Over Half Of India’s Disease Burden Results From Unhealthy Diets: ICMR Report

Do you think a broader distribution of pulses would further enable dietary diversity and protein availability in India?

Do you think a broader distribution of pulses would further enable dietary diversity and protein availability in India?

From Food Security to Nutrition Security: What is a healthy diet? It comprises an optimal quantity and mix of macro- and micro-nutrients that form the basis of a healthy life. While India has made some progress in reducing the challenge of insufficient calorie intake, challenges around the quality of nutrition remain and need to be addressed at scale as a national priority.

1. First is the challenge of 'hidden hunger' or micro-nutrient deficiencies resulting from Indian diets being more rice- and wheat-based than is optimal. There is insufficient (albeit increasing) availability, affordability, and consumption of protein from pulses, eggs, and flesh foods, as well as low consumption of other micro-nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables and fruits. A related concern is that crops' protein- and micro-nutrient content is falling due to soil quality degradation and climate change's impact.
2. Second, there is a growing challenge of obesity (often co-existing alongside micro-nutrient deficiencies) resulting from easy access to and consumption of energy-dense and high-fat, salt & sugar foods.

The need for a cohesive multi-sectoral approach:

The agriculture, public distribution system, education, health, and women's empowerment sectors have important roles to play. Many solutions and policies exist, but practical implementation and rapid scale-up are the need of the hour. This multi-sectoral scale-up can be facilitated through a 'Nutrition Budget' within the National and State Budgets, along the lines of Gender Budgeting introduced for women's empowerment.

The 'AAA' approach ensuring availability, accessibility, affordability:

• Availability: The agriculture sector forms the core base of nutrition security by driving the availability of diverse, nutrient-rich foods. The need today is of a combination of efforts to shift agricultural incentives to promote pulses, vegetables, fruits, and traditional crops such as millets; mainstream nutrition-sensitive agriculture, including that led by women, SHGs and FPOs; experimenting with vertical and rooftop gardens in urban areas where lack of space is a challenge; reducing wastage of fresh foods through better supply chains; and improving the nutrient content of foods, as is being done. The nutrient-content enhancement would be enabled by a balance between intensive agriculture that emphasises yield and regenerative or other approaches that emphasise nutrition quality; biofortification; R&D into nutrient-rich and climate-resilient varieties; and promotion of start-ups and technology in areas such as precision agriculture and the use of AI.
• Accessibility and Affordability: The Public Distribution System (PDS) addresses these concerns. The supply of millet needs to be scaled up from its current share of less than 2%, with localised procurement, production, milling, and distribution systems to account for shorter shelf lives.