There is a growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and hunger in India. The shrinking of social expenditure by the government is forcing the poor to spend more on non-food essential items squeezing their food-budget. — Elucidate.
Approach · directive: “elucidate”
What it asks · Explain why poverty measured by expenditure has fallen while hunger and undernutrition persist, and how weak public provision of health, education and other services diverts household budgets from food.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Elucidate the divergence: why poverty by the expenditure line has fallen while hunger persists
- Elucidate how shrinking social expenditure raises non-food spending and squeezes the poor's food budget
Open with · Official poverty ratios have fallen since the 1990s, yet undernutrition remains high, so the poor may be less poor by the line but no less hungry.
Cover
- Divergence: official poverty ratios fell sharply after the early 1990s, but stunting, anaemia and poor diets persist, so hunger has fallen more slowly.
- Calorie puzzle: rural per-person calorie intake in NSS surveys fell by about a tenth between 1983 and 2004-05 even as incomes rose (Deaton and Drèze); analysts cite lower calorie needs, shifts in spending and diets short of proteins and micronutrients.
- Non-food essentials: rising costs of health care, private schooling and tuition, transport, fuel and rent take a larger share of budgets and squeeze food.
- Weak public provision: low public spending on health and education pushes families to private providers, and out-of-pocket health costs push many households into poverty.
- Measurement limits: expenditure-based poverty lines capture minimum consumption, not nutrition or hidden hunger, and food schemes supply grain more than pulses, milk, eggs and vegetables.
- Other causes: poor sanitation and infections reduce nutrient absorption, and undernourished mothers and low female status pass hunger across generations.
- Counterview and remedies: NFSA 2013, PDS, mid-day meals and POSHAN Abhiyaan cushion households; more social spending, diverse PDS baskets and better sanitation are needed.
Close with · Ending hunger needs public provision of health, education and nutrition so that household budgets can go to food and not to basic services.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 228 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Official poverty ratios have fallen steadily since the early 1990s, yet stunting, anaemia and poor diets persist: households have crossed the poverty line without escaping hunger.
Poverty and hunger diverge
- Calorie puzzle: NSS data show rural calorie intake per person fell by about a tenth between 1983 and 2004-05 even as incomes rose (Deaton and Drèze), so higher spending did not mean better nutrition.
- Measurement: expenditure-based poverty lines capture minimum consumption, not diet quality; hidden hunger from a lack of proteins and micronutrients escapes the count.
- Poor sanitation and repeated infections reduce nutrient absorption, and undernourished mothers pass hunger to the next generation.
The squeeze on food
- Weak public provision: low public spending on health and education pushes families to private clinics, schools and tuition, whose costs rise faster than food prices.
- Out-of-pocket health costs push many households into poverty; transport, fuel and rent take a further share of the budget.
- Food schemes supply cereals more than pulses, milk, eggs and vegetables, so the diet that survives the squeeze is calorie-heavy but nutrient-poor.
Counterview
- NFSA 2013, the PDS, mid-day meals and POSHAN Abhiyaan cushion households; the problem is the scale and quality of social spending, not its absence.
Ending hunger requires the State to provide health, education and nutrition reliably, so that the poor's own money can go to food rather than to services the State should supply.
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.