8- 10% of the infants between 6–23 months are adequately fed. As a result, no less than 38% of the children under five years are stunted and 30-38% are underweight and this is at the -2 Standard deviation. Calculating these at a -1 standard deviation would throw up the numbers significantly. 31% women and 27% men are obese in urban areas while women with Body mass index less than 18.5 is 15-27% and 15 – 23% in men. This should be understood by its impact on immunity, bone density, ability to work, fertility, longevity etc.
Subclinical vitamin A deficiency in preschool children is 62% and is closely associated with malnutrition and poor protein consumption. Children less than 5 years who are anaemic with Hb less than 11 gm percent is almost 60%.
Some more statistics:
Only 9% of children aged 6 to 23 months received iron-rich foods
The mother’s diet influenced the consumption of iron-rich foods by their children, as only 4% of children of mothers who were vegetarians consumed iron rich foods.
Consumption of iron-rich foods was substantially higher among Christian children (30%), followed by Muslim children (16%). There was also high state variability.
In 7 out of 30 states, less than 5% of children aged 6 to 23 months consumed iron-rich foods.
Only six percent of all children aged 6 to 23 months were fed a minimum acceptable diet.
The percentage increased slightly with higher levels of maternal schooling and household wealth. Only 4% of children of mothers who had no schooling received a minimum acceptable diet, as compared to 10% of children of mothers with 12 or more years of schooling.
Similarly, only 3% of children from households in the lowest wealth quintile received a minimum acceptable diet, as compared to 9% of children in the highest wealth quintile households.
It is evident from the current dismal indicators around nutrition in the country, that isolated deficiencies are not the problem, but the poor access of most people to nutrient dense foods in adequate quantities. Addressing individual deficiencies with mandatory fortification (as envisaged by the Indian government and corporates) is not a solution, but only a way of routing public funds to the corporate sector.
While research shows that increasing consumption of adequate quantities of animal-sourced foods would go a long way in addressing these numerous nutritional deficiencies, the response has only been to bring in anti-cow slaughter bans, deny eggs as cheap sources of proteins in school mid-day meals and also criminalise/target meat eaters in a multitude of ways. Although soya is promoted as a cheap alternative to animal source foods, studies have showed that children given soya supplements as opposed to those receiving milk, show reduced weights and several nutritional deficiencies. Soya has also been known to be allergenic, anti-nutrient, anti-enzyme, anti-thyroid and with low digestibility.
Completely opposite to what the existing government policies and commissions like the EAT Lancet are promoting, nutrient dense foods (as found in eggs, milk and meat) have to be made more accessible, available and affordable before corporate and commission led solutions are brought in.
The advantage of strengthening local food systems are many. While on the one hand it is more sustainable and eco-friendly, on the other hand it helps communities retain their food sovereignty. Nutrition cannot be about replacing ‘micronutrients’ but about promoting diverse, balanced diets. The government has to increase investment into local food systems that includes animal source foods (meat, milk/dairy, eggs, poultry, fish), pulses, vegetables, legumes etc. as a way of improving sustainable food production as well as local livelihoods.
It is seen that communities and groups with the least social, economic and political power are the ones who face the maximum discrimination. These include women, minorities, indigenous people, rural dwellers and the poor. Although the food and agricultural policies affect them, they have very little power or voice to influence any of these decisions which are taken mainly by governments, corporations and international organisations. There is an urgent need for people to be active participants in decisions that involve their access to food and their nutritional status.
Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, MD is a public health doctor and researcher who is part of the Right to food and Right to Health campaigns in India