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Journalism of Courage
A seven-year old boy was expelled from a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha district purportedly for bringing non-vegetarian biryani in his lunchbox, and offering it to his fellow classmates. The interaction between the boy’s livid mother and the principal of the school has now gone viral, prompting authorities to form a committee to investigate the matter.
In a country where many consider vegetarian food to be “pure” (and meat “dirty”) and where many hold deeply rooted religious convictions on what goes onto their plate, such a controversy is not unheard of. In this case, the school principal said that the boy “offering biryani to his classmates” was objectionable.
But what proportion of India’s population is vegetarian? Is India truly a nation of vegetarians, or is that just a popular myth? Here is what the data say.
Most Indians consume eggs, meat or fish in some form. Roughly half of them do so at least once a week. According to data from the National Family and Health Survey-V (2019-21),
29.4% women and 16.6% men said that they never consume fish, chicken, or meat.
45.1% women and 57.3% men said they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week.
In fact, data show that meat consumption in India is rising. According to NFHS IV (2015-16),
29.9% women and (notably) 21.6% men said they never consume fish, chicken, or meat.
42.8% women and 48.9% men said they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week.
Comparing NFHS IV and NFHS V data, which were collected five years apart,
There has been a 1.67% fall in the number of women reporting they never consume fish, chicken, or meat, and a whopping 23% fall in the number of men reporting they never consume fish, chicken, or meat.
At the same time, there has been a 5.37% rise in the number of women saying they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week, and a 17.18% rise in the number of men who say they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week.
Lacto-vegetarianism & regional variations
In fact, even those who call themselves vegetarian are likely lacto-vegetarians, i.e. they consume milk and milk products which come from cows and buffalos. According to NFHS V data,
Only 5.8% women and 3.7% men reported they never consumed milk or curd.
48.8% men and women said they consume milk or curd daily.
72.2% women and 79.8% men said they consume milk or curd at least once a week.
According to data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-2023, consumption of milk seems to be directly correlated to the incidence of vegetarianism — those who consume a lot of milk and milk products tend to be the ones who consume less/no meat. In effect, milk is like a nutritional substitute to meat in India.
