India's PDS expansion prevents 1.8 million children from being stunted

A study has found India's expanded PDS under NFSA has prevented 1.8 million children from being stunted, improved dietary diversity, and boosted wages, making it a crucial safety net for food security

A recent study of India’s expanded food transfer programme, the National Food Security Act (NFSA), has found that it has prevented nearly 1.8 million children from being stunted, helped raise wage incomes and improved dietary diversity. 

India’s public distribution system (PDS) was expanded under the NFSA in 2013 and further consolidated after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in 2020. 

Authored by Kathy Baylis of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Ben Crost of the University of Calgary; and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore’s Aditya Shrinivas, the study,