“hunger is the worst kind of illness” said the Awakened One with Awareness.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wnUrBPqKarQ&list=RDCMUCpnrBXS4UppD-r2PJGjTbZQ&start_radio=1&t=71

The
Awakened with Awareness faith calls to stand alongside women and
children around the world to provide leadership toward a well-nourished
world.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/07/1042411
UN News
Over 820 million people suffering from hunger; new UN report reveals stubborn realities of ‘immense’ global challenge

Economic Development

After
nearly a decade of progress, the number of people who suffer from
hunger has slowly increased over the past three years, with about one in
every nine people globally suffering from hunger today, the United
Nations said in a new report released on Monday.

This fact
underscores “the immense challenge” to achieving the Zero Hunger target
of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to the
State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019.

The
report, launched on the margins of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF)
– the main UN platform monitoring follow-up on States’ actions on the
SDGs – currently under way in New York, breaks down statistics by
region, and shows that hunger has risen almost 20 per cent in Africa’s
subregions, areas which also have the greatest prevalence of
undernourishment.

Although the pervasiveness of hunger in Latin
America and the Caribbean is still below seven per cent, it is slowly
increasing. And in Asia, undernourishment affects 11 per cent of the
population.

Although southern Asia saw great progress over the
last five years, at almost 15 per cent, it is still the subregion with
the highest prevalence of undernourishment.

“Our actions to
tackle these troubling trends will have to be bolder, not only in scale
but also in terms of multisectoral collaboration,” the heads of the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the
World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) urged
in their joint foreword to the report.

Hunger is increasing in
many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly in
middle-income countries and those that rely heavily on international
primary commodity trade.

The annual UN report also found that
income inequality is rising in many of the countries where hunger is on
the rise, making it even more difficult for the poor, vulnerable or
marginalized to cope with economic slowdowns and downturns.

“We
must foster pro-poor and inclusive structural transformation focusing on
people and placing communities at the centre to reduce economic
vulnerabilities and set ourselves on track to ending hunger, food
insecurity and all forms of malnutrition,” the UN leaders said.

 Food insecurity

This year’s edition of the report takes a broader look at the impact of food insecurity – beyond hunger.

It
introduces, for the first time, a second indicator for monitoring
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Target 2.1 on the Prevalence of
Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity that shows that 17.2 per cent of the
world’s population, or 1.3 billion people, lacked regular access to
“nutritious and sufficient food”.

“Even if they were not
necessarily suffering from hunger, they are at greater risk of various
forms of malnutrition and poor health”, according to the report.The
combination of moderate and severe levels of food insecurity brings the
estimate to about two billion people, where in every continent, women
are slightly more food insecure than men.

Low birthweight still a major challenge

Turning to children, the report disclosed that since 2012, no progress has been made in reducing low birthweight.

Additionally,
while the number of under-age-five children affected by stunting has
decreased over the past six years by 10 per cent globally, the pace of
progress is too slow to meet the 2030 target of halving the number of
stunted children.

Furthermore, overweight and obesity continue to
increase throughout all regions, particularly among school-age children
and adults. Income inequality increases the likelihood of severe food
insecurity – UN report

To safeguard food security and nutrition,
the 2019 report stresses the importance to economic and social policies
to counteract the effects of adverse economic cycles when they arrive,
while avoiding cuts in essential services.

It maintains that the
uneven pace of economic recovery “is undermining efforts to end hunger
and malnutrition, with hunger increasing in many countries where the
economy has slowed down or contracted”, mostly in middle-income nations.

 
Moreover, economic slowdowns or downturns disproportionally undermine
food security and nutrition where inequalities are greater.
The
report concludes with guidance on what short- and long-term policies
must be undertaken to safeguard food security and nutrition during
episodes of economic turmoil or in preparation for them, such as
integrating food security and nutrition concerns into poverty reduction
efforts using pro-poor and inclusive structural transformations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZprQu6SbswY

Solving India’s hunger problem
The Hindu

The
Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea that starvation deaths
continue to eat into the right to life and dignity of social fabric and a
“radical” new measure like community kitchens need to be set up across
the country to feed the poor and the hungry.

A Bench led by
Justice N.V. Ramana issued notice on Monday to the government on the
petition filed jointly by activists Anun Dhawan, Ishann Dhawan and
Kunjana Singh, represented by advocates Ashima Mandla and Fuzail Ahmad
Ayyubi.

The petition said State-funded community kitchens was not
a novel concept in the country. They pointed out how Tamil Nadu’s Amma
Unavagam had become a roaring success by involving peers in self-help
groups, employing the poor to serve hygienic food to eradicate the
gnawing problem of hunger on the streets.The petition also referred to
how Rajasthan’s Annapurna Rasoi, Indira Canteens in Karnataka, Delhi’s
Aam Aadmi Canteen, Anna Canteen in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand
Mukhyamantri Dal Bhat and Odisha’s Ahaar Centre were combating
starvation and malnutrition crisis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDnIlhB8vYA
Where India’s Hunger Struggle Is Headed | Chanchalapathi Dasa | TEDxBMSCETEDx Talks

The
Vice-Chairman of the Akshaya Patra foundation talks about the journey
so far and what the future holds in the mission to end hunger for
children in India. See how technology is used in mass production and the
fantastic results produced. He also talks about other initiatives of
the Akshaya Patra foundation which help children from underprivileged
backgrounds achieve their dreams. Come be a part of this humbling
journey presented by Chanchalapati Dasa.

 Chanchalapathi Dasa,
populary known as “CPP” did his Masters in Electrical Communication
Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. While pursuing
his Bachelor’s degree, he came across with the teachings of Srila
Prabhupada’s and met with Madhu Pandit Dasa to carry forward the mission
together. He became a full-time member to fullfill the vision &
aspiration of his spiritual guru Srila Prabhupada. Comitted to the cause
since 1984, he is currently involved in strategy, growth, and
governance of Akshaya Patra. This talk was given at a TEDx event using
the TED conference format but independently organized by a local
community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

youtube.com/watch?v=ZprQu6SbswY
Solving India’s hunger problem
The
Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea that starvation deaths
continue to eat into the right to life and dignity of social fabric and a
“radical” new…

youtube.comyoutube.com/watch?v=ZprQu6SbswYyoutube.com/watch?v=pgPJYRH3l9I&list=RDCMUCCaiUfpgquuFMmO3Sf5AsYQ&start_radio=1&t=4

“If
you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason.
There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in
any other religion.”

“Lost rights are never regained by appeals
to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle….goa ts
are used for sacrificial offerings and not lions.”   

“Constitution is not a mere lawyers document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age.”   

“If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.”   

 ”History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics.”   

“Democracy is not a form of government, but a form of social organisation.”   

 ”My
final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have
faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can
loose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in
the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it.
For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is battle for
freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality.”   

 ”Caste
is a state of mind. It is a disease of mind. The teachings of the Hindu
religion are the root cause of this disease. We practice casteism and
we observe Untouchability because we are enjoined to do so by the Hindu
religion. A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can
be changed. But poison cannot be changed into nectar.”   

 ”Religion is for man and not man for religion.”   

 ”A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society.”   

 ”If you believe in living a respectable life, you believe in self-help which is the best help!”   

 ”A
people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on
social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is
held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people.”       

 ”For
a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What
is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice,
necessity and importance of political and social rights.”       

 ”Man
is mortal. Everyone has to die some day or the other. But one must
resolve to lay down one’s life in enriching the noble ideals of
self-respect and in bettering one’s human life. We are not slaves.
Nothing is more disgraceful for a brave man than to live life devoid of
self-respect.”