How far do you agree with the view that the focus on lack of availability of food as the main cause of hunger takes the attention away from ineffective human development policies in India?
Approach · directive: “how far do you agree”
What it asks · Judge how far hunger in India stems from weak access, health, sanitation and nutrition policies rather than shortage of food, while accepting that availability still matters.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Take a position: how far hunger reflects weak access, utilisation and human development policies rather than food availability
- Qualify: where food availability still matters, and what a nutrition-sensitive policy should look like
Open with · India produces enough foodgrain and holds large public stocks, yet many remain hungry or malnourished, which suggests the problem lies more in access and utilisation than in supply.
Cover
- Availability is not the main gap: record foodgrain output and large buffer stocks coexist with child stunting and anaemia; NFHS-4 (2015–16) found about 38 per cent of children under five stunted.
- Access: poverty, low wages and weak purchasing power, plus PDS leakages and exclusion errors, keep food out of reach despite the National Food Security Act, 2013; Amartya Sen's entitlement approach explains hunger amid supply.
- Utilisation: unsafe water, poor sanitation and infections reduce nutrient absorption; poor infant feeding, maternal undernutrition and low women's education pass malnutrition across generations.
- Human development policies: weak delivery of ICDS, mid-day meals, primary health and maternal care, and low public spending on health and education, explain persistent undernutrition.
- Diet quality: 'hidden hunger' in protein and micronutrients follows from cereal-heavy diets, with pulses, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables costly or scarce for poor households.
- Where availability still matters: regional and seasonal shortages, price spikes, climate shocks, post-harvest losses and stock management affect food security.
- Way forward: a nutrition-sensitive approach with POSHAN Abhiyaan (2018), better anganwadi services, sanitation, women's education, DBT and PDS reform, and dietary diversification such as millets and fortification.
Close with · The view is largely correct: food supply is necessary but not sufficient; ending hunger needs income, health, sanitation and education policies that turn available food into nutrition.
Add value (verified)
- Article 47, a Directive Principle, makes raising the level of nutrition and improving public health among the State's primary duties, not only ensuring food supply. The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 47 — Legislative Department ↗“The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 285 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
India grows enough foodgrain and holds large public stocks, yet hunger and malnutrition persist, which points to failures of access and utilisation, the domain of human development policy, rather than of supply.
Why availability is not the main cause
- The paradox: record foodgrain output and overflowing buffer stocks coexist with widespread child stunting and anaemia; NFHS-4 (2015–16) found about 38 per cent of children under five stunted.
- Access: poverty, low wages and weak purchasing power, plus PDS leakages and exclusion errors, keep food out of reach despite the National Food Security Act, 2013; Amartya Sen's entitlement approach shows hunger arising from failed entitlements, not empty granaries.
- Utilisation: unsafe water, poor sanitation and repeated infections stop children absorbing nutrients; poor infant feeding, maternal undernutrition and low women's education pass malnutrition across generations.
- Policy delivery: weak ICDS and mid-day meal implementation, thin primary health and maternal care, and low public spending on health and education explain persistent undernutrition better than harvests do.
- Diet quality: 'hidden hunger' in protein and micronutrients follows cereal-heavy diets, with pulses, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables costly for poor households.
- Constitutional cue: Article 47 makes raising nutrition levels and improving public health a primary duty of the State, not merely ensuring food supply.
Where availability still matters
- Regional and seasonal shortages, price spikes, climate shocks, post-harvest losses and poor stock management still threaten food security, especially in remote and tribal areas.
Way forward
- A nutrition-sensitive approach: POSHAN Abhiyaan (2018), stronger anganwadi services, sanitation, women's education, PDS reform and DBT, and dietary diversification through millets and fortification.
The view is largely correct: food supply is necessary but not sufficient; ending hunger needs income, health, sanitation and education policies that turn available food into nutrition.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.