A coalition of civil society activits has criticized the Union Budget 2023-24 for reducing government spending on the social sector by a massive amount. The economic crisis induced by the Covid-19 pandemic was borne disproportionately by those at the bottom of the pyramid and in this context spending on social protection schemes such as the Public Distribution System, anganwadis, pensions and MGNREGA is especially important. But the Government of India has...

DeCEDA/Qrius 2022 was a milestone year for India. India walked into 2022 with an infectious wave of Covid-19 impacting lakhs of people, the wave receded a few weeks into the year. As hopes for a post-pandemic recovery surged, war in Ukraine brought in new challenges for the economy. With supply chains disrupted, global sanctions imposed on Russia, prices of fuel and food shot up. Inflation, already on a high from pent-up...

-The Hindu It’s imperative that ‘good nutrition’ becomes everyone’s mantra if we are serious about addressing the challenge Malnutrition continues to be a major challenge in India 75 years after independence and we need concerted action around it. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) report on Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 puts the number of undernourished people in India in 2019-21 at 224.3 million, i.e., 16% of a...

-The Hindu Business Line The National Food Security Act could adopt standardised criteria to identify beneficiaries across States/UTs India’s development report cards have long been plagued by high incidence of Malnutrition, making it an often-cited example of the nation’s growth conundrum. With the country being home to more than one-third of undernourished children, it is evident that the problem underlines the need for a targeted and multi-sectoral approach, with the benefits of...

-Moneycontrol.com The development comes amid growing evidence that Indian kids, even those from affluent backgrounds, have much lower values for height and weight against WHO standards. One expert warned that nearly 30% of Indian children under 5 are malnourished and by using the new standards, the government may show that to be just 15-20% The Indian government, for the first time, has initiated moves to develop country-specific growth standards for children amid...