Zero Hunger

India and the Sustainable Development Goals

Do we know what it is to be hungry

The Food and Agriculture association of the United Nations defines HUNGER as “an uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy. It becomes chronic when the person does not consume a sufficient amount of calories regularly to lead a normal, active, and healthy life.”

This six-letter word can seriously affect our concentration, causing headaches and irritation. Eating inadequately can also cause malnutrition, starvation, stunted growth, and impair overall quality of life.

Existence without enough food is a harsh reality for around 19 crore Indians.

Yes, they know what it is to be hungry.

Did every Indian have at least one meal today?

Sadly NO!

• Out of 795 Million Hungry globally, 195 Million are Indians

• Around half of the world’s malnourished children live in India

• In every 2 Indian kids, one is underweight. Around 20% of them are wasted*, about 45% are stunted** 57% are deficient in Vitamin A and 75% are anemic.

• Apart from malnourishment (about 14%), Infant Mortality in India is a whopping 0.8 crores annually, which means that around 80,00,000 children die each year before reaching the age of 6 years. On average 21,917 children die every day.

• In the 2020 Global Hunger Index, India ranked 94th among 107 countries with a score of 27.2. GHI marked it to be serious.

*wasted- (too thin for their height)

**stunted-(too short for their age)

What are we aiming to materialize by 2030? (National Indicators for the SDG)

Target 1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food all year round by all people

1.1 Percentage of children aged under age 5 who are underweight

1.2 Percentage of beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act 2013

Target 2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition

2.1 Percentage of children under age 5 who are stunted and/or wasted

2.2 Percentage of women whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is below normal

2.3 Percentage of pregnant women age 15- 49 years who are anemic (<11.0g/dl)

2.4 Percentage of Children age 6-59 months who are anemic (<11.0g/dl)

Target 3 By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small scale food producers

3.1 Agriculture productivity of wheat and rice (in kg per hectare)

3.2 Gross Value Added in agriculture per worker, (in ₹)

3.3 Ratio of institutional credit to agriculture to the agriculture output

Target 4 By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production

4.1 Percentage of Net Sown Area to Cultivable land

4.2 Percentage of farmers issued Soil Health Card

4.3 Percentage of the net area under organic farming

Target 5 By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species

5.1: Number of accessions conserved in the base collection (-18 Degree Celsius) at National Gene Bank

5.2: Conservation of germplasm, (in number)

5.3: Conservation of fish genetic resource (in number)

Target 6 Increase investment

6.1: The percentage share of expenditure in Intellectual Property Product (R&D) in agriculture to GVA in agriculture

6.2: Percentage of total government expenditure in agriculture to GVA in agriculture

What are the major policies?

The facts stated before sketch a terrible picture about the situation in India, regardless these policies are our major hope-

1. POSHAN (Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) mission

The program was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2018. The Abhiyan seeks to improve the nutritional intake for children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

In the budget 2020-2021, Mission POSHAN 2.0 has been announced which is targeting an all-round health development of the beneficiaries.

2. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme

The scheme is another flagship program of GOI aiming at a holistic development of children between 0-6 years and pregnant or lactating mothers. Apart from improving the child’s health and nutritional intake, the program battles the lack of non-formal education among the target age-group. Thus, the program seeks to break the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality.

3. Right To Food Act

Right to adequate and nutritional food is a fundamental right. The National Human Rights Commission is of the view that Right to Food is inherent to a life with dignity. Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees a fundamental right to life and personal liberty should be read with Articles 39(a) and 47 to understand the obligations of the State to ensure the realization of this right.

Apart from the above 3 policies and programs, the government has been running many other schemes like the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), Public Distribution System (PDS) etc. to achieve the mammoth task of Zero Hunger. These goals and schemes have been strictly tested by the pandemic and its aftermath.

Problems with the policies:

• Inadequate funds with state:

Funding of the ICDS scheme was decided to be distributed between State and Government in the ratio of 60:40. With an inherent financial crunch in the state, the scheme has been facing serious drawbacks in terms of implementation.

• Problem with POSHAN scheme:

Despite being acclaimed and popular for reducing hunger, the POSHAN scheme could not strike the correct chord in solving this acute problem. The ground reality shows that the scheme is just policing of anganwadi workers who are burdened with other non-ICDS work already.

• Lack of attention towards malnutrition

The News headlines talking about the non nutritious food served in Mid Day Meal Schemes has raised many eyebrows. These policies have been a critical failure for years and so the problem of malnutrition and stunted growth still prevails.

Combating hunger during the Global Crisis

With India being home to approximately 200 million vulnerable and chronically undernourished people, the pandemic has certainly increased the challenge of attaining the SDGs manifold.

• 90% of the Indian workforce is employed in the informal sector, rendering their incomes vulnerable to any crisis.

• Roughly 369 million children missed out on school meals during the lockdown and most of them relied on these mid-day meals as a source of daily nutrition.

• The government’s economic stimulus package of ₹20 lakh crores was a relief to many. 80 crore poor people received 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses per month for free till November 2020.

• Various states including West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh delivered dry rations to beneficiaries of mid-day meals.

Where do we go from here?

A developing country of 136.64 crores, with 28% of it poor, trying to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 is like climbing Mt. Everest in Bermuda shorts.

Critical analysis and proper implementation of existing policies are the need of the hour. Our government should involve all the stakeholders of the society while designing the schemes and closely monitor the effects of policies at the ground level.