Eleventh Five Year Plan

132 Eleventh Five Year Planthe number of malnourished is likely to have actuallyincreased.4.1.16 Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Chhatisgarh, and UPare the States with malnutrition rates well above thenational average of 46% (Annexure 4.1.1). Some ofthese States have actually seen an increase in theshare of malnourished children in the 0–3 year-oldchild population between 1998–99 (NFHS-2) and2005–06 (NFHS-3). A concerted effort is planned,therefore, in the Eleventh Plan to reduce the childmalnutrition rate in each State to the extent identifiedin Annexure 4.1.2.4.1.17 NFHS-3 shows that anaemia among childrenand women is on the rise. As much as 74.2% of thechildren of 6–35 months were anaemic (NFHS-2) thathas increased to 79.2% (NFHS-3). Similarly, the percentageof married women in the age group 15–49 whowere anaemic has increased from 51.8% in 1998–99to 56.2% in 2005–06 and that of pregnant women of15–49 years has increased from 49.7% in 1998–99 to57.9% in 2005–06 (see later section on Micronutrientdeficiencies).A Summary of the Situation Analysis4.1.18 In other words, what emerges is that first, percapita availability of cereals has declined, and second,the share of non-cereals in food consumption has notgrown to compensate for the decline in cereal availability.Even if the latter has grown there may well be aproblem for significant sections of the population whomay be feeling the distress caused by falling per capitacereal availability, and who also do not have the purchasingpower to diversify their food consumptionaway from cereals.4.1.19 In any case, the significant point is that overallper capita intake of calories and protein has declinedconsistently over a 20-year period from 1983 to 2004–05, according to NSS data (see Table 4.1.5). Ruralcalorie consumption per day has fallen from 2221 to2047, an 8% decline. Similarly, the urban calorie consumptionfell by 3.3%, from 2080 to 2020. The ruralprotein consumption fell by 8% over the same periodand urban consumption remained the same over the20-year period. Since this data is for households, it doesnot capture the impact of intra-household fooddistribution. It is well known that women and girls inpoor households receive poorer quality food and lessfood in a normal, patriarchal household.TABLE 4.1.5Per Capita Intake of Calorie and ProteinCalorie Protein(K cal/day) (gm/day)Rural Urban Rural Urban1983 (NSS 38th Round) 2221 2089 62.0 57.01993–94 (NSS 50th Round) 2153 2071 60.2 57.21999–2000 (NSS 55th Round) 2149 2156 59.1 58.52004–05 (NSS 61st Round) 2047 2020 57.0 57.0Source: NSS Report No. 513, Nutritional Intake in India,2004–05.4.1.20 So taken together we have a set of overlappingproblems in the country. First, the calorie consumptionon average in rural areas has fallen way belowthe calorie-norm for the rural poverty line (2400calories). It was lower than that norm 20 years agoand it has actually fallen since then on average.Similarly, the poverty line threshold for urban areasfor calorie consumption is 2100 and urban consumptiontoo was lower on average than the norm twodecades ago and has also fallen. It is obvious thatthe non-poor consume more calories on averagethan the poor. Hence, to allow for distributionalinequity that prevails in any society, calorie availabilityon average in the country as a whole should beat least 20% higher than the per capita requirement(i.e. 2100 calories for urban and 2400 calories forrural areas). Even 20 years ago, Indian consumptionof calories on average was way below the requirements.So inevitably the poor, let alone the extremely poor,were and still are consuming calories that are waybelow the norm. And the intra-household allocation,not just among the poor but also among those whoare marginally above the poverty line, is likely to behighly skewed against women and girls. When onecombines this fact with the well-known fact (establishedin repeated NFHS since the early 1990s) thatwomen and girls are less likely to access health serviceswhen they fall sick, it is hardly surprisingthat the sex ratio in the population is as low as it is,and falling.