Poverty And Hunger Around The World

Poverty And Hunger Around The World Introduction In our world, there is enough food to feed the whole population. However, according to FAOs recent report, one out of every six or seven people is hungry and it is a possibility that one out of three children is underweight. Today a massive number of people are living under poverty and many are dying of hunger each day. According to a report, 40% of the worlds population is living under poverty (www.thp.org). The World Bank states in India, the worlds second most populated nation, has 34% living on less than $1 a day and 80% living on less than $2. The situation is the same in Sub- Saharan Africa. The same source indicated above claims that 41% of the population in Sub- Saharan Africa live on less than $1 a day which is considered as the international poverty line. What are the causes and effects of poverty and hunger and how are they spread out around the world? What does Poverty and Hunger Mean? Poverty and hunger are defined in different ways by different individuals. Poverty is defined as people living in household below 60 percent of median income ( Raffo et al 5). Encarta Dictionary also states poverty as the state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing and housing. Encyclopedia Britannica defines poverty as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. All the definitions assert that poverty is a state in which one cannot afford to achieve a basic living standard such as food and clothing. Poverty may be considered as the condition of being extremely poor. Poverty is classified into two categories according to World Bank. These are income poverty and human poverty. Income poverty is related with only financial income whereas human poverty includes lack of proper diet, clothing, shelter and work. So far, weve defined poverty but what is hunger? In many sources including Encyclopedia Britannica, hunger is viewed as a feeling we have when we need something to eat. Both poverty and hunger are spread all over the world but the degree varies from country to country. The less developed countries suffer from it strongly whereas the developed countries are affected to a much lesser degree. Poverty and Hunger Facts Do you know how many people are living in poverty and how many are diying of hunger each day worldwide? There are a number of people who are poor and hungry in the world. The United Nations bulletin on the Eradication of Poverty claims that 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day which is viewed as the absolute poverty level. It is very shocking to know that so many people are living under poverty. According to the bulletin, 24,000 people die of hunger each day, 16,000 of whom are children under five years of age. In addition to this, 800 million people, or one in every six people, are malnourished, 200 million of whom are children. As a result, the average life expectancy where hunger is serious, is low. There are 19 million hungry people in developed countries and 53 million people are hungry in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Sub- Saharan Africa, 239 million people are also hungry (www.stwr.org). World Hunger Project further states the issue as follows: As of 2008, the World Bank has estimated that there were an estimated 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less. This compares to the later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion undernourished people. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the worlds developing regions, despite some progress that reduced dollarnow $1.25 a day poverty from 1900 million people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the period. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. Hunger around the world There are many factors that are assumed to be root causes for the existence of poverty in the world. Lack of resources, an unequal income distribution, conflict, drought, famine and climate change, for example, are some of the causes of poverty and hunger in many countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased. The economic systems of a nation may also be the principal cause of poverty and hunger. A number of international organizations which are working with poverty and hunger believe that the principal underlying cause of poverty and hunger is the ordinary operation of the economic and political systems in the world. In the developing countries especially in African, control over resources and income is based on military power. Therefore, everything is in the hand of people who are leading a comfortable life whereas the poor are the victim of the system. One of the causes of poverty and hunger according to FAO is conflict. FAO strongly believes that large number of people are poor and hungry due to conflict either inside their nation or outside. Moreover, UNHCR strenghens this fact in the following way: At the end of 2005, the global number of refugees was at its lowest level in almost a quarter of a century. Despite some large-scale repatriation movements, the last three years have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers, due primarily to the violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. By the end of 2008, the total number of refugees under UNHCRs mandate exceeded 10 million. The number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached some 26 million worldwide at the end of the year . Providing exact figures on the number of stateless people is extremely difficult. But, important, visible though it is, and anguishing for those involved conflict is less important as poverty as a cause of hunger. Using the statistics above 1.02 billion people suffer from chronic hunger while 36 million people are displaced (UNHCR 2008). Hunger can be viewed as the cause of poverty in a such a way that it causes poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment. Due to this fact, hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing peoples ability to work and learn. Therefore, we may conclude that hunger is one of the causes of poverty. Climate change is another serious cause of hunger and poverty as global warming is increasing rapidly. As the result of change in climate, drought in the world is increasing day by day. Flooding and farming practices are other key issues regarding poverty and hunger. As it is mentioned earlier, factors such as land rights and ownership, land for non-productive use (such as tobaco industries and floriculture) increasing of export of food when the countrys people dont have enough to eat, poor methods of farming, war, drought, and many more are causes of poverty and hunger . How does poverty affect hunger? Poverty and hunger are almost inseparable. Poverty is the main cause of hunger, when people do not have money they can not afford to buy food and support themselves. Hence,world hunger is a symptom of world poverty. Although hunger is caused by many factors, the most dominant reason is linked with poverty. Conclusion The world community has the material and all that is needed to prevent and fight hunger and poverty. Yet, people are hungry even when there is enough food because it is not equally distributed and due to political unrests. Providing aid food for the hungry is not an ever lasting solution to tackle poverty and hunger. We need to find a sustainable solution to eradicate hunger and poverty. We need to address the issues such as poor farming practices, deforestation, overcropping and overgrazing that are exhausting land fertility and cause hunger. Wars are another underlying issue to poverty and hunger that need to be addressed as millions of people get displaced every from their homes leading to hunger and poverty.We need to find better ways of fighting hunger and poverty by addressing the issue at a prevention stage.

Equus Essay

Peter Shaffer’s play, Equus, tells a young man’s story of faith and struggle. Through Alan, Shaffer explores man’s relationship with God and himself, the concept of pain and passion, and eventually, shame. Indeed, Alan blinded the horses because he was shamed, not merely of his inability to perform, but more so because Equus, through the horses’ eyes, witnessed how he gave in to temptation and betrayed his god. Alan is like any man who is brought up to his parents’ beliefs. In his case, his mother was a devout Christian who read to him verses from the Bible, where he learned of God and Jesus. His father, on the other hand, was an atheist, and seeing Alan’s growing interest in religion tore the picture of the crucifix Alan had and replaced it with a picture of a horse. This is a powerful act of symbolism. The young Alan was confused because of his parents’ differing religious beliefs. He could sense that his father did not approve of the kind of fervent religion his mother is practicing, and but Alan has already been raised to love God. He could have just become a nominal Christian; instead he turned his intense beliefs towards a substitute god, a god that his father does not hate. Hence, Equus is born – his conception of a deity embodied in every horse. Yet, essentially, his faith remains traditional orthodox Christian. Like God, Equus sees everything, like Jesus, Equus suffers for the sins of the world. Alan’s devout love in Equus culminates to his riding the horse Nugget naked and barebacked, flagellating, riding to the point of sexual/mystical/religious climax, when he screams of his love and his desire to be one with the horse. This image illustrates Alan’s intense religious beliefs that he wants to share the pain, the passion or the suffering of Equus, and be one with him, akin to the intense devotion of saints. In the next part of the play, Alan goes with Jill to a pornography theater where they accidentally run into his father. This leaves an impression to Alan that sexual desire is common to all men. It can be said that since he found his father there, he made the logical conclusion that it was something that his father does not disapprove of. So when Jill suggests they have sex in the stables, he acquiesces. But the presence of the horses makes him nervous, and he is unable to get an erection. He becomes frustrated, and he threatens away Jill. He is more than just ashamed because he was not able to perform. He was ashamed because he could feel Equus’ eyes on him, and he knows that he has sinned. Alan felt guilty about his act, about his giving in to temptation, his attempt to do it with Jill, because he perceived it as an act of betrayal to his god. He declared his devotion and desire to be one with Equus, and yet he found himself a sinner, one of those who cause Equus’s/Jesus’s pain and suffering that he professed to want to share intensely. Whereas before he devoted himself body and soul to Equus, now he has succumbed to his body’s desire and suddenly he is aware of his nakedness. His nakedness is metaphorical with his nakedness on stage and the nakedness of Adam and Eve in Genesis. Literally he becomes aware of his nakedness, when previously he rode the horse naked anyway. This awareness brings forth shame, and since his depiction of god is within reach in the form of the horses, he lashed out at them. Consumed by shame, he vents out his anger and puts out the horses’ eyes, so that he they, and Equus, through them, could no longer see him naked, nor would they be able to see his sins.

Pepsi’s Strategy in Entering India

PepsiCo had been trying to enter the Indian market for quite some time with no success. In 1988 Pepsi received a letter from George Fernandes, the General Secretary of one of the country's leading political parties, Janata Dal. He wrote, â€Å"I learned that you are coming here. I am the one that threw Coca-Cola out, and we are soon going to come back into the government. If you come into the country, you have to remember that the same fate awaits you as Coca-Cola. † This scared PepsiCo a bit knowing that their rival was forced to leave the country in 1977 after the Janata Dal came to power.PepsiCo had to think of a way to get in without facing the same consequences Coca-Cola had to face. In May 1985, PepsiCo joined with one of India's leading business houses, the R P Goenka (RPG) group, to begin operations in the India. The company, along with the RPG group company Agro Product Export Ltd. , planned to import the cola concentrate and sell soft drinks under the Pepsi label. Pe psiCo's decision linked its entry with the development and welfare of the state was aimed at winning the government over. The fact that Punjab boasted a healthy agricultural sector played a role in PepsiCo's decision.Coke and PepsiPepsiCo claimed that it would play a central role in bringing about an agricultural revolution in the state and would create many employment opportunities. It promised to create 50,000 jobs in the nation. Pepsi began by setting up a fruit and vegetable processing plants at Zahura village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district. The plant then was focused on processing tomatoes to make tomato paste. Pepsi had a tough time convincing farmers to work for the company. Its experts from the US had to interact extensively with the farmers to explain how they could benefit from working with the company.

Construction Of The Public Sphere - 782 Words

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