ABSTRACT
A development process involves synergies between interventions. This chapter argues that given the multiplicity of sectors involved, the desire for inter-sectoral coordination, as well as the incentive for it, among senior managers located within each sectoral ministry must be very high indeed. Without such intersectoral coordination, it is likely that the individual and separate interventions of the various ministries may not have synergistic impact on nutritional outcomes. Coordination failure is an endemic characteristic of the Indian bureaucracy. The chapter first deals with deep flaws in the current system to ensure household-level food security. Next, it examines the problematic design of ministeral interventions that deals with women and child development which have prevented serious impact on child nutritional outcomes. Then, the chapter outlines the health sector and sanitation interventions needed to improve nutritional outcomes. States that have effective Public Distribution System (PDS) or health services still suffer from serious lacunae in their state of sanitation.
