Malnutrition and Vegetarianism are killing India
India ranks 102nd out 117 countries in terms of nutrition. Only 10% of Indians aged 6–23 months are adequately nourished as per data from the 4th National Family Health Survey. This has significantly worsened since the Coronavirus lockdown. In addition, India has some of the lowest BMIs in the world, in the underweight category. Approximately 34% of Indian children are stunted. 62% of preschool children in India suffer from vitamin deficiency.
Just to give a perspective on how bad it truly is, India is worse than North Korea, Pakistan and Afghanistan in terms of nutrition in the population. Just think about it, North Korea — a nation which is ridiculed in the world for being a dystopian dysfunctional backward Communist country, Pakistan and Afghanistan — two nations plagued by war, and India which is somewhat stable, STILL ranks behind all three of these countries, only above certain African states like Somalia and Congo which have been rendered completely dysfunctional due to war. Nutrition is closely related to factors like IQ, height, strength, and many basic biological variables that are indispensable to the prosperity of an individual.
The Lack of Meat-Eating
India is a poor country. In addition to being poor, it is severely lacking in literacy or general awareness about diet. Unlike industrialized nations, most Indians do not have the level of awareness and resources required to maintain a proper nutritious diet. As a result Indians have some of the lowest rates of B12, a very essential micronutrient for growth and development. In fact, 47% of the Indian population is B12 deficient, while only 26% are B12 sufficient, the rest being borderline. Source.
The primary source of Vitamin B12 is meat, fish, eggs, cheese and milk. Milk consumption is probably what’s keeping the top 20–30% of India B12 sufficient since many Indians are indeed lacto-vegetarians meaning they consume lots of milk. However, a cup of milk has the B12 content at 1.1µg (Source: Google), but a cup of eggs, has the B12 content at 1.6µg, a piece of lamb however, has the B12 content at 6.2µg! The daily requirement is at 2.4µg, easily satisfied by lamb or eggs.
Caste in India plays a role into vegetarianism, privileged castes are more prone to being vegetarian. This has what led to the stereotype that India is vegetarian. Higher castes are only about 20–30% of the country, and perhaps constitute over 95% of vegetarians although I would like to be corrected with actual data.
What’s actually happening is that the privileged castes are effectively taking away the nutrition sources for the other castes by imposing vegetarianism on them. Keep in mind, the geography plays a huge role in lactose tolerance in India. Northern Indians are 27.4% lactose intolerant, while Southern Indians are a whopping 66.6% lactose intolerant. This is due to both Northerners carrying genetics from Indo-Aryan migrants from the Steppe as well as them having a culture of milk drinking since antiquity. By taking away meat, the Indian state is effectively taking away the only source of good protein and nourishment for a good portion of Indians.
Religious groups in India have successfully destroyed any good source of nutrition for Indians. It is absolutely baffling to see Hindu Nationalists campaign for a “strong Hindu identity” while at the same time turning Hindus into a skinny, short, and weak people by restricting access to the most basic nutrients. Mid-Day meals in Indian schools only include eggs, and even that comes with great opposition from religious fundamentalists. And do not forget, Indian food itself is very rich in carbohydrates, and protein deficient. Rotis, Naan breads, and rice are carb-heavy foods, the sabzis which Indians eat is usually accompanied with potatoes, another source of carbohydrate.
And now, we have the studies to back it up, Non-vegetarian children are healthier than vegetarian children. In addition, 73% of Indians are protein deficient, and India has the LOWEST rate of protein consumption in the world. Even lower than Sub-Saharan Africa, remember that when you crack an “Ethiopian food” joke, Ethiopians are likely more nourished than Indians. Such an alarming situation.
The only people in India who can afford to be nutritious are upper middle class urban Indians, and they do show tendency to grow. The average urban Indian adolescent is 174.6cm, almost close to the international average for men, yet the average Indian adolescent is 166.6cm, much much shorter. Clearly, nutritional factors are at play here. Urban Indians have a much higher consumption of both lactose and meat.
The Way Forward
Despite all this, how many times have you seen this being discussed in the media? Such a basic requirement for prosperity, and yet, we are obsessed with other, less basic things.
The so-called Hindu Nationalist government needs to focus on nourishing Hindus than making them suffer the consequences of lower B12 levels, anemia, stunting and low strength. You do not become more Hindu Nationalist than that. Gone are the days of Ancient India where men could afford to be strong, yet vegetarian. India’s current state is a crumbling nation with little to no national agenda whose youth only dream of being workers and CEOs of international corporations. We are not the Indians which Alexander and the Greeks were impressed by when the armies of India and Macedonia faced each other on the Hydaspes, we are not the Indians which Said-Al Andalusi talked about when he praised India and the Indians in his text, we are not the Indians which the Chinese traveler Xuangzang described. India today is a wretched nation with an impoverished people plagued by a millennia of wars, and foreign attacks on our civilization. A century and a half ago, Indians worked as mercenaries for the East India Company, today they work for Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Is there truly a difference? I do not think so. This might as well be our dark ages.
If we cannot provide the most basic needs, nutrition, to our population, what hope do we have to become any kind of world power?
