No food security

The latest report on nutritional intake in India, released by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on Thursday, is bound to cause eyebrows to rise. It shows that, notwithstanding rapid economic growth, Indians are not eating any better. More precisely, the average consumption of proteins is on the decline, resulting in reduced calorie intake even though the consumption of fats is on the rise. Going by the numbers put out by the NSSO, the per capita consumption of protein has slipped from 59 grams a day in 1999-2000 to 57 grams in 2004-05 in rural areas and from 58.5 grams to 57 grams in the urban centres. On the other hand, the ingestion of fats, on average, has surged from 31.4 grams to 35.5 grams in the rural areas and from 42 grams to 47.5 grams in urban areas. What makes these consumption trends curious is that these pertain to a period when the economy has clocked good growth and when poverty levels have declined. Perhaps the more relevant fact is that this phase also witnessed a marked deceleration in foodgrain production, with the growth rate falling for the first time since the Green Revolution to below the rate of increase in population. On the positive side (if it can be called that), the numbers indicate that the rural-urban divide has been more or less bridged, at least in terms of consumption of proteins and, to an extent, overall calories. But the worst aspect is that the drop in calorie intake is confined largely to the poor, as over 80 per cent of the respondents reporting lower consumption have a monthly expenditure of under Rs 1,000. This is indicative of a widening rich-poor divide in the consumption pattern.

When it comes to explaining these developments, the obvious and often cited plea is that the benefits of high growth are by-passing the aam admi. A related reason could be that the increase in food availability at the national level, even if essential for food security, is no warranty of improved nutrition at household or individual level. Physical access to food needs also to be accompanied by economic access to it, as determined by changing income patterns and prices. Since the prices of pulses have remained high during this period, their intake has dropped the most. The intake of cereals, which have traditionally been meeting nearly 70 per cent of the requirement of protein, has, in any case, been declining for long. Stretching this argument further, it can be said that nutritional security implies measures beyond poverty eradication, in view of the divergent and changing food habits and the qualitative aspects of diet. The government's corrective action has to focus on improving the productivity of rain-fed agriculture, and improving the coverage and functioning of the public distribution system (which typically does not reach the areas where there are large numbers of poor people).