ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book identifies several factors that shape undernutrition in modern India and reviews the evidence on the attempts of Indian public policy to address them to reduce undernutrition. It puts forth ideas and recommendations for the design and implementation of a range of public policies to address this challenge. The drivers of undernutrition in this book are: the extent of calorie consumption, diet composition, the disease environment and the distribution of resources within household, including gender differences. Hunger and protein-energy deficiency form the first driver of under-nutrition. One of the most striking aspects of the Indian nutritional scenario lies in the fact that average caloric consumption has declined even as incomes have grown. National Sample Surveys (NSS) document a decline in average caloric consumption. Dietary composition is the second driver of the malnutrition puzzle.
