In the year With food grain stocks under the Food Corporation of India (FCI) depleting and food subsidy bills of Rs 2.87 crore in the financial year (FY) 2022-23 (revised estimate), additional distribution of free food grains under PMGKAY was suspended in January. .
Further, Sitharaman highlighted the Union government’s recent announcement to provide free foodgrains to all Antiyodaya and priority households under PMGKAY budgeted at Rs 1.97 lakh-crore in FY’24. The government’s policy measures are set to reduce the fiscal deficit from 6.4 percent to 5.9 percent in FY24.
However, what will be the impact of this withdrawal on the food security of the poor who must now purchase the additional entitlement at market prices? Especially when both staples are experiencing high inflation (22.2 percent inflation for wheat, and 10.5 percent for rice in December).
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Malnutrition is a multifaceted problem and requires multifaceted solutions beyond access to adequate and nutritious food, focusing on women’s education, child care, improved sanitation and clean drinking water. It is necessary to understand the budget allocation for various nutrition-oriented programs including women’s education, sanitation, water, environmental sanitation and personal hygiene etc. through this lens.
The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), now known as Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, has been allocated Rs 20,554 crore in the current fiscal year – a modest increase of 1 percent over the revised fiscal year estimates. On the other hand, the budget allocation for Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (mid-day meal) has decreased from Rs 12,800 crore in FY’24 to Rs 11,600 crore in FY’23 (RE). Due to the reopening of schools and Anganwadi centers due to the pandemic shutdown, the total allocation for the mid-day meal program has increased by 25 percent in the revised fiscal year.
Under the National Education Mission’s comprehensive education programme, Samagra Shiksha, the budget outlay for girls’ education is Rs 37,453 crore (just 0.2 per cent more than last year’s budget estimate). The total allocation for SAMBAL (including Beti Bacho, Beti Padhao scheme) was 562 crore in FY’24 – same as Budget 2022 estimate. It should be noted that in FY23, 41 percent of the budget allocation was unutilized under the SAMBAL scheme. Instead, the best policy option is to provide liberal scholarships and financial incentives to reduce dropout rates among female students, especially at secondary and tertiary levels.
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Another important sector for food insecurity is sanitation. There has been a dramatic increase in the budget allocation for Jal Jivan Mission and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. However, about 30 percent of the budgetary allocation under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) was not utilized in FY23. Despite improved sanitation coverage (48.5 percent in 2015-16 to 70.2 percent in 2019-21) and clean drinking water facilities (94.4 percent in 2015-16 to 95.9 percent in 2019-21), according to NFHS-5 data, the nutritional status of women and children is no No improvement. Even today, India has incredibly high levels of malnutrition. 35.5 percent of children under the age of five are declining. Additionally, there are large regional differences in child maltreatment rates, with major clusters in the districts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh.
It is important that nutrition-related programs begin to focus on behavior change and create awareness among citizens about healthy sanitation practices, nutrition, child care activities, and their relationship to nutrition. Clearly, governments’ efforts to improve women’s access to education, child health care and access to sanitation facilities have acknowledged the earlier goal of reducing child stunting (age 0-6 years) to 25 percent under the POSHAN Abhiyan.
The Union Budget 2023 has tightened the purse strings for POSHAN, which could further hamper India’s progress in achieving universal nutrition for women and children. Until the government urgently addresses the multifaceted determinants of undernutrition through balanced and regionally focused nutrition-sensitive interventions, India is unlikely to overcome the challenges of nutrition security.
Shyma Jose is a Fellow at ICRIER (Twitter @shyma_jose), and Kriti Khurana is a PhD Scholar, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad (Twitter: @kritikhurana12).
(Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)
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