Prevalence of Malnutrition in India: A Disturbing Phenomenon

The level of economic development or even the adequacy of food at household levels, are no guarantees for a stable and satisfactory nutritional status. This emphasizes the complexity of the problem and the need for tackling the Nutrition Policy consciously and at several levels simultaneously and also in terms of fitting it in the overall development strategy of the country. There is no doubt that impressive gains of green revolution have resulted in national food security and have brought the country out of the situations of extreme hunger and starvation but the extent of malnutrition in the country also cannot be ignored. Economic growth alone, though impressive, will not reduce malnutrition sufficiently to meet the nutrition target. It is important to tackle the problem of nutrition both through direct nutrition intervention for especially vulnerable groups as well as through various development policy instruments which will create conditions for improved nutrition.