New Delhi: The daily calorie intake of India’s poorest improved in both rural and urban areas in the 2022-24 period, slightly narrowing the gap with the rich, according to government data.
The per capita daily calorie intake of the poorest households—the bottom 5% of the population by spending—improved in rural areas from 1,607 Kcal in 2022-23 to 1,688 Kcal in2022-24, while the same in urban areas moved up from 1,623 Kcal to 1,688 Kcal, the statistics ministry said quoting household consumption expenditure survey data. This suggests improved food and nutrition access for the poor.
At the same time, calorie intake by the top 5% by household expenditure, declined in rural areas from 3,116 Kcal in 2022-23 to 2,941 in 2023-24. In urban areas, too, it moderated from 3,478 Kcal to 3,092 Kcal, the ministry said.
The government provides 5 kg of free food grains every month to the poor under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. This is in addition to the subsidized ration provided under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to families covered under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The Centre is also running a rural employment guarantee scheme to offer financial backing to households.
The government spent over ₹2 trillion in food subsidy in FY24 and ₹1.97 trillion in FY25. For the current year, it has earmarked ₹2 trillion of food subsidy.
However, the disparity in calorie intake between the poorest and the highest spending households still remains wide. In 2023-24, daily calorie intake per head among the poorest in rural areas remained 57% of that among the highest spenders. In urban areas, it was 55%.
Data also showed that per capita daily calory intake dropped slightly in rural and urban areas between July-August in 2022-23 and 2023-24, while the intake of protein remained nearly steady. Per capita daily fat consumption improved during the period in rural areas but it dropped slightly in urban areas.
As per official estimates, about 25 crore people escaped multidimensional poverty, a measure that takes into account the effect of welfare schemes, in nine years, NITI Aayog said in January last year, referring to the 2014-2023 period. According to the policy think tank, India has registered a significant decline in multidimensional poverty from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23–a reduction of 17.89 percentage points.
However, for achieving the sustainable development goal (SDG) of ‘zero hunger’ by 2030, a lot of ground still needs to be covered. According to figures available from NITI Aayog’s SDG dashboard, the country has an all-India score of 52 in achieving this goal as of 2023-24. India has to cover the gap till 100 to achieve this goal.