Interrogating progress in addressing malnutrition in India

Sinha, Dipa Interrogating progress in addressing malnutrition in India. [Publications (Pre-joining)]

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Abstract

With declining poverty levels, there has been an implicit understanding, especially in government documents, that food security is no longer a problem. Programmes have therefore focussed on behavioural change in relation to infant and young child feeding practices, with the understanding that more than the lack of access to food the problem lies in lack of awareness and adoption of appropriate feeding practices. Emphasis is also being given to interventions such as mandatory fortification of staples with certain micronutrients, which is again something that implicitly ignores the problem of food insecurity and poor diets and proposes technocratic solutions that focus on single nutrients. In this paper, we start by looking at the trends in malnutrition while also highlighting the geographical and social inequalities that persist. Following this, we look at the other indicators related to the explanatory variables to draw some conclusions on possible explanations for the observed trends. While many of these factors no doubt play an important role in determining the status of malnutrition, in this paper we argue that household food security continues to be an issue of concern and cannot be ignored. Further, it is proposed that in the most recent period for which data are available (between 2015–16, NFHS-4 and 2019–21, NFHS-5), among the various factors, household food insecurity has played a dominant role in the overall slowdown in improvement in malnutrition in the country. As a result of poor improvements in diets, we see rather meagre advances in malnutrition with prevalence of stunting increasing in some states and overall increases in anaemia and wasting. The reason for continued poor diet qualities in households is linked to broader economic developments such as slowdown in economic growth, stagnant wages and, most recently, increased food prices. Two economic shocks, that particularly affected those in the informal sector, demonetisation and the introduction of the new goods and services tax (GST) regime also contributed to this situation. Studies show that during economic shocks, household food security tends to have a negative impact on child feeding practices as well. In the absence of consumption expenditure data from the NSS (the last available official data is for 2011–12), it is very difficult to assess the food consumption patterns of households or poverty trends. Based on what we know from various sources, diversity in diets and nutritional quality of food consumption in India are extremely poor and this has probably been negatively affected by the overall economic slowdown as well as the covid pandemic. Using some of the food consumption data available from NFHS as well as FAO statistics, we try to look at what has happened to household food security during this period, when sufficient support through welfare programmes such as the ICDS and mid-day meals has also been missing.

Item Type:	Publications (Pre-joining)
Authors:	Sinha, Dipa
Document Language:	Language English
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Malnutrition
Subjects:	Social sciences Social sciences > Social problems & services Social sciences > Social problems & services > Public health
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > University Publications > Centre for the Study of the Indian Economy (CSIE)
Full Text Status:	Public
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/6655
Publisher URL:

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