undernutrition

1374 Veena S Rao
nutrition education, and popularizing of low cost foods
have existed in our Plans and in the National Nutrition
Policy, 1993.
In retrospect, the National Nutrition Policy, 1993,
though still alive on our policy books, can unfortunately
only be viewed as a forgotten or inert policy. Its
implementation was to be done by an Inter-ministerial
Coordination Committee in the Department of Women
and Child Development, overseen by the National
Nutrition Council headed by the Prime Minister. The
National Nutrition Council never met and the Interministerial
Coordination Committee turned out to be
non-functional. No sectoral programmes were drawn
up in accordance with the NNP, and consequently no
budgets were allocated. The National Nutrition Policy,
though a most holistic and comprehensive document,
failed to get implemented into programmes, and an
opportunity to highlight malnutrition as a priority and
gap area in India’s development agenda was missed.
However, the NNP, though it requires some
updating in the light of new research, data and
evidence, fundamentally remains relevant even today,
even though it has been rendered inert without a
national programme or political will to back it.
Why Are Our Nutritional Indicators Not
Improving Faster?
This question can be answered very simply - because
the primary causes of under-nutrition and micronutrient
deficiency in India have not yet been addressed.
Enough research has been generated in India, post
independence that informs us that:
Fig. 1: Percentage of children aged 6-23 months receiving
adequate diet (Source: NHFS-4 (2015-16: Factsheets)
At least 50 % of our population suffers from
chronic protein calorie micronutrient deficiency
(ibid). This factor has never been acknowledged
by our policy makers or programme managers
for finding solutions, nor taken into account for
policy making or structuring strategies to address
this deficit.
Malnutrition in India is deeply rooted in the intergenerational
cycle. However, the current policies
and programmes do not address the issue intergenerationally
by addressing the nutritional needs
of the girl child, the adolescent girl and the
expectant mother simultaneously.
There is inadequate awareness and information
regarding proper nutritional practices amongst
the population, particularly regarding nutritional
care of infants, children, adolescents, and
pregnant women. Yet, as stated above,
programmes for nutrition education and
behavioural change, particularly among the
vulnerable sections of the community that suffer
most from under-nutrition, were never
conceptualized and initiated.
Crucial prescriptions of the National Nutrition
Policy, 1993, that could have had positive and
sustainable impact on the nutritional status of
the general public were not translated into
National Programmes, viz., popularization of low
cost nutritious foods, reaching the adolescent
girl, fortification of essential foods and control
of micronutrient deficiencies.
India has no comprehensive National Program
for the eradication of malnutrition. In general
perception, the ICDS originally designed with a
mandate for providing, inter alia, some nutritional
services for children below six and pregnant and
nursing mothers, is mistakenly seen as a
programme to address malnutrition in India.
In India’s complex, contemporary socioeconomic
transition, manifested diversely and unevenly
in different parts of the country, the gap in addressing
under-nutrition lies not in lack of a Policy, but in the
intent of translating its provisions into programmes
backed by budgets. Ideally, the essential interventions
of the NNP should have been woven into a national
programme to combat under-nutrition long ago, with
a definite implementation template of workable