A Reminder That India Still Trails In The Hunger Fight

Context: Poor ranking in terms of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a reminder that India still trails in the hunger fight.

India’s continuing hunger problem

• India ranked at lower end of Global Hunger Index (GHI): GHI report ranks India at 101 out of 116 countries, below many poorer countries in terms of per capita incomes.
• Worsening percentage of undernourished in population (PoU): PoU figure of 15.3% for 2018-20, worsened compared to 2012.
  • Proportion of undernourished population showed a declining trend up to 2016-18 when it reached lowest level of 13.8%, after which there is an increase to 14% for 2017-19 and 15.3% for 2018-20.
  • National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20) shows that stunting and wasting indicators have stagnated or declined for most States.
• Slow rate of progress in tackling issue of hunger: GHI improved from 37.4 to 28.8 during 2006-12, the improvement is only from 28.8 to 27.5 between 2012-21.
• Fall in consumption level: Leaked consumption expenditure survey (2017-18) showed that rural consumption had fallen between 2012-18 and urban consumption showed a very slight increase.
• Impact of Pandemic: Novel coronavirus pandemic has affected food security and nutrition across the world, led to a further slowdown in improvement in malnutrition.
  • Many surveys find that over 60% are eating less than before the national lockdown in 2020.
  • Disruption of services such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and school mid-day meals in most areas, denying crores of children at least one nutritious meal a day.
• Inadequate relief measures by Government, in comparison to the scale of the problem.
  • Provision of additional free food grains through the Public Distribution System (PDS), leaves out about 40% needy population.
  • High inflation in foods like edible oils, affecting people’s ability to afford healthy diets.
  • Cuts in real terms for schemes such as the ICDS and the mid-day meal in Budget 2021.

Conclusion: Malnutrition is affected by several factors such as health, sanitation, etc., but healthy diets are central to fight malnutrition. Diverse nutritious diets for all Indians still remains a distant dream.