The National Nutrition Policy adopted in 1993 aims to eradicate malnutrition in India through a multi-sectoral strategy. It utilizes direct short-term interventions like expanding nutrition programs for vulnerable groups and food fortification. Indirect long-term interventions include ensuring food security, improving purchasing power through employment generation, promoting small businesses, and nutrition education. The policy is implemented through inter-sectoral coordination at all levels of government and regular nutrition monitoring is carried out by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau.

1. BY
MRS.NAGAMANI.T, MSc (N)

2.  The National Nutrition Policy adopted by the
Government of India in 1993 under the aegis
of the Department of Women and Child
Development
 The strategy of NNP was a multi-sectoral
strategy for eradicating malnutrition and
achieving optimum nutrition for all.

3.  The implementation strategy involves
 setting up Inter Sectoral Coordination mechanism
at Centre, State and District levels,
 Advocacy and sensitisation of policy makers and
programme managers,
 intensifying micronutrient malnutrition control
activities,
 reaching nutrition information to people,
 establishing nutrition monitoring and mapping at
State, District and Community level, and
 developing district-wise disaggregated data on
nutrition.

4.  To reduce the incidence of severe (8.7 per cent) and
moderate (43.8 per cent) malnutrition by half by the
year 2000 A.D.
 All adolescent girls from poor families to be covered
through the ICDS by 2000 A.D. in all CD blocks of
the country and 50% of urban slums
 To increase per capita availability of 215Kg, for that ,
to achieve production targets of 230 MT by 2000
 At least 100 days of employment created for each
rural landless family, employment opportunities in
urban slum dwellers and urban poor
 Distribution of iodized salt to cover all endemic
areas
 Nutritional blindness to be completely eradicated by
2000 A.D.
 To expand the Nutrition intervention net through
ICDS so as to cover all vulnerable children in the age
group 0 to 6 years.

5. NNP
Direct Strategies
( Short term Goals)
Indirect Strategies
(Long Term Goals)

6. It aims to address this problem by utilising
direct (short term) and indirect (long term)
interventions.
Direct interventions – short term:
1. Ensuring proper nutrition of target groups
(Vulnerable groups): The National Nutritional
Policy has paid special attention towards the
vulnerable groups and implemented many
nutritional programmes to improve the health
status of these target groups like children,
adolescents, pregnant and nursing mothers
etc.

7. ◦ Expanding the safety net for children – proper
implementation of universal immunization, oral
rehydration and ICDS services have been expanded to
cover all vulnerable children in the age group 0 to 6
years. Presently ICDS covers around 15.3 million
children from rural and urban slums. ICDS aims at
covering the remaining 15.46 nutritionally at risk
children by extending ICDS blocks of the country.
◦ Growth monitoring in 0-3 year age group: Growth
monitoring aims at identification of malnourished
children and provision of nutritional management for
the children especially 0-3 years of age group. This
includes Provision of adequate nutrition for the
children, health education of mothers, empowerment
of the mother to manage nutritional needs of her
children effectively.

8. ◦ Nutrition of adolescent girls to enable them
to attain safe motherhood: The policy has
expanded the ICDS services for the
adolescent girls to improve their nutritional
status, to prepare them for safe motherhood
by providing basic education about nutrition,
fertility, Iron supplementation etc.
◦ Nutrition of pregnant women to decrease
incidence of low birth weight: Under the
policy the government has taken measures to
improve the nutritional status of the
pregnant mothers right from 1st trimester,
supplementation of iron and folic acid,
frequent health checkups etc.

9. 2. Food fortification: Fortification of essential
food items with appropriate nutrients is
essential to avoid deficiency disorders like
iodine deficiency, iron deficiency etc.
Example, common Salt with iodine or iron.
3. Provision of low cost nutritious food:
Majority of the Indian population belongs to
low socio economic status and they cannot
afford for the expensive food products. So
there is a need to provide low cost and
nutritious food products for the people to
maintain and improve the health of the
individual, family and the community by
developing indigenous systems and with
locally available foods.

10. 4. Combating micro nutrient deficiency in
vulnerable group: Control of micronutrient
deficiencies among the vulnerable groups
especially Vitamin A, Iron, Iodine, Folic acid
among the pregnant, nursing mothers and
children through various nutritional
prophylaxis programmes is essential.
Example Vitamin A prophylaxis programme,
The nutritional anaemia prophylaxis
programme etc.

11. Indirect policy interventions – long
term:
1. Food Security: In order to ensure aggregate food
security per capita availability of 215 kg/person/year of
food grains needs to be attained. This requires
production of 250 million tones of food grains per
year by 2000 AD.
2. Improving the dietary pattern: The dietary pattern of
the people should be improved by promoting the
production and increasing the per capita availability of
nutritionally rich foods. Provision of nutritionally rich
foods at affordable cost. Production of pulses, oilseeds
and other food crops will be increased. The production
of protective food crops, such as vegetables, fruits,
milk, meat, fish and poultry shall be augmented.
Preference shall be given to green leafy vegetables and
fruits such as guava, papaya and amla with the help of
latest and improved techniques.

12.  PRESENT SCENARIO: Net per capita
availability of food grains has decline to
159.2 kgsin 2002-03 from 170 kgs in 1998-
99.
Recommendation
 Strengthening agricultural policies:
 Insufficient food production, inadequate food
handling, processing, storage, distribution or
marketing should be tackled.
 Reduce post-harvest losses
 Stabilization of food supplies

13. 3. Improving the purchasing power: One of the main
causes of under nutrition is low purchasing power of
the poor. So to increase their purchasing power,
Government should generate jobs for them.
 Poverty alleviation programme like Integrated Rural
Development Programme and employment
generation schemes like Jewahar Rozgar yojana ,
Nehru Rozgar Yojana and DWCRA are to be reoriented
and restructured.
 It is necessary to improve the purchasing power of
the landless and the rural and urban poor by
implementing employment generation programmes.
4. Small and medium enterprises (SME): Small and
medium enterprises are essential for dynamic
economic growth and job creation. Improving access
to finance for this sector will be key factor for growth.

14. 5. Agriculture and rural development: two-thirds
of India’s people depend on rural employment
for their living. While the agriculture sector
grew at only about 2.5 percent a year for a
number of years, recent growth has touched
4.7 percent a year, facilitated by good
monsoons, greater production of high-value
crops, an increase in the minimum support
prices for grains, and the rise in global prices
for agricultural products.
Rural livelihoods projects support the
empowerment of the rural poor and the
development of their livelihoods. Encouraging
policies that promote competition in
agricultural marketing will also ensure farmers
receive better prices.

15. 6. Informal Sector Jobs: While the services
sector has been offering promising job
opportunities for skilled workers, some 90
percent of India’s labor force remains trapped
in low-productivity jobs in the informal
sector. India’s labor regulations - among the
most restrictive and complex in the world -
have constrained the growth of the formal
manufacturing sector, where these laws have
their widest application.
Better-designed labor regulations can attract
more labor-intensive investment and create
jobs for India’s unemployed millions and
those trapped in poor quality jobs.

16. 7. Prevention of Food Adulteration:
Government responsibility is to assure that food
will not cause harm to the consumer when it
is prepared and/or eaten according to its
intended use. Under the provision of the PFA Act,
the Government of India has promulgated PFA
rules which specifies the following details
 Qualification, duties and functions of food
analysts, food inspectors and central food
laboratory.
 Procedure for drawing test samples and sending
them to the analyst and laboratory.
 Specification for the identity and purity of food.
 Tolerance for contaminants, preservatives,
emulsifiers and other additives.
 Present scenario demands gearing up the
enforcement

17. 8. Nutrition education: World Bank reports that
Indonesia spent only 15% of its national budget
on nutrition education and they reduced the
prevalence of under-nutrition by 40%. Hence it is
a very cost effective method in the Indian context
also.
The education strategies to make nutrition the
central talking point are:
 Social marketing
 Communication for behavior change
 Advocacy. The services of nutrition specialists
and local community leaders should be used to
counsel about improving the dietary practices,
sanitation and hygiene, encourage breast
feeding, birth spacing, deworming of children,
gender sensitivity promoting use of fortified
foods, mineral and vitamin supplements.

18. Recommendations
• Focus on 3-6 yr age group children rather
than since birth in ICDS because mal
nutritional ready sets in by then.
• Focus on mild to moderate malnutrition and
not just on severe malnutrition.
• Establish regional, zonal centers' with
nutritionists/ scientists and use the expertise
of bio-technologists and genetic engineers.
• Empower Panchayati raj institutions and form
village level nutrition committees for micro
planning and formulating short term goals.
• A compulsory course on nutrition literacy at
the UGC level.

19. • Form a nutrition council of India like MCI for
quality management of training.
• 5 states and 50% villages contribute to more
than 80% of malnutrition cases. Special focus on
these hunger hot spots and tribal areas.
Obtaining information using civil registration
system for audit. Vigorous awareness campaigns
and setting up community grain banks
accordingly.
• Over-nutrition, obesity and lifestyle related
diseases are emerging as a threatening menace
with rapid urbanization. The target population
should be sensitized about this cause of concern.

20. 9. Land reforms: Implementing land reform
measures so that the vulnerability of the
landless and the landed poor can be reduced.
The major objectives of land reforms have
been:
• Reordering of agrarian relations in order to
achieve a democratic social structure
• Elimination of exploitation in land relations
and enlarging the land base of the rural poor
• Increasing agricultural productivity and
infusing an element of equality in local
institutions.

21. 10. Health and Family welfare:
Women's poor reproductive health in India is
affected by a variety of socio cultural and
biological factors.
Thus, efforts to improve women's education,
raise enrollment and attendance rates of girls
in school and reduce the drop-out rate on the
one hand and enhance women's income
autonomy on the other are fundamental, in
the long run, for improvements in women's
and family health.

22. 11. Nutritional surveillance: Nutritional
surveillance is necessary to understand the
nutritional status of the people. The policy
should be strengthened to conduct
nutritional surveillance of children,
adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating
mothers.
The nutritional surveillance should include the
following:
A. Anthropometry is relevant to programme
management for three reasons: i) to identify
target groups, ii) in monitoring progress, and
ii) in assessing overall programme effects.
B. Indicators used must relate to the objectives
of the programme.

23. 12. Research: Research into various nutritional
aspects should be developed to identify
various deficiency disorders, planning and
implementing the nutritional
supplementation programmes, develop
extensive methods of food production,
fortification of foods, production of nutritious
food for low cost etc.
13. Minimum wage administration: To improve
the purchasing power of the poor minimum
wage legislation should be administered.
Example at least 60 days leave for pregnant
women by the employer in the last trimester.

24. 14. Communication: The dept. of National Food
and Nutrition should take measures to
communicate the public regarding the nutritional
deficiency disorders, its prevention, and
information regarding the nutritional
programmes through effective methods of
information, education and communication. All
the outreach health care centers should be
provided with adequate facilities for this
purpose.
15. Community participation: For the effectiveness
of the services provided for the public the
government should create awareness among the
public so as to gain their participation. Encourage
the public to avail the nutritional health care
services and for their maximum utilization.

25. 16. Equal remuneration for women: The govt.
of India should take measures to empower
women by providing equal remuneration with
that of men. So that she can fulfill the
nutritional needs of the family.
17. Improvement of literacy, especially for
women: Women should be provided with
basic education, since literate women will
make the entire family as literates and she
will fulfill the nutritional requirements of the
family, so that nutritional status of the
community can be maintained.

26. 18. Improving the status of women: Women
should be empowered by providing basic
education, equal preference for the women
that of males, employment services,
enhancing the health care services for the
women etc.
19. Basic health and nutrition Knowledge: To
improve the purchasing power as well as the
consumption of nutritional rich foods health
education should be provided to the public
especially women regarding the importance
of nutrition for maintenance of health,
various nutritional deficiency disorders, its
prevention, preservation and storage of
nutrients while cooking etc.

27. 20. Monitoring of nutrition programmes: The
govt. of India through the Nutritional
Monitoring Bureau supervises and evaluates
the effective functioning of nutritional
programmes and recommends the necessary
actions required to improve and maintain the
health of all age groups.

28.  Nutrition monitoring is the measurement of
the changes in the nutritional status of a
population or a specific group of individuals
over time- WHO, 1984
 The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau was
established under the aegis of Indian Council
of Medical Research in the year 1972, with
the Central Reference Laboratory at the
National Institute of Nutrition (NIN),
Hyderabad.

29.  The bureau is currently in operation in the
States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
 The Bureau carries out surveys under the
guidance of a Steering Committee and has
been generating dynamic database on diet
and nutritional status of the communities
regularly, since 1975.

30. Objectives
 To collect, on a continuous basis, on
representative segments of population in
each of the states data on dietary pattern and
nutritional status, adopting standardized and
uniform procedures and techniques, and
 To periodically evaluate the ongoing National
Nutrition Programmes to identify their
strengths and weaknesses, and to
recommend appropriate corrective measures.

31. In fulfillment of its objectives, the Bureau
undertook the following activities, in the past:
 Rural Surveys Regular Diet and Nutritional
assessment surveys were carried out in the
rural areas on a continuous basis.
 Time Trends Considering the surveys carried
out during 1975-79 as baseline, first repeat
survey was carried out during 1988-89 and
the second repeat survey was carried out
during 1996-97, by covering the same
villages surveyed at baseline.

32. Evaluation of Nutrition Intervention programs
 Applied Nutrition programme in the States of
Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Himachal Pradesh, and Manipur (1977-78).
 Vitamin A prophylaxis programme in the
States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka,
Kerala, Orissa, Rajasthan, and West Bengal
(1977-78).
 Supplementary Nutrition Programme in Urban
Karnataka (1980-81)

33.  World Food Programme assisted
supplementary Nutrition Programme in Bihar
Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
and West Bengal (1981-82)
 Integrated Child Development Services -
Status Appraisal in the States of Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa
(1992)
 Impact Evaluation of mid-day meal
programme in the States of Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka and
Kerala (1991-92).