UPSC Mains 2018 GS Paper 2 Q17: model answer

India's grain stocks have often been well above buffer norms, and the country is among the largest rice exporters. Yet NFHS-5 found 35.5% of young children stunted and 57% of women anaemic. Hunger amid plenty is the puzzle in this question.

Food availability

• Foodgrain production crossed 330 million tonnes in 2023–24.
• The NFSA and PMGKAY give free grain to about 81 crore people.
• So shortage of grain is not the main cause of hunger today.

The real causes: human development

• Entitlements: Amartya Sen showed that the Bengal famine of 1943 happened without a fall in food supply; people lacked the means to buy food.
• Women's status: early marriage, low education and eating last at home; maternal undernutrition produces low-birth-weight babies.
• Sanitation and water: repeated infections stop the body using food; Dean Spears and others linked open defecation to stunting.
• Health care: weak immunisation and treatment of diarrhoea.
• Care practices: exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
• Diet diversity: the PDS gives cereals but not pulses, eggs or vegetables.
• Income and jobs: poor households cannot afford nutritious food.

Where availability still matters

• Availability of pulses, oils, milk and vegetables at affordable prices.
• Seasonal and regional shortages, as in tribal areas in the lean season.
• Climate shocks to production.

Position

I largely agree. Focusing only on grain production and distribution has made India food-secure in calories but not in nutrition. Hunger now is a problem of human development: women's empowerment, health, sanitation and diet. Policies like Poshan Abhiyaan, Swachh Bharat and the Jal Jeevan Mission must be treated as hunger policies.

Conclusion

The fight against hunger has moved from the granary to the home and the health centre.