Impact of 'modern' system

The problem of malnutrition is, at least in part, a result of deleterious change from traditional customs where taboos were in many senses related to seasonal supply and demand, and the 'modern' system which has superseded it, where supply and demand are manipulated or otherwise work against the consumer. The pressures on traditional society, deriving in part from progressive intrusion of the world monetary economy, therefore, may have accentuated the problem.

The unwise change from traditional management also applies in time as well as space. The months prior to the monsoons are months of hunger, To bridge the food-gap, people such as the Magars, Gurungs and Tamangs, for example, have traditionally foraged for forest products at this time: tubers, berries, and such like, and have taken game birds, animals and fish. But, the deteriorating quality of the forests and the difficulties of common-land rights have further curtailed these possibilities. People may even eat the next year's seed at this time,