It Is Not Famine But Hunger Which Is The Problem

People suffering from severe hunger is not a thing of the past despite progress in many other fronts.

- Kishore Kumar Biswas

Even in the late 1980s when the reporter had been an undergraduate student, a number of economists were doubtful about the possibility of providing enough food at that time to all the citizens of the developing countries including India. As of now, the quantum of food, either of the world as a whole or in an individual country is as high as to provide for every citizen of the country. Some local disturbance of food grains may be possible at any time but that is a different matter.

To guarantee adequate food for all has now been possible for the first time in history as there is an enormous expansion of productive power. It is in this context that the persistence of chronic hunger and the recurrence of famines must be seen more as a political issue. In many countries it is a tragedy that a section of the population has to spend most nights in a year without adequate food but the political parties rule year after year without facing heavy opposition.

Is hunger related to food availability?

Hunger is not always caused by availability of food. There are quite a few instances when deaths due to hunger occurred even with greater availability of food supply. Indeed some famines have occurred in periods of peak food availability for the economy as a whole. One can cite the Bangladesh famine of 1974.

Professor Amartya Sen (Poverty and Famines, 1981, Oxford University Press) has propagated the idea lack of exchange entitlement as the cause of famine or hunger death. What does this mean? This means it is not the quantum of food available in the market which matters. The real point is the purchasing power of an individual or family to purchase that food. If a person lacks the means to acquire food, the presence of food in the market is not much comfort. To understand hunger, one has to look at people’s entitlements, i.e., what commodity bundles (including food) they can make their own.