title: A life-cycle approach to food and nutrition security in India.
abstract: India's poor performance on critical food and nutrition security indicators despite substantial economic prosperity has been widely documented. These failings not only hamper national progress, but also contribute significantly to the global undernourished population, particularly children. While the recently passed National Food Security Act 2013 adopts a life-cycle approach to expand coverage of subsidized food grains to the most vulnerable households and address food security, there remains much to be desired in the legislation. Access to adequate food for 1.24 billion people is a multifaceted problem requiring an interconnected set of policy measures to tackle the various factors affecting food and nutrition security in India. In the present opinion paper, we discuss a fivefold strategy that incorporates a life-cycle approach, spanning reproductive health, bolstering citizen participation in existing national programmes, empowering women, advancing agriculture and better monitoring the Public Distribution System in order to fill the gaps in both access and adequacy of food and nutrition.
authors.affiliation: 1Tata Institute of Social Sciences,V N Purav Marg,Deonar,Mumbai 400088,Maharashtra,India.
authors.forename: Rajesh Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.affiliation: 1Tata Institute of Social Sciences,V N Purav Marg,Deonar,Mumbai 400088,Maharashtra,India.
authors.forename: Sandhya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: 2Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies,Tata Institute of Social Sciences,Mumbai,India.
authors.forename: Madhushree
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sekher
authors.affiliation: 3School of Geosciences,The University of Sydney,Sydney,Australia.
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pritchard
authors.affiliation: 4School of Business,Discipline of Economics,The University of Western Australia,Crawley,Australia.
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rammohan
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000191:economics / Q000254:growth & development; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D063105:Food Assistance; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics*; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D011209:Power, Psychological; D058996:Quality Improvement; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D014933:Women's Rights
keywords: India