Comments on: India is booming – so why are nearly half of its children malnourished? (Part 2)

By: Meg Towle

Meg Towle — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:57:02 +0000

Thanks for your comments.

Tom, your galleries are phenomenal.

Parth, you’re right about these schemes – the ‘Bolsa India’ scheme is a name play on Brazil’s conditional cash transfer programme. There is one in piloting now that will give mothers cash transfers for meeting certain requirements in antenatal and newborn care.

There is another ‘Right to Food’ scheme, which the Economist article refers to, in discussion now. This is one of many attempts to minimize losses in public distribution systems (e.g. biometric pilots, the UID project) and reach the most vulnerable households – but it’s a bit of speculation right now until we see anything at scale. There are many, many issues to be worked out to get these systems close to functioning.

By: Parth Vaishnav

Parth Vaishnav — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:43:05 +0000

Very informative couple of posts.

A recent Economist article (http://www.economist.com/node/18485871) covered similar ground, and called for a ‘bolsa India’, which is what the conditional cash transfer scheme appears to be.

Also, here is the response by a distinguished economist to Amartya Sen’s comment about India’s “stupid obsession” with economic growth.
http://swaminomics.org/?p=1944

I don’t think levels of social spending are as much of an issue as a leaky, poorly-run system.

By: Tom Piertasik

Tom Piertasik — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:18:55 +0000

Your excellent article reminds us that, as Amartya Sen has observed, the obsession with India’s economic growth provides too convenient a distraction from the persistent problem of hunger. I was reminded last week of the human cost of what Sen has called a “stupid” obsession with growth when an Adivasi (tribal) man I had photographed in eastern India died from a hunger-related infection. He was suffering from tuberculosis and weighed just 30kg.

By: Meg Towle

Meg Towle — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 04:08:26 +0000

Thanks for your comment – and we would agree that nutrition is seriously lacking on the political agenda, and has for a long time. India needs a nutrition strategy, and committed expertise and leadership. Nutrition is a complicated, long-term issue so it’s less compelling politically than other quick-wins.

By: Brajeshmerta

Brajeshmerta — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:24:13 +0000

Dear Sir,
Country with a 1 billion people and many billionaires lacks the political will to take it forward,learn from mistakes,social thinking.The precious 5 year term of a government is spent only on how to get more fund to win the next elections.(except few states)
A paradigm shift in the thinking of the netas and babus is the only available way we can come up.We have enough resource but dont know how to use it.
No single local organisation can replace the power of the govt..Just willingness needed.

By: India is booming – so why are nearly half of its children malnourished? (Part 1) – State of the Planet

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:00:56 +0000

[...] At the same time, it is also important to emphasize that India is an enormous and diverse country, and much of health and nutrition programming is directed at the state level. Growth-nutrition strategies will look very different across the country, and there is much work to be done in thinking through these regional challenges. In our next post, we’ll talk about what India is doing to address its nutrition challenges, and wh…. [...]