Overview

What distinguishes this book from the current literature is its comprehensive analysis of malnutrition, meticulous exploration of dietary transition, poverty nutrition traps, links between multiple anthropometric failures among children and their vulnerability to infectious diseases, abysmal performance of the Public Distribution System and a critique of its conversion into a universal food subsidy, the links between affluence, obesity, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the health policy challenge of a 'double burden of disease' of high communicable disease mortality and a growing burden of NCD mortality. Why has calorie intake declined despite rapid economic growth is puzzling. An explanation is developed that encompasses the influences of food prices, growing affluence, urbanization, life-style changes and less strenuous activity levels. Dietary diversification had a role in lowering calorie intake. New light is shed on poverty-nutrition traps that limit the ability of undernourished to engage in productive and remunerative employment. Child malnutrition has remained stubbornly high. As simultaneous anthropometric failures among children (e.g. wasting, stunting, and underweight) are closely related to infectious diseases, a composite indicator of malnutrition, its variation and links to infectious diseases are analysed. Amelioration of child malnutrition through women's empowerment is emphasised. As an epidemiological transition is underway-higher deaths from chronic degenerative non-communicable diseases (NCDs) than from communicable diseases-key contributory factors are aging, affluence, and overweight/obesity. Health policy choices are, however, confounded by the irreversibility of growing affluence, life-style changes and urbanization. Although controversial, a universal food subsidy was legislated recently as the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The critique rests on huge leakages that will magnify under NFSA and aggravate fiscal deficit without a drastic overhaul of the PDS. A distillation of lessons from policies pursued elsewhere and various initiatives in India is given. The vision that emerges is unavoidably incomplete in some respects but illuminates successes, and failures in designing policies and in their implementation.

Full Product Details

Author:   Raghav Gaiha (, Visiting Fellow, Economics, Australian National University) ,  Raghbendra Jha (, Rajiv Gandhi Chair Professor/Executive Director, Australia South Asia Research Centre, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia) ,  Vani S Kulkarni (, Postdoctoral Associate, Urban Ethnography Project, Yale University)
Publisher:   OUP India
Imprint:   OUP India
Dimensions:   Width: 14.90cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 22.30cm
Weight:   0.496kg
ISBN:  

9780198099215

ISBN 10:   0198099215
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   December 2014
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures Foreword by C. Peter Timmer Preface 1. Diets, Malnutrition, and Disease in India: An Overview Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, and Vani S. Kulkarni 2. Demand for Nutrients in India, 1993-2004 Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, and Vani S. Kulkarni 3. Dietary Transition in India: An Analysis based on NSS Data for 1993 and 2004 Nidhi Kaicker, Vani S. Kulkarni, and Raghav Gaiha 4. How Pervasive is Eating Out in India? Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, and Vani S. Kulkarni 5. Calorie Thresholds and Undernutrition in India, 1993-2004 Nidhi Kaicker and Raghav Gaiha 6. Poverty Nutrition Traps in Rural India Raghbendra Jha, Raghav Gaiha, and Anurag Sharma 7. Child Undernutrition in India Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, Vani S. Kulkarni 8. Affluence, Obesity, and Non-Communicable Diseases in India Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, and Vani S. Kulkarni 9. Food Subsidy, Income Transfer, and the Poor: A Comparative Analysis of the Public Distribution System in India's States Raghbendra Jha, Raghav Gaiha, Manoj K. Pandey, and Nidhi Kaicker 10. Policies, Implementation, and Impact Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, Vani S. Kulkarni References Index About the Editors and Contributors

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Raghav Gaiha is Visiting Fellow in Economics, Australian National University. Raghbendra Jha is Rajiv Gandhi Chair Professor and Executive Director, Australia South Asia Research Centre, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia. Vani S. Kulkarni is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Urban Ethnography Project at Yale University.

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