Undernutrition and Public Policy in India

Sonalde Desai is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland College Park, USA, and holds a joint appointment as Senior Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, India. Lawrence Haddad is Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Poverty Health and Nutrition Division, USA. Deepta Chopra is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, where she leads the work on women’s and girls’ empowerment. Amit Thorat is Associate Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, India.

Introduction Part I The State of Undernutrition in India 1. The Assessment of Nutritional Status in India During the Dual Nutritional Burden Era 2. The Elephant in the Dark: Finding Ways to End India’s Hunger and Malnutrition 3. Commentary – Recent Evidence Shows Slow Improvement in Undernutrition in India Part II Identifying the Policy Gaps 4. Improving Sanitation is a Policy Priority for Children's Human Capital in Rural India: Lessons from Recent Literature and the IHDS 5. Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and the Nutritional Status of Children in India: Understanding the Linkages and Structuring the Response 6. Women’s Agency and Child Underweight Rates in India in the Context of Agriculture: A District Level Analysis 7. Maternal Nutrition: Breaking the Intergeneration Cycle of Malnutrition- Significance, Challenges and Opportunities 8. Commentary: Undernutrition in India–A Case of Public Policy in Inertia Part III Getting Existing Programs to Work Better 9. Governance Challenges to Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition in India 10. What Factors Support or Limit Convergence in Service Delivery to Improve Nutritional Outcomes: A Study of Policies and Programs in India 11. Tackling Child Malnutrition in India: Achieving the Doable or Chasing the Desirable? 12. Coordination Failure: Can Multi-Sectoral Interventions to Tackle Hunger and Malnutrition Succeed In India 13. Commentary: Untapped Potential of ICDS Part III NFSA: How Optimistic Should We Be? 14. Changes and State-wise Differences in the Nutritional Impact of the Indian Public Distribution System 15. From the Files to the Fields: The Story of Paddy Procurement in Chhattisgarh