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NEWS ALERTS | Food intake dynamics undergo changes: NSSO
Food intake dynamics undergo changes: NSSO

Food intake dynamics undergo changes: NSSO

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published Published on Jun 18, 2015   modified Modified on May 6, 2016

Gujarat, which is hailed as a role model of growth and development, witnessed the lowest calorie intake per person per day in rural areas among the 17 major states of India during 2011-12. This has been revealed by the 68th round National Sample Survey report entitled Nutritional Intake in India 2011-12 (See chart 1).

It can be inferred from the NSSO report that except Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, the daily per capita energy intake in rural areas of rest of the 14 states had been lower than the required daily calorie norm of 2400 Kcal per capita (See chart 1). 

In 2011-12, an average Indian living in rural area daily consumed 167 Kcal lower than the required daily calorie norm. However, an average Indian living in urban area daily consumed 106 Kcal more than the calorie norm of 2100 Kcal per capita per day.

The major states refers to the 17 Indian states, which had a population of 20 million or more as per the Census 2001.

 

The NSSO report informs us that for the first time since the last 30 years or so, there has been a marginal improvement in daily per capita calorie intake in both rural and urban areas. During the 10 year span between 1999-2000 and 2009-10, daily energy consumption per capita fell sharper in urban areas vis-à-vis rural areas. However, between 2009-10 and 2011-12, calorie intake per capita per day recovered at a faster rate in urban India vis-à-vis rural India (See chart 2).

Chart 2
Source: NSS 68th Round 2011-12

 

A rise in daily calorie intake per person between 2004-05 and 2011-12 is observed in rural areas of most of the major states except Assam, Gujarat, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The major states, which exhibited reductions in daily energy intake per person between these two time points in the urban areas were: Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Uttarakhand.

Inequality in calorie intake

From the NSSO report it has been found that the bottom 80% of the rural population in terms of monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) consumed less than 2400 Kcal per capita per day. Similarly, the bottom 40% of the urban population in terms of MPCE consumed less than 2100 Kcal per capita per day.

In both rural and urban areas, average calorie intake increased steadily with MPCE class.

A person belonging to the top 5% of the rural population (in terms of MPCE) daily consumed twice the calorie as compared to a person from the bottom 5%. Almost the same level of inequality could be noticed in urban areas too.

What do Indians eat to get energy?

Based on Schedule Type 2, it has been found that at the national level, 57.4% of calorie was derived from cereals in rural areas whereas 48.0% came from the same in urban areas.

The contribution of cereals in calorie intake varied across the major states from 42-45% (Punjab, Haryana and Kerala) to 66-70% (Odisha, Assam and Chhattisgarh) in rural areas and from 39-42% (Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab) to 59-60% (Odisha, Bihar and Assam) in urban areas.

Around 42.6% of calorie was derived from non-cereals in rural areas while 52.0% came from the same in urban India. Out of the total non-cereal based calorie intake in rural India, just 3% came from meat, eggs & fish, whereas 22% was contributed by oils & fats, and 15% came from milk & milk products. For the same in urban India, just 3% came from meat, eggs & fish, whereas 24% came from oils & fats, and 16% was derived from milk & milk products.

The NSSO report (based on Schedule Type 2) shows that: a. Contribution of oils & fats in non-cereal based calorie intake was highest in Gujarat for both urban and rural areas; b. Contribution of milk & milk products in non-cereal based calorie intake was highest in Haryana for rural areas and highest in Punjab for urban areas; and c. Calorie consumption from meat, eggs & fish was highest in Kerala for both urban and rural areas.   

It is worth noting that the Schedule Type 2 used a 7 days reference period for some food items (such as edible oil; egg, fish & meat; vegetables, fruits, spices, beverages & processed foods; paan, tobacco & intoxicants) and 30 days for others. Reference period means the time period, which an interviewee needs to recall/ remember (based on the questionnaire in a survey) during which a particular action was taken by him/ her.

Based on Schedule Type 1, it has been found that in both rural and urban areas, the percentage share of calorie derived from cereals declined between 1993-94 and 2011-12 whereas the percentage share of calorie derived from oils & fats and milk & milk products went up.

The Schedule Type 1 used a 30 days reference period for all food items.

Intake of protein and fat

Based on Schedule Type 2, it has been observed that daily protein intake per person was 60.7 gm in the rural areas and 60.3 gm in the urban areas. The share of cereals in protein intake was nearly 58% for rural and 49% for urban areas.

The share of milk and milk products in protein intake was 10% in rural India and 12% in urban India. It was highest in Haryana (rural: 27%; urban: 22%) and Punjab (rural and urban: 23%), and between 14% and 18% in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The share of meat, fish and egg in protein intake was only 7% in rural and 9% in urban areas. The share was 26% in both rural and urban Kerala, and was 10% or more in only 5 other major states: West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.

Based on Schedule Type 1, it can be said that in rural India as a whole, protein intake per person per day has declined since 1993-94. In the urban areas, the decline between 1993-94 and 2011-12 is less marked than in the rural.

The average fat intake for the country as a whole was about 46.1 gm per person per day in the rural sector and 58gm in the urban sector. Considerable inter-State variation, however, existed, especially in rural India. In both urban and rural areas, per capita intake was lowest in Odisha and Assam. The states with highest fat intake were Haryana (rural: 69gm; urban: 75gm), Gujarat (rural: 62gm; urban: 73gm) and Punjab (rural: 70gm; urban: 69gm).

The urban fat intake per person per day exceeded rural intake by 9 gm or more in nine of the major states and by more than 13 gm in West Bengal and Jharkhand. The rural fat intake exceeded urban in only one major state i.e. Punjab.

Role of schools and balwadis in food intake

An average boy aged 0-4 years living in rural area received 1.6 meals in 30 days from school/ balwadi (out of 74 total number of meals in same duration) whereas his urban counterpart received just 0.6 meals in a month from school/ balwadi (out of 71 total number of meals).

An average girl aged 0-4 years living in rural area received 1.7 meals in 30 days from school/ balwadi (out of 73 total number of meals in same duration) whereas her urban counterpart received just 0.7 meals in a month from school/ balwadi (out of 71 total number of meals).

The highest numbers of school meals were received by rural children in the age-group 5-9 years (8.5 meals per boy and 9 meals per girl), followed by rural children in the 10-14 age-group (7.1 meals per boy and 7.7 meals per girl). The rural figure is more than double the corresponding urban figure for each age-sex category.

References:

National Sample Survey Report no. 560: Nutritional Intake in India 2011-12, 68th Round 

In India, to be veg is to drink a lot of milk -Harish Damodaran, The Indian Express, 12 June, 2015


Why is calorie intake rising? -Himanshu, Livemint, 13 May, 2015

 

The mystery is solved: why is India's calorie intake falling even though it is getting richer?, Scroll.in, 4 May, 2015  

Nutritional intake grows in India’ -Rukmini S, The Hindu, 28 December, 2014 


Image courtesy: Himanshu Joshi  

 



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