Hunger in India
What is Hunger?
Hunger is a condition in which adults and children can’t get food all the time, have to eat less, eat poorly, and often go without food. Economist Amartya Sen explained that the inability to pay for food is the real cause of hunger. Hunger is the main effect of poverty.
- SDG-2: Zero Hunger by 2030
- Article 47: To raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of people and to improve public health.
What is malnutrition?
Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad groups of conditions:
- Undernutrition
- Micronutrient-related malnutrition
- Overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases
What is undernutrition?
Undernutrition is a deficiency of calories or of one or more essential nutrients. Undernutrition manifests in four broad forms: wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies.
- Stunting is defined as low height-for-age. It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poor socioeconomic conditions, poor maternal health and nutrition.
- Wasting refers to a child who is too thin for his or her height. It usually indicates recent and severe weight loss, because a person has not had enough food to eat and/or they have had an infectious disease, such as diarrhoea, which has caused them to lose weight.
- Children with low weight-for-age are known as underweight. A child who is underweight may be stunted, wasted, or both.
- Micronutrient deficiencies are a lack of vitamins and minerals that are essential for body functions such as producing enzymes, hormones, and other substances needed for growth and development.
NFHS-5 Data
- Wasting: 19.3%
- Stunting: 35.5%
- Underweight: 32.1%
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is an India-wide survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the International Institute for Population Sciences serving as the nodal agency. |
First round of NFHS was conducted in 1992-93. The latest survey is NFHS-5 (started in 2019)
Double Burden of Malnutrition in India
The double burden of malnutrition consists of both undernutrition and overweight and obesity, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases. As per NFHS-5 about 6.4 per cent of women and 4.0 per cent of men aged 15-49 are obese.
Global Hunger Index 2022
- India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the recent Global Hunger Index.
- Among the South Asian countries, India (107) is ranked below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99).
- It is published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhife.
- GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators:
- Undernourishment
- Child stunting
- Child wasting
- Child mortality
- The GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger – zero is the best score (implies no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
Other reports related to Hunger
- State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World: FAO
- Global Nutrition Report, 2021: Nutrition for Growth Initiative Summit (N4G)
Why Hunger still persists in India?
- Poverty: Poverty is the major reason behind the alarming levels of hunger. Poverty restricts the food choices and has been the causative factor of hunger related deaths.
- Multidimensional nature: Hunger and the related under nutrition is the result of various associated factors ranging from water, sanitation, access to food items.
- Ineffective food policies implementation: The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the National Health Mission (NHM) have not achieved the adequate coverage.
- Climate change impact: Erratic rainfall and increasing frequency of extreme events have impacted agricultural activities everywhere creating unfavourable conditions for food production.
- Corruption: Corruption in PDS is widely recognised.
- Issues with agriculture: The change from multi to mono cropping systems limits the diversity of agricultural products.
- Food wastage: Food wastage is also an emerging challenge that undermines the efforts to end hunger and malnutrition.
- Unstable markets: Rising food prices make it difficult for the poorest people to get nutritious food consistently which is exactly what they need to do.
- Gender inequality: In many parts women’s nutritional requirements are often unmet as they consume whatever is left after everyone else has eaten.
Concept of Food Security
Based on the 1996 World Food Summit, food security is defined when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
The four main dimensions of food security:
- Physical availability of food
- Economic and physical access to food
- Food utilization
- Stability of the other three dimensions over time
Initiatives to eradicate hunger
- Eat Right India Movement: An outreach activity organised by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for citizens to nudge them towards eating right.
- POSHAN Abhiyan: Launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2018, it targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anaemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls).
- Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana: A centrally sponsored scheme executed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, is a maternity benefit programme being implemented in all districts of the country with effect from 1st January, 2017.
- Food Fortification: Food Fortification or Food Enrichment is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D to staple foods such as rice, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content.
- National Food Security Act, 2013: It legally entitled up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidised food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
- Mission Indradhanush: It targets children under 2 years of age and pregnant women for immunisation against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD).
- Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme: It offers a package of six services (Supplementary Nutrition, Pre-school non-formal education, Nutrition & health education, Immunisation, Health check-up and Referral services) to children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
SAI20
Why in News?
- The Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) will chair SAI20, the Engagement Group for Supreme Audit Institutions (SAl) of G20 countries in Goa.
What is G20?
- The G20 was formed in 1999 in the backdrop of the financial crisis of the late 1990s that hit East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular.
- It aims to secure global financial stability by involving middle-income countries.
- Together, the G20 countries include 60% of the world’s population, 80% of global GDP, and 75% of global trade.
- Members: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.
Role of CAG (Article 148)
- The history of the office can be traced back to 1858. In 1860 Sir Edward Drummond was appointed as the first Auditor General.
- CAG is appointed by President of India. Tenure is of 6 years or 65 years of Age. CAG can be removed by the President only in accordance with the procedure mentioned in the Constitution that is the manner same as removal of a Supreme Court Judge.
- Article 149 of the Indian Constitution authorises the Parliament to prescribe the duties and powers of the CAG. Therefore, in 1971 the central government enacted the Comptroller and Auditor General (Duties, Powers, and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971. The act made CAG responsible for both accounting and auditing duties for central and state governments. In 1976 CAG was relieved from accounting functions.
- He is the head of the Indian audit & account department and chief Guardian of public purse.
- It is the institution through which the accountability of the government and other public authorities (all those who spend public funds) to Parliament and State Legislatures and through them to the people is ensured.
- Article 279 – Calculation of “net proceeds” is ascertained and certified by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, whose certificate is final.
Priority Areas for the SAI20
- Two priority areas have been selected for deliberations; Blue Economy and Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI).
- As Chair of SAI20, India’s CAG aims to help create a framework for G20 nations to ensure inter-generational equity and mitigate climate change while developing ocean resources.
- For SAI20, the CAG is to prepare technology-driven tools to assess authorised development in coastal stretches and track marine water quality.
Primary Functions of SAIs
- SAI20 member countries are being engaged in a collaborative exercise to evolve globally relevant audit toolkits along with a compendium of case studies and challenges in the broader framework of auditing coastal spaces, which include:
- Legal and institutional frameworks,
- Compliance to coastal regulation,
- Biodiversity conservation,
- Capacity building and compliance to SDGs.