Context

• Despite India's remarkable strides in economic development and expansive welfare initiatives, malnutrition remains a pressing national challenge.
• Nowhere is this issue more starkly visible than in the persistent nutritional inequality faced by women and girls.
• The government’s flagship programme, the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyaan, launched in 2018 to create a malnutrition-free India by 2022, has made some gains.
• Yet, deep-rooted gender disparities continue to undermine the programme’s objectives, exposing critical gaps in the way India tackles nutrition.

Structural Failures in Addressing Gendered Malnutrition

• The data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 reveals a sobering reality: 57% of women aged 15 to 49 are anaemic compared to just 26% of men, and nearly one in five women remain underweight.
• This stark gender gap reflects structural failures that go beyond mere nutritional access.
• Although POSHAN Abhiyaan, restructured as ‘POSHAN 2.0,’ is India’s largest nutrition-focused initiative with significant financial backing.
• ₹24,000 crore allocated in 2022–23 for the Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 programmes, results have been underwhelming.
• Only 69% of these funds had been utilised by the end of 2022, and ironically, anaemia among women has increased since the previous NFHS round.
• These figures highlight a central truth: pouring funds into a programme does not guarantee its success.
• Cultural norms in India, particularly in impoverished households, often ensure that women and girls eat last and least when resources are scarce.
• Nutrition, therefore, is not just a biological or economic issue, it is a deeply social one, rooted in systemic gender inequality.

Empowerment as a Nutritional Strategy and The Limits of Awareness Without Access

• Empowerment as a Nutritional Strategy
  • Crucially, the link between women’s empowerment and nutritional outcomes has been well documented.
  • Research, including by Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo, confirms that when women control household income, there is a direct positive impact on family nutrition.
  • Field studies among low-income communities echo this finding: women with financial autonomy or even modest control over household resources are significantly less likely to be undernourished.
  • However, the reality of women’s economic status in India remains bleak.
  • While female labour force participation rose from 23% in 2017–18 to 33% in 2021–22, most of these jobs are insecure and poorly paid.
  • Only 5% of working women hold regular salaried employment, while nearly 20% are self-employed, predominantly in the informal sector.
  • Alarmingly, self-employed women earn on average 53% less than their male counterparts.
  • Without stable incomes, skills training, or workplace protections, employment alone does little to elevate women’s economic power or nutritional health.
• The Limits of Awareness Without Access
  • While the government hails POSHAN Abhiyaan for generating public awareness and building a Jan Andolan or people’s movement around nutrition, information alone cannot remedy structural deprivation.
  • If a woman lacks control over household spending, no amount of awareness will help her access the nutritious food she needs.
  • Awareness without empowerment merely amplifies frustration rather than creating change.

The Way Forward: Towards a Holistic and Convergent Approach

• To make a meaningful dent in malnutrition, POSHAN 2.0 must evolve beyond isolated interventions.
• First, the programme must integrate measurable indicators not just for physical outcomes like anaemia or stunting, but also for socio-economic empowerment, such as the percentage of women with independent income or financial decision-making power.
• Second, it must promote interdepartmental collaboration. Nutrition programmes should be tightly integrated with health, education, and livelihood initiatives, especially in regions with high malnutrition rates.
• Third, India’s Anganwadi centres, which are pivotal delivery points for food and care, should be reimagined as multifunctional hubs.
• Beyond meals and maternal care, these centres can offer skill-building workshops, access to credit schemes, and job training.
• Such convergence could transform Anganwadis into powerful community anchors for women’s welfare and economic independence.

Conclusion

• India’s malnutrition challenge cannot be resolved through food distribution alone. Real change will come when women are no longer seen as passive recipients of welfare schemes but are recognised as active agents of societal progress.
• Economic independence, social agency, and equitable access to resources are not peripheral goals, they are central to the success of nutrition programmes like POSHAN.
• A malnutrition-free India is possible, but only if it is built on the foundation of gender equality and empowerment.
• Ensuring that every woman can nourish herself and her family with dignity and choice must be the cornerstone of India’s nutritional future.