National Nutrition Policy

The National Nutrition Policy was approved by the Government of India in 1993.

The policy advocates a "comprehensive, integrated and inter-sectoral strategy for alleviating the multifaceted problem of malnutrition and achieving the optimal state of nutrition for the people ".

Objective: It aims at reduction in malnutrition and improvement in nutritional status of the people, contributing significantly to development of human resources and the overall economic and social goals of the country.

The policy includes direct short-term interventions as well as long-term interventions to achieve the objectives:

Long-term Strategies

  1. Ensure food security, as per capita availability of 215kg/person/year of food grains.
  2. Improve dietary patterns by promoting the production and increasing the per capita availability of nutritionally rich foods.
  3. Formulate programs for effective income transfers to improve the entitlement package of the rural and urban poor by re-orienting and restructuring the poverty alleviation programmes and employment generation schemes.
  4. Improve the purchasing power of the lowest economic segments of the population and ensure an equitable food distribution, through the expansion of the public distribution system (PDS).
  5. Implementing land reforms.
  6. Health and Family Welfare.
  7. Basic nutrition and health knowledge, with special focus on wholesome infant feeding practices.
  8. Prevention of food adulteration, by strengthening/gearing up the enforcement machinery.
  9. Nutrition surveillance – to continuously monitor the dietary intake and nutritional status of a population.
  10. Monitoring of nutrition programmes.
  11. Communication through established media for effective implementation of the nutrition policy.
  12. Ensuring an effective, minimum wage administration.
  13. Community participation, by involving the comrnunity through their panchayats, beneficiary committees or through actual participation, particularly of women, by promoting schemes relating to kitchen gardens, food preservation etc.
  14. Education and literacy.
  15. Improvement of the status of women.

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