Tackling Hunger in India

Tackling Hunger in India: Prospects and Challenges Biraj Patnaik Principal Adviser Office of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court (Right to Food Case) www.sccommissioners.org

Hunger Map IFPRI 2009

Underweight Children: A Severe Problem in South Asia

NFHS The underweight prevalence (children under age 5) varied from 60% in Madhya Pradesh to 20 % in Mizoram

Progress in reducing child malnutrition has been uneven
Improvements in 16 states
Largest improvements:
2005-06 1998-99 % diff.
Orissa 44.0 54.4 10.4
Maharashtra 39.7 49.6 9.9
Chhattisgarh 52.1 60.8 8.7
HP 36.2 43.6 7.4
Rajasthan 44.0 50.6 6.6

Situation worsens in 13 states
2005-06 1998-99 % diff.
Assam 40.4 36.0 -4.4
Jharkhand 59.2 54.3 -4.9
MP 60.3 53.5 -6.8
Haryana 41.9 34.6 -7.3
Also in Bihar, Gujarat and Kerala

Food availability
Nutrient in-take
Seasonality of food and water
Nutrition and health education
Absence of community workers/ANMs/Nurses
Non-access to cheap medicines
Diarrhoea, dysentery, fever, malaria
Non-availability of health services-SHC/PHC/CHC
Immunization / ANC / PNC/ emergency care
Low institutional delivery
HIGH MALNUTRITION
Low Birth Weight Babies
Early marriage and pregnancy
Non-spacing/anaemia among women
Weak public health measures
Malaria, Water
Infections, Diseases
Sanitation
Cultural practices
Breast feeding
Food consumption during pregnancy
Unsafe and unclean deliveries
Why high Malnutrition

India has the highest underweight children among the BRIC and SAARC countries
Reasons: Inadequate access to food+ Lack of education of mother + Poor sanitation + Unsafe drinking water
Underweight children
Nutrition: Very high percentage of underweight children - Even compared to SAARC countries (HDR 2011)

Among industrial states, Gujarat has a high incidence of malnutrition among SC and ST women .
In spite of high economic growth Gujarat fares the worst in terms of overall hunger index among high per-capita income states.
It ranked 13 out of 17 major states in hunger index, below Orissa, UP, WB, and Assam etc.
Economic Growth versus Malnutrition Reduction (HDR 2011)

Open defecation - serious threat to health & nutritional status (HDR 2011)
Improvement in households with access to sanitation facilities from 40 % in 2002 to 51 % in 2008-9
Large inter state variations
Less than 2% hhs in Delhi lacked access to toilet facility compared to 79% in Orissa

Legal Action on the Right to Food
Initiated in 2001 following a PIL filed in the Supreme Court by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) asking for the Right to Food to be made a fundamental right.
The case has emerged as the longest continuing mandamus in the world on the Right to Food.
So far, more than 70 interim orders have been passed in this case .

Outcomes so far
Mainstreamed discourse on the Right to Food in India
Principle of universal entitlements established with the universalisation of the Mid Day Meal and ICDS programmes
Conditions created for enactment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
Supreme Court orders help to convert 9 food and employment schemes into legal entitlements that are justiciable
Supreme Court orders result in massive increases in budget allocations for all the nine schemes

Distinctive features
Special focus on creating specific entitlements for marginalised groups such as the urban homeless, single women and persons with disabilities by.
Supreme Court sets up The Supreme Court Commissioners office as an independent oversight body, outside of Government
Supreme Court orders result in massive increases in budget allocations for all the nine schemes

The National Food Security Act

Imperatives for legislating the Right to Food
Moral Imperative
(High growth and yet hunger and malnutrition persist alongside poor social indicators)
Political Imperative
( Legislature vs.Judiciary )
“ Electoral” imperative
( Anti-incumbency in the context of the 2009 General and State Elections )

Key elements proposed by Civil Society as the framework for the NFSA?
Offer legislative sanction to legal entitlements
Strengthen existing programmes.
Create new sets of entitlements for very marginalised groups and vulnerable communities.
Establish independent monitoring institutions empowered to redress grievances effectively (including punitive legal action)
Strengthen the “protect” and “respect” elements of the Right to Food including protection of livelihoods and production issues.

Issues and Challenges
1. Universal or targeted?
Should the Act be applicable only to BPL families as currently envisaged?
Food or Food plus?
Vision of the Food Ministry about the Act is restricted to provisioning of 25 kgs of food grains at Rs.3 per kg ONLY for BPL families
Government does not recognize nutrition as a capability contingent on factors other than just provisioning of subsidised food .
Food alone is not sufficient; need more things to be in place
Is it affordable?
What are the financial implications?
How will the entitlement be financed?
Will it see the light of day?
No ownership by key institutions including the PMO and the Planning Commission.
Lack of consensus within civil society.
Unlikely to attain convergence of schemes operated by five Ministries

Thank you

Tackling Hunger in India

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