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.
It asks 2 things — 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 harvested a record 284.83 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2017-18; since then, the Global Hunger Index 2018 ranked it 103rd of 119 countries: hunger amid plenty points to failures of access and absorption.
Cover
- Surplus amid hunger: the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found grain stocks far above buffer norms.
- Entitlement failure: Amartya Sen's entitlement approach; low wages and informal work keep food out of reach.
- Leaky delivery: 46.7% PDS diversion in 2011-12 (Shanta Kumar), despite NFSA 2013 covering up to 75% rural and 50% urban people.
- Poor absorption and weak human development delivery: sanitation, infections, ICDS, maternal care; NFHS-4 found about 38% of under-fives stunted; hidden hunger from cereal-heavy diets.
- Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition a primary duty of the State.
- Where availability still matters: droughts, price spikes, post-harvest losses and remote tribal pockets; food security needs access at all times.
- Way forward: POSHAN Abhiyaan (2018) convergence, cleaner PDS, diet diversity (millets, pulses, eggs, fortification), WASH and women's education.
Close with · SDG target 2.2, ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030, will be met by policies that turn food into nutrition, not by bigger granaries.
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”
- Fourth Advance Estimates put India's 2017-18 foodgrain production at a record 284.83 million tonnes.4th Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2017-18 - PIB, 28 August 2018 ↗“total Foodgrain production in the country is estimated at 284.83 million tonnes”
- The Global Hunger Index 2018 ranked India 103rd (joint, with Nigeria) of the 119 countries it ranked; India's score was 31.1.Global Hunger Index 2018 report (Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide) ↗“103 India 38.8 38.8 32.2 31.1”
- The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee on restructuring FCI found PDS diversion of 46.7 per cent in 2011-12 and grain stocks far above buffer norms.Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI - PIB, January 2015 ↗“diversions of grains from PDS amounted to 46.7 percent in 2011-12”
- The NFSA, 2013 gives a legal right to subsidised grain to up to three-quarters of rural and half of urban residents.NFSA Act - Department of Food and Public Distribution (nfsa.gov.in) ↗“The Act legally entitles upto 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized foodgrains”
- SDG target 2.2 commits to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.Goal 2 - United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (sdgs.un.org) ↗“Target 2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 340words · Minimalist IAS
In 2017-18 India harvested a record 284.83 million tonnes of foodgrain; since then, the Global Hunger Index 2018 ranked it 103rd of 119 countries. Hunger amid plenty shows the view is largely right: the binding constraints are access and absorption, which human development policy governs.
Why a focus on availability misleads
- Surplus amid hunger: the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found grain stocks far above buffer norms while millions went hungry.
- Entitlement failure: Amartya Sen's entitlement approach shows hunger arises when people lose the means to command food; low wages and informal work do exactly that.
- Leaky delivery: PDS diversion was 46.7 per cent in 2011-12 (Shanta Kumar), though the NFSA, 2013 entitles up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban people.
- Poor absorption: unsafe water, poor sanitation and repeated infections stop children absorbing nutrients; NFHS-4 (2015–16) found about 38 per cent of under-fives stunted.
- Weak human development delivery: thin ICDS and anganwadi services, weak maternal care and low women's education pass undernutrition across generations.
- Hidden hunger: cereal-heavy diets lack protein and micronutrients; pulses, milk, eggs and vegetables are costly for poor households.
- Constitutional cue: Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition and improving public health a primary duty of the State, not merely supplying grain.
- Record harvest
- Leaky PDS, low incomes
- Unsafe water, infections
- Stunting and anaemia
Where availability still matters
- Shocks and pockets: droughts, price spikes, post-harvest losses and remote tribal areas still face real shortages. Food security means access for all people at all times, so stable supply remains one pillar.
Way forward
- Convergence: POSHAN Abhiyaan (2018) links ICDS, health and sanitation; it needs funds and frontline staff.
- Cleaner PDS: digitised, transparent distribution to cut diversion and exclusion errors.
- Diet diversity: millets, pulses and eggs in meals, plus fortification, against hidden hunger.
- Human development: safe water, sanitation and girls' education as nutrition policy.
SDG target 2.2, to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030, will be met not by bigger granaries but by policies that turn available food into nutrition: incomes, health, sanitation and women's education.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
