1

Food & Nutritional Security in India

N.C. Saxena

In the last decade and a half that India has successfully embraced economic reforms, a
curious problem has haunted the country and vexed its policy makers: India’s excellent
growth has had little impact on food security and nutrition levels of its population. Per
capita availability as well as consumption of foodgrains has declined; the percentage of
underweight children has remained stagnant between 1998 and 2006; and more than
half of India’s women and three-quarters of children are anaemic with no decline in the
last eight years. These are appalling figures, which place India among the most
“undernourished” countries in the world.
According to the GOI Economic Survey, foodgrain production in India has declined
from 208 kg per annum per capita in 1996-97 to 186 kg in 2009-10, a decline of 11 per
cent. Despite reduced production, Government of India has been exporting on an
average 7 million tonnes of cereals per annum (which is highly unethical), causing
availability to decline further by 15 per cent from 510 gm per day per capita in 1991 to
436 gm in 2008.
The NSSO data on consumer expenditure on food consumption indicates a declining
trend in the annual per capita consumption of cereals, for all classes of people, as
shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Trends in cereal consumption across expenditure groups in rural India
(kg per month)
Percentile
lowest 5 5 per cent-10 40 per cent- 90 per cent- 95 per cent-
per cent per cent 50 per cent 95 per cent 100 per cent
1993-94 9.68 11.29 13.33 14.98 15.78
1999-00 9.78 11.15 12.89 13.73 14.19
2004-05 9.88 10.87 12.16 12.77 13.50
NSSO 2007, 61st Round Report
The above Table clearly shows that as India moved to greater prosperity in the last
twenty years the cereal consumption of the rural rich went down, but there was no
increase for the poor. At any given point of time the cereal intake of the bottom 10
percent in rural India continues to be at least 20 percent less than the cereal intake of
the top decile of the population, despite better access of the latter group to fruits,
vegetables and meat products. Their sedentary life style too should be taken into
account while assessing the difference between the two groups. For the upper segment
of population the decline may be attributed to a diversification in food consumption,
easy access to supply of other high value agricultural commodities, changed tastes and
preferences, and consumption of more expensive non-foodgrain products. Higher
economic growth and per capita incomes thus contribute to reduction in per capita
demand for cereals for the rich.
However for those who are below or around the poverty line, this has to be understood
as a distress phenomenon, as with marginal increase in their incomes over time they are
forced to cut down on their food consumption to meet other pressing demands that
were not considered important in the past. For instance, as more schools open, the poor
too wish to send their children to schools, where expenses are incurred on clothes,
 2

shoes, stationery, books, etc. despite the school fees being met by government. These
expenses would thus become a new item on the household budget, and food
expenditure may be curtailed to make room for it. Fighting sickness leads to another
chunk of essential expenses, for which opportunities did not exist in the past, as there
were no doctors in the vicinity. The share of fuel and light in total consumer
expenditure has risen from under 6 per cent to 10 per cent in both rural and urban areas
between 1972-73 and 2004-05. Finally, the rural labouring masses have to spend on
transport in order to earn their livelihoods. Food is still needed, but not demanded for
lack of money. The food budget of the poor has been squeezed out because the cost of
meeting the minimum non-food requirements has increased (Sen 2005). Thus, it is not
possible for households around the poverty line to purchase their initial food basket
within their current food budget.

Underlying causes of hunger in India

• Falling per capita crop, especially food production in the last ten years.
• Increasing share of surplus states and large farmers in food production, resulting
in artificial surplus that is exported, thus further reducing availability of
foodgrains.
• Increasing inequality, with only marginal increase in the per capita expenditure
of the bottom 30%. From their meagre income the poor are forced to spend
more on medical care, education, transport, fuel, and light, thus reducing the
share of their expenditure on food.
• Poor access of the bottom half of the population to expensive foods, such as
pulses, vegetables, oil, fruits, and meat products which provide essential
proteins, fats, and micro-nutrients. This leads to under-development of human
body and mind, affecting the ability of individuals to work productively, think
clearly, and resist disease.
• Low status of women in Indian society, their early marriage, low weight at
pregnancy and illiteracy leading to low weight of new born babies.
• Poor childcare practices, such as not immediately starting breastfeeding after
birth, no exclusively breastfeeding for the first five months, irregular and
insufficient complementary feeding afterwards, and lack of quick disposal of
child’s excreta.
• Poor supply of government services, such as immunisation, access to medical
care, and lack of priority to primary health care in government programmes.
These factors combined with poor food availability in the family, unsafe
drinking water and lack of sanitation lead to high child under-nutrition and
permanent damage to their physical and mental capabilities.
• Major food related programmes, such as PDS and ICDS are plagued by
corruption, leakages, errors in selection, procedural delays, poor allocations and
little accountability. They also tend to discriminate against and exclude those
who most need them, by social barriers of gender, age, caste, and disability; and
State hostility to urban poor migrants, street and slum residents, dispersed
hamlets, and unorganised workers, such as hawkers.
 3

A recent UNDP survey of 16 districts in the seven poorest states of India showed that
for 7.5 per cent of respondents access to food is highly inadequate, and for another 29
per cent of the households it is somewhat inadequate. A West Bengal government
survey too reported that 15 per cent families were facing difficulties in arranging two
square meals a day year round.
A survey (Mander 2008) of 474 destitute people in eight villages found that intense
food shortages often demand the most unreasonable choices, such as between food and
medicines, between eating to save a life and relieving unbearable pain. Most hungry
people reported that their most hazardous tumble into pauperisation was because they,
or a loved one, fell gravely ill. Many old people simply try to wait out an attack of
illness, and if that does not work they consult a local untrained practitioner, who
demands his fees in advance, never guaranteeing cure. They do this by cutting back
their food intake even further.
In short, all indicators point to the hard fact that endemic hunger continues to afflict a
large proportion of Indian population. Internationally, India is shown to be suffering
from alarming hunger, ranking 66 out of the 88 developing countries studied by IFPRI
in 2008. India as part of the world community has pledged to halve hunger by 2015, as
stated in the Millennium Development Goal 1, but the present trends show that this
target is unlikely to be met.
Policy recommendations
Food and nutritional insecurity is caused by a large number of factors and hence
solutions too have to be multi-sectoral in nature. First, revamp small holder agriculture.
Because of stagnating growth in agriculture after the mid-1990s there has been
employment decline, income decline and hence a fall in aggregate demand by the rural
poor. The most important intervention that is needed is greater investment in irrigation,
power, and roads in poorer regions. It is essential to realize the potential for production
surpluses in Central and Eastern India, where the concentration of poverty is
increasing.
Second, launch massive watershed development programmes in central India, where
most tribes live. In a successful watershed programme the poor benefit in three ways.
First, as the net sown area and crop intensity increases more opportunities for wage
employment are created, which may also increase the wage rate besides the number of
days of employment. Second, increased water availability and reduced soil erosion
increases production on small and marginal farmers’ lands. And last, the higher
productivity of Common Property Resources improves access of the poor to more
fodder, fuelwood, water and NTFPs. Assets created under the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) should be monitored for at
least five years to establish their links with drought proofing and enhanced availability
of water.
Third, start a drive to plant fruit trees on degraded forests and homestead lands that
belong to or have been allotted to the poor. This will not only make the poor people’s
diet more nutritious, but will also diversify their livelihoods and reduce seasonal
vulnerability.
Fourth, create more job opportunities by undertaking massive public works in districts
with low agricultural productivity. The legal guarantee of 100 days wages available
under MGNREGA, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG),
has been fulfilled in only 3 per cent of the cases. The upper limit of work guarantee of
 4

100 days per worker should be enhanced to 150 days through an amendment in the
Rules in the poorest 200 districts, subject to an upper ceiling of 100 days for the state.
Fifth, provide separate ration cards as well as MGNREGA job cards to all ‘single’
women, regardless of whether they live alone, with dependents, or in their natal or
husband’s home. Likewise for aged, infirm and disabled people who may or may not
live with ‘able-bodied’ caregivers.
Sixth, improve the skills of the poor for market oriented jobs, so that they are absorbed
in the sunrise industries such as hospitality, security, health, and construction.
Seventh, launch a drive in collaboration with civil society to cover the poorest, as a
large number of homeless and poor living in unauthorised colonies in urban areas have
been denied ration cards, and are thus not able to avail of PDS, on the ground that they
do not have an address! In Rangpur Pahadi, a slum area just a few kms away from
Vasant Kunj (Delhi), people living since 1990 have not been given even voter ID or
any ration card. Thus their very existence is denied by the Delhi Govt!
Eighth, prepare a comprehensive list every two years of all destitutes needing free or
subsidized cooked food. Open up mid-day meals kitchen to these old, destitutes and
hungry in the village. This is already being done in Tamil Nadu, and its replication in
other states should be funded by the GOI. Establish community kitchens across cities
and urban settlements to provide inexpensive, subsidised nutritious cooked meals near
urban homeless and migrant labour settlements.
Ninth, inclusion of millets in the food security policy should get a high priority to
address the nutritional insecurity of the most vulnerable sections of our population.
Millets bring with them six critical securities: food, fodder, health, nutrition, water and
ecological. These grains, cultivated in the least-endowed dryland areas of India must be
seen from the perspective of their potential to contribute to our fight against hunger,
poverty and the climate crisis. Their capacity to grow on the poorest soils, without
irrigation and under low rainfall conditions, and their capacity to offer extraordinary
nutrition make them the ‘New Age Answer’ to the New Age Crisis such as Climate
Change affecting foremost food and farming system in our country. Therefore the new
approach should include millets not only in production and procurement policies, but
also in the PDS and other food distribution programmes such as ICDS, Food for Work
and School Meals.
Tenth, restructure ICDS. Despite a three-fold increase in its budget by the GOI in the
last five years and the contention of the Ministry of Women and Child Development
that there are 1.5 early child-care centres (ICDS Centres) per village now, ICDS is
reaching only 12.5 per cent children in the age group 6 months to 6 years. As the
Centre is likely to be located in the richer part of the village, it may not reach the
vulnerable children of poorer households and lower castes and those living in remote
areas. The programme targets children mostly after the age of three when malnutrition
has already set in. It does not focus on the critical age group of children under three
years, the age window during which health and nutrition interventions can have the
most effect.
The focus of ICDS should be health and nutrition education, encouraging women to
breastfeed exclusively for six months and after that add semi-solid family food four to
six times a day in appropriate quantities for the infant, which alone can improve the
infant’s nutrition levels. For nutrition to improve, we have to strengthen proper
breastfeeding and complementary feeding, together with complete immunisation and
prompt management of any illness.
 5

Last, India requires a significant increase of targeted investments in nutrition

programmes, clinics, disease control, water and sanitation, rural electrification, rural
roads, and other basic investments, especially in rural India, where the current
budgetary allocations are inadequate. Higher public investments in these areas need to
be accompanied by systemic reforms that will overhaul the present system of service
delivery, including issues of control and oversight. Outlays should not be considered as
an end in itself. Delivery of food based schemes requires increasing financial resources,
but more importantly the quality of public expenditures in these areas. This in turn
requires improving the governance, productivity and accountability of government
machinery.
Food Security Bill
The Bill should be called, Food and Nutrition Security Bill, and include the
recommendations made above on combating malnutrition.
The major part of the proposed Act will be enforced largely through the Targeted
Public Distribution System, which unfortunately suffers from severe systemic flaws.
The Planning Commission Survey (2004) says that 58% of the subsidised foodgrains
do not reach the BPL families, with 36% sold in black. Diversion of commodities is a
big problem due to lack of transparency, low accountability and poor monitoring in the
scheme’s implementation.
Food Ministry should ‘own’ the PDS - The Centre cannot close its eyes to large scale
fraud in PDS by taking a narrow ‘Constitutional’ position that implementation is the
state’s responsibility. Food Ministry should have a greater sense of ownership of the
scheme, and improve its oversight mechanisms. For instance, it should start an annual
impact study of the PDS, especially in the poorer states.
In some cases, where GOI Ministries (such as in Education and lately in Health) have
intensified their monitoring efforts and started frequent Third Party evaluations of SSA
and NRHM, results in the field are more satisfactory than in the Ministries, such as
Tribal Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Women & Child Development, where
they are content with just release of funds or foodgrain with little monitoring of
outcomes. Thus a large number of flagship programmes, such as PDS, Forest Rights
Act, and ICDS, are being run where neither the GOI nor the states are bothered with
their proper implementation, consumer satisfaction, and initiating remedial action.
States have neither the will nor capacity for professional evaluation of such schemes,
based on which corrective action can be taken; thus this task has to be led by GOI. If
the present state of affairs is allowed to continue, the lobby within GOI that wishes to
reduce safety net expenditure, and in particular food subsidy bill, would become
stronger to the detriment of the interests of the poor.
In the present form the draft bill has passed on the entire monitoring responsibility to
the state governments, which is not fair, and needs modification as suggested above.
Some of the practical steps that the Ministry should promote with the states by
disseminating best practices in PDS are described later in the paper.
Universalise PDS in five years - All basic entitlements should be universal. We
believe that the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution should never be
compromised or undermined; instead they need to be realised, strengthened and further
taken forward. Food for all, health for all, education for all, work for all - these should
be taken as the bottom line. In no way should it be used to exclude people from their
basic rights and needs.
 6

It may be worthwhile to quote here from the recent address of President of India to the
Parliament, who has also echoed these sentiments. She said, ‘My Government proposes
to enact a new law -- the National Food Security Act -- that will provide a statutory
basis for a framework which assures food security for all.’
Thus food security is needed for all, and not only for those who are officially below the
poverty line. This issue is particularly relevant for combating food related hunger,
because the number of food deficit people is at least double the number of officially
declared poor in India. Thus there is every case for enlarging the category of those
entitled to cheaper food from government. Therefore all out efforts should be made to
increase foodgrain production and procurement, especially of millets and nutritious
grains (the so-called coarse grains), so that government has enough stocks after five
years to universalize PDS. In the interim the poorest 150 districts (which will cover
most of the tribal majority areas in central India) should have universal PDS, as
explained below.
Shift to nuclear family concept – The scale of entitlement should be changed to per
unit basis rather than per household. Each adult should be entitled to 10 kg, whereas
families (defined as wife, husband, and minor children) with children will get an extra
5 kg per child subject to a maximum of three children. As some families have just one
or two children, GOI would save on the total requirement of foodgrains, as such
families will get only 25 or 30 kg per month only. This shift is necessary as the new
BPL survey is going to recognize nuclear family, and thus the number of households is
likely to increase substantially. This will also reduce harassment and corruption, as the
present tendency in the districts is to lump a large number of adults in just one card. As
the number of children below 18 in the total population is roughly 40%, per unit
monthly entitlement would roughly come to 7 kg (which is equivalent to 35 kg for 5
units in a household), or 84 kg per annum.
Entitlement –Taking the population in 2010 as 117 crores, the total number of poor as
per Tendulkar Committee comes to 117*.372 = 43.5 crores. Out of the total 640
districts in the country, the poorest 150 districts (which are mostly rural and sparsely
populated) would have about 13.5 crore poor1 with a total population of 23 crores.
These districts will have universal PDS with each unit receiving 84 kg per annum at Rs
2/3 per kg, with a total requirement of 19.3 million tonnes of foodgrains. In rest of the
districts subsidised foodgrains including millets would be available to the 30 crore BPL
population, and their annual requirement would be 25.2 MT. Thus the total requirement
would be 44.5 MT. This is summarised below.
Table 2: Requirement for PDS
Category Number of total BPL Annual requirement for
districts population in population in PDS in million tonnes
crores crores
Universal 150 23 13.5 23*84/10=19.3
PDS
PDS for 490 94 30 30*84/10=25.2
BPL
Total 640 117 43.5 44.5

1
The share of BPL in the population of these poorest districts is assumed to be 58.7, which compares
well with the Tendulkar figure of 54.4% for Bihar and 57.2 for Orissa. These are the two states, which
will have a large share in the list of the poorest districts.
 7

The past experience shows that lifting has never been more than 90%, therefore annual
requirement is 90% of 44.5=40 million tonnes. As the total procurement is between 45
to 60 MT (it was 51.6 and 60.4 MT in 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively), the above
requirement is within GOI’s food availability. The balance should be used for other
food based schemes, such as MDM, supplementary nutrition, homeless kitchens. In no
case export should be permitted. According to Table 1.17 of the Economic Survey,
the country exported 14.4 MT of foodgrains in 2008-09, which is grossly anti-poor,
and, combined with reluctance to release more food for PDS, has led to enormous food
inflation. If basmati is to be exported, equal amount of ordinary rice must be imported.
As regards APL population in the rest of 490 districts, they would be temporarily out of
the PDS, and would be brought back into the system gradually when production and
procurement increases. In situations of high food prices, they could be offered reduced
supplies at a higher price by importing foodgrains. Those states wanting to cover these
households should do it with state funds and procurement. GOI may allow deficit states
to buy directly from farmers of the neighbouring surplus states. This will boost overall
procurement, and increasing the number of buyers will certainly help farmers in
receiving remunerative price for their output.
Create new entitlements - The Act must also create new entitlements for those who
are excluded from existing schemes, including out-of-school children, the elderly and
the infirm in need of daily care, migrant workers and their families, bonded labour
families, the homeless, and the urban poor. PDS should gradually introduce millets,
pulses and edible oil under the Public Distribution system. In the case of elderly
persons, single women and disabled persons from these households in rural areas, a
cooked mid-day meal should be provided at a community kitchen, or, failing that,
permission to eat a cooked mid-day meal at the local Anganwadi or school. Similarly to
cover the urban homeless, the laws should provide for opening of community kitchens
providing nutritious hot cooked food at reasonable prices in all cities with a population
of 100,000 and above, and also wherever demanded by 50 or more persons at any
location, within one month of receiving such an application.
In particular, women must be regarded as head of the household for all food-related
matters such as the distribution of ration cards. Recent research has brought out the
close links between maternal under-nutrition, low birthweight and child under-
nutrition. India is a “copybook case” of this vicious sequence of deprivations. It also
requires social access, meaning that barriers of gender, caste, disability, stigma, age etc
must all be overcome.
Be pro-active in providing cash compensation - The Centre is said to be planning to
set up a Central Food Security Fund wherein the poor beneficiaries will be monetarily
compensated so that they can buy from the open market. That is, if they fail to get the
proposed mandatory 35 kilograms of rice or wheat per family at Rs 3 per kg. But the
present mechanism to enforce rights is extremely weak. How can a poor man go to
courts and how can he prove that he has not been given his entitlement? The National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act provides for an unemployment allowance if work is
not given on demand. In the entire country, there are only 41 cases of unemployment
allowance being given, despite the fact that 1.10 crore people have worked for less than
15 days in 2008-09, according to the Ministry’s website. Similar indifference is feared
if the food security law does not proactively ask administration to seek out those cases
who have not received the mandatory 35 kg.
 8

Reduce exclusion and inclusion errors in identifying the poor – According to the XI
Plan (volume 2, chapter 4), there are huge exclusion and inclusion errors in identifying
the poor, as seen from the following Table.
 9

Table 3: Distribution of cardholders among poor and non-poor

% poor with no % poor with % BPL/AAY cards
ration card BPL/AAY cards with non-poor
Rajasthan 5.0 23.6 65.2
UP 16.4 22.9 48.7
Bihar 25.5 21.2 45.1
Assam 25.7 23.3 56
Jharkhand 22.1 31.9 42.4
Orissa 29.3 54.8 38.1
Chhattisgarh 24.1 47.9 47
MP 30 41.9 46.2
All India 19.1 36 59.8

Thus more than half of the poor either have no card or have been given APL cards, and
are thus excluded from the BPL benefits. These must be presumably the most poor
tribal groups, women headed households, and people living in remote hamlets where
administration does not reach. Thus the people most deserving of government help are
deprived of such assistance. On the other hand, almost 60% of the BPL or Antyodaya
cards have been given to households belonging to the non-poor category. This needs to
be corrected by launching a drive to weed out errors of exclusion and inclusion.
Launch a drive to cover the poorest – A large number of homeless and poor living in
unauthorised colonies in urban areas have been denied ration cards, and are thus not
able to avail of PDS, despite being Indian citizens. A drive should be launched in
collaboration with civil society to cover them in a time bound manner with ration cards
Improve procedure for selection of BPL – The present procedure for selection of
BPL beneficiaries is opaque, bureaucratic, and does not involve gram sabhas. The basis
on which village wise cap on the maximum number of entitled beneficiaries is fixed, is
not clear and not well defined. States should be asked to submit their proposals to GOI
as to how they wish to identify the poor within the recent guidelines suggested by the
Ministry of Rural Development. They must evolve a credible formula for determining
the exact number of village wise poor and assign the task of identification to the gram
sabha/panchayat through a transparent methodology.
Elimination of Ghost Ration Cards – All card holders must be photographed, and
their details (election card number, birth registration, etc.) along with their photographs
should be in the public domain. This will make it easy for the civil society or
consumers to check the list.
Bill should include all food based schemes- The Food Ministry should not take a
narrow view of Food Security and define it as 35 kg of wheat or rice for BPL families
through PDS. Other schemes such as MDM, supplementary nutrition through ICDS,
AAY, Annapurna, and kitchens for the homeless, should also be covered through law.
Provide cash subsidy? – Large scale substitution of PDS by direct cash transfers
(DCT) is not feasible, as foodgrains purchased from the farmers through MSP
mechanism need an outlet for distribution. Besides DCT needs a good banking
structure, functional registration system, and widespread debit cards. At best it could be
tried on a pilot basis in a few poor localities of metropolitan cities.
PDS reforms
 10

Involve panchayats - Give shops to panchayats, women’s self-help groups, or to those

who already have a shop so that it remains open on all days. Making it obligatory for
dealers to sell non-cereal items will ensure better communication between the dealer
and the card holders.
Selecting FPS dealer - In many states the selection needs approval by the Minister or a
committee of MLAs and thus the process is highly subjective and opaque. There is no
involvement of civil society or consumers in the selection, nor involvement for them in
operation of FPS. In states, where panchayats are weak or non-functioning, or in urban
areas, FPS should be allotted to people who are already running a viable shop in the
area. This will ensure that the shop remains open on all working days. The present
system of choosing unemployed youth etc. acts against the interests of the consumers,
as the selected candidates do not possess entrepreneurial capabilities, and end up by
selling the shop to others. In Delhi most individual dealers run more than ten shops,
although the shop might have been in some one else’s name to begin with. The existing
shopkeeper may be given a year’s time to start selling other items, and the annual turn
over from those items should be at least twice from the allotted foodgrains. If he/she
fails to fulfil this condition, his licence may be cancelled.
Oversight by citizens – There should be quarterly meeting of the dealer with all
consumers which should be attended by senior staff. A list of responsible citizens
should be prepared in the open meeting (its photographs should be taken to record the
size of the gathering). These people should be permitted to inspect the shop (preferably
in group of two or three people, so as to avoid the complaint of favouritism).
Develop grievance redressal mechanism – State Governments should provide a free
toll number, where complaints can be registered online. The entire operation should be
outsourced and web-enabled, so that anyone could see how many complaints have
come from each shop, and how many been satisfactorily disposed off.
Involve civil society – Many states have a large number of reputed NGOs. Their list
may be prepared in a transparent manner, and localities/villages may then be divided
amongst them. They should be authorised to inspect the shops, meet the people and
take their grievances to the higher authorities.
Reducing paper work and transaction costs: Due to cumbersome procedures, often
there is a time difference of several days between the FPS dealer depositing his bank
draft and the grain being released to him. This unnecessarily blocks the money of the
dealer. It is suggested that the dealer should deposit advance directly in the bank
account of the SFC/FCI, and there is no necessity of the bank draft being handled
physically. The SFC/FCI should put its account number on the web so that anyone can
see which dealer has deposited, when, and how much. On the same page SFC/FCI
should issue an electronic release order. On the same day SFC/FCI should issue a
manual release order too, as not all shop keepers will have computer facility at present.
This will bring transparency in the entire operation, and anyone can see where delay is
taking place.
Grade states on PDS - One could make it legally binding on GOI to do third party
evaluation of the scheme every year and declare the percentage of leakages in the
scheme on the internet. States should be graded on the basis of their performance in
consumer satisfaction and leakages, and this information should be publicised.
E-governance - Computerisation can help in modernising the PDS. A number of states
are already innovating in PDS implementation, and improved performance can be seen
in some cases. The southern states as usual have led the way on many reforms intended
 11

to address the issues above, and increasingly even poorer states, such as Chhattisgarh,
have introduced changes in policies and implementation mechanisms to address the
problems of PDS.
To sum up, procedural and policy reforms should be encouraged. Banking and
Information technologies have advanced rapidly and should enable governments to
bring transparency and speed in all applications without extra expenditure. They are
like low hanging fruits which can be picked up easily.
Summing up
There are many reasons for food insecurity, including poverty, unemployment, lack of
health care, and gender inequality, among others. These aspects of food security,
including coordination between nutrition, child care, sanitation, potable water, balanced
diet, availability of pulses and fats at a reasonable price, etc should be addressed by a
high level inter-Ministerial Council, and there should be a clause in the Bill on this.
The right to food cuts across programmes of many sectors—including health, nutrition,
agriculture, livelihoods, gender, and water. This means that in any context, at least half
a dozen ministries will be operating programmes that have some impact on availability,
access, and absorption of food. Converging all of these under a central leadership is
critical. Brazil converged as many as 31 programmes which are now overseen by the
Ministry of Food Security and combating hunger. It is imperative that our proposed
legislation brings together all these programmes on a single converged platform.
In the ultimate analysis, the constraints to food insecurity and hunger are rooted in bad
policies, faulty design, lack of appropriate monitoring and evaluation, poor governance
and lack of political will. Action is needed on all the fronts. Economic growth alone is
insufficient to bring about significant reductions in the prevalence of malnourishment
among children, or increase in food intake of the poor. Without a major shake up in
policy and an improvement in the effectiveness of its implementation, the attainment of
the goal of ‘food security for all’ by India looks unlikely.

References
Mander, Harsh 2008: Living with Hunger; Deprivation among the aged, Single Women
and people with Disability, Economic & Political Weekly April 26,
Planning Commission 2004, Evaluation of the Public Distribution System, New Delhi
Sen, Abhijit and Himanshu 2004: Poverty and Inequality in India–Widening Disparities
during the 1990s, Economic and Political Weekly, Sept 18 and 25