Author(s): Pragya Upadhyaya, Mahima Rana and Dr. Gita Bisla

Abstract:
Food security often refers to food availability and an individual’s access to food. A person can be considered food secure if they do not live in starvation or fear of hunger. In addition to hunger and starvation, food security can also refer to the availability of a sufficient nutrition to ensure a healthy diet, avoiding the health impacts of malnutrition. Since the global food crises, food security has emerged as a fundamental issue at universal level. On the development of India, malnutrition is a thoughtful and serious dent. About 68.84% of Indian population is rural, major part of which critically suffers from poverty, hunger and malnutrition. As the country aims to accomplish its economic and social development goals, malnutrition is one of those areas which requires more attention. This brief examines India’s performance related to food and nutrition security, hunger and malnutrition, as well as the accomplishment, or deficiency thereof, of several policy measures and programmes initiated over the last few spans. This paper explored some causes and their effect along with initiatives to eradicate food and nutrition insecurity among Indian population.