Undernourishment among the marginalized children in India: Reflections of food insecurity

Abstract

Hunger and malnutrition are the outcomes of food insecurity or the inability to access adequate food and nutrition. An attempt had been made to gauze undernourishment among the marginalized children in India as a result of food insecurity. The study relied upon various issues of National Family Heath Survey (NFHS) for data. Official estimates of poverty in India were obtained from various issues of Economic Survey, Government of India. United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UNFAO) publications provided data base for hunger statistics. The study found that still 22 percent of Indian population is living below poverty line (2011–12). Though, there was decline in proportion of undernourished from 25 percent of the total population in 1990 to 18 percent in 2011, still number of undernourished actually increase from 214.5 million to 237.7 million. The study observed that though there was decline in percentage of children suffering from wasting, stunting and underweight but gaps between rural and urban, boys and girls and between SCs and STs and others was considerably high.