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: 73
 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: 74
 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]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/why-rich-indians-are-malnourished-too-by-chandra-bhan-prasad-3848.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why rich Indians are malnourished too by Chandra Bhan Prasad | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Why rich Indians are malnourished too by Chandra Bhan Prasad

India is the world's 10th largest economy with a GDP of $3.57 trillion and $3,100 as per capita income. Sub-Saharan Ethiopia  has the 79th largest economy, with $900 as per capita income. It's far behind India. Yet, Ethiopia and a handful of other sub-Saharan nations beat India in one of the most critical social indices – 35% children in sub-Sahara are malnourished and the figure jumps to 47% for India.

Does this embarrassing state of affairs mean that the massive wealth generation in India gets deposited only in a few hundred thousand pockets? That despite our multi-trillion dollar GDP, nearly half our population doesn't get basic nutrition? That food-insufficient sub-Sahara does better in nutritional intake than food self-sufficient India?

What about the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), in operation since 1975, which feeds 23 million children under five and 4.8 million expectant and nursing mothers 300 days a year? In addition, about 120 million schoolchildren are served lunch for free under the midday meal scheme (MDMS).

The ICDS and MDMS are the world's largest nutrition supplement programs. These apart, 160 million families are given food grains at highly subsidized rates. With about half-amillion fair price shops, India's public distribution system (PDS) is rated as the world's largest food subsidy program. But, the evidence shows that all these welfare measures have not made a difference.

Health experts would clearly blame poverty. Public policy advocates have been asking that free food be supplied to half the Indian population. The Right to Food Act (RFA) campaign has gained currency. Will the RFA work where ICDS, MDMS, PDS etc have not? Or, are we diagnosing dengue when it is malaria and administering the wrong pills?

The '47% malnutrition' figure reportedly comes from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-2006. Study the NFHS-3's bulky book, you won't find the 47% figure. A table that has figures for malnourished children shows an all-India average of '42.5%'. Did someone read the NFHS-3 findings too casually and invent '47%'? Or did someone play a prank on public policy enthusiasts?

The figure might have been '48%' but certainly not '47%'. NFHS-3 deploys three criteria to measure undernourishment -- height-for-age, weight-for-height and weight-for-age. If we take 'height-for-age', 48% children are malnourished. If we take weight-for-height, only 19.8% children are malnourished. If we take 'weight-for-age', 42.5% children are malnourished. But, for the Survey, 'weight-for-age' is the composite index for height-for-age and weight-forheight. That means 42.5% children are malnourished. This is not to argue that the '42.5%' figure is a solace. It paints as grim a scenario as '47%'.

On the basic question -- is poverty alone causing malnourishment amongst Indian children-- NFHS-3 has data that has been ignored so far. It has a 'wealth index' as well and classifies households into 'lowest' and 'highest'. It says that 19.7% children from the richest households are malnourished as well. As for the moderately rich, 33.6% children are malnourished.

This data questions the received wisdom on the causes of malnutrition in India. The top two quintiles --richest and moderately rich – comprising 40% of the households NFHS-3 studied – throw up figures that are moderately better than sub-Saharan Africa. But poverty is not the only reason for child malnourishment. This raises several questions. First, if we cannot tackle malnourishment among the rich, how can we do so for the poor? How can welfare measures such as the ICDS, MDMS, PDS and RFA take poverty to be the cause of malnourishment? Second, if not poverty, what is the real cause of malnourishment among the children of the rich?

Third, is it not possible that the same cause – not poverty - is the reason both rich and poor children are malnourished?

The Survey reveals that the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh (32.5%), Karnataka (37.6%), Kerala (22.9%) and Tamil Nadu (29.8%), have lower malnutrition rates than Haryana (39.6%), Rajasthan (39.9%) and Uttar Pradesh (42.4%). The data also reveals that consumption of fish, chicken or meat at least once a week by women in Andhra Pradesh (69.5%), Karnataka (45.9%), Kerala (89.6%) and Tamil Nadu (66.1%) is much higher than in Haryana (5.5%), Rajasthan (11%), and Uttar Pradesh (14.7%). Karnataka fares worse of all the southern states in terms of malnourishment and intake of fish/ chicken/meat.

Gujarat and Punjab don't present a rosy picture either. In cash-surplus Gujarat, 44.6% children are malnourished, and in food-surplus Punjab, the rate is 24.9%. Is it mere coincidence that women in Gujarat (12.4%) and Punjab (20.1%) have a lower intake rate of fish/chicken/meat than the national average of 40.9%?

Might food habits be a bigger cause than poverty of malnutrition in India? As we know, caste rules impose many taboos on food sources and food habits. Not just non-vegetarian food, there are taboos even on vegetarian food sources. Do any of the public policy packages mentioned above target caste-based food morality as one of the prime causes of malnutrition affecting millions of Indian children? Being kind-hearted and liberal is good, but being brain dead is worse. It's time for a policy rethink.