9th March

A New Deal

The article talks about the growing relationships between the oldest foes in the world, US and Russia, which is very important to tackle some of the most serious issues on the global arena.

Recent visits by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to the countries like China, Israel, Japan and Russia, makes it imperative what the foreign policy of Obama administration seeks to. The ire, Bush administration created, by ill-engaging with some of the countries needs to be allayed in order to create a support for US in its war in Afghan-Pak region as well as the Iran dispute. For India, the visits in Beijing and Moscow hold special significance. Moscow could become a crucial ally in the war to stop the Taliban from spreading its wings in Afghanistan and NWFP of Pakistan. It is evident that if that happens the effects could spill over the neighboring region. Russia also could prove useful in the Iran crisis given the legitimacy of feud between Tehran and Washington. 

Post-cold war, there had been series of small disputes between US and Russia, the most recent being Georgia. Thus, it is premature to believe that the relationships have started to normalize between the old enemies. But it is up to US to make Russia understand that it is not in Russia’s interest to let Taliban spread in the region. Russia can also act as a facilitator in solving Iran crisis. It is in the world’s interest if the two countries work collaboratively.

Simply Distribute

The article expresses concern over the grave failure of Public Distribution System (PDS) in India because of which India, today, outstrips the rest of the world in terms of number of hungry people as well as suffering from malnutrition.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) report revealed the inefficiency of the present PDS in India owing to corruption, faulty data and incorrect assessment of household characteristics and amount of grain entitled. The report says that the official poverty estimates do not include the calorie deficiency of the people who are not below poverty line (BPL) which is why PDS falls short of its overall aim of eliminating hunger which also includes malnutrition. As the statistics speak themselves, 50% of world’s total hungry people live in India and malnutrition is the cause in 50% of child deaths. Children below 5 years and suffering from malnutrition account for 47% which is far ahead of the next worst of Sub-Saharan African region at 28%. The first hunger index released by International Food Research Institute at the close of 2008 declared India’s status as “alarming” in terms of hunger and malnutrition.

Despite the PDS, Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-day Meal Scheme being there, poor aren’t able to access the food due to their inefficient execution. Thus, instead of developing a whole new network of distribution for such schemes, it is better to use the existing infrastructure of food distribution and empower the poor to have access to such outlets. With the failure of present systems, it is evident to implement innovative strategies to fix the problem.