Developmental Issues:

Poverty, Hunger &

Urbanisation
In the year of 2017
By Dr. Roman Saini
 Issues To Be Discussed
All the developmental issues arising in the year of 2017 can be
categorised into following five subjects such as
A. Issues related to Poverty
B. Issues related to Hunger
C. Issues related to Urbanisation
D. Issues related to Health
E. Issues related to Education
In this session, first three will be discussed and last two in next session.
 A.
Issues Related To Poverty
1. Measurement of Poverty
2. Evolution of Approach towards Poverty Alleviation
3. Challenges to Elimination of Poverty in India
4. Mission Antyodaya
5. Universal Basic Income
 1. Measurement of Poverty
• Poverty can be defined as a state where the person is not earning enough
money to meet the most basic needs of Food, Clothing, and Shelter.
• Some thinkers have expanded the meaning of poverty to include other
dimensions as well.
• They call Poverty a multifaceted concept, which may include social,
economic, and political elements.
• These definitions are not much useful in assessing how many people are
poor and the level of public action required for eliminating the Poverty.
• So we need working definitions of poverty in absolute terms to arrive at
the estimates of people living in poverty.
• So countries typically define National Poverty Lines.
• Poverty line is the amount of money needed for a person to meet his
basic needs.
• It is defined as the monetary value of the goods and services needed to
provide basic welfare to an individual.
• Poverty line differs from one country to another, depending upon the
idea of poverty.
• The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$
1.90 per day (Purchasing Power Parity), and moderate poverty as less
than $3.10 a day.
• The measurement of poverty in India has been a controversial one.
• Let us discuss the measurement of poverty from the historical
perspective to make sense of current controversy.
 Measurement of Poverty- Pre Independence
• The measurement of poverty in India starts with Dadabhai Naoroji in the
19th century when he wrote the book “Poverty and Un-British rule in India”.
• He arrived at a poverty line in 1867-68 prices at Rs. 16 and Rs. 35 per capita
per year for various regions of India.
• Though it is important to note that he never used the word “poverty line”.
• In 1938, National Planning Committee (NPC) regarded the irreducible
minimum income between Rs. 15 to Rs. 25 per capita per month at Pre-war
prices.
• However, this was also not tagged something as a poverty line of the country.
Controversial Nature of Poverty Measurement
• The measurement of Poverty in India was taken up by the Planning
Commission in the initial years.
• However, in the last few decades, the measurement of Poverty has
become controversial due to the following reasons:
1. The measurement of Poverty has fiscal ramifications.
If the poverty line low, it may leave out many needed people who
are just marginally above the poverty line.
And if kept high, it would be bad for the fiscal health of the
government.
2. The debate on the extent of poverty in India has also been a matter
of global interest in recent years.
Because the levels of poverty in India and China have come to exert
significant influence over the trends in world poverty itself.
 Various Estimates of Poverty in India
1. Working Group of Planning Commission, 1962
2. Y K Alagh Committee, 1979
3. Lakdawala Committee, 1993
4. Suresh Tendulkar Committee, 2005
5. Rangarajan Committee, 2012
6. Latest Committee on Poverty estimates under Arvind Panagariya, 2015
• The last three are of relevance for us. Let us discuss them in detail.
 I. Tendulkar Committee, 2005
• The committee was constituted by the Planning Commission in 2005 to
address the following three shortcomings of the previous methods:
1. Consumption patterns were linked to the 1973-74 poverty line baskets
(PLBs) of goods and services, whereas there were significant changes in
the consumption patterns of the poor since that time.
2. There were issues with the adjustment of prices for inflation, both
spatially (across regions) and temporally (across time); and
3. The poverty lines assumed that health and education would be
provided by the State and formulated poverty lines accordingly.
 Tendulkar’s Recommendations
• It submitted its report in the year 2009 and it recommended four major
changes:
1. A shift away from calorie consumption based poverty estimation;
2. A uniform Poverty Line Basket (PLB) across rural and urban India;
3. A change in the price adjustment procedure to correct spatial and
temporal issues with price adjustment; and
4. The inclusion of private expenditure on health and education while
estimating poverty.
• When the committee recommendations were adopted in the year 2011,
the poverty line was Rs. 816 per capita per month for rural areas (Rs.
27/day) and Rs. 1000 (Rs. 33/day) for urban areas.
• These expenditures as per expert group was sufficient to cover food and
non-food expenditure, including that on health and education.
• This committee recommendations too sparked off a furious row, as these
numbers were considered unrealistic and extremely low.
• The government under pressure appointed another committee under
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan to
review the poverty estimation methodology.
 II.Rangarajan Committee, 2012

• The key objectives of the committee were:

1. To provide an alternate method to estimate poverty levels and
examine the suitable criteria i.e., consumption basket or if other
criteria are also relevant.
2. To examine divergence between the consumption estimates
based on the NSSO methodology and those emerging from the
National Accounts.
3. To review international poverty estimation methods and indicate
a similar method for poverty estimation in India.
4. To recommend how these estimates of poverty can be linked to
eligibility and benefits under the various schemes of the
Government of India.
 Rangarajan’s Recommendations
• The Committee submitted its report in 2014 gives ‘per capita monthly
expenditure’ as Rs. 972 in rural areas (Rs 32/day) and Rs. 1407 in urban
areas (Rs 47 /day) as the poverty line.
• It preferred to use ‘Monthly expenditure of Household of five
members’, which came out to be Rs. 4860 in rural areas and Rs. 7035 in
urban areas.
• It argued that considering the expenditure of household is more
appropriate than that of individuals.
• It reverted to the old system of separate poverty line baskets for Rural
and urban areas, which was unified by Tendulkar group.
• According to estimates of this committee, poverty stood at around 30%
in 2011-12.
• This 2014 report also did not placate the critics and was turned down by
the NDA government.
 III. Arvind Panagariya Committee, 2015
• To define the poverty line, the NDA Government had constituted a
14-member task force under NITI Aayog Vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya
to arrive at the revised and realistic poverty line in 2015.
• The task force also failed to reach a consensus on the poverty line.
• In September 2016, it suggested to the government that another panel of
specialists should be asked to do this job (if defining the poverty line).
• Informally, this committee supported the poverty line as suggested by
the Tendulkar Committee.
• Thus, the debate on the poverty estimates still remains unsettled.
 Current Scenario for Poverty Line
• Currently, the numbers given by the Tendulkar Committee are given out
for poverty estimates.
• It is often said that Tendulkar Poverty line is equivalent to World Bank’s
$1 or $1.25 in PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) terms.
• This is purely incidental and poverty line calculated by Tendulkar had
nothing to do with World Bank methodologies.
• But government often defended the poverty line claiming that it is as per
global standards.
• The World Bank has revised its poverty line to $1.90 now.
 2. Approach Towards Poverty
Alleviation in India
Phase 1: Trickle-down Theory
• This was a growth-oriented approach which assumes that the benefits
of the rapid growth in GDP per capita income would spread to all
sections of society and will trickle down to the poor sections also.
• It was the major focus of planning in the 1950s and early 1960s.
• The assumption was that the industrial development and transformation
of agriculture through the green revolution in select regions would
benefit the underdeveloped regions and the more backward sections of
the community.
• But the approach backfired as the Green Revolution and limited
industrialization increased the disparities regionally and between large
and small farmers.
Phase 2: Direct Anti-Poverty Programmes
• With the failure of Trickle-down economics, the government of India
looked at achieving through specific poverty alleviation programmes.
• The assumption was that incomes and employment for the poor could be
raised through the creation of additional assets and by means of work
generation.
• These programmes can be classified as -
1) Wage employment Programmes
2) Self-employment Programmes
 3) Food security Programmes
4) Social security Programmes
• Some of the noted programmes are
– Food for Work,
– Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP),
– Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) and
– Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), etc.
Phase 3: Provision of Minimum Basic Amenities:
• India was among the pioneers in the world to envisage the elimination of
poverty through public expenditure on social consumption needs.
• Three major programmes that aim at improving the food and nutritional
status of the poor are Public Distribution System, Integrated Child
Development Scheme, and Midday Meal Scheme.
• Certain other programmes such as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana,
Various Housing Programmes (Awas Yojana) are also attempts in the
same direction.
• India has achieved satisfactory progress in many aspects.
Phase 4: Integrated Rights Based Approach
• The last decade can be called as a witness for Integrated or Comprehensive
Approach towards the poverty alleviation with the enactment of
– National Food Security Mission,
– Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act,
– Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,
– National Rural Drinking Water Programme,
– Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), and
– National Urban Livelihood Mission etc.
• All these programmes being implemented in mission mode and a single
objective of Poverty elimination.
 3. Challenges to Eliminating
Extreme Poverty
A. Inequality:
• Among the list of challenges in eliminating extreme poverty in India,
inequality is the biggest concern.
• Rising inequality can mean that growth largely by-passes poor people.
• According to the index released by Oxfam International named
‘Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index’, India 147th among
157 countries.
• The inequalities can be multi-faceted:
1. Inequalities in access to good quality schooling and health care.
2. Inequalities in access to land (including insecurity of rights over land)
also remain an impediment to pro-poor growth.
3. Gender inequalities
B. Implementation:
• The pro-poor policies call for better quality public institutions and
services that are inclusive of the needs of poor people.
• We have the best of programs on paper but fail miserably on delivery and
implementation.
• For example, in the PDS, as much as half of the grains procured by the
government for the poor are siphoned off by middlemen before reaching
their intended beneficiaries.
• Transparency and accountability have been missing from our public
policies.
C. Low Revenue Base:
• Improving the tax systems in the country to expand the revenue for the
anti-poverty policies must also be a high priority.
• GST has been a right step in this direction. Now we need to rationalize the
rates of GST and increase the direct taxation base.
• The bigger challenges ahead are in assuring the political will and
administrative capabilities to implement and enforce sound anti-poverty
policies.
• And the challenges in adapting them to differing circumstances and
evolving knowledge about their efficacy.
 4. Mission Antyodaya
• According to SECC 2011, 8.8 crore households in India are poor and
deprived.
• In order to address the ensure sustainable livelihoods of these
households, Mission Antyodaya was launched.
• Goal : Poverty free India by 2022
It aims to put India at the “Trajectory of Inclusive growth” as the
convergence approach creates “Islands of Success”.
• It is an umbrella scheme with a framework for congruence of measurable
outcomes based on the following parameters:
1. Infrastructure
2. Economic development and Livelihood
3. Health, Nutrition, and Sanitation
4. Women Empowerment
5. Financial Inclusion
 Objective of the Mission
1. Converge government programmes/schemes with Gram Panchayats or
households as units.
2. Combination of Human and Financial resources for overall sustainable
development of society.
3. “Region-based” and “Need-based” approach of planning for effective
resource utilization by including Gram Panchayats.
• Mission Implementation is based on confluence, accountability and
quantifiable results for improved efficacy and efficiency in resource
utilization.
 Salient Features of the Mission
• Ministry of Rural Development undertakes an Assessment Survey based
on the aforementioned parameters and releases village rankings.
• Baseline Survey has been conducted to measure the progress of villages
and it has been done through Gram Samridhi Evam Swachhta Pakhwada.
• Purpose of survey is to the identification of 5000 Gram
Panchayats/clusters per State to make them poverty free within 1000
days.
• Self Help Groups act as the agent of transformation through partnerships
with professionals, institutions, and enterprises encouraged by the State.
 Analysis of Mission Antyodaya
• Better Targeting:
Consolidation of welfare schemes across ministries has led to enhance
better targeting of the households.
This has prevented systemic leakages due to better identification of
beneficiaries.
• Rejuvenation of Rural Economy:
Contributes to the rural economy as a whole and not restrictive to the
agriculture sector alone. Especially, the revival post Demonetization.
• Strong infrastructural base:
It provides infrastructure for the selected GPs/ Clusters through the
prioritized implementation of schemes through a wide range of
stakeholders participation.
• Diversification of livelihoods:
It has provided for the diversification of livelihoods through the
promotion of non-farm sector employment, skilling of rural youth and
development of value chains for agricultural produce.
The diversification of livelihoods has enhanced economic opportunities.
• Strengthened democratic processes:
It has deepened democracy through capacity building of Panchayati Raj
Institutions by way of
– Public disclosures,
– Gram Panchayat level formal and social accountability measures such
as “mandatory social audit”.
 5. Universal Basic Income (UBI)
• The Economic Survey 2016-17 has brought about the topic to the debate
by recommending the pursuit of Universal Basic Income.
• Universal Basic Income can be defined as a monthly allowance of money
given by the government to people to support their basic needs: food,
shelter, education.
• It has envisaged an universal and unconditional transfer of income but as
a right to everyone.
• There are a variety of ways that different experts suggest for
implementing this policy.
• The difference is about
– the amounts of the Basic Income,
– the source of funding,
– the nature and size of reductions in other transfers that might
accompany it.
 Characteristics of UBI
1. Regular Intervals:
The transfer of income would be done in periodic intervals such as every
month or every trimester etc.
It will be recurring and not as a one-time redistribution.
2. Individual:
The unit of payment would be individual and not per household or a
family of five members as is done in some schemes.
3. Universality:
It will be paid to all without any exclusion by nature of the policy.
4. Cash payment:
The payment would be done in cash or a suitable medium of exchange
which would give the agency to the recipients to decide on what they
would like to spend it on.
That is, the payment wouldn’t be in kind (such as food or services) or in
vouchers dedicated to a specific use.
5. Unconditional:
There would be no conditionality attached such as any requirement to
work or to demonstrate willingness to work.
 Need for UBI in India
• UBI is more relevant for India than for the advanced economies because
of following reasons:
1. The income distribution in India largely done through subsidies on
prices of products or services such as food, electricity, kerosene, and
fertilizers.
But this system is an inefficient way of helping the poor due to
leakage of benefits.
They benefit the rich more than the poor.
 2. The task of identifying the true beneficiaries in India is difficult.
As a result, a lot of deserving poor people get very little of what is
spent in their name.
• A UBI can avoid all these difficulties as with Mobile facility, Aadhaar and
Jan Dhan accounts have been reached to almost all people across India.
• Therefore, successful administration of UBI would become feasible.
 Pros of UBI
1. Ease of implementation:
It reduces the number of middlemen in delivering the benefit to the
people directly.
Therefore it is easier to implement.
2. Agency to the people:
While the current schemes treat the people as passive beneficiaries.
UBI will give agency to the people, to spend on what they think is
important for them.
3. Poverty Alleviation:
The periodical income reduces vulnerability and thus help alleviate
poverty.
4. Better targeting of poor:
The scheme by design targets all individuals and thus there is no
exclusion error i.e., poor being left out.
5. Improvement in financial inclusion:
Transfers will encourage greater usage of the bank account.
6. Fiscal Savings:
Removal of current schemes would lead to immense fiscal savings.
And the implementation of UBI would increase the revenue from
privatization.
According to experts the financial gains for the government would be as
high as 10 percent of GDP.
 Cons of UBI
1. Diversion of spending:
Due to prevalent Patriarchy, male members may resort to spending the
income on gambling, alcohol or any other wasteful activities.
2. Moral hazard:
It may create a moral hazard and make people opt out of the labour
market.
They will be unwilling to work for their social and economic development.
3. Implementation:
The financial inclusion is still not 100% and the poor don’t have access to
ATMs.
UBI may not be feasible until then it complete.
4. Decrease in role of government:
Once the money is transferred to people, it may make the government
lenient towards other welfare activities for their development.
 Pilot Project on UBI in Madhya Pradesh
• A pilot project on UBI was undertaken in a cluster of 20 villages in
Madhya Pradesh in 2010.
• A detailed study of how the basic income was spent showed positive
results.
• The villagers spent most of the money on important areas like food and
healthcare.
• The performance of children in Education improved in 68% of families.
• The study also found the following positive results
– An increase in economic activity as well as an increase in savings
– An improvement in housing and sanitation
– Improvement in nutrition level
– Less food poverty
 B.
Issues Related To Hunger
1. Important terms related to Hunger
2. Global Hunger Index and India’s rank and critical analysis of
the index
3. RUTF
4. Childhood Obesity
5. Brazil Model of Nutrition: Fome Zero Programme
 1. Important Terms Related To Hunger
• According to FAO, 805 million people, that is 11.3% of the population
sleeps hungry world-over.
• They consume less than the recommended 2,100 calories a day.
• As per World Economic Forum(WEF), hunger manifests itself in four
different ways: Undernourishment, Malnutrition, Wasting, and Stunting
• Basically, hunger is due to Food Insecurity.
• Food Insecurity can be defined as a “situation that exists when people lack
secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal
growth and development of human body.”
1. Undernourishment:
It means that a person is not able to acquire sufficient food to meet
daily minimum dietary energy requirements for the past 1 year.
Its symptoms (as per UNICEF) include:
1. Repeated infectious diseases
2. Underweight for the age
3. Extremely thin for height
4. Micronutrient Deficiency (lack of Vitamins and Minerals)
2. Malnutrition:
It can be deficiency, excess or imbalance in an individual’s intake of
nutrition.
It covers two broad conditions, according to WHO:
1. Under nutrition includes low height and weight for age and low
weight for height along with micronutrient deficiencies.
2. Overweight having obesity and diet-related non-communicable
diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc.
• Childhood undernutrition and overweight exist together in a lot of
countries. Such a situation is called “Double Burden of Malnutrition”.
3. Wasting:
• It means low weight for height.
• It is an important indicator of mortality among children under 5.
• It is a result of extreme food shortage coupled with diseases.
• It is measured through BMI (Body Mass Index).
• It is also referred to as “Acute Malnutrition” because the duration of
wasting is usually short whereas Stunting is referred to as “Chronic
Malnutrition”.
• India is facing the highest level of child wasting in South Asia and comes
only 2nd to South Sudan, globally.
4. Stunting:
• It means low height for age which is caused by long-term inadequate intake
of nutrients and recurrent infections.
• This generally occurs before the age of 2 and its impacts are irremediable.
• Its symptoms include:
– Delayed motor development
– Impaired cognitive Function
– Poor school performance
• Nearly 1/3rd children under 5 years of age in developing countries are
stunted.
 2. Global Hunger Index
• The 2017 report is published by IFPRI (International Food Policy Research
Institute).
• The report in 2017 came with an essay on “The Challenges of Inequality
and Hunger” to emphasize upon how inequalities of power lead to
unequal nourishment.
• The Global Hunger Index 2018 report has been prepared by Concern
Worldwide (Ireland) and Welthungerhilfe (Germany) jointly.
 How is GHI measured ?
• GHI is used to measure and track hunger at the global, regional and
national levels comprehensively.
• Though Hunger has reduced in terms of percentage, its actual numbers
have been steadily increasing.
• The data for the analysis and ranking is collected through institutions like
FAO, UNICEF, WHO, World Bank and related Ministries of respective
countries.
• For a comprehensive and multidimensional assessment, GHI uses the
following indicators:
1. Undernourished as a percentage of the population
2. Wasting under the age of 5 in children
3. Stunting under the age of 5 in children
4. Child Mortality Rate for children below 5 years of age
 India’s Rank at GHI
• India was ranked at 100th position out of 119 countries in 2017.
• The rank has worsened to 103/119 in 2018.
• This is the worst performance since the 1st GHI rankings released by IFPRI
in 2006.
• India scores in the “Serious” category and is also the reasons for pushing
the South Asian region to the category of worst performing region.
• India’s child wasting proportion has had no substantial improvement over
the last 15 years. Child Stunting has reduced but absolute stunting rate is
still very high about 30%.
 Critical Analysis of GHI

• The indicators of child mortality, child stunting, and child wasting

together make up two-thirds of the score.
• Another indicator, that is the percentage of the undernourished
population includes the undernutrition among children as well.
• Therefore, the term “Hunger Index” is highly skewed towards under
nutrition among children and not representative of the status of
hunger in the overall population.

•
• The calculation of the prevalence of hunger is done based on the
proportion of the population whose food intake is less than the
minimum energy requirements.
• However, there is still inconclusive debate on the cut-off for minimum
energy requirement calculation.
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) considers 1,800 kcal on an
average as the norm.
• While the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of
Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) prescribes an energy requirement of 2,400 kcal for
rural areas and 2,100 kcal for urban areas in India that varies across age,
gender and activity level.
• Therefore, there is a need to rethink the Global Hunger Index separately
as a “Global Hunger and Child Health Index” instead of a single “Global
Hunger Index”.
• Also, the ICMR-NIN needs to revise its norms.
• The actual requirement of energy is decreasing due to a shift towards
mechanization and user-friendly work conditions and environment.
 3. Ready to Use Therapeutic Food
(RUTF)
• In 2017, Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) clarified to
the state governments that the “use of ready-to-use therapeutic food
(RUTF) for management of malnutrition is not an accepted policy of the
Government of India.”
• Accordingly, Maharashtra Government stopped implementation of RUTF
to treat malnourished children.
• The use of RUTF is debatable and there are questions as to what extent
therapeutic food can help in addressing the problem of malnutrition.
 What is RUTF?
• RUTF is a medical intervention to improve the nutrition intake of
children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
• It can also be called as the Energy Dense Nutritious Food (EDNF).
• RUTF contains packaged paste of peanuts, oil, sugar, vitamins, milk
powder and mineral supplements.
• This food contains 520-550 kilocalories of energy per 100 gram along
with other items such as nuts, legumes, and sweeteners to improve the
taste.
• It can be fed to children aged between six months and six years suffering
from malnutrition after a doctor’s prescription.
• The packet of RUTF costs Rs 25/packet and has a shelf life of two years. A
child can be given three packets daily for a month.
 Use of RUTF in India
• In Africa the extent of malnutrition among children is high. So the use of
RUTF is commonly prevalent.
• In India, however, the use of RUTF is limited and began with the
development of Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) framework.
• Scaling Up Nutrition movement (SUN) is a collaborative effort by the
United Nations, NGOs, donors, businesses, and researchers to improve the
nutritional status of children.
• Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand started to promote
therapeutic food as a solution to malnourishment through these pilot
projects.
 Challenges with RUTF
1. Cost:
RUTF is a medical intervention, and therapeutic food costs Rs. 25 per
packet.
This means for three RUTF doses a day will cost Rs. 2,250/month for one
child.
Most malnourished children are from poor families and this is not an
affordable solution.
2. Fiscal cost:
More than one-third of all children under five years have some form of
malnutrition and if the government is to provide them the therapeutic
food, it will add a huge fiscal cost on the government.
3. Altering natural diet of children:
According to a study by Jan Adivasis Vikas Sanstha, RUTF may negatively
alter a child’s natural diet.
Since it was administered at a young age.
The children found it too heavy to eat anything else afterward.
4. Not a permanent solution:
According to the health activists, if the intake of RUTF is stopped, children
can slip back into malnutrition. It cannot be a permanent solution.
5. Undermine efforts for sustainable solutions:
Temporary relief by RUTF can undermine finding sustainable solutions for
improving the availability of nutrition in natural foods and diversity of diet.
6. Corporatization:
The implementation of RUTF can become corporatized and may fall prey to
corruption, monopolization, and lobbying by big corporates in the food
processing sector.
 Way Forward
• The treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition should be based on a
family-centric approach instead of food-centric approach.
• The families should be taught about best childcare practices, along with
adequate hygiene and sanitation.
• The rural and tribal families are dependent on traditional food, and
children must not be driven away from hot cooked meals to food-drugs.
• A holistic solution should be adopted to ensure low birth weight babies
are not born and the proper functioning of anganwadis so that at least
regular meals are provided to children.
• Data backed decisions:
Data should be collected on the incidence of malnutrition down to
village and block level to enable the government to take targeted
interventions.
In regions with high incidence of Severe Acute Malnutrition, the access
to quality and quantity of the freshly cooked food should be
improved.
• Awareness Campaigns:
Awareness about healthy habits such as washing hands before meals
and no open defecation should be promoted.
• Maternal Nutrition:
Taking care of the nutritional needs of new and lactating mothers would
not only reduce undernourished women but also the birth of underweight
children.
Mothers should be given counseling about the nutritional needs of
infants.
 4. Childhood Obesity
• According to a new study published in “The New England Journal of
Medicine”, India has the second highest number of obese children in
the world, with 14.4 million reported cases.
• Obesity is caused due to poor dietary practices and poor eating
practices.
• It has been seen more among the children those belonging to affluent
families as compared to low or middle-class.
• The prevalence of Obesity increases the risk of Cardiovascular Diseases
(CVDs).
• Cardiovascular disease includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as
angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack).
• Other CVDs include stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease,
rheumatic heart disease, and so on.
 Ways To Tackle Childhood Obesity
1. Knowledge dissemination:
Children in schools should be made aware of the downsides of eating
junk food and should be taught a clear link between the risk of CVD and
obesity and junk food.
2. Restricting the availability of Junk food:
Unhealthy foods particularly those targeted at children that are high in
salt, sugar, and fat should be restricted in school premises like canteens
and shops outside schools.
3. Promotion of Active lifestyle:
Physical activity like Sports, yoga, and clean-eating should be promoted
through role models.
4. Labeling:
The strict nutrient labeling on packaged foods along with warnings of
CVDs may help in the promotion of healthy foods and lifestyle.
5. Sin tax:
The imposition of high taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and other
junk foods e.g. Kerala government’s imposition of sin tax.
 “REPLACE” Strategy by WHO
• World Health Organization (WHO) has launched comprehensive plan
“REPLACE” to eliminate artificial trans-fats from food supply by 2023.
• The elimination of trans-fats is key to preventing obesity.
• According to its focus should be to enforce
– Review dietary sources of artificial trans fats and the policy sphere.
– Promote the replacement of trans fats with healthier fats and oils.
– Legislate regulatory actions to eliminate industrially-produced trans
fats.
– Assess and monitor trans fats content in the food supply and changes
in trans fat consumption in the population.
– Create awareness of the negative health impact of trans fats among
policymakers, producers, suppliers, and the public.
– Enforce compliance of policies and regulations.
 5. Brazil’s Fome Zero Strategy
• Brazil’s Fome Zero means “Zero Hunger”.
• It was a strategy launched in 2003 with an aim to enable access to the
right kinds of food to meet basic nutritional needs and support health.
• Fome Zero is based on a multi-sectoral approach at the public policy
level.
• It involves policies and programs on social protection and safety nets,
education, food production, health services, drinking water, and
sanitation.
• Stunting among Brazilian children younger than five—an indication that
they were chronically undernourished in early childhood—was cut in half,
from 14 percent to 7 percent, from 1996 to 2007.
• Thus Brazil achieved great success in improving nutrition and increasing
food security
 PAA in Brazil
• Brazil developed a Food Acquisition Program (Portuguese acronym, PAA).
• Its goals are
– To increase family and farmer incomes,
– To improve food variety and quality, and
– To promote nutrition in both rural and urban areas.
• The PAA guaranteed the participating farmers a minimum price for their
crops and provided with insurance for crops for any loss.
• This gave an incentive for farmers to diversify their crops which is very
critical for improving nutrition.
• The farmers sold the produce to the market through the PAA.
• The program brought together the rest of the stakeholders such as
urban food banks, hospitals, subsidized restaurants, and schools to
purchase food directly from farmers.
• Especially the fruits and vegetables that rural farmers are producing
through their participation in the program.
• To facilitate the strategy the government also undertook massive
infrastructure development including the building of bridges, roads, and
storage facilities.
• The idea behind the strategy was food purchase and distribution through
integration between rural and urban areas, producers and consumers.
• Out of total 17 SDGs, 12 are relevant to food security and nutrition for all
by 2030.
• Hence, it’s important for the success of these SGDs to implement the
lessons learned from the experiences of Brazil especially in India and
other African countries where there is a high incidence of Hunger.
 c.
Issues Related To Urbanisation
1. Urbanization and its dimensions
2. Affordable Housing in India
3. Municipal Bonds in India
4. Draft Urban Rental Housing Policy
5. Smart Cities Review
 1. Urbanization In India and Its
Dimensions
• Urbanization is an integral part of economic development. It has three
important dimensions
1. Migration from Rural to Urban:
The industries and services tend to concentrate in urban areas while
agriculture becomes restricted to rural areas.
The wages grow faster in urban areas and this results in the migration of
workers from rural areas causing increased urbanization.
2. Urban Sprawl:
Growth in industry and services also expand the cities geographically.
Thus, they absorb the adjacent villages.
This phenomenon is called urban sprawl.
3. Creation of New cities:
Urbanization also means a creation of new cities.
For example, Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Amravati in Andhra
Pradesh.
Shenzhen in China is a most dramatic example of this form of
urbanization.
• As per the Census 2011, 377 million Indians that is 31.1% of the total
population was living in Urban areas.
• According to UN-Habitat World City’s Report the urban population in
India reached 420 million in 2015.
• There is progress but the extent of urbanization in India remains well
below the major developing countries.
• India needs to make room for increased urbanization along with
improving the quality of urban life.
• To improve the quality of urban life, there is a need to prevent slum
creation, control air pollution and manage municipal solid waste.
• Infrastructure wise- basic utilities such as electricity, water etc. should
be provided to the last mile.
• A robust transportation system that links suburbs to the center of the
city should be created.
 2. Affordable Housing in India
• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation defines
“Affordable Housing”.
• An affordable housing unit varies for different groups such as
1. For the Economically weaker sections (EWS):
– A unit measuring between 300 and 500 sq. ft.,
– Prices below Rs. 5 lakh
– For which a household has to pay Rs. 4,000-5,000 in EMI.
2. For low-income groups (LIG):
– A unit measuring between 500 and 600 sq. ft.,
– Priced between Rs. 7 lakh and Rs. 12 lakh
– For which a household has to pay Rs. 5,000-10,000 in EMI.
3. For mid-income groups (MIG):
– A unit measuring between 600 and 1,200 sq ft,
– Priced between Rs. 12 lakh and Rs. 50 lakh
– For which a household has to pay Rs. 10,000-30,000 in EMI.
• The definition changes according to RBI, the cost of affordable residential
property should be less than Rs. 65 lakh in metro cities and Rs. 50 lakh in
non-metros.
• The RBI's definition is based on the loans given by banks to people for
building a house and buying flats.
 Need for Affordable Housing
1. Increasing pressure of population in cities:
The pressure of the population in cities is immense and the demand for
the land is increasingly adding to the cost of Housing.
According to the estimates, the total urban housing shortage is projected
to be about 30 million by 2022.
2. Increase in Slums:
The gap between demand and supply in affordable housing is forcing
people to live in slums and informal settlements.
The slums have a total lack of basic services and the quality of life of the
migrants living in slums is poor.
Only a mission mode focus on Affordable Housing will lead to a better
quality of life.
It has the potential to significantly provide a boost to the GDP of the
country.
 Challenges of Affordable Housing in India
1. Ease of Land availability:
There is a need to bring land parcels within municipal limits and peripheral
lands into developable limits of the city authorities.
The improper selection of land parcels has discouraged developer-driven
projects.
2. Bureaucratic Red Tape:
The time taken to get clearances and approval is two years due to the
presence of multiple layers of authorities and redundant process.
This long process increases the cost and gestation period of the project
that affects its profitability.
3. Poor planning:
The Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is extremely low in India.
This discourages big-ticket real estate projects in the cities.
Apart from that, there are barriers in master plan/zoning provisions and
optimum allocation of land for affordable housing.
4. Poor institutional capacity and technology:
The institutional capacity for implementing Affordable Housing in India is
poor and there is a distinct lack of low-cost technologies to achieve
economies of scale.
5. Low profit and delay:
Low-profit margins and delays in project clearances have discouraged the
participation of large real estate players
6. Access to loans:
Access to institutional credit and availability of financial products for
developers is poor.
Another key factor contributing to inflated land prices.
And challenges in affordable housing in India has been the flow of black
money into real estate due to high stamp duties.
7. Land conversion rules:
A constraint on the supply of urban land is the stringency of land
conversion rules.
Vast tracts of land on the outer periphery of cities are potentially
available for urban expansion.
But this requires conversion of the tracts from agricultural to
non-agricultural uses.
The state revenue departments, which are reluctant to allow the
conversion and there is huge corruption in getting the conversion done.
8. Litigation on Urban lands:
Due to the legacy of the Urban Land Ceilings and Regulation Act, 1976,
large chunks of vacant land disappear from urban land markets.
Most states have now repealed this act, but many large pieces of land
remain tied up in litigation.
 Way Forward
1. Infrastructural Development:
To encourage real estate projects, the focus should also be on increasing
the connectivity and social infrastructure.
2. Unfreezing land assets with government:
There are many sick public sector enterprises (PSEs), Railway, defense,
and civil aviation ministries own large pieces of unused land in prime
urban areas.
Closure of these units and monetization of unused land of ministries can
help bring substantial land on the market.
3. Single window approval mechanism:
A robust, fast-tracked approval process should be put in place for affordable
housing projects to reduce the gestation period and the cost of the project.
4. Alignment of Central and State policies:
There is a need to remove ambiguities between central policies and the
state policies.
Working with states to lower stamp duty would help bring land prices down
and reduce the infusion of black money in real estate projects.
Releasing the litigated land for commercial use should be a priority.
This can be done through expedition of court cases.
5. Access to finance:
The institutional capacity for access to finance for lower-income
households should be improved.
Housing micro-finance can help in increasing the access to credit.
6. Low cost housing technologies:
Investment in innovative construction technologies such as Portable
Modular Housing units and Prefabricated Construction Technology can
help in mass housing developments at subsidized construction costs.
7. Relaxed Floor Area Ratio (FAR)/ Floor Space Index :
It can increase the available urban space and reduce the cost of
affordable housing.
8. Transparent Land conversion process:
Shifting this power to agencies in charge of urbanization and making
conversion transparent and flexible would go a long way towards creating
a vibrant land market in Indian cities.
9. Model Tenancy Act:
In April 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had
drafted a Model Tenancy Act.
This should be encouraged for adoption in states to protect the owners
and tenants through regulation.
10. Ownership Titles:
There is also a need for legislation providing for conclusive ownership titles.
This would protect the owner fully against any potential claims to
ownership by the tenant.
11. Dormitory Housing:
Dormitory housing should be encouraged for migrant workers who come to
cities.
Most states treat these dormitories as commercial hotels and subject them
to commercial water and electricity tariffs, higher property taxes,
trade-license fee, and luxury tax that higher cost leads to the growth of
slums.
 Recent Initiatives for Affordable Housing
• The 2017-18 budget announced a slew of measures to encourage
affordable housing:
– Affordable housing has been given Infrastructure status.
– The long-term capital gains for affordable housing has been reduced
to two years.
– Revision of the qualifying criteria for affordable housing from the
saleable area to the carpet area.
– Re-financing facility by National Housing Bank (NHB) for individual
loans for the affordable housing segment.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI):
FDI is being allowed for the development of townships, housing, built-up
infrastructure, and construction-development.
• Tax free bonds:
These bonds are issued by the National Housing Bank to reduce the cost
of borrowing.
• Establishment of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA):
The improvement in regulatory regime and the protection of buyers
through RERA is encouraging the fresh buyer interest in the sector.
 3. Municipal Bonds in India
• Municipal bonds also are known as munis, are fixed income instruments
or debt securities.
• These are issued by municipal corporations, government and
semi-government institutions to raise funds.
• These are an important way of mobilizing financial resources, particularly
in the light of limited recourse to budgetary resources due to fiscal
constraints.
• Suppose the city you live in, wants to set up a new Metro or a Bus Rapid
System.
• The City Corporation can issue municipal bonds to fund the project.
• Institutional investors, as well as the public, can buy these bonds.
• Revenues from the Metro will then be used to repay the interest and
principal on these bonds.
 Background of Municipal Bonds in India
• Bangalore Municipal Corporation was the first Urban Local Body to issue
Municipal Bond in India in 1997.
• After that Ahmedabad in 1998 and several other cities like Nashik and
Madurai (some 25 cities in total) have issued Municipal Bonds.
• These bonds were mostly privately placed with institutions and not
tradable.
• As a result, the municipal bond issues only touched Rs. 1,353 crores and
there have been no new issues since 2010.
• From 2015, these have now been permitted for public offering by
SEBI.
• This has resulted in several cities like Hyderabad, Pune, and Indore
successfully issuing the bonds.
 Need for Municipal Bonds in India
• The urban population is slated to increase to 600 million by 2030.
• This would require huge investment in solving urban infrastructure
problems.
• The Ahluwalia committee report on urban infrastructure estimated that
Indian cities would collectively need to invest around Rs. 40 trillion at
constant prices in the two decades to 2031.
• The Smart City programme introduced by the Centre has envisaged
infrastructure spending to the tune of Rs. 7 lakh crore over the next 20
years (i.e. Rs. 35,000 Cr. each year)
• However, the Indian cities do not have the financial capability to build
this infrastructure.
• They depend heavily on money passed to them from either the national
or the state governments.
• The importance of raising money through municipal bonds is more and
more increasing in the age of GST.
• For example, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation – the richest
municipal body of India – earned 33 percent of its revenue in 2015-16
from octroi, which has gone way since the GST.
• These bond issues could help corporations directly raise funds without
looking to State grants or agencies such as the World Bank.
• Large institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance
companies are always looking for less risky avenues to invest.
• Municipal bonds could tap these sources of fund and help get many
projects off the ground.
 Challenges with the Municipal Bonds
• Bonds can enable Municipals to collect money but they are not a
substitute for city revenue.
• So cities will still have to collect local taxes, user charges, stamp duties,
etc.
• Bond investors wouldn’t put money into cities unless they are convinced
about their fiscal strength.
• Take the case of China where there are now fears of default by local
governments that have raked in debt totaling $2.9 trillion.
• S&P believes that nearly half of the issuers ‘only deserve junk rating’.
• India has had a dark history of sub-national governments raising money
from bond investors for specific projects as diverting the money for other
uses.
• In the 1990s many bond investors lost money invested.
• Other challenges such as lack of incentives for municipal bodies to tap the
debt market, lack prevalence of institutional finance and absence of any
particular requisites to issue bonds serve as major impediments.
 Incentivizing Municipal Corporations
For bonds Issuance
1. Credit Rating of cities and conditional additional grants :
Assigning a credit rating would give a fair sense of the creditworthiness
of the municipal body.
The municipal corporations which raise debt through municipal bond
should be given additional grants from the Centre and State
governments beyond the prescription given by Finance Commission.
2. Linking bonds to borrowing from Financial Institutions such as
HUDCO:
If the municipal body raises the money for a project through the debt
market.
Then it could be allowed to borrow up to 5 times from the institutions
such as HUDCO.
 Incentivizing Investors To Invest
In Municipal Bonds
• The minimum tenure of the bond should be increased to 5 years from
current 3 years.
• All bonds issued by Municipals should be made tax-free.
• The ceiling of 8% on interest rate should be withdrawn for such bonds.
• The interest rate can be marked at 50 basis points higher than the five
years Government security (G-Sec) paper.
• Such a step would enable municipal bonds to become a second
alternative to the safe government bonds and thereby induce
investments.
• Banks should be mandated to lending to ULBs as a part of the ‘priority
sector’.
• Alternatively, Bank holdings of Municipal Bonds should also be given
space in the SLR requirements provided they are of the certain specified
category.
 4. Draft Urban Rental Housing Policy
• The previous housing policy named National Housing Policy came out in
1988 was three decades ago.
• The policy is outdated today and couldn’t address the house rental issues.
• The increase in migration from rural to urban has created a demand for
rental housing.
• But due to poor regulation and vacuum in the policy sphere, there is a rise
in slums.
• To address these issues, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
(MOHUPA) has come out with a draft Urban Rental Housing Policy recently.
 Salient Features of the Policy
• Change of role of the Ministry:
The MOHUPA has changed its role as a ‘facilitator’.
The subsidies and concessions will now be extended for the rental
housing created by the state or through PPP and under corporate social
responsibility.
The rental housing will now be categorized as Social rental housing for
urban poor and Market-driven rental housing.
• Social rental housing
This provision will cater for the economically weaker sections (EWS),
low-income groups (LIG) and the vulnerable sections who will be called as
‘tenants by constraint’ which includes the urban poor belonging to SCs,
STs and OBCs, migrants, transgender, and senior citizens.
• Market-driven rental housing
It would be for the institutional and commercial places such as hostels for
students and working people, public rental housing for the PSU
employees and government departments and private rental housing for
everyone else.
• Fund for Rental Vouchers:
The policy calls for the creation of a fund for rental vouchers to be given
on a pilot basis in select smart cities.
These vouchers would act as subsidies or cash payments for partially
reducing the cost of rent for the urban poor.
 Challenges in Policy
1. Ignores the homeless:
The issue of homelessness is dealt with National Urban Livelihood
Mission and treats homelessness as a livelihood issue.
Thus homeless are ignored under housing policies.
This creates problems for coordination within various ministries for
the sake of policymaking.
2. Supply side role of the government ignored:
The onus of increasing the supply of social rental housing and market
rental housing both are left to the market.
And the Centre’s role is restricted to demand-side intervention.
3. Housing is a state subject:
The policies of every state governments are different.
And union territories such as Chandigarh and cities such Mumbai
Metropolitan Regions etc. have their own rental housing policies.
But, they have failed to check the spread of slums and footpath dwelling.
4. No Central Funding:
Unlike many central government schemes that offer budgetary support for
construction of homes, the draft rental housing policy provides for no
central funding.
5. Nothing on Dormitory Housing:
The policy is silent on dormitory housing.
The promotion of which has been recommended by Niti Aayog in its
three-year action agenda.
Dormitory Housing help migrant labour population to easily get the
housing in the cities and prevent the creation of slums.
 Way Forward
• The policy initiatives should move away from an obsessive focus on
home-ownership as it is improbable to resolve the housing shortage due
to lack of capacity of the poor.
• The policy should shift focus on a well-framed policy for rental housing
in Urban India addressing the challenges.
 5. Smart Cities: Issues
• The smart cities project was announced in June 2015.
• It is an urban renewal program by the Union Ministry of Urban
Development with the mission to develop 100 cities across the country
making them citizen friendly and sustainable.
• Of the 100 cities, Indian and the USA government have partnered to
develop Ajmer, Allahabad, and Visakhapatnam as smart cities.
• In the US, the Trade and Development Agency has been entrusted with
engaging with India and develop the roadmap on the Smart Cities mission
that has identified certain issues in the implementation of the initiative.
 Issues in implementation
1. Role clarity missing:
The mission envisages the creation of Special Purpose Vehicles(SPV) for
execution but there is lack of clarity on governance for execution and on
the role and functions of SPVs.
2. No single window mechanism:
No single window mechanism is provided along the lines of the ones
provided to Japan and Korea.
Such a mechanism will enable the investors to invest due to ease of doing
business.
3. Lack of coordination between Centre and State:
State governments are required to do some prior work as a condition for
allocation of funds.
And, the funds are not issued to some state governments due to
non-fulfillment of the requirements.
This shows lack of coordination and cooperation between the centre and
state governments.
 Way Forward
1. Exclusive desk system or Single window clearance:
All the approvals and clearances for smart cities project should go
through an exclusive desk to ease the process and accelerate project
execution.
It will reduce time, cost overruns of the project, and improve
intra-departmental and inter-departmental collaboration.
2. Institutional reforms:
The roles of the different SPVs, the municipal bodies, state government
should be clearly defined.
A unified command structure should be created for all administrative
bodies in the city for better coordination.
3. Collection of User charges:
The power to collect user charges and taxes should be devolved to the
local government.
This would reduce the dependency on central funding and make the ULBs
financially independent.
THANK YOU !