Sorry for the titular pun...but couldn't help myself...anyways, regarding malnutrition in India,read this from Wikipedia -
The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition, after Bangladesh (in 1998), where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity and economic growth.[1] The UN estimates that 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year – four every minute – mostly from preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, malaria, measles and pneumonia. Every day, 1,000 Indian children die because of diarrhoea alone.
And sorry for the second time to have used direct Wikipedia stats...I know its the laziest thing to do..but whatever...Am sure you get the idea that malnutrition in our country is a serious issue. We are higher up in malnutrition than some african countries who haven't even seen a green revolution yet..and I know, first let's get the obvious thing that comes to our mind..yes it's the damn population explosion etc etc..If people didn't fuck so much the situation wouldn't be fucked up..etc etc ..we all know that's the problem...and what's the solution...of course the Govt. should take care of it as we all know and it would never do so, as we all also know.
But not to be a complete sarcastic bastard, the Govt. does try..I mean some people do..calling the Govt. completely corrupt and stupid in my eyes is equal to something like casteism...not all people are the same. There are some genuinely good people (not many, I agree..but still.. ) trying to do some genuinely good things...regardless of what your 24 x 7 media and movies tell you...not all people who are a part of Govt. organizations are corrupt incompetent assholes and rapists. Some are trying to at least introduce good ideas...Ideas like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme...which as we all know comes into the news because of reasons like feeding substandard food to kids...but as usual media never reports the times when they did serve good food or helped feed poor kids...bad news is good business of course.
Anyways, getting down to business at hand...like every good idea in our country...am sure there is a corrupt politician somehow ripping money off this scheme...and 50 others trying to politicize the scheme into a failure just to gain attention...but nobody will ever focus on the actual issue of malnutrition. But am not here to just spread awareness...we are all mostly aware of it...but am here to propose a good solution- Eggs. (yes, you are smart..you got it from the title)
See Eggs, even though being crticized by some people for being cholestrol heavy...are a great and complete source of Vitamins A D and E, zinc, other minerals and mainly protein in such amounts which cannot be found in most veg foods and/or meats. The benefits of having at least one boiled egg a day outweigh the disadvantages like five times over. I know in India, we have a stigma attached to eggs...being considered 'non-veg' and all...I do respect those views...but thankfully increasingly many people are eggeterians in India..they would eat eggs but not meat...which I think is a fine line to walk to satisfy your religious doubts.
For those who still are doubtful about eggs, in case you haven't already heard this anecdote- Our pious old Mahatma Gandhi had once replied the following, on being asked whether egg should be considered 'veg' (veg of course in Indian English means all foodstuffs that are religiously permissible) as per Hindu religious standards..He said- "If you consider the milk that comes from a cow as acceptable for consumption, I don't see why eggs shouldn't be given the same treatment"
Although, I doubt the historical authenticity of that quote, but I still agree. You see..an egg is actually kinda like a female chick's period...I know this might even gross out some actual egg eaters..but still the eggs that you get in the market...are unfertilized eggs...with no chance of a chicken ever hatching out of it...meaning that if you use animal leather...or sheeps wool...an egg is as good as that...you can even take care of that egg for months or even sit on it....it won't hatch. Anyways, I don't want to present an argument for the religious vailidity of eggs...but lets just say this...you can eat all the boiled chana you want in the morning...still two eggs will take care of like your monthly requirement of protein..besides for the people experiencing malnutrition..not to sound like a dick..but religion should be on the backburner when you are thinning out of hunger.
So here it is..please do keep feeding children..that khichdi or whatever they serve in midday meal schemes...but why not have an Egg-A-Day scheme..or an Egg Wednesday or something..
give the kids just one egg a day..and not just the poor ones...our McD going,pizza guzzling urban kids could also do with a healthy snack every once in a while.Start promoting eggs on an even larger scale then NECC..Since Vada-Pav is a popular (and superbly unhealthy) snack in Maharashtra..
try promoting Anda-Pav...start by setting up small food franchises outside schools/colleges..start serving it on Railway Stations and Trains...get Aamir Khan to promote it...just tell him not to fake-cry for it...one good smile will do. As for playing your own part with this, start by spreading the message (and eating eggs too..even though you are not malnourished..egg is still good for you)..its the least we can do.
Also, Let me tell you a more macro effect of people eating more eggs..most of you know the problems faced by farmers regarding irrigation and finance and depleting yields..soil erosion etc. Eating more eggs would actually help start a butterfly effect so that farmers doing the same traditional gambling like farming and earning little or no money can actually switch to poultry farming and earn in a better way...and without going into the detail economics of it..but eggs would actually get cheaper if more people ate them..thats actually the purpose of NECC's promotional campaigns ..although, I agree that ethical treatment of chickens in poultry farming is a seperate issue in itself. ( not for me personally, I eat most kinds of meat and am of the opinion that if you can grow trees, take care of them,water them, feed them and then kill/harvest them and do this again and again every year..its the same..just the colour of the blood being shed is green or red)
Anyways getting back to the issue,I think by concentrating on just providing two quality foods- eggs and milk (pure milk of course)..we can reduce malnutrition problems by a long way. I agree this is not the only and not the best solution..but you have to agree its a tasty one.
The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition, after Bangladesh (in 1998), where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity and economic growth.[1] The UN estimates that 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year – four every minute – mostly from preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, malaria, measles and pneumonia. Every day, 1,000 Indian children die because of diarrhoea alone.
And sorry for the second time to have used direct Wikipedia stats...I know its the laziest thing to do..but whatever...Am sure you get the idea that malnutrition in our country is a serious issue. We are higher up in malnutrition than some african countries who haven't even seen a green revolution yet..and I know, first let's get the obvious thing that comes to our mind..yes it's the damn population explosion etc etc..If people didn't fuck so much the situation wouldn't be fucked up..etc etc ..we all know that's the problem...and what's the solution...of course the Govt. should take care of it as we all know and it would never do so, as we all also know.
But not to be a complete sarcastic bastard, the Govt. does try..I mean some people do..calling the Govt. completely corrupt and stupid in my eyes is equal to something like casteism...not all people are the same. There are some genuinely good people (not many, I agree..but still.. ) trying to do some genuinely good things...regardless of what your 24 x 7 media and movies tell you...not all people who are a part of Govt. organizations are corrupt incompetent assholes and rapists. Some are trying to at least introduce good ideas...Ideas like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme...which as we all know comes into the news because of reasons like feeding substandard food to kids...but as usual media never reports the times when they did serve good food or helped feed poor kids...bad news is good business of course.
Anyways, getting down to business at hand...like every good idea in our country...am sure there is a corrupt politician somehow ripping money off this scheme...and 50 others trying to politicize the scheme into a failure just to gain attention...but nobody will ever focus on the actual issue of malnutrition. But am not here to just spread awareness...we are all mostly aware of it...but am here to propose a good solution- Eggs. (yes, you are smart..you got it from the title)
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| breakfast of champions |
See Eggs, even though being crticized by some people for being cholestrol heavy...are a great and complete source of Vitamins A D and E, zinc, other minerals and mainly protein in such amounts which cannot be found in most veg foods and/or meats. The benefits of having at least one boiled egg a day outweigh the disadvantages like five times over. I know in India, we have a stigma attached to eggs...being considered 'non-veg' and all...I do respect those views...but thankfully increasingly many people are eggeterians in India..they would eat eggs but not meat...which I think is a fine line to walk to satisfy your religious doubts.
For those who still are doubtful about eggs, in case you haven't already heard this anecdote- Our pious old Mahatma Gandhi had once replied the following, on being asked whether egg should be considered 'veg' (veg of course in Indian English means all foodstuffs that are religiously permissible) as per Hindu religious standards..He said- "If you consider the milk that comes from a cow as acceptable for consumption, I don't see why eggs shouldn't be given the same treatment"
Although, I doubt the historical authenticity of that quote, but I still agree. You see..an egg is actually kinda like a female chick's period...I know this might even gross out some actual egg eaters..but still the eggs that you get in the market...are unfertilized eggs...with no chance of a chicken ever hatching out of it...meaning that if you use animal leather...or sheeps wool...an egg is as good as that...you can even take care of that egg for months or even sit on it....it won't hatch. Anyways, I don't want to present an argument for the religious vailidity of eggs...but lets just say this...you can eat all the boiled chana you want in the morning...still two eggs will take care of like your monthly requirement of protein..besides for the people experiencing malnutrition..not to sound like a dick..but religion should be on the backburner when you are thinning out of hunger.
So here it is..please do keep feeding children..that khichdi or whatever they serve in midday meal schemes...but why not have an Egg-A-Day scheme..or an Egg Wednesday or something..
give the kids just one egg a day..and not just the poor ones...our McD going,pizza guzzling urban kids could also do with a healthy snack every once in a while.Start promoting eggs on an even larger scale then NECC..Since Vada-Pav is a popular (and superbly unhealthy) snack in Maharashtra..
try promoting Anda-Pav...start by setting up small food franchises outside schools/colleges..start serving it on Railway Stations and Trains...get Aamir Khan to promote it...just tell him not to fake-cry for it...one good smile will do. As for playing your own part with this, start by spreading the message (and eating eggs too..even though you are not malnourished..egg is still good for you)..its the least we can do.
Also, Let me tell you a more macro effect of people eating more eggs..most of you know the problems faced by farmers regarding irrigation and finance and depleting yields..soil erosion etc. Eating more eggs would actually help start a butterfly effect so that farmers doing the same traditional gambling like farming and earning little or no money can actually switch to poultry farming and earn in a better way...and without going into the detail economics of it..but eggs would actually get cheaper if more people ate them..thats actually the purpose of NECC's promotional campaigns ..although, I agree that ethical treatment of chickens in poultry farming is a seperate issue in itself. ( not for me personally, I eat most kinds of meat and am of the opinion that if you can grow trees, take care of them,water them, feed them and then kill/harvest them and do this again and again every year..its the same..just the colour of the blood being shed is green or red)
Anyways getting back to the issue,I think by concentrating on just providing two quality foods- eggs and milk (pure milk of course)..we can reduce malnutrition problems by a long way. I agree this is not the only and not the best solution..but you have to agree its a tasty one.
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| Solving Social problems has never been so delicious |
