Where policy meets the plate: Understanding the role of State and Home Infrastructure in Child Malnutrition by Nysha Zaveri

Where policy meets the plate: Understanding the role of State and Home Infrastructure in Child Malnutrition.

Introduction

India’s response to child malnutrition rests on a large network of state infrastructure, most of which now falls under the umbrella of Mission Saksham Angandwadi and Poshan 2.0^[1]. Under the 15^th Finance Commission^[2], Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent Girls^[3] were merged into this single mission, which is funded on a 60:40 basis between the centre and the states^[4]. This framework reflects the state’s constitutional responsibility under Article 47^[5], which places a duty on the state to raise the level of nutrition and improve public health, and therefore frames adequate nutrition as a positive human right that the state must actively provide rather than simply protect.

The mechanisms through which through which this infrastructure operates are institutional and household facing. At the institutional level, Anganwadi centres provide Supplementary Nutrition and Take Home Rations to children aged six months to six years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, following norms that were recently revised from purely calorie-based standards to more balanced standards built on protein, healthy fats and micronutrients^[6]. Moreover, fortified rice and millets have been introduced to address micronutrient gaps, while Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres treat children with severe acute malnutrition. At the household level, ASHA workers carry out structured home visits under the Home-Based Newborn Care and Home-Based Care of Young Children programmes, promoting exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, growth monitoring and Iron Folic Acid supplementation. Hence, the state does not only deliver food but also attempts to shape the conditions inside the home.

This research investigates the following question: “How does state infrastructure (Anganwadi centres and government schemes) and home infrastructure (maternal education and socioeconomic status) affect child malnutrition in urban versus rural settings?” The question rests on three assumptions that will be examined. Firstly, it treats state and home infrastructure as separata variables, when the government itself acknowledges that nutrition depends on sanitation, education and safe drinking water, and therefore requires convergence across eighteen ministries and departments. Secondly, it assumes that the urban and rural divide is a meaningful explanatory category itself, rather than a reflection of underlying differences in wealth and education. Thirdly, it implies that the presence of state infrastructure translates into outcomes, which depends on how effectively each state implements national schemes.

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