-Livemint.com * A ground report reveals pervasive hunger and undernourishment in rural India awash with returning migrants * Just providing rice and wheat at a highly subsidized price may not be enough when day jobs are scant and families have no cash in hand BANDA: Thanks to an all-familiar power cut in the evening, it’s pitch dark in Jhandupurva village. A few torch lights from smart phones pierce through the darkness and illuminate...

-Economic and Political Weekly Policies ensuring food security and nutrition support require a renewed focus and sense of urgency. It is a national shame that, even several decades after independence, the country has not been able to free itself from the problem of hunger and malnutrition that endangers the life and health of the population, especially that of children, women, and vulnerable groups. The global hunger index (GHI) published this year has...

  The newly released Global Tuberculosis Report 2019 finds that among the five risk factors behind TB cases in the country, undernourishment posed the greatest risk. Close to 7 lakh TB cases in India could be attributable to undernourishment during 2018. The other four risk factors behind TB cases were alcohol consumption (around 3 lakh TB cases), smoking (nearly 2 lakh TB cases), diabetes (more than 1 lakh TB cases) and HIV...

-Economic and Political Weekly Prevalence of undernourishment, a measure developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is a key indicator for global hunger and food insecurity targets. The FAO has developed a sound conceptual model for estimating the prevalence of dietary energy deficiency. However, the estimation methodology of the prevalence of undernourishment has been a subject of much debate. Important modifications are suggested in the estimation of the distribution of average...

-Livemint.com Stoking religious sentiments while making policy decisions on food could end up harming India’s chance of reaping an enormous demographic dividend Last week, after a gap of 13 years, the newly-elected Congress government in Chhattisgarh reintroduced eggs in mid-day meals served to school-going children. The decision followed a survey, which found regular meals fell short of the recommended calorie intake. At a time when food choices are being held hostage to...