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 scoreimproved 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.
