GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Issues Relating to Poverty and Hunger
Source: IE
Context: To achieve the goal of zero hunger, India should have a special and immediate focus on India’s youngest children.
Why India’s youngest children need urgent attention?
- According to the WHO, a minimum of 33% of the daily calorie intake is expected to come from food (at six months of age).
- The child obtains the remaining calories through “on-demand” breastfeeding.
- According to the NFHS-5, 18% of mothers reported that their child (between ages 6-23 months) did not eat any food/“zero-food” in the 24 hours preceding the survey.
- Close to 40% did not eat any grains (roti, rice, etc) for an entire day, and six out of 10 children do not consume milk (“zero-milk”).
- This raises serious concerns related to severe food insecurity.
Impact/extent of nutritional deprivation among young children:
- The percentage of children short for their age (stunting) or
- Weighing less given their height (wasting)
Steps taken:
- Mission Poshan 2.0: The flagship programme dedicated to maternal and child nutrition.
- National Food Security Act 2013
- Zero Hunger Programme: Began in 2017 to improve agriculture, health and nutrition.
- Eat Right India Campaign
- Food Fortification
- PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
Challenges:
- Zero-food underscores that achieving sufficiency in food production (the world’s leading country in milk production) does not necessarily mean attaining food security.
- Deficiency in data (food-based metrics) related to food and dietary consumption to effectively monitor and assess the performance of government initiatives.
- The rising burden of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases in India.
- Disruptions in global food production and distribution systems, accentuated by the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
What needs to be done?
- Given their multifactorial nature with regard to what causes stunting or wasting among children, the specific nature of the deficiencies must be assessed.
- For this, assessments using household-level food insecurity modules developed by the FAO can be adapted.
- This will constitute the foundation for any evidence-based policy.
- Multiple (not single) ministries/departments of the Government of India should take responsibility for designing, implementing and monitoring policies.
The success story of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM): SBM offers valuable insights for schemes like Poshan 2.0, in its strategic use of directly trackable metrics, and strong political commitment at the highest levels.
Conclusion: To achieve the SDG (2) of zero hunger, India should consider a strategic initiative aimed at eliminating food insecurity by ensuring adequate-affordable-accessible-nutritionally diverse food, with a special and immediate focus on mothers and children.
Insta Links:
The road to zero hunger by 2030
Mains Links:
There is a growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and hunger in India. The shrinking of social expenditure by the government is forcing the poor to spend more on non-food essential items squeezing their food-budget – Elucidate. (UPSC 2019)
