Q.Hunger and Poverty are the biggest challenges for good governance in India still today. Evaluate how far successive governments have progressed in dealing with these humongous problems. Suggest measures for improvement.

Body Analysis

Hunger and Poverty as Governance Challenges

• Widespread Poverty: According to NITI Aayog's MPI 2021, over 25% of India's population experiences multidimensional poverty, which directly limits access to food and undermines developmental governance.
• High Hunger Levels: India's rank of 111th in the Global Hunger Index 2023 points to severe food insecurity, despite statutory frameworks like the National Food Security Act (NFSA) facing implementation bottlenecks.
• Health and Education Impact: NFHS-5 data shows that 35.5% of children under five are stunted, illustrating how malnutrition stunts cognitive development and traps families in intergenerational poverty.
• Economic Inequality: The Oxfam Inequality Report 2022 reveals that the wealthiest 1% of Indians hold over 40% of the country's wealth, widening social disparities and destabilizing governance.
• Policy Gaps: Key welfare programs like the Public Distribution System (PDS) suffer from leakages and administrative inefficiencies, excluding the most vulnerable.

Progress of Successive Governments

• Nehru Era (1947-1964): Launched the Community Development Program (1952) for rural infrastructure and initiated Five-Year Plans focusing on agriculture, laying the foundation for the Green Revolution in the 1960s.
• Indira Gandhi Era (1966-1984): Championed the "Garibi Hatao" (1971) slogan, leading to the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) and expanding the PDS to provide subsidized food grains.
• Rajiv Gandhi Era (1984-1989): Extended PDS to rural areas and launched the Indira Awas Yojana (1985) for rural housing.
• P.V. Narasimha Rao Era (1991-1996): Introduced Economic Liberalization (1991) to drive growth-led poverty reduction and launched the Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS).
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee Era (1998-2004): Introduced the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (2000) for the poorest of the poor and the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) for food-for-work.
• Manmohan Singh Era (2004-2014): Enacted MGNREGA (2005) guaranteeing 100 days of rural wage employment, and the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, legally entitlement-subsidizing food for two-thirds of the population.
• Narendra Modi Era (2014-Present): Launched PMGKAY (2020) during COVID-19 to feed over 800 million people; Poshan Abhiyaan (2018) for maternal and child nutrition; Ayushman Bharat (2018) for healthcare access; and Jal Jeevan Mission (2019) for rural tap water.

Measures for Improvement

• Strengthen Program Delivery: NITI Aayog recommends better center-state coordination. Leveraging technology like Aadhaar-enabled systems can minimize PDS leakages.
• Inclusive Economic Growth: The World Bank highlights the need for job creation in rural areas and skilling programs targeting women and youth.
• Enhanced Nutrition: NFHS-5 underscores the need to expand and integrate initiatives like Poshan Abhiyaan with healthcare services.
• Better Data & Monitoring: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food recommends using real-time data analytics to reduce exclusion errors.
• Expand Social Security: The ILO advocates expanding safety nets to informal workers to prevent them from falling back into poverty.
• Sustainable Agriculture: Implementing Swaminathan Commission recommendations (e.g., MSP support, organic farming) to boost rural incomes.