Evolution of India’s Policy Response to Hunger, Nutrition, and Food Security Since Independence

At the time of its independence, India did not have enough production of food grains to meet its domestic demand and had to depend on imports. The Indian government’s policy response then naturally laid priority on increasing aggregate food production by launching the green revolution in the late 1960s. Once production became adequate, attention of public policy for providing food and nutritional security to the people shifted to several other areas such as household access to adequate food, enhancing purchasing power, composition of food basket, production of protein- and vitamin-intensive food items, clean drinking water, and sanitary conditions. This paper begins with a discussion of the concepts of nutritional adequacy, food security, and poverty. It then documents the evolutionary process in Indian policy response since the 1950s in SDG-2-related areas like hunger, nutrition, and food security. This is followed by an examination of the state of food and nutritional securities using several key indicators. The paper also briefly discusses how lives could be saved using a nationally functioning public distribution system and employment guarantee schemes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper concludes with a discussion of current efficiency and environmental concerns and possible way forward.