Will the National Food Security Bill (FSB) help address the nutritional deficiencies of almost 75 million children in India who are victims of malnutrition.
One of India’s foremost paediatricians, and clinical epidemiologists, Dr HPS Sachdev with Sitaram Bhartia hospital, in a hard hitting interview, said, “Experience shows that the FSB is not likely to make any difference. It will not reduce stunting in children. Nor will it make any difference in the anthropomorphic profile of a child.”
“When we talk of malnutrition, we are talking of under nutrition of kids who are below the age of five. Food supplementation has little role to perform in terms of (developing) plasticity of the body ( of a child) though it may have a role in isolated pockets or in case of kids suffering from severe malnutrition,” Dr Sachdev pointed out.
How much will this intervention help the beneficiaries ? “The body size compendium is affected by the genetic profile and food and nutrients but no amount of food can help someone who suffers from disease,’ he explained.
Dr Sachdev decried that the government was going ahead and pushing a bill without consulting nutritionists and paediatricians who are in the forefront to fight malnutrition in India’s 150 million strong child population.
“The government needs to articulate its objectives as to why they have introduced the FSB especially when there many other cost effective interventions are available but these do not carry any political mileage,” said Dr Sachdev.
He went on to add that too much emphasis was being given on food supplementation.