Is it a classic case of ignorance or do we really turn a blind-eye even when facts are staring right in our faces?
Today I read an article in the Hindustan Times which had some statistics on the malnourished, underweight children in the greater states of India. As I scanned the table I was not surprised to see a few North Indian and central Indian states, but I was in for a shocker when I saw Karnataka and Kerala in the list. What was even more shocking is that Karnataka was second only to Kerala in terms of malnourished children.
| State | % of underweight children | % of undernutritioned children | % of hunger deaths under the age of 5 |
| Rajasthan | 40.4% | 14.0% | 8.5% |
| Gujarat | 44.7% | 22.3% | 6.1% |
| Madhya Pradesh | 59.8% | 23.4% | 9.4% |
| Maharashtra | 36.7% | 27.0% | 4.7% |
| Karnataka | 37.6% | 28.1% | 5.5% |
| Kerala | 22.7% | 28.6% | 1.6% |
| West Bengal | 38.5% | 18.5% | 5.9% |
I never did imagine that such basic thing as food was lacking in Karnataka. The only rural areas I have seen in Karnataka are in DK and everything around looked hunky-dory. I did not read/hear of any hunger issues. Or have these issues become so commonplace that I no longer choose to give it a second thought?
I am currently reading the Tracking Hunger series in HT and as I read that I am sure many more myths(in my head) are gonna be shattered as I find out many more ugly truths.
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