India and Food

In India, the country suffers from food insecurity. One of the main reasons for this food insecurity is due to the climate and land use.  They consist of many different forces. Some of the major environmental issues India faces continue include erratic rainfall, low soil sustainability, severe land degradation and dry and cold areas with low production potential (FAO, map). These factors can limit the amount of land used for agriculture and, therefore, have less land to produce crops. In order to improve the amount of crops, farmers need to diversify the sources in rain-fed areas (FAO, Programmes and projects). Help is also needed to support farmers to better adjust to the changing weather.







FAO, 2016. "Programs and projects." Report.
http://www.fao.org/india/programmes-and-projects/en/ [Downloaded 31 October 2016]


FAO, 2016. "Major Environmental Constraints." Map. http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/maps/map/en/?iso3=IND&mapID=604 [Downloaded 31 October 2016]

India and Health: Leading cause of death is............

In terms of health concerns for India, India has plenty of health care options like many other urbanized nations. However, India still has plenty of causes of deaths. According to WHO country profile, the leading cause of death in India is Ischaemic heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease), killing 1215.4 people in 2012. Coronary artery disease is caused when plaques form in the arteries, causing the blood leading the heart to be blocked (Health Grades, 2016). Thankfully, the disease can easily be treated and reduced with some lifestyle changes, including exercise, not smoking, having a healthy diet, and having a healthy body weight (Health Grades, 2016). While obesity isn't a big issue in India, India is a sparsely urban nation, with 32% of people living in urban areas (WHO, 2015). Perhaps the people that live in the cities most likely run the risk of getting coronary artery disease. Perhaps, in order to combat coronary artery disease, those that live in the cities need to be careful with what they do to prevent their chances to get this disease.



"Ischaemic heart disease." Medical Review. 14 September 2016 URL: https://www.healthgrades.com/conditions/ischemic-heart-disease [downloaded October 27 2016.]

Social Integration: Cultural Acceptance Between Indians and Africans

One of the biggest issues plaguing the world in terms of social integration is racism. India is no exception. In this article by the Indian Express, several diplomats and intellectuals are brainstorming ideas to curb the racism Indians have with the Africans that live in India. They believe that this racism stems from hierarchy in the caste system (which is surprisingly a good argument if one remembers the history Africans had as slaves to the British, American, and of course, Indian population). This results in multiple acts of violence the Africans that wish to live peacefully in India. If there is all this fighting between races, then they can't work together to protect the environment. Issues such as this tends to shine in the spotlight.

Planetary Constraints on India: Emissions due to Agriculture

India is well known for agriculture. In fact, one of the main industries in India is agriculture. However, agriculture releases CO2 into the atmosphere, even more so than cars and factories. Since India relies heavily on agriculture, it is the second largest CO2 emitter due to agriculture, right behind China, see in chart below. In order for India to move toward sustainable development, farms need to use more sustainable farming methods.

India and South Korea

India and South Korea are very different in a lot of ways, but also very similar. India and South Korea are different sized countries. India is much bigger than South Korea. As such, India would logically have more resources than South Korea. Despite that, South Korea is more urbanized then India. This is due to the fact of less land as well as India having its resources in a few select areas.

Both countries are very industrialized, and they contain some of most successful companies on Fortune 500 list. However, when it comes to using renewable resources, South Korea is more willing to use sustainable energy than India. This is due to the fact that one of India's main resources is oil. This would definitely be hard for India to not break.

The History of India

Though India had been around from thousands of years, it wasn't a colonizer. However, some nations did create trading posts in India in the end of the 15th century. These countries include Britain, France, and Denmark. India is considered a laggard in industrialization, due to the country being poor in land and resources. Today, it is considered a newly industrialized nation and has the seventh largest economy in the world. There are seven Fortune 500 located in India: Indian Oil, which is #161 on the list, Reliance Industries, which is at #215 on the list, Tata Motors at #226, State Bank of India at #232, Bharat Petroleum at #358, Hindustan Petroleum at #367, and Rajesh Exports at #423. India is known for many types of production, some include agriculture, oil, textiles, pharmaceuticals, jewelry, engineering, and mining. As for politics, India isn't truly a democratic nation. It has the characteristics of both democratic and republican traits.

After learning about India, sustainability could be an obstacle. Considering one of the major resources India has is oil, it'll be hard to use sustainable energy instead of oil. However, perhaps if India, one of the largest oil producers in the world, went with sustainable energy over oil, other countries will follow their lead and find more environmentally friendly energy methods.

The State of India

Below is data for the country of India:

Table 1.  Common Demographic and Economic Development Indicators: Recent Data for the India
	India	India
Indicator:	Value:	Year:	Source:
GDP	2.074 trillion	2015	WDI
GDPPC, PPP	1, 581.589	2015	WDI
HDI	0.609	2014	UNDP
Life Expectancy	68.014	2014	WDI
Educational Attainment (mean years of school for women, 25+)	4.4	2012	UNDP
Infant Mortality (infant deaths per 1,000)	37.9	2015	WDI
Crude Death Rate (deaths per 1,000)	7.339	2014	WDI
Fertility Rate (total fertility rate)	2.427	2014	WDI
Urbanization Rate (% urban)	31.295	2011	Gapminder
Urban Growth (urban population growth)	2.4 %	2014	Trading Economics

After looking over the data above, I was quite surprised by it. Despite how much money India makes, they are not a very urban country. It really does say a lot about India as a whole.

Below are some of the charts I found most interesting on India:


CO2 emissions 

Number of Births per Women