50 Years Of Nutritional Programs And What Have We Achieved?

                       Hunger is one of the earliest reflexes to develop in a foetus. Tracing human history down the lines of evolution, it can be said with good certainty that it was food, and not fire, which was the first human discovery. Hunger has migrated populations. Great wars have been fought in the name of alleviating hunger. Even to this day, food continues being the omnipotent force that can shake the strongest of the governments. Hunger is ever-perpetuating. Indian concepts on food and nutrition is deep-rooted in the Vedic texts on Ayurveda, the science of life. The Indian tradition of food is closely linked with spiritual well-being. This concept of a merger of the physical dimension with the spiritual or the fourth dimension of health is relatively new to the Western world, where nutrition, till the beginning of the nineteenth century, was perceived as merely fuelling the physical dimension. Government’s initiative to ensure the nutrition of people have emerged out of the context of the realization that well-nourished children grow into healthy adults and contribute positively to national development. The upholding principle of healthy children living towards a healthy future has been the cornerstone of all government-sponsored nutritional programmes.

                The timeline of nutritional development in India is a highly dynamic one. With advancements on the economic and technological front, the nation has come a long way forward in fighting poverty and hunger. Achievements are noteworthy in the sectors of agriculture and food technology. Pre-independence era was largely haunted by poverty, high burden of malnourished children, lack of awareness about nutrition and infections resulting from improper food handling. With the underlying principles of building a safe and healthy future for the nation’s children, Indian government has undertaken several national programs to improve the health of its people. Efforts were taken to prevent poverty from manifesting itself in the feeding patterns, by providing subsidies on food-grains and increasing availability and affordability through the public distribution system. No stone was left unturned in supporting the ideology of prioritizing health over everything else. Mid-to-late twentieth century was a legend of the wars fought against basic nutritional deficiencies such as nutritional anaemia, rickets, endemic goitre and scurvy. Discovery of vitamins and their importance was a significant milestone in global health. Today, vitamin deficiency continues to play a dirty game in remote pockets of our country. Food scarcity was another serious problem India had to cope up with. But, with a shift of trends, an urbanizing economy has found solutions to ensure equitable access and utilization of food. When advancements in technology casted its shadow on food and nutrition, it came as a gift of safe and secure food for the masses.

                The developed countries were never immune to problems of poverty and malnutrition. It took coordinated systematic efforts to steer clear of the undernourishment issues in the West. The Indian Constitution has embodied principles of adequate food and nutrition for Indians. Constitution has served as the guiding light for nutritional programs in our country. The later years from 1950-2000 saw a shift in programmatic focus from the classical vitamin deficiencies to micronutrient and trace element deficiencies. Vital aspects of this shift was evident in incorporation of zinc, iron-folate and selenium into control measures against diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, nutritional anaemia and malnutrition. Intensifying existing measures against the unacceptable levels of under-nutrition by engaging personalities from the film industry and presenting the complete service package as a brand has increased the public concern and added volume to the cries of undernourished children.

Grass on the other side of the fence has always looked greener. But we would be compromising with our own health if we encourage globalization to seep into our food and lifestyle fabric. The rise of the new millennium has witnessed a paradigm shift of diseases from those of poverty, infection and undernourishment, to those resulting from daily stress, habits and over-nourishment. Roots of obesity and hypertension are percolating into younger ages of children, adding to the cardiovascular disease burden in younger adults. However, the history of food and nutritional programs in India has been a success story from all perspectives. It is said that one should not evaluate progress on what has been achieved, rather, on what is yet to be achieved. We have certainly come a long way forward in reducing poverty and hunger, but the ‘road-to-health’ continues to be a very long one indeed.