India’s impressive economic growth has not led to reduction in undernutrition among its children, according to a Harvard university study. It says the government should use its growing revenue for direct investments in aid like food stamps.
The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study analysed malnutrition by region in India. It said undernutrition was worst in poor and populous states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It was less common in the northeastern states like Mizoram and Manipur and in Kerala.
The study by HSPH associate professor S V Subramanian, analysed economic and children's growth patterns from data based on the National Family Health Surveys on 77,326 Indian children in 1992-93, 1998-99 and 2005-06. The study said India was not on track for achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on reducing child mortality. Given that undernutrition between 6 and 59 months of age contributes to 25-50 per cent of the mortality in that age group, reducing undernutrition is imperative to achieving the goals.
“The findings suggest economic growth has no automatic connection to reducing childhood undernutrition,” it said. While the researchers found the prevalence of undernutrition decreased slightly during the study period, the decline did not correspond with the increase in economic growth.
The authors said an explanation to the trend is that India’s rapid economic growth “may have benefited only the privileged sections of society.” Economic growth in India is largely driven by the service and technology sector, benefiting mostly the “privileged section” of the country. However, majority of the population is engaged in farming or manufacturing. “It may, therefore, require India’s government to use its growing tax revenues for direct aid like food or food stamps,” Subramanian said.
Other studies have shown that educating women and reducing birth rates do more to keep children fed than macroeconomic growth, said the study, which Subramanian co-authored with Malavika Subramanyam, postdoctoral fellow at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.
