Achieving Zero Hunger In India: Policy Roadmap and Challenges

The goal of Sustainable Development is to accomplish highly required overall

human development without diminishing the environment for future generations.
The goal of Sustainable Development 2 is to eradicate "zero hunger" with eight
associated targets. These associated targets set in motion the overall
development of agriculture that provides healthy food and raises the living
standard of small farmers while maintaining the natural base. Climate change,
carbon emission, excessive use of chemicals, and Locust attacks are just some of
the goals that have been weakened due to Sustainable Development targets.
Food production and access are related to achieving Sustainable Development 2.
Conventional farming harms the environment and is not sustainable in the long
run. The need for an alternative food production system is emphasized. A food
production system that promotes sustainable development is organic farming.
We reviewed the role of organic farming as a food production system. We looked
at the four targets of Sustainable Development 2 and whether organic farming
can achieve the sub-targets. The economic viability of small farmers is assured by
organic farming. Innovative research, practices, stakeholder partnerships, and a
comprehensive framework are recommended.
What is Zero Hunger Challenge ?
It's a charge which aims at bringing together all stakeholders to communicate the
significance of food security, nutrition and inclusive, sustainable and flexible
husbandry and to make the world free from hunger, malnutrition and pastoral
poverty.
The Zero Hunger Challenge is guided by a set of core principles that are
predicated in the Charter of the United Nations and the 2030 docket on
Sustainable Development.
Thing 2 of Sustainable Development Goals End hunger, achieve food security and
bettered nutrition and promote sustainable husbandry aims at ending hunger as
stated. The Zero Hunger Challenge was launched by United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki- moon in 2012 at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development(
Rio 20) in Brazil in June 2012. Causes and Issues Related to Food Scarcity in India
India’s food handbasket differs from region to region, which makes it delicate to
fulfill the requirements of population of every region through domestic product
only. Secondly, shy warehousing installations and cold warehouses is leading to
destruction of about 7 of total periodic food product and nearly 30 of the fruits
and vegetables. According to the estimation of National Centre for Cold- chain
Development( NCCD) the country has only 15 of the needed temperature- control
transportation installations and lower than 1 of storehouse installations
devoted for transportingpre-conditioned agrarian yield. also, lack of large scale
marketable granges and low situations of land connection among small ranch
holders leads to mismanagement in agri product.
This has also farther exacerbated the cycle of pastoral poverty which in turn has
created a poverty situation in the country where small growers have a reduced
capacity to produce food, as utmost of them can not go seeds, diseases and
ultramodern technologies like pump- irrigation, harvester machines, tractors etc.

POLICY ROADMAP
Global Hunger Index
 The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to comprehensively
measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
 It is calculated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
based in Washington, D.C.
 The scores are calculated annually, considering undernutrition, child
wasting, child stunting, child mortality as indicators.

The colorful organs of the government in India function within the frame of the
Constitution which came into effect from January 26, 1950. The Directive
Principles of State Policy in the Constitution of India are considered to be guiding
doctrines ‘ abecedarian in the governance of the country’, though they are n't be
enforceable by a court. They contain several vittles related to nutritive and food
security of the citizens. Composition 47 of the Constitution most directly
recognizes the need to raise the nutritive position of the citizens by declaring ‘
The State shall regard the caregiving of the position of nutrition and the standard
of living of its people and the enhancement of public health as among its primary
duties’. Composition 39 specified certain principles of policy to be followed by the
State’ and the veritably first among them says that the State should direct its
policy towards securing ‘ the citizens, men and women inversely, have the right to
an acceptable means of livelihood’. Further, Composition 35 stipulates ‘ The State
shall endeavour to secure, by suitable legislation or profitable association or in
any other way, to all workers, agrarian, artificial, or else, work, a living pay
envelope, conditions of work icing a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of
rest and social and artistic openings’. Composition 48 is another Directive
Principle which states ‘ The State shall endeavour to organise husbandry and
beast husbandry on ultramodern and scientific lines’. All these indigenous vittles
relate to vacuity, access, and affordability confines of food and nutritive security

Policies Followed for Food and Nutritional Security

Attaining the maximum doable GDP growth subject to available coffers, carrying
corresponding sectoral composition and allocation of investment across sectors
was the main ideal of a plan exercise.
This core exercise was rounded by doable allocations to social weal- perfecting
sectors like health, nutrition, and education. The 5th Plan was the first plan to
essay to formally introduce a target on poverty reduction and integrate it with
GDP growth target with certain hypotheticals on consumption distribution. We
compactly validate below the programs followed on nutrition front grounded on
some of the Five- Time Plans supplemented by a discussion of major programs for
attaining food security.
The First Five- Time Plan initiated by the government in 1951 honored that
nutrition was an important factor for conserving health of the people and that it
affected the productive capacity of an existent. It noted the wide actuality of
undernutrition in the country and lack of defensive food to condense staple
cereals leading to malnutrition in the country.8 The Alternate Five- Time Plan was
foursquare in its admission that it was not possible also to give nutrition at the
optimal position to the entire population within the Plan period. Noting that
damage to proper growth and development at early periods can not be made
good indeed by furnishing acceptable nutrition at a after age’, it initiated certain
schemes aimed at nutritive enhancement for the vulnerable groups of the
population similar as expectant and nursing matter , babies, and children.
The Third Five- Time Plan also expressed a analogous view. The Integrated Child
Development Services( ICDS) Programme started in 1975 to ameliorate the
nutritive and health status of preschool children along with their literacy and
social development. It also aimed at motherly care and condense their nutritive
requirements. The services handed by the Anganwadi workers under ICDS include
supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check- up, referral services and
preschool education. It started in named blocks and gradationally expanded to
other areas. also, programmes for the forestallment of iodine insufficiency
diseases, anaemia, and blindness due to Vitamin A insufficiency were initiated.
The 7th Plan quoted the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau which showed that
nearly 50 of the homes surveyed consumed food which was relatively shy to
meet their conditions of either calories or proteins, or both, and that only 15 of
children could be considered as having a normal status of nutrition; the rest
suffered from varying degrees of under- nutrition. A new element in the 7th Plan
was that the ideal of nutritive policy was stated as adding the functional
effectiveness of the labour force and reduction in child and motherly mortality
rates12 which inferred that the Planning Commission was also substantially
guided by the necessary part of nutrition rather than its natural part. In terms of
policy instruments, the approach of the 7th Plan to nutrition problem was
analogous to that of the before two plans.
The Green Revolution initiated in 1968 in rice and wheat involved the use of
high- yielding variety( HYV) seeds together with irrigation, chemical diseases,
fungicides and use of tractors. Supported by exploration and extension services,
the innovative and threat- taking growers in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar
Pradesh, and some corridor of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were the first to
borrow the new technology that converted the food product system. operation
of the HYV in wheat was particularly a great success in raising its productivity.
Institutional changes like connection of effects carried out before in some
countries handed the right terrain for the use of new technology National

Food Security Act A paradigm shift occurred from ‘welfare’ to ‘rights based’
approach when Parliament passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013
following a rights-based approach for 75% of rural population and 50% of the
urban population or, about two-thirds of the total population in the country. The
Act stipulated public provision of 5 kg of food grains per person per month to
eligible households at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 for wheat, and Rs 1 for coarse
grains. The AAY households continued to receive 35 kg per household per month.
There were additional provisions for pregnant and lactating mothers and children.

Income-Generating Programmes
Orders, one related to tone- employment and another to wage employment.17 In
the first order, the Integrated Rural Development Programmes( IRDP) was started
in 1980 to enable poor homes to cross over the poverty line through tone-
employment. analogous programmes in one name or another have continued
with varying degrees of emphasis to enable livelihood openings. The government
helped in acquiring productive means or subsidized fiscal backing for taking up
conditioning like beast husbandry, fishery, weaving, food processing, small trade,
or other services. These programmes have come under review for amiss targeting
and indecorous identification of feasible systems. pay envelope Employment
programmes too have evolved over time under colorful names like National Rural
Employment Programme or Employment Assurance Scheme to give the pastoral
poor with economic pay envelope employment through public workshop similar
as construction of vill roads, watershed developments, irrigation wells, academy
structures, and houses for the poor. Eventually, a fairly binding act called
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act( MG- NREGA) got
espoused in 2006. The Act guarantees 100 days of public primer employment to a
ménage in a time within 15 days of demand at a specified pay envelope rate. It
was imaged as an open- concluded demand- driven scheme and, by and large,
the demand for employment has been met.
PM-AASHA is an umbrella scheme launched by the Government of India to
ensure remunerative prices for farmers’ produce. The scheme aims to:
 Diversify methods of intervention to be more flexible and effective in
ensuring farmers’ income security
 Rationalize agricultural produce pricing and policies
  Enhance efficiency, reduce wastages and leakages in storage, and achieve
fiscal gains
Key Objectives
1. Ensuring Remunerative Prices: PM-AASHA guarantees Minimum Support
Prices (MSPs) to farmers, ensuring they receive fair prices for their produce.
2. Reducing Market Intervention: The scheme aims to reduce market
intervention by promoting competitive procurement and sale of agricultural
produce.
3. Improving Storage and Logistics: PM-AASHA focuses on upgrading storage
facilities and logistics to minimize wastages and losses during storage and
transportation.

Challenges On Achieving Zero Hunger Vision

1. Poverty
Poverty is one of the most significant walls to addressing hunger in India. It
directly affects people's capability to pierce sufficient and nutritional food.
According to recent estimates, while India has made significant strides in reducing
the number of people living in extreme poverty, a large member of the population
still lives on veritably low inflows. This profitable privation creates a vicious
cycle, where families can not go nutritional food, which in turn affects their
health, productivity, and long- term earning implicit.
How Poverty Contributes to Hunger:
• Limited Income People living in poverty frequently do n't have the fiscal coffers
to buy enough food, especially nutritional food that includes proteins, fruits, and
vegetables. They frequently calculate on cheaper, calorie- thick but nutrient-poor
food, leading to malnutrition. • High Food Prices In numerous cases, oscillations
in food prices due to affectation or poor agrarian yields disproportionately affect
the poor. With limited disposable income, rising food costs push nutritional food
out of reach, worsening food instability. • Geographical difference In pastoral and
remote areas, poverty is indeed more severe, and access to food is limited not just
by income, but by the vacuity of food requests and acceptable transportation.
People in pastoral areas may have to travel long distances to pierce food, adding
the cost and reducing their access to acceptable nutrition.
• Access to coffers Poverty- stricken homes frequently warrant access to crucial
coffers similar as clean water, healthcare, and sanitation, which are pivotal for
proper food immersion and overall health.Poor health and sanitation farther
complicate the goods of undernutrition.
• Debt Traps numerous families in pastoral India calculate on adopting plutocrat
at high interest rates to survive. As debts mount, a significant portion of their
income is directed toward debt prepayment rather than food.
• Intergenerational Poverty Poverty tends to immortalize across generations.
Children born into poor families are more likely to suffer from malnutrition,
suppressed growth, and poor cognitive development, which affect their capability
to escape the poverty cycle as grown-ups. Hunger and malnutrition among
children also reduce their academic performance and unborn employment
openings.
2. Conflicts
Conflicts, both internal and external, significantly impact hunger in India by
disrupting food production, distribution, and access to basic necessities. Conflicts
can take the form of political strife, ethnic tensions, social unrest, and even
regional or border disputes.
How Conflicts Contribute to Hunger:
• relegation of Communities Conflicts frequently lead to the relegation of large
populations. People forced to flee their homes due to violence or conflict are
frequently pulled from their sources of income and food. Deportees or internally
displaced persons( IDPs) end up in temporary harbors where access to food and
clean water is scarce. This relegation disrupts both short- term food vacuity and
long- term food security for these communities.
• dislocation of Agricultural Activity numerous conflicts, particularly in pastoral
areas, directly affect growers, who are essential to the food product chain. When
there's uneasiness, growers may be unfit to tend to their crops, crop yields, or
raise beast. Agrarian lands can be destroyed or abandoned during violent clashes,
leading to reduced food product, which exacerbates hunger in conflict- affected
regions.
• Attainability to requests In conflict zones, the transportation of goods, including
food, is frequently disintegrated. Road leaguers, curfews, and violence can help
food from being transported to areas that need it, creating artificial food dearths
indeed when inventories may be available away. requests in conflict- affected
regions may be closed, leaving people without access to introductory musts. This
insulation drives up food prices and worsens hunger, particularly among the poor.
• Destruction of structure Conflicts can affect in the destruction of critical
structure, similar as roads, islands, and storages, which are essential for the
transportation and storehouse of food. The breakdown of these systems affects
the entire food force chain, leading to food dearths and increased prices, further
fueling hunger in conflict zones.
• Profitable dislocation Conflicts frequently beget wide profitable insecurity,
leading to job losses, reduced income, and affectation, which disproportionately
affect poor populations. People floundering with profitable instability are less
suitable to go food, especially in times of extremity when food prices rise due to
failure or dislocation.
• Impact on Government and Social Services In regions passing conflict,
government services similar as food distribution, social weal programs, and
healthcare may be disintegrated or cease to serve altogether. This leaves
vulnerable populations, including children, the senior, and the poor, without
essential support, aggravating malnutrition and food instability.
• Impact on Women and Children Conflicts frequently disproportionately affect
women and children, who are particularly vulnerable to hunger during times of
extremity. In numerous cases, men are engaged in fighting or leave to search for
work, leaving women to give for families with limited coffers. Children, especially
those under five, are at high threat of malnutrition during ages of conflict due to
limited access to food and healthcare.
3. Problem of Population Growth
India’s rapid population growth is one of the most significant challenges
contributing to hunger and food insecurity. With a population exceeding 1.4
billion people, India is the second-most populous country in the world, and the
increasing number of people places immense pressure on resources such as food,
water, land, and jobs.
How Population Growth Affects Hunger:
• Increased Demand for Food As the population grows, so does the demand for
food. still, food product can not always keep pace with the fleetly adding
population. This leads to dearths, advanced food prices, and eventually, hunger
for the most vulnerable parts of the population, similar as low- income families,
landless growers, and marginalized communities. The strain on food systems
means that indeed though India produces a large quantum of food, it is n't always
sufficient to meet the requirements of everyone.
• Pressure on Agricultural Land India has limited agrarian land, and rapid-fire
population growth increases the demand for land to make casing and structure,
reducing the vacuity of rich land for husbandry. This competition between
urbanization and husbandry leads to land declination, deforestation, and
reduced agrarian productivity, all of which contribute to food dearths. As
metropolises expand and further land is converted fornon-agricultural purposes,
the food product capacity declines, while the population demanding food
continues to grow.
• dropped Per Capita Vacuity of Food Indeed if the total food product increases,
the per capita vacuity of food may drop due to the growing population. This
means that while food might be available, it's inadequate to meet the nutritive
requirements of every existent, leading to malnutrition and undernourishment,
especially among children, women, and the senior.
• Strain on Water coffers Agriculture is largely dependent on water, and the
adding population puts significant pressure on India’s formerly stressed water
coffers. Rapid population growth leads toover-extraction of groundwater and
reduction of gutters and lakes, which affects irrigation and agrarian productivity.
The deficit of water directly impacts food product, making it delicate to sustain
the growing population. In pastoral areas, where husbandry is the primary
livelihood, water failure exacerbates poverty and hunger.
 • Urbanization and Changing Diets As the population grows, further people are
moving to metropolises in hunt of better employment openings. This rapid-fire
urbanization leads to changing salutary patterns, with an increased demand for
reused foods and lower reliance on traditional, locally produced foods. The shift
towards further resource- ferocious foods( similar as meat and dairy products)
puts fresh pressure on food systems, adding the threat of food instability,
particularly in poorer civic areas where access to affordable, nutritional food is
limited.
• Severance and Poverty Population growth frequently outpaces job creation,
leading to high severance rates, particularly among youthful people. Severance
contributes to poverty, making it delicate for families to go introductory musts,
including food. As poverty deepens, families may resort to consuming cheaper,
less nutritional food, leading to long- term health problems similar as
malnutrition, suppressed growth in children, and increased vulnerability to
complaint.
• Malnutrition and Child Hunger India formerly faces high situations of child
malnutrition, and population growth exacerbates this issue. further mouths to
feed means that families, especially those living in poverty, struggle to give
acceptable nutrition for their children. This leads to high rates of
suppressing( bloodied growth and development), wasting( low weight for height),
and undernourishment, particularly in pastoral and marginalized communities.
The population growth also puts pressure on healthcare and educational systems,
making it harder to address malnutrition effectively.
4. Unemployment
Unemployment is one of the critical challenges that exacerbates hunger and
poverty in India. With a large and growing population, the job market is often
unable to provide adequate employment opportunities for all, leading to
widespread unemployment and underemployment. This, in turn, directly affects
people's ability to afford food and meet their basic needs, contributing to food
insecurity and malnutrition.
How Unemployment Affects Hunger:
• Reduced Income and Food Access When individualities are jobless or employed,
they've limited income to buy food. This lack of power makes it delicate for
families to go nutritional and sufficient food, leading to hunger and malnutrition.
In pastoral areas, where husbandry is the primary source of livelihood, seasonal
severance due to poor thunderstorm or crop failure can plunge entire families into
hunger. In civic areas, rising severance in sectors like manufacturing, services, and
construction leads to profitable difficulty, farther contributing to food instability.
• Job Losses Due to Economic retardations Periodic profitable retardations,
similar as the one endured during the COVID- 19 epidemic, affect in massive job
losses. The epidemic- convinced lockdowns led to significant severance, especially
among diurnal pay envelope earners, migratory workers, and those in the
informal frugality. These job losses pushed millions of families into poverty,
making it harder for them to pierce essential particulars, including food.
During similar heads, food instability harpoons, and hunger becomes a wide
issue. 10. Poor Sanitation Conditions Poor sanitation is a critical challenge in
India, deeply intertwined with hunger, malnutrition, and public health issues.
Sanitation encompasses access to clean water, proper waste disposal, hygiene
practices, and the vacuity of toilets. shy sanitation has far- reaching consequences,
affecting the health and nutritive status of individualities, particularly in pastoral
and low- income areas. It's a significant hedge to perfecting food security and
overall well- being in India. How Poor Sanitation Affects Hunger and Malnutrition
• Waterborne conditions and Malnutrition Poor sanitation, including lack of
access to clean drinking water and indecorous waste operation, leads to the
spread of waterborne conditions similar as diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid.
Diarrhea, in particular, is a major cause of malnutrition, especially among children.
When children suffer from repeated bouts of diarrhea due to polluted water or
poor hygiene, they lose essential nutrients, which impairs their growth and
development. This creates a vicious cycle where poor sanitation exacerbates
hunger and malnutrition, leading to suppressed growth and weakened vulnerable
systems.
• Open Defecation and Health pitfalls In numerous corridor of pastoral India,
the practice of open defecation remains common due to a lack of access to proper
restroom installations. Open defecation contaminates water sources and the
girding terrain, adding the spread of conditions that contribute to malnutrition.
According to the World Health Organization( WHO), exposure to fecal impurity
from open defecation is a major factor in the spread of conditions that reduce the
body's capability to absorb nutrients, indeed when food is available. These health
pitfalls are particularly dangerous to children, who are more vulnerable to
infections and malnutrition.
• Impact on Women and Girls Poor sanitation disproportionately affects women
and girls. The lack of access to clean and private toilets can lead to serious health
and safety pitfalls for women, especially during period, gestation, and
parturition. shy sanitation installations at home or in seminaries can help girls
from attending academy regularly, limiting their education and unborn openings.
When women and girls are forced to defecate in open spaces or use unsanitary
installations, their health is compromised, leading to poor nutritive issues and an
increased threat of infections. This not only affects their individual health but also
the overall food security of their homes, as women play a crucial part in food
medication and caregiving.
• Polluted Food and Water Poor sanitation conditions frequently lead to food and
water impurity, adding the liability of foodborne ails. In areas where sanitation
is shy, it's common for food to be prepared and stored in hygienic conditions.
defiled food can beget gastrointestinal conditions, reducing the body’s capability
to absorb nutrients, which directly leads to malnutrition.
Likewise, weakened water used for drinking or cuisine is a significant source of
illness, contributing to malnutrition, particularly in children.

Solutions To Overcome The Obstacles

There's a growing need for the design and development of more effective
integrated systems of food product, processing, preservation and distribution that
can feed the changing food conditions of the nation.
Systems of cold chains which are integrated with husbandry requests should be
developed to reducepost-harvest losses and to allow growers to earn further by
tapping into lucrative requests, while maintaining the quality of their yield.
flexible transportation structure should be established to allow transportation of
food from food fat to food deficiency areas.
 Conditioning similar as upgradation of pastoral structure, training of growers
inpost-harvest practices to minimize losses, integrating small scale enterprises into
value chains, organizing smallholder growers into planter patron associations,
customized fiscal services, investment in agrarian exploration, and last- afar
marketing channels should also come into action.
It also important to insure social equity, gender inclusiveness and making
husbandry less labour ferocious and gender friendly to ameliorate product.
Private companies should invest to bring out implicit results to minimise food
destruction.
A report by the Boston Consulting Group estimates that working the problem of
food loss and destruction is a$ 700 billion occasion for private companies.
Companies are also more deposited as they've the capability to impact consumer
.
For illustration, the retail chain Tesco has started the ‘ Buy one get one free —
latterly’ programme wherein guests can buy certain food particulars and take the
free product latterly when they actually need it. General public mindfulness
around the issue of food destruction should be made through colorful medias.
The government, on its part should make laws that correct companies for wasting
food within their force chain and encourage repurposing and recycling of food
particulars.
For illustration, since 2016, France has been fining grocery stores for throwing
away comestible food.' Disposing is cheaper than using or reusing' station should
be changed gradationally. The planter known as the first party of the frugality,
has to be supported to achieve the loftiest product and productivity and must be
assured a larger share of profit along the value chain.
The current one- way movement of raw accoutrements ( from growers) and a
one- way movement of finished goods( to growers) must be converted into a
two- way movement of commerce. Communication and cooperation between
growers is also demanded as it'll insure no single crop is overproduced.
Communication and cooperation between farmers is also needed as it will ensure
no single crop is overproduced.