Last night, I began to watch Best of Enemies, an American film about school integration in Durham, a town in the deep South, at a time when the Ku Klux Klan functioned with impunity, and recruited young men to “save our way of life”, by intimidation, arson, lynching, and economic boycott.
ON OUT-MIGRATION. In the book US OF ASIA and its sequel EARLY MENON, South Indian states demand a say in how the taxes earned from their states are used and implemented in two north Indian states that famously have more seats and Parliament despite poor progress. When there is pushback, they institute a visa system for out-migrators from those states- they don't get jobs in South-Indian states unless they ensure control of budgets and implementation.
I'm curious about the source for the "anemia is a colonial concept" as my limited understand is that there might be more than meets the eye there. I did a deep-dive into anemia data in India last year, inspired by conversations with my father who has been working on implementing anemia screening camps for children in our hometown of Belgaum. One of the main research pieces I grappled with was the recent work done by Harshpal Sachdev and colleagues with data from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey. They asked a simple-yet-complex question - what happens if we use hemoglobin thresholds defined by the Indian population rather than those based on White populations, the latter of which define the WHO thresholds? Some of their results are published in this Lancet paper - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214109X21000772 - the bottom line being that using nationally-derived hemoglobin thresholds dramatically lowers the percentage of people considered anemic. I believe the WHO is considering revising their one-size-fits-all thresholds for ones more tailored to the varying biologies of ethnicities - https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.14090.
As an Indian-American, my Anecdotal experience is that the second generation kids are taller and Heather than their parents. I would put this down to nutrition and clean air. Also as someone who grew up in Bihar ( now Jharkhand) , I see the stunting effects of malnutrition every time I visit. We are a continent, not a country.
May I add my prayer that we have safe, reliable, comfortable, accessible, affordable and sustainable public transport available in all corners of India (with type and frequency dictated by population density of course), so that we can stop driving our cars most of the time, and the rich and not so rich can travel side by side.
Intriguing. Also listened to your musings of the road trip to Bihar Sir, with Amit. Amazing insights and those naked truths of stunted growth of kids, sand mafia, No hope of future and no urge to even try fixing some plumbing problems at least .. stared right into our face. Leave aside the facade of being the world leader.
ON OUT-MIGRATION. In the book US OF ASIA and its sequel EARLY MENON, South Indian states demand a say in how the taxes earned from their states are used and implemented in two north Indian states that famously have more seats and Parliament despite poor progress. When there is pushback, they institute a visa system for out-migrators from those states- they don't get jobs in South-Indian states unless they ensure control of budgets and implementation.
A whole raft of speculative fiction can be written around the issue of the North-South divide on most socio-economic factors.
I hope - and largely believe - the nation will hold without internal barriers.
Thanks for writing this Mohit.
I'm curious about the source for the "anemia is a colonial concept" as my limited understand is that there might be more than meets the eye there. I did a deep-dive into anemia data in India last year, inspired by conversations with my father who has been working on implementing anemia screening camps for children in our hometown of Belgaum. One of the main research pieces I grappled with was the recent work done by Harshpal Sachdev and colleagues with data from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey. They asked a simple-yet-complex question - what happens if we use hemoglobin thresholds defined by the Indian population rather than those based on White populations, the latter of which define the WHO thresholds? Some of their results are published in this Lancet paper - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214109X21000772 - the bottom line being that using nationally-derived hemoglobin thresholds dramatically lowers the percentage of people considered anemic. I believe the WHO is considering revising their one-size-fits-all thresholds for ones more tailored to the varying biologies of ethnicities - https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.14090.
It's still a complex subject however and there's good reason to be critical of this line of research/reasoning. If you happen to be interested in getting into the weeds, I'd recommend the back-and-forth between me and the founder of a non-profit Fortify Health on the EA Forum - https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/2gG7eeDD5uqud4Rfm/cost-effectiveness-of-iron-fortification-in-india-is-lower [founder's response linked in the comments]
More global integration and federalism is important as well
So true, Vladan.
I will make notes for my next version of this piece...which I will relook at a year from now.
Hmm...or anything with that protein content
As an Indian-American, my Anecdotal experience is that the second generation kids are taller and Heather than their parents. I would put this down to nutrition and clean air. Also as someone who grew up in Bihar ( now Jharkhand) , I see the stunting effects of malnutrition every time I visit. We are a continent, not a country.
Thanks for writing this Mohit.
May I add my prayer that we have safe, reliable, comfortable, accessible, affordable and sustainable public transport available in all corners of India (with type and frequency dictated by population density of course), so that we can stop driving our cars most of the time, and the rich and not so rich can travel side by side.
Thanks, Saikat.
That's a great addition
Intriguing. Also listened to your musings of the road trip to Bihar Sir, with Amit. Amazing insights and those naked truths of stunted growth of kids, sand mafia, No hope of future and no urge to even try fixing some plumbing problems at least .. stared right into our face. Leave aside the facade of being the world leader.
Thanks again for such lucid read.
Thanks, Sukhjinder.