1st Edition
Undernutrition and Public Policy in India Investing in the future
Despite substantial economic growth, India has one of the highest undernutrition rates in the world; it is home to almost 40 per cent of the world’s stunted children. This volume assesses the status and causes of undernutrition in the country, and examines the effectiveness of policies designed to address undernutrition. The essays tackle wide-ranging themes and challenging issues including nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); maternal, neonatal and child health; Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS); Public Distribution System (PDS); crop procurement; and National Food Security Act 2013.
With contributions from leading academic researchers, policymakers, as well as civil society representatives, this volume will be indispensable to scholars, teachers and students of public policy, development economics, development sociology, and Indian economy. It will also be useful to government institutions, think tanks and NGOs.
Introduction Amit Thorat, Deepta Chopra, Lawrence Haddad & Sonalde Desai. Part I The State of Undernutrition in India 1. The Assessment of Nutritional Status in India During the Dual Nutritional Burden Era Prema Ramachandran 2. The Elephant in the Dark: Finding Ways to End India’s Hunger and Malnutrition Harsh Mander 3. Commentary – Recent Evidence Shows Slow Improvement in Undernutrition in India Amit Thorat & Sonalde Desai Part II Identifying the Policy Gaps 4. Improving Sanitation is a Policy Priority for Children's Human Capital in Rural India: Lessons from Recent Literature and the IHDS Dean Spears 5. Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and the Nutritional Status of Children in India: Understanding the Linkages and Structuring the Response Frank Cronin et al. 6. Women’s Agency and Child Underweight Rates in India in the Context of Agriculture: A District Level Analysis Swarna Sadasivam Vepa et al 7. Maternal Nutrition: Breaking the Intergeneration Cycle of Malnutrition‐Significance, Challenges and Opportunities Sheila C. Vir 8. Commentary: Undernutrition in India–A Case of Public Policy in Inertia Veena Rao Part III Getting Existing Programs to Work Better 9. Governance Challenges to Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition in India Naresh C. Saxena 10. What Factors Support or Limit Convergence in Service Delivery to Improve Nutritional Outcomes: A Study of Policies and Programs in India Rashmi Avula 11. Tackling Child Malnutrition in India: Achieving the Doable or Chasing the Desirable? Satish Agnihotri 12. Coordination Failure: Can Multi‐Sectoral Interventions to Tackle Hunger and Malnutrition Succeed In India Santosh Mehrotra 13. Commentary: Untapped Potential of ICDS Arti Ahuja Part III NFSA: How Optimistic Should We Be? 14. Changes and State-wise Differences in the Nutritional Impact of the Indian Public Distribution System Tara Kaul 15. From the Files to the Fields: The Story of Paddy Procurement in Chhattisgarh Biraj Patnaik
Biography
Sonalde Desai is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland College Park, USA, and holds a joint appointment as Senior Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, India.
Lawrence Haddad is Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Poverty Health and Nutrition Division, USA.
Deepta Chopra is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, where she leads the work on women’s and girls’ empowerment.
Amit Thorat is Associate Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, India.
