What is the issue?
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has recently released the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report. Click here to know more on the report.
- It calls for a review of India's approach to food security in the recent years.
How has India's record been?
- India’s relative rank among the countries deteriorated between 2008 and 2011; but the score remained more or less the same.
- India’s relative rank and score improved significantly between 2011 and 2014;
- However there has been a significant decline in the score since 2014.
- An observation of the period between 2006 and 2016 reveals that there has been progress in many dimensions:
- as a proportion, stunting among children has declined.
- anaemia among women of reproductive age has declined.
- low birth weight has declined.
- exclusive breastfeeding has improved.
- But the concern is that wasting among children had worsened.
- None of the states in India reached acceptable levels of wasting in 2016, based on the WHO cut-off rates for public health significance.
Why is the dip after 2014?
- The most decisive intervention in this regard was the passing of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).
- The NFSA declared entitlements to food grains every month at subsidised prices. Under this -
- Every person in a ‘priority household’ will be entitled to 5 kg of food grain.
- Every ‘Antyodaya’ household gets 35 kg of food grain.
- Every pregnant woman or lactating mother is entitled to a daily free meal during pregnancy and for six months after childbirth, plus Rs 6,000.
- Every child under six years is entitled to a daily free meal.
- Every child between 6 and 14 years gets a free mid-day meal.
- It was intended to cover around 75 % of the rural population and 50 % of the urban population.
- A State Commission would oversee the implementation of the Act in each state.
- Despite this, studies and observations suggest that when the government changed in 2014, NFSA was gravely neglected.
- Nor was an alternative proposed for the food security mission.
- There is a decline in the government expenditure figures in this regard over the last few years.
- Also there is a huge gap between revenue estimate and the actual expenditure, suggesting further neglect in implementation.
- Recently the Supreme Court also noted that State Commissions charged with implementation had not even been set up.
What should be done?
- Governments must take serious attention of India's position in global hunger index and device a comprehensive solution to address the woes of hunger.
- Also proper governmental mechanisms should be put in place to ensure its fair and effective implementation.
- Besides, ideas like that of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) could be of help.
- FSSAI plans for the Indian Food Recovery Alliance (Ifra) as a portal to facilitate recovery and distribution of leftover food.
- It acts as the aggregator where NGOs already working to feed the needy by collecting leftover food can meet volunteers and donors on one platform.
Source: Indian Express
