In a first, average household spending on food falls to less than half: EAC-PM paper

The working paper highlighted that within the food category, the share of expenditure on cereals has declined significantly across both rural and urban areas. However, this decline was more substantial for the bottom 20 per cent of households, and in all likelihood, this reflects the effectiveness of the government’s food security policies, the paper said. The significant decline in the share of cereals in household expenditure has allowed families to diversify their diets, with increased spending on milk and milk products, fresh fruits, and eggs, fish, and meat, the EAC-PM paper said.

“This phenomenon was more pronounced for the bottom 20 per cent of households. Schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), which provides free food grains to approximately 800 million eligible people across the country, seem to have performed the role of an expansionary fiscal policy, allowing households to spend their ‘saved expenditure’ from cereals on diverse food items like fresh fruits, milk and milk products, eggs, fish, and meat,” the paper stated.

The paper also pointed out that despite numerous attempts to raise iron intake among the population, measures of anaemia have not improved adequately.

“This compels us to reconsider the widespread appeal — yet limited impact — of universal fortification of cereals to improve iron intake and reduce the incidence of anaemia in India. While such a programme has a natural appeal due to its simplicity of implementation, we must acknowledge the empirical finding that a significant reduction in anaemia might be achieved by promoting dietary diversity at the household level,” it said.

The EAC-PM working paper further noted that there are significant gains in dietary diversity across states and Union Territories. Northeastern states such as Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura have made some of the most significant gains, while dietary diversity in micronutrient intake also improved for states such as Bihar and Odisha, though Rajasthan showed only minor improvements, it noted.

“The increase in dietary diversity, particularly for the bottom 20 per cent, reflects substantial improvements in infrastructure, transport, and storage, which have made fresh fruits, eggs, fish, meat, and milk and milk products more accessible and affordable across different socio-economic classes and geographies in the country. This is a particularly heartening development and an essential marker of inclusive growth in the country over the last ten years,” the paper said.