Stepping Out of the Shadow of India’s Malnutrition

Context: Two recent reports- “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020” by the Food and Agricultural Organization and the 2020 Hunger report, “Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow” by the Bread for the World Institute staggering facts about Indian food insecurity and malnutrition.

Globally recognised indicators of malnutrition:

• Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU): measures the percentage of people who are consuming insufficient calories than their required minimum dietary energy requirement.
• Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI): measures the percentage of people who live in households that are severely or moderately food insecure.

Issues of food insecurity and malnutrition in India:

• Different manifestation: Children from impoverished households are not able to have the mid­day meal many times because of stomach­related problems, as a result of the children skipping breakfast.
• Low reduction in malnutrition:
  • The PoU has declined 24.7% between 2001 and 2018 for India; In contrast, Afghanistan (47.8%) that started with a higher base than India (18.6%) had experienced higher rates of decline.
  • The decline in China is way higher than that of India, even though it had started with lower levels of PoU in 2000.
• Broadening food insecurity:
  • Between 2014­-16, about 29.1% of the total population was food insecure, which rose up to 9% in 2017-­19.
  • In terms of absolute number, about 375 million of the total population was moderately or severely food insecure in 2014, which went to about 450 million in 2019.
• Exclusion errors: Non-­inclusion of nutritious food items such as pulses and exclusion of potential beneficiaries.
  • One out of every three respondents reported low food consumption and compromised food quality. – “Hunger Watch”.

Way Forward: Right utilisation and expansion of existing malnutrition programmes will pave the way for food and nutrition security.

• Immediate and permanent universalisation of Public Distribution System: and distribution of quality food items and Inclusion of nutritious food and potential beneficiaries under NFSA.
• Innovative interventions: such as the setting up of community kitchens
• Support from global organisations and programme: Nobel Peace prize awarded the UN’s World Food Programme could play a crucial role in curbing malnutrition.