India: land of non-veggies; boozers

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New Delhi: If you thought India is largely a vegetarian country, then think again. An exclusive survey conducted by CNN-IBN and The Hindu have found majority of Indians to be non-vegetarians.

The food habits, however, varied on the basis of region and religion.

The survey reveals, while just 2 per cent of Kerala residents are vegetarian, less than 4 per cent survive on greens in Andhra Pradesh and 8 per cent in Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

The percentage of vegetarian families are higher in northern India, with Rajasthan accounting for 63 per cent vegetarian people, Haryana 62 per cent, Punjab 48 per cent, Gujarat 45 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 35 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 33 per cent. There are 9 per cent others who are vegetarians but they eat eggs.

Overall, only 31 per cent individuals prefer vegetarian food and 60 per cent others have shown a definite preference for non-vegetarian food.

In the overall count, 21 per cent Indian families are pure vegetarians while 44 per cent families prefer having non-vegetarian food.

And 32 per cent families have people who eat both vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian foods.

When it comes to beverages, tea and coffee remain the most favoured drinks with as many as 77 per cent people consuming tea or coffee on a daily basis while 44 per cent have milk everyday.

The percentage of people who consume soft drinks on a daily basis is still a low 15 per cent.

The survey, however, found that drinking habits were on the rise in both urban and rural areas in the last decade. As many as 40 per cent people agreed that alcohol consumption has increased considerably while 24 per cent believe that it has increased only a little.

Fourteen per cent people thought drinking has gone down in the last decade.

As many as 73 per cent people said the government should ban consumption of alcohol and while 18 per cent others said it should be left to the individual's choice.

The survey also found 21 per cent people to be regular smokers.

When asked about the quality of food available now as compared to their parents' generation, 45 per cent people said the quality has improved.

However, it was alarming is that almost one-third of the Indians still go without two square meals a day.

As many as 27 per cent Indians said in the survey that they experienced hunger sometimes in the last one year. That means one-third of India has experienced hunger often or sometimes in the last one year.

However, 65 per cent Indians say that they never experienced hunger in the last one year.

Incidence of hunger is higher among the rural poor with 45 per cent having experienced it. Over 40 per cent people in the urban poor category have experienced hunger.

Among dalits, 44 per cent say they have slept on a hungry stomach often during the last one year while 50 per cent Adivasis have experienced hunger at some point or the other during the last one year.