
In shocking news, Niti Aayog says that hunger is up in over 20 Indian states in the last 2-3 years.
2006 to 2016 saw a steady decrease in poverty and hunger in India. It is astonishing to me why it would increase again.
Only four states in India have shown a reduction in hunger in the last 3 years. The states are Mizoram, Kerala, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.
What is worse is that the Niti Aayog report does not seem to know why this increase has happened. The report offers no specific suggestions on how to improve.
My guess is that much of the problem is due to the self-inflicted wounds of demonetization and chaotic GST implementation. Maybe that’s why the report does not talk about the reasons for the distress. It’s politically tricky for the government to accept these as the reasons.
I hope that the government can come up with solutions fast.