Hunger Watch Survey reveals alarming food insecurity in India

By Sujata Jena

Bhubaneswar, Feb 23, 2022: The recent Hunger Watch Survey reveals an alarming state of food insecurity and economic distress in India.

The study was conducted by the Right to Food Campaign India along with a number of associated organizations and the results were released February 23 at the Press Club of India, New Delhi.

According to the study, close to 80 percent of those surveyed reported some form of food insecurity. A staggering 25 percent reported severe food insecurity for six months after the devastating second wave of the corona pandemic.

The survey also revealed that more than 60 percent were unable to eat healthy or nutritious food, or could eat only a few varieties of foods in the month preceding the survey.

The survey says that about 45 percent respondents reported that their households ran out of food in the month preceding the survey.

A third of the respondents reported they or someone in their household went to bed hungry.

Other findings are:

As many as 66 percent said their income decreased as compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Overall, 40 percent households with working members, and 31 percent of the total Hunger Watch-II sample reported that current incomes are less than half the pre-pandemic levels.

The report says, close to 45 percent households had some outstanding debt. Around 21 percent respondents have a total debt of more than 50,000 rupees.

The Right to Food campaign first conducted the Hunger Watch survey a few months after the national lockdown in 2020.

The Hunger Watch-II was conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal during December 2021 and January this year.

As many as 6,697 responded from 14 states of which 31 percent o the surveyed households were Scheduled Tribals, 25 percent Scheduled Castes, 19 percent General category, 15 percent Other Backward Classes and 6 percent were Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.

The survey aimed to track the hunger situation among vulnerable communities through in-person surveys and to follow up the survey with local action demanding access to rights and entitlements.

It was also to draw public attention to the scale of the problem and build public consciousness around the prevailing situation of hunger in the country.

The big concern, according to the Hunger Watch II is that 70 percent households surveyed with working members have total monthly incomes of less than 7,000 rupees.

And only 34 percent of the national sample reported that their household’s cereal consumption was sufficient.

According to the study, some government schemes seemed to have performed well, as 84 percent households have ration cards and more than 90 percent of ration card holders said they received some food grains. However, a quarter of households with eligible members said that they did not receive benefits. Many are left out of the food security net, calling for urgent strengthening and expansion of these schemes, the survey asserted.

Anjali Bhardwaj, a core team member of the National Right to Food Campaign told at the press release, “The challenge is that both the state and central governments are in denial mode. They do not acknowledge a food insecurity problem exists in the country. We hope, the governments take cognizance of this report and start rolling out proper schemes to combat serious food insecurity.”

Raj Sekhar, the coordinator of the National Right to Food Campaign, said they would submit the Hunger Watch report to the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister Office. The main concern is the cancellation of the ration card without a valid reason. “We would file a PIL on this ground,” he added.

The campaign demands:

• Universalization of the Public Distribution System (PDS) to give subsidized rations to everyone who demands it

• Expansion of the PDS to provide millet and other nutritious commodities such as pulses and oil while procuring these at the Minimum Support Price

• The extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana until such time that the pandemic continues, with the provision of edible oil and pulses to each household

• Ensure immediate implementation of the June 29, 2021, order of the Supreme Court that directed provision of dry rations to all migrant workers being non-ration cardholders and that community kitchen should be opened to provide cooked food to people in need.

• Hot cooked meals under ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) and midday meals should be revived immediately. The budgets for these programs should make adequate provisions for the inclusion of eggs and a nutrient-dense diet in the meals. Hot cooked meals should extend to children under three years of age through creches and to pregnant and lactating women through community kitchens.

• Maternity entitlements should be universalized and made unconditional. The amount of benefit should be increased to at least 6,000 rupees a child, as per the provisions of NFSA (National Food Security Act of 2013).

• Central government contribution for social security pensions should increase at least to 2,000 rupees.

• Revive National Family Benefit Scheme by increasing its budget and a big increase in emergency assistance (initially 10,000 rupees raised to 20,000 rupees in 2012) is also required which is long overdue.

• Child care services must be expanded through making adequate budgetary provisions for Anganwadi-cum-creches, expansion of the National Creche scheme, creches under the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005), and so on.

• Allocation for NREGA should be increased to provide at least 200 days of work per year to all rural households seeking employment, at least at the statutory minimum wage. Delays in wage payments are a direct consequence of inadequate budget allocation. A supplementary allocation to meet the demand must be made in the first quarter of the new financial year.

• Wages of all workers providing care work, such as Anganwadi Workers and Helpers, should be enhanced and decent working conditions for them ensured.

The Right to Food campaign is an informal network of individuals and organizations committed to the realization of the right to food and human life in India.

The campaign began in 2001, as an offshoot of public interest litigation in the Supreme Court, and quickly grew into a countrywide movement. It has its secretariat in New Delhi.