Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hunger and Malnutrition in India after a Decade of the National Food Security Act, 2013 - Neetu Sharma, Jyotsna Sripada, Shruthi Raman

Hunger and Malnutrition in India after a Decade of the National Food Security Act, 2013 - Neetu Sharma, Jyotsna Sripada, Shruthi Raman

Share this article Share this article
published Published on May 15, 2023   modified Modified on May 15, 2023

National Law School of India University, Bengaluru

What is the status of hunger and malnutrition in India?

The year 2023 marks a decade since the enactment of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The Act aims to provide food and nutritional security by ensuring access to quality food at affordable prices. However, despite 10 years of food security being a legal right and the availability of sufficient quantities of food grains, India has at least 189 million (nearly 19 crore) people—14% of its population—suffering from serious hunger.

India’s hunger and malnutrition statistics are particularly worrying when it comes to children and women. The country is off track with respect to five of six targets for maternal, infant and young children nutrition, which address stunting, wasting, anaemia, low birth weight and childhood obesity, as per the last Global Nutrition Report, 2021. Since the Family Health Survey, 2015-16 (NFHS-4) and NFHS-5, 2019-21, the incidence of anaemia has increased by 1.8 percentage points among pregnant women, by 3.9 percentage points among all women in the reproductive age, and by 5 percentage points among adolescent girls. Among children, the increase is the highest—at 8.5 percentage points. The current overall figure is closer to that in 2005-06, when the prevalence of anaemia was 70%. 

Why is the NFSA, 2013 not sufficient?

The enactment of the NFSA set up a legal framework for benefits under existing programmes like the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and maternity cash entitlement. The Act established a monitoring mechanism and a grievance redressal mechanism. For the first time, hot cooked mid-day meals for school-going children, cooked meals and take home rations for children under 6 years of age, pregnant and lactating mothers, 5 kilograms of food grains at highly subsidised prices for 50% of urban and 75% of rural population and cash benefits for pregnant and lactating women became justiciable legal entitlements.

The persistence of high levels of hunger and malnutrition in the country despite a comprehensive law may be explained partially by the inadequacies inherent in the law and the dilutions that have marred its implementation. NFSA fell short in recognising the need for a diversified food basket and other such strategies suggested in the National Nutrition Policy, 1993. It also failed to recognise the legal entitlements accumulated through a number of interim orders and continuous mandamus by the Supreme Court of India in PUCL Vs Union of India. In the spirit of a life cycle approach, NFSA offered a range of entitlements but limited itself to the distribution of food while subjecting critical production issues involving agriculture and farmers’ welfare to progressive realisation. Even in terms of provisioning, NFSA entitlements were less than the benefits already being extended by many state governments. In such cases, NFSA often proved to be detrimental—for instance, the withdrawal of the Anna Bhagya Scheme in Karnataka—which demonstrates either the inability or demotivation of state governments to protect pre-NFSA benefits.

Are adequate resources being allocated?

An analysis of budget allocations for the four schemes under NFSA so far reveals no identifiable trend. Allocations have been on a declining trend for the Integrated Child Development Services, and on an increasing trend for the Maternity Benefit Scheme. No change can be attributed to the budget allocated for the Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

Dr Neetu Sharma is the Coordinator & Programme Head at the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. Ms Jyotsna Sripada is a Research Associate at the Centre, while Ms Shruthi Raman is a Project Coordinator. They can be reached at ccl@nls.ac.in

Please click here to read more


Neetu Sharma, Jyotsna Sripada, Shruthi Raman, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close