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.
It asks 2 things — 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 · By the Tendulkar method, India's poverty ratio fell from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 21.9% in 2011-12, yet the Global Hunger Index 2019 put child stunting at 37.9% and wasting at 20.8%.
Cover
- Calorie puzzle: rural per-person calorie intake in NSS surveys fell by nearly 9% between 1983 and 2004-05 even as incomes rose (Deaton and Drèze).
- Narrow measure: expenditure-based poverty lines capture minimum consumption, not diet quality; hidden hunger from protein and micronutrient deficits escapes the count.
- Absorption and inheritance: poor sanitation and infections reduce nutrient absorption; undernourished mothers pass hunger to the next generation.
- Health costs: public health spending was 1.15% of GDP; NHP 2017 calls catastrophic health expenditure one of the major contributors to poverty.
- Private substitutes: weak public schools and clinics push families to fees and tuition, while transport, fuel and rent take more of the budget.
- Cereal-heavy safety net: food schemes supply grain more than pulses, milk, eggs and vegetables, so squeezed diets are calorie-heavy but nutrient-poor.
- Counterview and remedies: NFSA 2013, PDS, mid-day meals and POSHAN Abhiyaan cushion households; raise health spending to the 2.5% target and diversify food baskets.
Close with · India's commitment under SDG 2, to 'end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition', needs the State to bear health and schooling costs so that household money goes to food.
Add value (verified)
- Planning Commission (Tendulkar method): the poverty ratio was 21.9% for India in 2011-12 (rural 25.7%, urban 13.7%), down from 37.2% in 2004-05.Press Note on Poverty Estimates, 2011-12 - Planning Commission, July 2013 (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“The percentage of persons below the Poverty Line in 2011-12 has been estimated as 25.7% in rural areas, 13.7% in urban areas and 21.9% for the country as a whole. The respective ratios for the rural and urban areas were 41.8% and 25.7% and 37.2% for the country as a whole in 2004-05.”
- Global Hunger Index 2019: India's child wasting rate was 20.8 per cent, the highest of any country in the report, and its child stunting rate 37.9 per cent.2019 Global Hunger Index report (Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe) ↗“India's child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available. Its child stunting rate, 37.9 percent”
- National Health Policy 2017 identifies catastrophic expenditure on health care as one of the major contributors to poverty.National Health Policy 2017 - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“the growing incidences of catastrophic expenditure due to health care costs, which are presently estimated to be one of the major contributors to poverty”
- National Health Policy 2017 set a goal of raising government health spending from the existing 1.15% of GDP to 2.5% by 2025.National Health Policy 2017 - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“Increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025.”
- SDG 2: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.Goal 2 - United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development ↗“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 219words · Minimalist IAS
By the Tendulkar method, poverty fell from 37.2% (2004-05) to 21.9% (2011-12), yet the Global Hunger Index 2019 put child stunting at 37.9% and wasting at 20.8%. People have crossed the line without escaping hunger.
Why poverty and hunger are diverging
- Calorie puzzle: NSS data show rural calorie intake fell nearly 9% between 1983 and 2004-05 as incomes rose (Deaton and Drèze).
- Narrow measure: expenditure lines miss diet quality and hidden hunger from micronutrient deficits.
- Poor absorption: bad sanitation and infections waste nutrients.
How shrinking social spending squeezes the food budget
- Health shocks: public health spending was 1.15% of GDP; the National Health Policy 2017 calls catastrophic health costs a major contributor to poverty.
- Private substitutes: weak public schools and clinics push families to fees and tuition.
- Cereal-heavy safety net: rations favour grain over pulses and milk, so squeezed diets stay nutrient-poor.
- Low public spending
- Out-of-pocket health and school costs
- Non-food share rises
- Food budget squeezed
- Hidden hunger
Counterview and way forward
- Existing cushions: NFSA 2013, mid-day meals and POSHAN Abhiyaan help; scale and quality are the issue.
- Reforms: reach the NHP's 2.5% target and add pulses to food baskets.
India's pledge under SDG 2, to 'end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition', needs the State to carry health and schooling costs so household money goes to food.
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.
