Hunger & nutrition

Story hook

It is 2 February 1943 in Bengal. Cyclones, war, and the British Empire's "deny" policy combine into the Bengal Famine, which kills 2-3 million people over the next 18 months. No food shortage, Amartya Sen will later prove in Poverty + Famines (1981) — only failure of entitlement.

Independent India absorbed that lesson in two waves. Wave 1 (1947-1990s): a state-run Public Distribution System (PDS) that grew into the largest food-subsidy programme in the world by volume. Wave 2 (2009-2013): the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 — passed by the second UPA government on 10 September 2013 — converting food subsidy from a discretionary scheme into a legal entitlement for ~67% of India's population (75% rural + 50% urban).

Layer in Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS, 1975)

• Mid-Day Meal (1995, now PM POSHAN 2021) + PMMVY 2017
• Poshan Abhiyaan 2018 + Poshan 2.0 (2021), and India has the largest food + nutrition entitlement system in the democratic world.

Yet the NFHS-5 (2019-21) shows: 35.5% of children under 5 are stunted, 19.3% wasted, 67.1% anaemic; 57% of women 15-49 are anaemic. The Global Hunger Index 2024 ranks India 105/127 with GHI score 27.3 ("serious"). The Right to Food Campaign (PUCL v. UoI, 2001-2013) — which catalysed NFSA — is unfinished.

For UPSC GS-II, "hunger + nutrition" is the most-asked welfare topic, with cross-overs into GS-III (food security, agriculture) and GS-I (society). PYQs: 2014, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2024 — five direct hits in a decade.

Why this matters for UPSC

NFSA covers ~80 crore people; FCI carries 40-60 million tonnes annual food-grain offtake; ICDS reaches 8+ crore beneficiaries; PM POSHAN feeds 11.8 crore children. Food + nutrition subsidies = ~₹2 lakh crore annual fiscal commitment (Union Budget).

Mains PYQs cycle: 2014 (food security challenges), 2017 (PDS reform), 2019 (One Nation One Ration Card), 2021 (NFSA + COVID PMGKAY), 2024 (Global Hunger Index + child malnutrition).