Eleventh Five Year Plan

Nutrition and Social Safety Net 131and affects both rural and urban sectors to a similarextent.4.1.13 In both rural and urban India, the share of foodin total expenditure continued to fall throughout thethree decades prior to 2004–05. The overall fall wasfrom 73% to 55% in rural areas and from 64.5% to42% in urban areas (Table 4.1.3). In urban India, notonly the shares of cereals and pulses have fallen, butthere has been a fall in the shares of other food groupsas well, such as milk and milk products, edible oil, andsugar. In rural India, however, the shares of milk andmilk products, egg, fish and meat, and fruits and nutshave increased by about 1 percentage point each, theshare of vegetables has increased by 2.5 percentagepoints, and that of beverages, refreshments, andthat in Africa on average. In fact, South Asian countrieshave the world’s worst rate of malnutrition, andIndia’s rate of malnutrition is among the worst in SouthAsia (together with Nepal and Bangladesh). Even thebest State in India, Kerala, has a rate of child malnutritioncomparable to that for Africa’s average rate.4.1.15 Even more worrying is the fact that the rate ofmalnutrition, defined as underweight children relativeto an internationally accepted reference population,has not declined significantly over the last decade anda half. In 1992–93 (NFHS-1) it was 54%; in 1998–99(NFHS-2), it was 46%, and in 2005–06 (NFHS-3) itwas 46%—hardly any change over a period in whichthe economy has been growing at over 6% p.a. onaverage. Naturally, given the increase in population,TABLE 4.1.3Composition of Food Consumption, All-India, Rural, and Urban, 1972–73 to 2004–05Sector Year % share of major food groups in total expenditureAll food Cereals Pulses Milk and Edible Egg, Vege- Fruits Sugar Bevemilkoil fish and tables and rages,products meat nuts etc.Rural 72–73 72.9 40.6 4.3 7.3 3.5 2.5 3.6 1.1 3.8 2.487–88 64.0 26.3 4.0 8.6 5.0 3.3 5.2 1.6 2.9 3.993–94 63.2 24.2 3.8 9.5 4.4 3.3 6.0 1.7 3.1 4.299–00 59.4 22.2 3.8 8.8 3.7 3.3 6.2 1.7 2.4 4.204–05 55.0 18.0 3.1 8.5 4.6 3.3 6.1 1.9 2.4 4.5Urban 72–73 64.5 23.3 3.4 9.3 4.9 3.3 4.4 2.0 3.6 7.687–88 56.4 15.0 3.4 9.5 5.3 3.6 5.3 2.5 2.4 6.893–94 54.7 14.0 3.0 9.8 4.4 3.4 5.5 2.7 2.4 7.299–00 48.1 12.4 2.8 8.7 3.1 3.1 5.1 2.4 1.6 6.404–05 42.5 10.1 2.1 7.9 3.5 2.7 4.5 2.2 1.5 6.2processed food has increased by 2 percentage pointssince 1972–73; only the shares of sugar and pulses (thelatter, largely during the last decade) have declinednoticeably, apart from cereals. In any case, the increasein the share of non-cereals is not enough to compensatefor the decline in cereal consumption.THE PROBLEM WITH CHILD MALNUTRITION4.1.14 Sixty years after independence, nearly half ofIndia’s children under three are malnourished (seeTable 4.1.4). India has the largest number of childrenin the world who are malnourished. Even more significantly,India’s rate of malnutrition is worse thanTABLE 4.1.4Trends in Childhood (0–3 Years of Age)—Malnutrition in IndiaNutritional 1992–93 1998–99 2005–06Parameter NFHS-1 NFHS-2 NFHS-3Stunted 52.0 45.5 38.4Wasted 17.5 15.5 19.1Underweight 53.4 47.0 45.9Note: Figures of NFHS-1 above are for 0–4 years. However,NFHS-1 later generated data for below 3 years children with 51.5%children being underweight.Source: NFHS surveys, IIPS, MoHFW, GoI.