Food security in India and its challenges GS: 3 "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• The article takes stock of the food insecurity and malnutrition in India with the aid of two recently published reports.

 

Reports about food security in India

• Two recent reports — “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020” by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the 2020 Hunger report, “Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow” by the Bread for the World Institute  – document staggering facts about Indian food insecurity and malnutrition.
• The reports use two globally recognised indicators, Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) and the Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI).
• Using these indicators, the reports indicate India to be one of the most food-insecure countries, with the highest rates of stunting and wasting among other South Asian countries.

 

Comparing rate  with neighbouring countries

• Malnutrition in India has not declined as much as the decline has occurred in terms of poverty.
• On the contrary, the reduction is found to be much lower than in neighbouring China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
• The decline in China is way higher than that of India, even though it had started with lower levels of PoU in 2000.

 

Food security during pandemic

Two crucial elements still got left out in the National Food Security Act – 2013.

• These two elements are the non-inclusion of nutritious food items such as pulses and exclusion of potential beneficiaries.
• Because of this, the current COVID-19 pandemic would make the situation worse in general, more so for vulnerable groups.
• Though States have temporarily expanded their coverage in the wake of the crisis, the problem of malnutrition is likely to deepen in the coming years.
• Hence, a major shift in policy has to encompass the immediate universalisation of the Public Distribution System which should definitely not be temporary in nature.

 

Status of Malnutrition in India

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 194.4 million people in India (about 14.5% of the total population) are undernourished.
• India ranks 102 out of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2019.
• According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in 2017, malnutrition was the predominant risk factor for death in children younger than five in every state of India.
• According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, malnutrition is among the leading causes of death and disability in India.

 

What are the reasons for prevalent malnutrition in India?

• Monoculture agricultural practices: While foodgrain production has increased over five times since Independence, it has not sufficiently addressed the issue of malnutrition.
• This is because, for long the agriculture sector in India focused on increasing food production, particularly staples (wheat and rice).
• This led to lower production and consumption of indigenous traditional crops/grains, fruits and other vegetables, impacting food and nutrition security in the process.
• This intensive monoculture agricultural practices can perpetuate the food and nutrition security problem by degrading the quality of land, water and the food derived through them.
• Changing food patterns: Food consumption patterns have changed substantially in India over the past few decades, which has resulted in the disappearance of many nutritious local foods, for example, millets.
• Poverty: Though poverty alone does not lead to malnutrition, it affects the availability of adequate amounts of nutritious food for the most vulnerable populations.
• Lack of sanitation and clean drinking water: Lack of potable water, poor sanitation, and dangerous hygiene practices increase vulnerability to infectious and water-borne diseases, which are direct causes of acute malnutrition.
• Migration: Seasonal migrations have long been a livelihood strategy for the poorest households in India, as a means to access food and money through casual labour
• However, children and women are the most affected, suffering from deprivation during migrations impacting their health condition.
• Gender injustice: There is a correlation between gender discrimination and poor nutrition.
• Malnourished girls become malnourished adolescents who marry early and have children who become malnourished, and so the cycle continues.
• Lacunae at policy level: There is a lack of real-time data that brings all these factors together to show the extent of India’s malnutrition.
• Lax implementation: Providing nutritious food to the country’s children is more a matter of political will and effective policy implementation at the grassroots level.

 

National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013:

• As passed by the Parliament, Government has notified the National Food Security Act, 2013 on 10th September, 2013.
• The objective is to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity.

 

Key features:

• The Act provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus covering about two-thirds of the population.
• The eligible persons will be entitled to receive 5 Kgs of foodgrains per person per month at subsidised prices of Rs. 3/2/1 per Kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains.
• The existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35 Kgs of foodgrains per household per month.
• The Act also has a special focus on the nutritional support to women and children. Besides meal to pregnant women and lactating mothers during pregnancy and six months after the child birth, such women will also be entitled to receive maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000.
• Children upto 14 years of age will be entitled to nutritious meals as per the prescribed nutritional standards.
• In case of non-supply of entitled foodgrains or meals, the beneficiaries will receive food security allowance.
• The Act also contains provisions for setting up of grievance redressal mechanism at the District and State levels.
• Separate provisions have also been made in the Act for ensuring transparency and accountability.

 

Eligibility:

• Priority Households to be covered under TPDS, according to guidelines by the State government.
• Households covered under existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana.

 

Provisions:

• 5 Kgs of foodgrains per person per month at Rs. 3/2/1 per Kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains.
• The existing AAY household will continue to receive 35 Kgs of foodgrains per household per month.
• Meal and maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000 to pregnant women and lactating mothers during pregnancy and six months after the child birth,
• Meals to children upto 14 years of age.
• Food security allowance to beneficiaries in case of non-supply of entitled foodgrains or meals.
• Setting up of grievance redressal mechanisms at the district and state level.

 

 

Initiatives taken by government:

ICDS:-

• High priority was accorded to reducing undernutrition in preschool children. The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) was aimed at providing food supplements to children from poor and marginalised sections to bridge the gap between requirement and actual dietary intake.
• Another component of ICDS programme was weighing children for early detection of growth faltering and undernutrition.
• National Iodine Deficiency Control Programme (NIDDCP) was initiated in 1992 with the goal that all salt for human consumption will be iodised to ensure universal household access to iodised salt.
• There are a number of existing programmes targeting nutrition outcomes, directly or indirectly. These include the National Health Mission – Janani Suraksha Yojana, the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Matritva Sahyog Yojana, SABLA for adolescent girls, Mid-day Meal Scheme, Targeted Public Distribution System, National Food Security Mission, MGNREGA and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission among others.

 

National Nutrition Mission :-

• NNM has introduced a central nodal agency with extensive financial resources to coordinate various central and state government schemes and imbue them with additional financial resources.
• The programme will  cover all states and districts in a phased manner.
• The core strategy of the mission is to create decentralised governance systems with flexibility given to states, districts and local level with robust monitoring, accountability and incentive frameworks that will encourage local solutions.
• More than 10 crore people are likely to be benefitted by this programme.

 

POSHAN Abhiyaan

• -PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.
  • The programme through the use of technology, a targeted approach and convergence strives to reduce the level of stunting, undernutrition, anemia and low birthweight in children, as also, focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers, thus holistically addressing malnutrition.
• The programme aims to ensure service delivery and interventions by use of technology, behavioural change through convergence and lays-down specific targets to be achieved across different monitoring parameters  over the next few years.

• POSHAN Atlas: To map the crops and food grains grown in different regions of the country so that nutritious protein rich food in local areas can be promoted.
• Indian Government has taken important steps, such as the release of fortification standards for five staples by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to fight micronutrient malnutrition, release of food composition tables by the National Institute of Nutrition to increase focus on dietary diversity, and now, the release of nutrition data to address the issue of malnutrition more holistically.
• The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-2 goal, which aims to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”, is a priority area for India, which can offer key solutions for hunger and poverty eradication and also tackle the issue of malnutrition and undernourishment in the country.

 

Recommendations to solve mal-nutrition by Food and Nutrition Security Analysis, India, 2019:

• Recommendations are grouped by the three pillars of food security: availability, access and utilisation.

 

Availability:

• Farmers should be encouraged and incentivised for agricultural diversification.
• Innovative and low-cost farming technologies, increase in the irrigation coverage and enhancing knowledge of farmers in areas such as appropriate use of land and water should be encouraged to improve the sustainability of food productivity.
• The government should improve policy support for improving agricultural produce of traditional crops in the country.

 

Accessibility:

• The targeting efficiency of all food safety nets should be improved, especially that of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), to ensure that the poorest are included.
• In addition, fortification of government-approved commodities within the social safety net programmes can improve nutritional outcomes.
• Child feeding practices should be improved in the country, especially at the critical ages when solid foods are introduced to the diet.
• Fortification, diversification and supplementation may be used as simultaneous strategies to address micro and macronutrient deficiencies.

 

Utilisation:

• Storage capacity should be improved to prevent post-harvest losses.

• There is a need for more robust measures that can take cognizance of all aspects of SDG 2.
• All the major welfare programmes need to be gender sensitive.
• The inherited dehumanising poverty explains the persistence of malnutrition on a large scale.
• Children born in impecunious circumstances suffer the most from malnutrition. It is all the more reason for governments to intervene to provide adequate nutrition to all.
• Funds for food to all yield great returns and help in unlocking the full potential of citizens besides strengthening the workforce.