Hungry for Nutrition

Context:  The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020 has ranked India at a dismal 94 among 107 countries, putting it in the “serious” category on account of failure to provide nutrition. With business as usual, the goal of zero-hunger by 2030 would remain elusive. 

Steps taken by India for providing food security

• Subsidised food grains: Providing subsidised food grains to about two-thirds of its population under the National Food Security Act

• Poverty-alleviation and food-aid programmes: like mid-day meal scheme for school children and the Poshan Abhiyaan (nutrition campaign) for children and mothers.

• Maintained enough output to meet the demand year after year.

Reason for poor ranking in GHI: Parameters of GHI rankings are related to nutrition rather than just total food ingestion - 

• Malnourishment (imbalanced nutrient intake): The proportion of malnourished kids remains worryingly high, particularly in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

• High Undernourishment (below-par nutrition) 

• High rate of stunting and wasting among under-five kids: at 37.4 % and 17.3 % respectively

• High incidence of deaths due to premature deliveries and low birth weight 

• Absence of a balanced diet: India’s food-related schemes disregards the need for a balanced diet.
• Impact of pandemic: will be visible in subsequent rankings.

Way Forward:

• Revamp the food security-related programmes for eliminating malnutrition and improving the health of children and pregnant and lactating mothers.
• Use these schemes to provide wholesome diets containing adequate amounts of protein, vitamins, and minerals through items like pulses, eggs, milk, and processed foods.