Nearly two billion people—nearly one-third of the world’s population—have been affected by food insecurity. It is estimated that the number of chronically hungry people in the world today exceeds 862 million. The current food crisis has hit the poor and the vulnerable most severely. More than 1 billion people worldwide survive on less than $1 a day and 1.5 billion on between $1 and $2 a day. Food price rise has substantially reduced their spending power, forcing them to either eat less or skip meals. In El Salvador the poor are eating only half as much food as they did last year. Large numbers of people in Afghanistan are spending half their income on buying food. Half of Kenya’s population lives on less $ 1 a day. Spikes in food prices have now forced them to eat less and sometimes not at all. Ethiopian Jews now living in Israel—three-quarters of them living below the poverty line—are forced to give up teff, their favourite bread, because the price of teff in Ethiopia has nearly trebled over the past year. Bob Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, reckons that food inflation could push at least 100 million people into poverty and destitution.

In Ethiopia, six million children are at risk of acute malnutrition due to the failure of rains and rising food prices. More than 60,000 children in two regions of the country are struggling to survive and require immediate feeding. If there is no emergency aid, tend of thousands of children are likely to die of starvation.

In Ethiopia, six million children are at risk of acute malnutrition due to the failure of rains and rising food prices. More than 60,000 children in two regions of the country are struggling to survive and require immediate feeding. If there is no emergency aid, tend of thousands of children are likely to die of starvation.

Causes of food insecurity

A whole set of factors are responsible for the current food crisis. These include the worldwide decline in peasantry, falling agricultural productivity, unfavourable weather and environmental conditions (such as failure of rains, droughts, desertification), shrinking farmlands, widespread environmental degradation, water shortages, obsolete farming techniques, inadequate post-harvest infrastructure, rising oil prices (which heighten the costs of fertilisers and transportation), uneven distribution policies, the spurt in the production of biofuels, lack of incentives and credit facilities to farmers, and food waste. A combination of these factors has led to a conspicuous decline in agricultural productivity across large parts of the world. Lennard Bage, the head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, says that the “underlying problem is the decline in agricultural productivity growth”.

Until the 19th century, the peasantry formed the bulk of the world population and the mainstay of the economy. The decline of the peasantry has been rapid and dramatic over the past two centuries. Farmers now constitute just about 4% of the population in members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 2% in the US. In the mid-1960s there were still five nations in Europe with more than half of the occupied population in farming, 11 in the Americas, 18 in Asia and (with the exception of Libya, Tunisia and South Africa) all of Africa.

The situation has radically changed over the past four decades. Today there is no country in the world where at least half of the population is engaged in agriculture. The peasantry in Indonesia has declined from 67% to 33%, in the Philippines from 51% to 18%, in Thailand from 82% to 46%, in Malaysia from 51% to 18%, in Turkey from 70% to 30%, and in Pakistan from 70% to 40%. In the late 1960s farmers made up more than half of the population in Taiwan and South Korea; today they are less than ten percent. Today more than a hundred countries have to import grain because their own agriculture cannot provide enough for their people.

Environmental factors and climate change have adversely impacted agricultural productivity in large parts of the world. Approximately 70% of all water worldwide—rainwater and natural underground water—is used for irrigation. In many countries, the sources of natural underground water called acquifers are drying up. The annual depletion of acquifers worldwide is estimated at nearly 160 billion tonnes of water each year. Much of the farmland that receives rainfall is being destroyed by salination or soil erosion. In India, for example, about a third of the irrigated land is damaged by salination and more than 12% has been abandoned. Water tables in the country are falling by an average of 3 to 10 feet each year. The International Water Management Institute reckons that India’s grain harvest could be reduced by a quarter in the next few decades due to rapid acquifer depletion.

According to the projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, vast areas, particularly in Asia and Africa, are likely to be lost to desertification or depletion in the coming decades. As the soil in north-west China has dried out, vast desert storms are increasing in size and frequency, which often cover villages, farmlands and roads. Once fertile parts of north-west China are turning to desert. Australia is facing its worst drought in a generation and the country is expected to suffer from more frequent droughts, more extreme weather and less annual rainfall in the coming years. A new study predicts frequent droughts and shifting rainfall patterns in many parts of the world. It suggests that impoverished farmers in South Asia and southern Africa could face growing food shortages due to climate change in the next two decades.

A study presented to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in May 2008 pointed out that the high losses in agriculture in developing nations were “mainly due to a lack of technology and infrastructure as well as insect infestation, microbial growth, damage, and high temperatures and humidity”. According to a 2007 estimate of India’s food ministry, a whopping Rs 58,000 crore ($ 14.5 billion) worth of agriculture food items gets wasted in the country each year as a result of inadequate post-harvest infrastructure such as storage and transportation.

Rising fertiliser prices have forced farmers in many countries to plant less. In Kenya’s Rift Valley, farmers are planting a third less of the land than last year because fertiliser prices have more than doubled over the past year. Ethiopian farmers planted much less this year because they could not get credit for buying fertilizers.

Increasing urbanization across the world is having an adverse impact on agriculture. The size of productive land in many countries is shrinking as a result of rapid urban growth.

Ethnic conflicts and violence in some countries have adversely affected agricultural productivity and have thereby led to food shortages and a sharp rise in food prices. In Kanya, at least 350,000 people, most of them farmers, were forced to abandon their homes and fields following the violence that erupted in the wake of elections in December 2007.

Biofuels

One of the factors responsible for the current global food crisis is the expansion of biofuel production in the US, Brazil and other countries. World production of biofuels—primarily from corn, sugarcane, soy, vegetable oil—rose some 20% to an estimated 54 billion litres in 2007. The US, the world’s largest producer of ethanol, and Brazil, the second largest producer of ethanol, account for nearly 95% of the world’s ethanol production. The number of ethanol factories in the US has almost tripled in the past 8 years from 50 to 140. In 2006, the US provided subsidies for growing crops for biofuels to the tune of $ 11-12 billion as well as protective tariff policies. As a consequence, nearly 100 million tones of cereals were diverted from human consumption to ethanol production. About 25% of maize grown in the country in 2007 was used for ethanol production.

Ethanol production causes a massive drain on water resources. A typical ethanol factory producing 50 million gallons of biofuels a year needs about 500 gallons of water a minute. A local firm in Tampa, Florida, building the state’s first ethanol production company, put in a request to the local authorities in 2007 for 400,000 gallons (1.5 million litres) a day of city water. The International Monetary Fund and other global agencies report that using food to produce biofuels will continue to strain already scarce water and arable land resources.

Farmers in many countries have switched from conventional farming to growing crops for biofuels because of attractive returns. In 2007 the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the growing demand for biofuels has played a key role in raising 8% of food price inflation in China, 13% in Indonesia and Pakistan, and 10% or more in Latin America, Russia and India. The International Food Policy Research Institute says that ethanol production accounts for nearly 30% of the current increase in world food prices. Some NGOs want a moratorium on ethanol production, saying this would reduce grain prices by 20%.

The throw-away society

Some of the richest countries of the world, especially the US, not only have the largest share of the world consumption expenditure but also waste an incredibly enormous amount of food. The US is home to the largest consumer class worldwide, comprising some 243 million people. A quarter of the world’s cars and a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources are to be found in the US. Nearly 40% of the world’s caviar sales (priced at $ 2,000 per kilogram) take place in the US. There are more telephone lines in Manhattan than in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2006 Americans threw out three million tonnes of electronic goods. This so-called e-waste is the fastest-growing part of the waste stream. According to a government study carried out in 2008, Americans waste an astounding amount of food, an estimated 27% of the food available for consumption. This waste takes place in supermarkets, in restaurants and cafeterias and in homes. Supermarkets discard products which are past the freshness expiry date or have minor blemishes. Restaurants recklessly throw away surplus and unused food.

One of the few studies of food waste carried out by the US Department of Agriculture in 1995 estimated that 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food in the country—more than a quarter—is never eaten and therefore goes waste. Fresh products, milk, grain and sweeteners made up two-thirds of the waste. The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5% of the food that Americans waste could feed four million people a day and 25% of it could feed 20 million people a day.

A study carried out at the University of Arizona in Tuscan in 2004 revealed that almost half the food in the US goes to waste. It was estimated that an average American family of four tosses out food worth $ 590 per year, just in meat, fruits, vegetables and grain products. Household food waste alone adds up to nearly $ 43 billion a year.

One of the few studies of food waste carried out by the US Department of Agriculture in 1995 estimated that 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food in the country—more than a quarter—is never eaten and therefore goes waste. Fresh products, milk, grain and sweeteners made up two-thirds of the waste. The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5% of the food that Americans waste could feed four million people a day and 25% of it could feed 20 million people a day.

A recent study by the environmental protection agency has estimated that Americans generate roughly 30 million tonnes of food waste each year. Nearly all of this food waste ends up in landfills. And the rotting food in landfills produces methane, a major source of greenhouse gases.

Food worth billions of dollars is dumped each year in the US largely because of inefficiency and callousness. Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm, estimates the quantum of waste—known as “shrink” in the industry’s jargon—at 8-10% of total perishable goods in the country. Food worth nearly $ 20 billion was dumped by retailers in 2006. In a recent report published on May 14, 2008, the United Nations estimates that retailers and consumers in the US throw away food worth $ 48 billion each year. The shrink rates of American supermarkets and retailers are twice as high as those of European retailers.

Americans tend to overeat and consequently substantial numbers of them—an estimated 65 million adults, according to a government health survey—are overweight or obese, leading to 300,000 deaths annually and more than $ 100 million in annual health costs.

The American President George W. Bush, who often indulges in loose talk, has recently blamed India’s expanding middle class for the rise in global food prices. He does not know that India manages to feed more than a billion people (17% of the world’s population) on just 3% of the world’s farmland and less than 5% of the world’s water. The US, on the other hand, with only 4.5 percent of the global population, has 30% share of the world consumption expenditure. The average American consumes 20 times more energy than the average Indian.

The American President George W. Bush, who often indulges in loose talk, has recently blamed India’s expanding middle class for the rise in global food prices. He does not know that India manages to feed more than a billion people (17% of the world’s population) on just 3% of the world’s farmland and less than 5% of the world’s water. The US, on the other hand, with only 4.5 percent of the global population, has 30% share of the world consumption expenditure. The average American consumes 20 times more energy than the average Indian.

The UK does not lag behind the US in food waste. A couple of years ago the Guardian newspaper carried out a survey which revealed that the British waste more food than any other country—throwing away as much as 40% (6.7 million tonnes) of all they produce and buy. This adds up to as much as 16 billion pounds a year. An organization called Waste and Resources Action Programme has recently estimated that each day people in the UK throw away 660,000 eggs, 1.6 million bananas, seven million slices of bread, 2.8 million tomatoes, 1.2 million sausages, 200,000 packages of cheese and 700,000 packages of chocolate. An average British family with children chucks out food worth 610 pounds each year. About 6 billion pounds of the wasted annual food budget consists of food that is bought but never eaten—including 13 million unopened yoghurt pots, 5,500 chicken and 440,000 ready meals dumped in home garbage bins each day. The rest is food cooked but never eaten because of miscalculation about requirement and leftovers.

Coping with the food crisis

Experts are of the opinion that unless long-term measures are taken, the problem of global food insecurity is likely is stay in the coming years. A combination of short-term and long-term measures is required to tackle the problem. The World Bank has offered $ 1.2 billion additional food aid to countries worst hit by the sharp rises in food prices. At the UN-sponsored food summit held in Rome on June 3-5 this year, the director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Jacques Diouf, said that there are 862 million hungry people in the world and what is immediately needed is some $ 30 billion a year to feed them. He also mentioned that obese people in America consume some 30 billion in food each year. UN officials pointed out at the summit that wealthier nations are doing little to help the developing world tide over the food crisis.

However, some help has started trickling in. Saudi Arabia has announced a donation of $ 500 million towards food aid. The Islamic Development Bank said it would spend $1.5 billion over five years to help the least developed Muslim countries cope with the crisis.

Short-term measures should include, in addition to humanitarian aid, social protection programmes such as debt relief, incentives and subsidies to farmers, and liberalization of trade policies. In many countries non-governmental organizations arrange to collect unused or leftover food from restaurants, cafeterias and food markets and supply it to the poor and the needy. City Coalition against Hunger in New York, for example, collects excess food from about 170 establishments across the city and takes it to needy people. A growing number of cities in the US and Europe are running programmes whereby food that is no longer edible is donated to livestock farmers for composting. FareShare, a charitable organization in the UK, redistributes surplus food from about 100 companies to charities working with homeless and vulnerable people. In 2004 they diverted 2,000 tonnes of excess food to needy people, which would otherwise have been wasted into over 3.3 million meals.

The most fundamental and pressing requirement for resolving global food insecurity is to adopt sustainable agricultural methods and programmes which would meet global food needs and protect the natural resource base. Sustainable agricultural policies and programmes should aim at greater production capacity through better land use, improved technology, better credit facilities for farmers, spreading the use of fertilizers among small farmers, research into new seeds, building irrigation canals, and better infrastructure for storage and transportation. A commission of more than 400 international agricultural experts released a series of reports, called International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), in April 2008, which emphasize that governments and industries need to discontinue environmentally damaging farming methods and adopt more sustainable farming practices such as crop diversification and the use of organic fertilizers. The reports also stress the ineffectiveness of genetically modified crops in aiding food productivity in some developing countries.

An English agronomist, Jules Pretty, studied nearly 300 sustainable agricultural projects in 57 countries around the world. He found that over the past decade almost 12 million farmers have been using sustainable practices on about 90 million acres. Even more remarkably, he found that sustainable agriculture increased food production by 79 percent per acre. Pretty studied 14 projects where 146,000 farmers across a broad swath of the developing world are raising potatoes, sweet potatoes and cassava, and he found that practices such as cover-cropping and fighting pests with natural adversaries had increased production 150 percent—17 tonnes per household. With 4.5 million small Asian grain farmers, average yields rose 73 percent.

An Islamic perspective on the food crisis

An awareness of the Islamic view on food insecurity in particular and on lifestyle and livelihood in general can be helpful in understanding the current global food crisis and in resolving it. Four points in this connection are note-worthy.

• Since God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, He has taken upon Himself the responsibility of providing sustenance and livelihood to all creatures, including human beings (Quran 29:60). It follows that the existing-- and potentially available—resources are sufficient to take care of the needs of the global human population.

Some people blame the current global food crisis on population growth, especially in the developing countries, arguing that the world’s existing resources are not sufficient to support 6.7 billion people who are living on earth. This argument is reminiscent of the views of an 18th century English economist and clergyman, Thomas Malthus. In his well-known “Essay on the Principle of Population”, published in 1798, Malthus argued that whereas population growth takes place geometrically, food production increases only arithmetically. He predicted that, over time, population growth would outpace food production, giving rise to famines and wars.

Malthus’s simplistic ideas appealed to quite a few economists and demographers in the latter half of the 20th century. Paul Ehlich, in his best-selling book The Population Bomb (1968), declared that “the battle to feed humanity is over” and predicted massive famines in the 1970s and 1980s. The fascination with Malthus’s views still lingers in some quarters. One recent study, for example, has argued that the limit of America’s sustainable population is about 200 million (as against the current population of 304 million).

Malthus and his followers failed to take into account the possibility that human intervention and technological innovations could alter the equation between population growth and food production. In the 1960s the Green Revolution, made possible by new strains of crops, better irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides, enormously boosted agricultural productivity in the face of the global population upsurge in the 20th century.

Three inter-related factors have mitigated fears about the consequences of rising global population. First, according to the United Nations’ estimates, global population growth seems to be slowing down as a consequence of worldwide fertility decline. The UN reckons that global population would reach a peak around 9 billion by the end of the 21st century. Second, most European nations—as well as Japan and Singapore—are worried about shrinking populations, leading to shortages of labour, demographic imbalance and rising costs of health care for the elderly. Third, technological innovations in the form of genetic engineering and hydroponic farming offer hopes for enhanced agricultural productivity.

• Islam urges man to strive for his livelihood. The Prophet described cultivation and the planting of trees as acts of virtue. Since the universe and all its resources have been created for the benefit of humanity, all possible efforts should be expended to increase agricultural productivity through technological innovations, improved methods of farming and better infrastructure.

• Man has been described as God’s vicegerent on earth (Quran 6:165; 35:39), which entails a unique privilege as well as a heavy burden of responsibility. As God’s vicegerent, man is expected to utilize and harness nature’s resources according to divine instructions. He is told, for example, not to squander the resources at his disposal or to overindulge himself. “…..eat and drink, but waste not by excess, for surely Allah does not like people who waste” (Quran 7:31), says the Quran. Thus, food waste is an unpardonable sin in Islam. Imam Abu Hanifah, one of the greatest jurists and sages in Islamic history, once remarked that even if one were making an ablution for prayers at the bank of the Tigris, it is not permissible to waste water. Similarly,, man is urged to show kindness and mercy to animals and to avoid harm to the ecosystem. Since man is God’s vicegerent, the responsibility for the protection of the environment and biodiversity lies with him.

• Islam greatly emphasizes charity and philanthropy, especially feeding the poor and the destitute (Quran 86:8; 22:28; 90:16). The Prophet is reported to have said that, on the Day of Judgement, God will ask someone: “O son of Adam! I had asked you for food, but you refused. Perplexed, he would say, “Lord, how could I feed you when you are the Master and Lord of the world?” God will say, “Don’t you know that such and such person had asked you for food, but you had refused. Had you fed him, you would have found me beside yourself”.

Man has been described as God’s vicegerent on earth (Quran 6:165; 35:39), which entails a unique privilege as well as a heavy burden of responsibility. As God’s vicegerent, man is expected to utilize and harness nature’s resources according to divine instructions. He is told, for example, not to squander the resources at his disposal or to overindulge himself. “…..eat and drink, but waste not by excess, for surely Allah does not like people who waste” (Quran 7:31), says the Quran. Thus, food waste is an unpardonable sin in Islam.

The Prophet showed exemplary kindness and compassion, even towards enemies. Following the Prophet’s migration to Madinah, Makkah was faced with a severe drought. Since Makkah was a barren desert, food grain had to be brought from other areas. Najd was the only area unaffected by the drought and so could send food grain to Makkah. A group of Muslim soldiers happened to capture an influential person from Najd, named Thamamah ibn Athal. He was brought to Madinah and taken to the Prophet. The Prophet invited him to the Islamic faith, but he refused and said that he was ready to pay ransom for his release. The Prophet ordered him to be tied to a pillar in the mosque. He told his companions to provide him with food. After a few days the Prophet again invited him to embrace Islam, but in vain. A few days passed and the Prophet ordered him to be released. He was so touched by the Prophet’s kindness and generosity that he fell at his feet and embraced Islam.

Thamamah told the prophet that food grain from his native Najd was sent to Makkah and if he permitted, he could block the supply of food. The Prophet agreed to the suggestion and Thamamah blocked the supply of food to Makkah, which caused a great deal of distress and hardship to people. They sent an emissary to the Prophet, who told him on their behalf that he had always preached love, compassion and kindness and that the people of Makkah were on the verge of starvation. The Prophet immediately dispatched a letter to Thamamah asking him to life the blockage and restore food supply to the people of Makkah. He then sent 500 gold coins for the poor and destitute people in Makkah.

Return to chastity?

The so-called Sexual Revolution that swept across the Western world in the late 1960s led to the breakdown of all moral values and taboos surrounding sexual behaviour. Contraceptives and relatively safe abortions reinforced the culture of sexual freedom. However, in a few years people began to realize that the sexual revolution had brought in its wake a number of unforeseen, disturbing consequences, including the disintegration of marriage and family, teen age pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, single motherhood, and fragility of cross-gender relationships.

Planned Parenthood, an American NGO, says two-thirds of teenagers in the US will have experienced sexual intercourse by the time they leave school. With 750,000 teenage pregnancies a year America has one of the highest teen birth rates in the world. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s leading health agency, reported in April 2008 that one in four teen age girls in the US has a sexually transmitted disease.

American cultural ethos glorifies unrestrained sexual indulgence, which is reflected in Hollywood film and video productions, television, advertising and the fashion industry. Youth culture is imbued with sexuality, drugs, alcohol and violence. But, as the saying goes, too much of anything loses its charm and fancy after a while. An increasing number of young men and women in the United States, including teenagers, are getting disillusioned with the cult of sexual freedom. Currently an abstinence movement is slowly gathering strength in the country.

According to a study by the Rand Corporation Research Institute in the US, about 23% of American females and 16% of males have made a pledge to remain virgin until marriage. Evangelical groups and advocacy organizations, which promote the abstinence movement, organize annual father-daughter purity balls to strengthen the movement and to reach out to large numbers of people.

On May 16, 2008, about 60 young American women, many of them in their teens, attended the 9th annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball in Colorado Springs. Significantly, the girls had come not with their boyfriends but with their fathers, grandfathers and future fathers-in-law. After dinner, the men stood and read aloud a covenant before God to “cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity”. The gesture and the event symbolically affirmed that the girls would observe sexual abstinence until their marriage.

The Abstinence Clearinghouse, an advocacy group in the US that promotes sexual abstinence, says it sells hundreds of purity ball kits to interested groups all over the country and abroad. The advocates of sexual abstinence emphasize that premarital sex is inevitably destructive, especially for girls. “The culture says you’re free to sleep with as many people as you want to; what does that get you but complete chaos”, says Khrystian Wilson, a 20-year old American girl.

The culture says you’re free to sleep with as many people as you want to; what does that get you but complete chaos”, says Khrystian Wilson, a 20-year old American girl.

The organizers of purity balls say fathers can play a crucial role in helping their daughters remain pure. Some studies suggest that close family bonds, especially between fathers and daughters, can reduce the risk of sexual promiscuity among girls and the risk of teenage pregnancy. Organizers emphasize that fathers should also set an example by not cheating on their wives.

State-sponsored matchmaking in Singapore

Globalisation is making deep inroads in many societies across the world. One of the growing trends in large cities is that an increasing number of educated women are devoting all their energies to the pursuit of professional careers and do not have much time or interest in marriage or motherhood.

In recent years there has come about a radical shift in the perception about children in Western countries. There is a growing feeling among young women and men that not having children is the ideal way of life. Their increasing preoccupation with unbounded freedom, self-fulfilment and career advancement, coupled with work and financial pressures, keep them away from having children.

A recent study conducted by the Federal Institute for Demographic Research in Germany shows that 26 percent of men and 15 percent of women aged between 20 and 39 do not want to start a family. Fifty percent of university-educated women of child-bearing age in Germany prefer not to have children. In the 1990s nearly 60 percent of women aged between 25 and 29 in Germany had a baby. The figure plunged to 29 percent in 2005. In Britain, a recent report of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys predicted that 20 percent of women born between 1960 and 1990 will remain without a child. In the US, 20 percent of women in their 30s are expected to remain without a child.

A culture of voluntary childlessness is emerging in many Western countries and in Australia. In Britain, there is a growing market for books such as Child-Free and Loving It. Honda is now designing cars that will replace child seats with dog crates. In Australia, childless couples constitute the fastest growing type of household. In some restaurants in Rome children are not welcome.

Singapore is a rich nation with a GDP per capita of $31,400. Development, high literacy rates and rising prosperity have produced some unexpected, disturbing consequences such as falling birth rates and fewer babies. The pursuit of career and material well-being keeps an increasing number of educated women in the country from marriage and motherhood. In 2007 Singapore’s fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.24 per woman of child-bearing age, one of the lowest in the world. Demographers point out that a society needs to have a fertility rate of at least two children per woman in order to maintain current population levels.

Fertility rates in Singapore have been steadily falling over the past two decades. In 1984, Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, said that it is worrisome to see that too few of the country’s educated women are marrying and having children. He set up the Social Development Unit to deal with the problem. Singapore’s current population is 4.5 million. The government has been making sustained efforts to increase the population through various schemes and incentives. In 1991 cash bonuses were offered to couples with more than two children.

Now the government has urged polytechnic institutes in the country to start courses aimed at persuading and motivating young men and women to marry as soon as they can. Many such institutes have started a course called “Love Relations for Life: A Journey of Romance, Love and Sexuality”. Such courses, which are an extension of matchmaking programmes launched by the government, teach students the basics of dating, falling in love, living together and marriage.

There is a significant linkage between marriage, pregnancy and breast-feeding and certain diseases. Remaining single, voluntary childlessness, delayed pregnancy and avoidance of breast feeding have adverse consequences for women’s health. Researches reveal that upper middle class and wealthier women are at greater risk of breast cancer because they tend to delay marriage and motherhood, prefer not to have a child and if they have one, do not like to breastfeed it, and are likely to have hormone replacement therapy. All these factors have a positive bearing on breast cancer. In Western countries the rate of breast cancer is 90-100 per 100,000 women. In the UK, there are 44,000 cases of breast cancer annually. In India, some 79,000 cases of breast cancer are reported every year. Women who marry after the age of 35 run a greater risk of giving birth to children with Down’s syndrome.

Global failure on human rights

The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, is a few months away. The recently released report of Amnesty International presents a gloomy picture of the global scenario in respect of human rights. The report—which covers 150 countries around the world—points out that people are still being tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries, that in at least 54 countries people face unfair trial, and in 77 nations they cannot speak freely.

The report accuses the US of failing to provide a moral compass for its international peers. “As the world’s most powerful state, the US sets the standard for government behaviour globally, but Washington has distinguished itself in recent years through its defiance of international law”, the report says. The report urges the US to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for terror suspects and either prosecute the inmates under fair trials or free them. It also urges the US to ban all forms of torture and stop propping authoritarian regimes.

The report accuses the US of failing to provide a moral compass for its international peers. “As the world’s most powerful state, the US sets the standard for government behaviour globally, but Washington has distinguished itself in recent years through its defiance of international law”, the report says.

Launching the document, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan said, “Injustice, inequality and impunity are the hallmarks of our world today. 2007 was characterized by the impotence of Western governments and the ambivalence or reluctance of emerging powers to tackle some of the world’s worst human rights crises. 2008 presents an unprecedented opportunity for new leaders coming to power and countries emerging on the world stage to set a new direction and reject the myopic policies and practices that in recent years have made the world a more dangerous and divided place”.