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India’s extensive food-security architecture has expanded entitlements nationwide, but achieving true nutritional equity requires tackling exclusion, improving diet diversity, and building resilient, community-centred food systems
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India’s progress on food security is undeniable: the legal recognition of the right to food via the National Food Security Act (NFSA, 2013), a large-scale Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), and complementary programmes such as the Mid-Day Meal (now PM-POSHAN) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) form a dense architecture of entitlements that reach tens of millions of people. But entitlement alone does not guarantee equitable access to adequate, safe, and nutritious diets for all. To convert entitlements into equity, India must address exclusion, poor diet quality, regional and social disparities, and emerging shocks from climate and markets.
The NFSA guaranteed subsidised foodgrains to large swathes of the population (covering up to 75 percent of rural and 50 percent of urban populations under priority and Antyodaya Anna Yojana categories) and created a statutory anchor for food entitlements. Complementary delivery mechanisms have expanded reach with official transparency portals showing over 20 crore ration cards and roughly 80 crore beneficiaries listed on state/UT systems, a scale unprecedented in any country. Despite scale, malnutrition and food insecurity remain high. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21), about one in three children under five is stunted (around 35.5 percent), and nearly one in five is wasted[1], signalling chronic and acute undernutrition that reflect deeper inequities in access to nutritious diets, care, and services. The Global Hunger Index ranks India at 102 among 123 countries, with the level of hunger described as ‘Serious’ and recognised as a multidimensional problem.
Although the NFSA and the TPDS ensure wide coverage through subsidised cereals such as rice and wheat, their strong cereal-centric design means that nutritional adequacy is not guaranteed. Many households meet basic calorie needs, yet significant gaps persist in micronutrient intake and dietary diversity.
Although the NFSA and the TPDS ensure wide coverage through subsidised cereals such as rice and wheat, their strong cereal-centric design means that nutritional adequacy is not guaranteed. Many households meet basic calorie needs, yet significant gaps persist in micronutrient intake and dietary diversity. Access to pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk, and other nutrient-dense or fortified foods remains limited. Digitisation and Aadhaar seeding have reduced some leakages, but exclusion errors persist—migrant workers, informal renters, those without updated documentation, and marginalised castes/tribes still fall through. State-level variations in implementation and administrative complexity further magnify last-mile exclusion. Consequently, households that are food-insecure or nutritionally vulnerable are excluded from the food safety net due to systemic, technological, and logistical challenges. Nutrition outcomes reflect broader determinants, as stunting and wasting are linked not only to food access but to maternal nutrition, sanitation, health services, care practices, and women’s agency. Social determinants and gendered intra-household allocation often mean that entitlements do not produce equitable dietary outcomes. Lastly, climate and economic shocks threaten both production and affordability of diverse foods. FAO food-price index documents how shocks alter the relative prices and availability of nutrient-rich items, undermining dietary diversity for vulnerable households. Resilience requires either diversifying transfers (pulses/dairy/fortified foods), cash components, or shock-responsive mechanisms that protect access to nutritious foods when prices spike.
Effective delivery of the right to food requires stronger governance, diversified food systems, and active community participation. Though the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) mandates grievance-redressal and social audits, these mechanisms often remain under-resourced or inactive, undermining transparency and accountability at the grassroots. Moreover, the dominant focus of the Public Distribution System (PDS) on rice and wheat, even though NFSA allows coarse grains, has limited dietary diversity for beneficiaries. Integrating millets, pulses, and other nutritious coarse grains into the PDS, as well as school-feeding and child-nutrition programmes, can enhance nutritional outcomes, support smallholder farmers, and reduce environmental stress linked to water-intensive crops. Finally, urban food insecurity, especially among migrants and informal workers, requires targeted approaches such as portable entitlements (through ONORC), urban community kitchens, decentralised procurement, and close coordination between municipal bodies and nutrition programmes.
Integrating millets, pulses, and other nutritious coarse grains into the PDS, as well as school-feeding and child-nutrition programmes, can enhance nutritional outcomes, support smallholder farmers, and reduce environmental stress linked to water-intensive crops.
India stands at a pivotal moment. The foundations of food security have been laid, but the promise of the right to food will remain incomplete unless entitlement systems evolve into engines of equity. A rights-based approach cannot remain confined to the distribution of cereals; it must guarantee that every individual—woman, child, or worker—can access a safe, diverse, and nutritious diet that enables them to lead healthy and productive lives. To achieve this, policy must shift decisively toward addressing persistent exclusion, strengthening local food economies, and embedding nutrition into the core of agricultural and social protection strategies. Equally important is the need to invest in decentralised and community-driven food systems. Local procurement from smallholders, women’s collectives, and farmer-producer organisations can improve dietary diversity while strengthening rural livelihoods and buffering communities against climate-related disruptions. India must adopt shock-responsive policy instruments that protect vulnerable households during crises. Ultimately, India must move towards nutritional equity by ensuring no one is left behind in the nation’s journey toward nourishment and well-being.
Shoba Suri is a Senior Fellow with the Health Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.
[1] Low weight-for-height
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Dr. Shoba Suri is a Senior Fellow with ORFs Health Initiative. Shoba is a nutritionist with experience in community and clinical research. She has worked on nutrition, ...
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