The Poisoned Bowl

Tragedy of Punjab's Health

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Punjab, India's breadbasket, produces nearly 19% of the nation's wheat and 13% of its rice. Its endless fields of golden grain symbolize abundance and food security for the entire country. Yet beneath this prosperity lies a paradox: the state that fills the nation's granaries is itself plagued by malnutrition, disease, and collapsing healthcare. Punjab is a region where overflowing warehouses coexist with hungry children, anaemic mothers, and a rising epidemic of lifestyle and chronic illnesses. This contradiction-the poisoned bowl amidst plenty-defines Punjab's health crisis in modern times.

The statistics tell the story. According to the National Family Health Survey-5, 71.1% of children under five in Punjab are anaemic, up from 56.6% just a few years ago. Among women of reproductive age, the figure is worse: 65.7% are anaemic. Doctors describe this as "hidden hunger," where stomachs are full but nutrients are absent. As one pediatrician in Ludhiana put it: "We are treating children whose growth charts look like they belong in famine zones, not in the land of surplus grain."

At the same time, Punjab has become the epicenter of obesity in India. NFHS-5 shows that 32.2% of men and 40.8% of women (aged 15-49) are overweight or obese-among the highest in the country. The burden cuts across both rural and urban areas: 44.3% of urban women are obese compared to 38.8% in rural Punjab, and 35.2% of men in cities compared to 30.2% in villages. Waist-to-hip ratio data paints an even grimmer picture, with 63.1% of men and 72.8% of women at high risk of cardiovascular disease. As a farmer from Sangrur put it bluntly: "We have fields full of wheat, but our bodies are empty of health." Punjab today is the textbook case of the "double burden" of malnutrition-where hidden hunger and micronutrient deficiencies exist side by side with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.