In News:

According to the UN’s “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025”, global undernourishment decreased to 8.2% (673 million individuals) in 2024, down from 8.5% in 2023.

India has been instrumental in this turnaround—its prevalence of undernourishment fell from 14.3% (2020–22) to 12% (2022–24), equating to 30 million fewer hungry people. These outcomes underscore India’s unique role in advancing SDG 2: Zero Hunger globally.

Defining Hunger: Layers and Causes

• Undernourishment: Insufficient calorie intake.
• Malnutrition: Poor diet quality lacking protein and essential micronutrients.
• Hidden Hunger: Micronutrient deficiencies (iron, iodine, vitamin A, zinc).

Root Causes:

• Economic barriers: Poverty limits access to nutritious food (NITI Aayog Index: ~11.3% multidimensionally poor).
• Agricultural inefficiencies: Fragmented holdings, climate variability, poor irrigation, and 13% post-harvest losses.
• High food costs: A nutritious diet remains unaffordable for over 60% of Indians.
• Weak infrastructure: Poor cold storage and logistics aggravate food wastage.
• Health and sanitation challenges: NFHS-5 (2019–21): 35.5% of children under five are stunted; 19.3% are wasted.
• Macro-disruptions: Global conflicts, pandemics, and climate shocks affect food systems, impacting India too.

India’s Strategic Interventions: From Policies to Systems

• Public Distribution System (PDS) Reforms
  • Extensive digital overhaul: Aadhaar-based targeting, biometric authentication, real-time inventory tracking, and ONORC (One Nation One Ration Card) ensuring portability and inclusion for migrants and the vulnerable.
  • Served over 800 million beneficiaries during COVID-19—a monumental welfare scaling.
• Emphasis on Nutrition Over Mere Calories
  • Continued unaffordability of healthy diets (60%+ can’t afford) due to price inflation and weak linkages.
  • Nutrition-centric interventions:
    • PM POSHAN (2021): Expanded mid-day meals into nutrition-sensitive programs.
    • ICDS & POSHAN Abhiyaan: Enhanced focus on dietary diversity and maternal-child health.
    • AnaemiaMukt Bharat: Tackles widespread anaemia among women and children.
• Agrifood System Transformation
  • Promote nutrient-dense food affordability (pulses, fruits, vegetables, animal-source proteins).
  • Address 13% food loss via upgraded cold-chain infrastructure and logistics.
  • Support women-led enterprises and FPOs, especially in climate-resilient, biofortified crop cultivation.
• Digital Innovations in Agriculture: Tools such as AgriStack, e-NAM, and geospatial platforms enhance market access, planning, and transparency.

Strategies for Sustainable Impact

In News:

Hunger affected up to 720 million people worldwide in 2024 — around 8.2 per cent of the global population, while 2.3 billion people in the world were estimated to have been moderately or severely food insecure, according to the ‘State of Food and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2025.

Key Highlights:

• Released by: Jointly published by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO.
• Purpose:
• Annual global assessment to monitor progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2:
  • Target 2.1: End hunger and ensure access to safe, nutritious food.
  • Target 2.2: End all forms of malnutrition.

Key Global Findings (2024 Data)

• Chronic Hunger:
  • 720 million people (approx. 8.2% of global population) suffered from chronic hunger in 2024.
  • Although lower than 8.5% (2023) and 8.7% (2022), it remains above pre-pandemic (2015) levels.
  • 96 million more people are hungry now than in 2015.
• Food Insecurity:
  • 2.3 billion people were moderately or severely food insecure in 2024.
  • This is 335 million more than in 2019 (pre-COVID) and 683 million more than in 2015.
• Regional Distribution:
  • Asia: 323 million undernourished (highest in absolute numbers).
  • Africa: 307 million (highest prevalence, over 20% of population).
  • Latin America & Caribbean: 34 million.
• Trends & Progress:
  • Modest improvements in Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, and South America.
  • Worsening hunger in parts of Africa and Western Asia due to conflict and climate stress.

Projections for 2030

• By 2030, 512 million people (6% of global population) may remain chronically undernourished.
  • A decline of only 65 million since 2015, far short of the Zero Hunger target.
  • 60% of these undernourished people are projected to be in Africa, with 17.6% prevalence.

India-Specific Insights

• Nutritional Affordability:
  • 6% of Indians cannot afford a healthy diet despite food surplus.
  • Urban areas show improvement due to post-pandemic income recovery.
  • Rural areas face continued hardship due to PDS inefficiencies and price volatility.
• Child Malnutrition:
  • High rates of stunting and wasting persist.
  • Micronutrient deficiencies (hidden hunger) are common due to cereal-heavy diets lacking diversity.
• Policy Recommendations:
  • Strengthen inclusion of millets, pulses, and fortified foods in public nutrition schemes.
  • Address regional and demographic disparities through targeted interventions.

Major Drivers of Food Insecurity

• Post-COVID Aftermath: Reversed a decade of gains in global food security.
• Climate Events: Floods, droughts, and heatwaves have disrupted food systems.
• Conflicts & Wars: Ongoing wars (e.g. Ukraine) have triggered food price inflation and supply disruptions.
• Inflation:
  • Since 2020, food price inflation has outpaced general inflation globally.
  • Disproportionately affects low-income and vulnerable populations.

SOFI 2025: Recommendations

• Protect vulnerable populations via targeted fiscal support.
• Align macroeconomic policies to stabilize food markets.
• Invest in resilient agrifood systems and nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
• Strengthen food and nutrition data systems for informed policymaking.
• Promote dietary diversity and nutrition education.

SDG Context & Governance

• SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) is among the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015.
• These are non-binding, but serve as guiding principles for national policy and international cooperation.
• The SOFI report tracks progress annually against Targets 2.1 & 2.2.
• With only 5 years left to 2030, the current pace is inadequate for achieving global food and nutrition targets.

In News:

The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and New & Renewable Energy, launched ‘Anna Chakra’, the Public Distribution System (PDS) Supply chain optimisation tool and SCAN (Subsidy Claim Application for NFSA) portal a significant step towards modernizing the Public Distribution System and subsidy claim mechanisms of the States.

Anna Chakra: PDS Supply Chain Optimization Tool

• Purpose: A tool developed to enhance the efficiency of PDS logistics across India, optimizing food grain transportation.
• Collaboration: Developed by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and IIT-Delhi’s Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT).
• Functionality: Uses advanced algorithms to identify optimal transportation routes for food grains.
• Key Features:
  • Efficiency and Cost Savings: Achieves annual savings of Rs 250 crores by reducing fuel consumption, time, and logistics costs.
  • Environmental Impact: Reduces transportation-related emissions by cutting transportation distance by 15-50%, contributing to a smaller carbon footprint.
  • Wide Coverage: Impacts 30 states, 4.37 lakh Fair Price Shops (FPS), and 6,700 warehouses in the PDS supply chain.
  • Technology Integration: Linked with the Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) of Railways and PM Gati Shakti platform, enabling geo-location mapping of FPS and warehouses.

SCAN Portal: Subsidy Claim Application for NFSA

• Objective: To streamline the subsidy claim process under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, ensuring better utilization of funds.
• Functionality: Provides a unified platform for states to submit food subsidy claims, reducing administrative complexity and delays.
• Key Features:
  • Single Window Submission: Simplifies subsidy claim submission for states, enhancing coordination.
  • Automated Workflow: End-to-end automation ensures efficiency, transparency, and faster settlements.
  • Rule-Based Processing: Claims are scrutinized and approved through a rule-based system, speeding up the approval process.

Public Distribution System (PDS) Overview

• Purpose: Ensures food security by providing subsidized food grains to vulnerable populations under the NFSA, benefitting nearly 80 crore people.
• Management: A joint effort between the Central and State/UT Governments. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) handles procurement and transportation, while state governments manage local distribution.
• Commodities: Primarily wheat, rice, sugar, and kerosene, with some states also distributing pulses and edible oils.

Initiatives to Reform PDS in India

• One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC):
  • Goal: To allow portability of ration cards, benefiting migrant workers and seasonal laborers.
  • Features: Biometric authentication, digital payments, and enhanced inclusivity.
• SMART-PDS Scheme (2023-2026):
  • Objective: To upgrade technology in PDS, including computerized FPS, point-of-sale (POS) machines, and GPS tracking for transparency and fraud reduction.
• Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT):
  • Purpose: Ensures proper beneficiary identification and cash transfers, allowing beneficiaries to purchase grains from the open market.
• Technology and Transparency Enhancements:
  • GPS and SMS Monitoring: Ensures the proper delivery of food grains to FPS and provides citizens with updates via SMS.

What is the News ?

A recently published report, ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2023, shows that the cost of a healthy diet has increased in India in recent years, but it is still lowest among the BRICS countries (including the newly added six countries) and India’s neighbours.

Facts About:

• The ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2023 report prepared by FAO and United States agencies has been released with the theme of “Urbanisation, agrifood systems transformation, and healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum”.
• According to a UN agency report 74% of people in India can’t afford a healthy diet because of increasing costs.

‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2023 :-

The report is published by the partnership of Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) of the United Nations with the United States agencies i.e International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

The aim of the report is 

• ending hunger
• achieving food security
•  improving nutrition 
• to provide an in-depth analysis  for achieving this goal in the context of the SDG.

FAO:-Each year, FAO’s most deeply scrutinised report presents the leading numbers of undernourished people worldwide, while advocating for strategies against hunger and malnutrition.

SOFI 2023 related to India:-

PPP report:-

• The concept of PPP is 1ppp dollar in the United States should be able to buy the same amount of goods in either India or Brazil or in other countries.
• xPPP dollar per day means how much would it cost to buy a very simple healthy diet in every country.
• According to this data India compared to its other countries or other regional countries of the world itself has the lowest PPP dollar for a healthy diet.

According to another data which shows the share of  the population that is unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021, for instance 74% of the Indian population cannot afford a healthy diet and the fourth highest share in the country itself .

So when it comes to afford a healthy diet, India comes fourth.

Because of stagnation, poor income levels, General stagnation, people of India are not able to afford the cheapest healthy diet in the world.

According to Above two report 

• India doesn’t have to spend too much to get a healthy diet.
• 74% of our population cannot afford a healthy diet.

Conclusion:-

The share of people able to afford such a healthy diet is still low: India is at the bottom of that list because income levels are stagnant or going down.

• For example, while in mumbai the cost of meals have risen by 65% in last 5 years wages and salaries have only risen by 28% to 37% , so it shows that prices are rising but our incomes are not rising therefore though India have the cheapest food in the world there is most of people of india can’t afford it.It is not about the can’t afford food it’s a about a nutritional healthy diet divided by FAO and the UN.

Source: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en?details=cc3017en