How far do you agree with the view that the focus on lack of availability of food as the main cause of…

Question

How far do you agree with the view that the focus on lack of availability of food as the main cause of hunger takes the attention away from ineffective human development policies in India?

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

India's hunger today stems mainly from failures of human development, such as poor sanitation, women's low status, weak primary health and cereal-heavy diets, rather than from a shortage of food. India harvested a record 332 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2023-24, yet NFHS-5 found 35.5% of children stunted.

**Introduction**

India harvested a record 332 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2023-24, yet NFHS-5 (2019-21) found 35.5% of children stunted. This paradox of plenty asks whether a food-availability lens hides failures of human development policy.

**Why a Food-Availability Lens Misreads Hunger**

SKETCH: iceberg | The Real Roots of Hunger
visible: Food shortage, Low calories
hidden: Poor sanitation, Women's low status, Weak primary health, Low female schooling

1. **Entitlement failure**: Amartya Sen (1981) showed the 1943 Bengal famine occurred without a fall in food supply; people lost the means to command food.
2. **Sanitation and disease**: Dean Spears and others link open defecation to gut infections that stop children absorbing food, so more grain cannot cure stunting.
3. **Women and the first 1,000 days**: Early marriage and maternal anaemia, with 57% of women anaemic (NFHS-5), pass undernutrition across generations.
4. **Cereal bias**: The PDS supplies rice and wheat while pulses and eggs stay costly, so hidden hunger persists amid full godowns.

**Where Food Availability Still Matters**

1. **Household access**: Free grain to 81 crore people under PMGKAY kept the COVID-19 income shock from becoming hunger.
2. **Climate shocks**: The 2022 heatwave cut wheat output and forced a wheat export ban in May 2022.

**Way Forward**

1. **Converge and diversify**: Run POSHAN 2.0 with Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan Mission, add millets to the PDS and eggs to school meals.
2. **Invest in women**: Keep girls in school and expand PMMVY maternity benefits.

**Conclusion**

The view holds largely true: hunger in India is chiefly a failure of human development, not of food supply. Moving from food security to nutrition security will fulfil Article 47 and SDG 2.

How far do you agree with the view that the focus on lack of availability of food as the main cause of hunger takes the attention away from ineffective human development policies in India?

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