Why in news?
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 reported that global undernourishment has fallen to 8.2% of the world’s population. India played a decisive role in this progress. The country reduced its undernourishment rate and helped lift around thirty million people out of hunger between 2020 and 2024.
Understanding hunger
Hunger is a chronic lack of sufficient calories or nutrients to maintain health and productivity. It appears in three forms:
- Undernourishment: People do not get enough energy (calories) to meet basic needs.
- Malnutrition: Diets lack adequate proteins, vitamins and minerals even when calories are available.
- Hidden hunger: Micronutrient deficiencies such as iron, vitamin A, iodine or zinc that impair growth and immunity.
Why hunger persists
- Poverty and inequality: Low incomes limit food access even when markets have food. According to NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023, around 11% of Indians remain multidimensionally poor.
- Agricultural challenges: Fragmented landholdings, erratic monsoons and limited irrigation keep productivity low. Post‑harvest losses amount to about 13% of food output, reducing availability.
- High food prices: The FAO notes that a healthy diet is unaffordable for roughly 60% of Indians. Price spikes in pulses, fruits and protein foods make nutritious diets out of reach for many.
- Weak infrastructure: Insufficient cold storage and poor logistics cause wastage. An ICAR report estimated that India loses about ₹92,000 crore every year due to post‑harvest losses.
- Governance, conflict and climate: Wars, pandemics and climate shocks disrupt food systems. Repeated floods and droughts in India reduce crop yields and farmer incomes.
- Health and sanitation: Poor maternal health, open defecation and unsafe drinking water lead to child malnutrition. National Family Health Survey‑5 reported that 35.5% of children under five are stunted and 19.3% are wasted.
Consequences of hunger
- Human capital loss: Undernourished children suffer poor learning outcomes and reduced productivity later in life, perpetuating inter‑generational poverty.
- Economic burden: Malnutrition costs India an estimated 2–3% of its GDP each year due to lost productivity and higher health expenditure.
- Health risks: Deficiencies make people more susceptible to infections like tuberculosis and diarrhoea. Lack of vitamin A can cause blindness; iodine deficiency impairs cognitive development.
- Social instability: Food insecurity can spark unrest, migration and social tension. Persistent hunger also delays progress toward Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Health), 4 (Education) and 8 (Decent Work).
India’s role in combating hunger
- Revamped Public Distribution System (PDS): Digitisation, Aadhaar authentication and the One Nation One Ration Card scheme have improved targeting. Together with the National Food Security Act and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the PDS supplies subsidised grains to around 800 million people.
- Nutrition programmes: PM POSHAN (mid‑day meals), the Integrated Child Development Scheme and POSHAN Abhiyaan focus on dietary diversity, maternal health and child nutrition. Anaemia Mukt Bharat works to reduce anaemia among women and children.
- Digital tools: Platforms like e‑NAM, AgriStack and geospatial mapping connect farmers to markets and help cut food losses. Citizen portals such as Bhavishya and CPENGRAMS indirectly improve food security for pensioners and help resolve grievances.
- Agrifood system transformation: India is promoting climate‑resilient crops, farmer producer organisations and women‑led agribusinesses. Efforts to expand cold chains and integrated logistics are underway.
- Global leadership: India’s success in reducing poverty and hunger serves as a model for other developing countries. Its digital governance initiatives, such as the One Nation One Ration Card, have been praised by the FAO.
Way forward
- Move from calories to nutrition: Fortify staple foods like rice, wheat and salt, and subsidise protein‑rich items such as pulses, milk and eggs.
- Strengthen infrastructure: Invest in cold chains, warehouses and farmer cooperatives to reduce post‑harvest losses.
- Ensure affordable diets: Use direct benefit transfers to make fruits, vegetables and animal‑source foods accessible to low‑income households.
- Empower small farmers and women: Expand farmer producer organisations, self‑help groups and women‑led enterprises. Promote cultivation of climate‑smart, biofortified crops.
- Tackle malnutrition and obesity together: Implement “double‑duty” policies that address undernutrition while preventing rising obesity in urban areas. Increase nutrition literacy in schools and workplaces.
- Share knowledge globally: Collaborate with other developing nations by sharing best practices from India’s public distribution system, digital innovation and nutrition programmes.
Conclusion: With only a few years left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, India’s continued focus on nutrition, resilient agriculture and inclusive growth will be crucial. By shifting emphasis from mere calorie sufficiency to balanced diets and sustainable food systems, India can help the world inch closer to the dream of Zero Hunger.