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Diet and Nutrition during Drought‐An Indian Experience
Author(s) -
RAO N. PRALHAD
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1989.tb00695.x
Subject(s) - tamil , scarcity , socioeconomics , food security , agriculture , geography , environmental health , population , distribution (mathematics) , environmental protection , medicine , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics , mathematics , archaeology , sociology , economics , microeconomics
In 1987 India experienced one of the century's worst droughts with two‐thirds of its sown area receiving ‘scanty’ or ‘deficient’ rainfall. Delayed rains in some parts, though to some extent they relieved the water scarcity, did not brighten the prospects of agricultural production. In order to assess the diet and nutritional situation of the vulnerable population in the severely affected areas, rapid surveys were undertaken by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, in five States of the country, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa and Gujarat, during the months of October‐December 1987. Results obtained during the current surveys are compared with the dietary situation observed in earlier droughts in the 1960s and 1970s, and it is concluded that the widespread hunger and its consequences encountered in earlier droughts could be averted, due mainly to the better food security and distribution mechanisms now available in the country.