Malnutrition-free India: Dream or reality

Abstract

In spite of great efforts done by the Government of India to tackle the problem of malnutrition, proportion of population normal on nutrition scale has been stationary; nearly half of them have been a victim of under- and over-nutrition. Over a period, undernutrition has declined but this has been compensated by overnutrition. Hidden hunger is a still an unfinished agendum. The achievement of food grain security at the national level did not percolate down, and households' food insecurity and level of chronic food insecurity are still high. High economic growth rates have failed to improve food security in India. There is a need and scope for organizational, financial, and managerial reforms in this direction. The repercussion of malnutrition is not limited to physical deterioration, but it also affects the psychological level of victims. The legislative, service, and educational approaches should be optimized to fulfill the dream of malnutrition-free India.

Keywords

• Energy balance
• food security
• malnutrition
• nutritional imbalance
• parental paradox
• poverty