Pulses can get your pulse racing

Can being a vegetarian keep you sexy and healthy? One cannot help but wonder seeing the poster.

“I am Amrita Rao, and I am a vegetarian”, proclaims the poster featuring the ace actress in hot pants and T-shirt. Peta or People for Ethical Treatment of Animal have brought Amrita Rao to the forefront in a campaign aimed to prevent cruelty and ill-treatment against animals.

The way to slimming and gleaming youth hood can be through vegetarianism, one has to believe looking at the poster.

But who would address the alleged protein deficiency and associated health issues that may come up when someone becomes a vegetarian? On a broader perspective this question can be stretched to include,” how India would tackle the issue of malnutrition and resultant child death”?

Just look at this:

Approximately 60 million children are underweight in India. Given its impact on health, education and productivity, persistent undernutrition is a major obstacle to human development and economic growth in the country, especially among the poor and the vulnerable, where the prevalence of malnutrition is highest, says a World Bank report.

“The progress in reducing the proportion of undernourished children in India over the past decade has been modest and slower than what has been achieved in other countries with comparable socioeconomic indicators. While aggregate levels of undernutrition are shockingly high, the picture is further exacerbated by the significant inequalities across states and socioeconomic groups – girls, rural areas, the poorest and scheduled tribes and castes are the worst affected – and these inequalities appear to be increasing.” The report adds.

Given this scenario, how can India tackle the issue?

Eat more pulses!

The nation is one of the biggest producers, consumers and importers of pulses.

“Even Australia and Canada are producing pulses eyeing the Indian market.” Says Amit Sreedharan, Business Head, i-Shakti pulses; a business venture by Tata group.

“Pulses host 18% -24% protein content and thus can be a cheap source of protein.” he says.

India currently has produced around 17 million tons of pulses and may import another 3 million tons to meet domestic requirement.

“India needs to produce more of pulses.” He added.

Tata Chemicals has launched a campaign “grow more pulses” to promote pulses cultivation in the country.

“India has a traditional bias towards vegetarian diet, given its socio-cultural background.” Sreedharan said.

“This phenomenon is unique to India.” He added.

But this has posed a challenge before the authorities in finding ways and means to address the malnutrition issue as meat is a strict no.

The youth in India are increasingly becoming health conscious and many of them consciously opt for vegetarian diet.

There have been changes in consumption pattern in India and there is a huge crowd for meat and meat products. But the nation’s socio-cultural aspects ensure a steady mine of vegetarian diet.

The “grow more pulses” campaign has attracted very good response in terms of farmer co-operation.” Amit Sreedharan confirmed.

The company is planning to reach out to more farmers.

“In Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the campaign has been effective.” He concluded.

Okay, it could be difficult to skip that helping of Chicken-65 or Hot Wings. But one can actually move to include more vegetable content in their diet; especially pulses.

“Pulses can get pulses racing...” says Amrita Rao.

Stay sexy, be veggy!

As published in: http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Pulses-can-get-your-pulse-racing-40878-3-1.html