The Ponty Chadha Foundation: Curbing Child Malnutrition in India

The common perception about malnutrition in India being primarily a lack of food issue has been straightened out by the recent World Bank findings which state that lack of a central policy for food dissemination and low focus on quality have been instrumental in India lacking behind some sub Saharan African nations on the prevalence of underweight children.

Malnutrition in children is also as rampant because of inappropriate primary care facilities, high predisposition towards infection, and lacking in feeding and care, in the first few years of a child. This puts children in India, particularly from the economically marginalized classes, at the greatest risk of having to bear long-term malnutrition consequences.

India's central, and the most comprehensive policy response to child malnutrition, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), has not been as effective in controlling child malnutrition due to a number of reasons.

Firstly, the deployment for targeting greater mass coverage and the core focus of the program being children above three years of age have rendered the ICDS widely unyielding. Children under two years of age have been proven the most vulnerable, but this group is not what the ICDS is particularly aimed at.

Demographic and socioeconomic variables also play an important role, but as per the World Bank, greater damage is being caused by a lack of established food supply system and quality control. India produces enough food for its internal consumption, but is unable to feed its poor because of an imbalance between supply and production.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation has been drawing the nation’s attention on this front through its various initiatives directed at plugging the supply chain gaps. Its pilot food banking project in Delhi NCR has been acknowledged by the India Food Banking Network (IFBN) for being a charity-driven food chain that procures food directly from government funded agencies and ensures it gets delivered the quickest to the needy in Noida and Ghaziabad.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation: Food Bank Solution for Malnutrition

A major focus of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG), set in 2000 with a 2015-deadline, is to reduce the child mortality rate and bolster maternal care and health across the world. While a few countries, like China, have achieved phenomenal success with the MDG goals, India is more than likely to miss the mark on child malnutrition, sanitation, and other key social parameters despite a number of programs and measures having been introduced.

The World Bank puts a number of reasons accounting for India's lack of success to deduce that the country does not lack in food production means but has not been able to create an established system of monitoring nutrition and food delivery. A high segment of the malnourished population suffers because access to food sources and government programs is either limited or non-existent.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation's food banking concept, aimed at providing greater access to food supplies, addresses malnutrition at the core. The concept involves a chain of subsidiaries for procurement of government aided and surplus food supplies from charities, NGOs, and markets. The procurement, after being put through standard quality control checks, is delivered directly to an identified demographic.

A pilot run of the concept has been launched in Delhi NCR wherein the poor and needy from 18 villages around Noida and Ghaziabad are aided with food supplies. The initiative has already been recognized and supported by the Indian Food Banking Network (IFBN) and the foundation is planning to implement the system further across the country.

In line with its guiding philosophy of inclusive growth, the Ponty Chadha Foundation also runs free medical checks in special camps held across the country. It also aims at creating greater malnutrition awareness in the nation by engaging the youth of the country. Special sensitization drives are held to foster progress on this front.

Malnutrition Remains A Concerning Cause For India

For India, a strong, able bodied workforce that can drive production, increase exports, and strengthen the nation economically is a crucial growth factor. However, with the World Bank malnutrition findings, rating India worse than some of the poorest nations worldwide,and stating that the prevalence of underweight children in India to be higher than sub-Saharan nations, India’s growth aspirations stand severely challenged.

A huge malnourished section is a big impediment for any country and can potentially stall growth by creating an underproductive, undernourished workforce. India, in particular, has a culturally strong labour force, and the country needs it, to keep pace with the growing economy and support expanding infrastructure.

The fight against malnutrition has been a prolonged one for India. It is almost since independence that the country has been faced with malnutrition, and even with a number of schemes and programs being devised,checking the malnutrition curve has been a tall order.

According to the World Bank, India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is one of the most comprehensive and well-placed schemes to trigger a change, but needs a different implementation approach. Instead of focusing on gaining demographic coverage alone, the ICDS must be looked at in a way that promotes faster food delivery, nutrition control, and other core fundamentals.

The challenges for the undernourished set in, as early as birth, with as many as one in three newborns underweight, a majority on account of the malnourished mother. If not cared for, such children are highly likely to develop cognitive and physical disorders arising from the effects of stunting and wasting.

Serving hopeto the millions of malnourished in India is the Ponty Chadha Foundation which was established to further the vision of philanthropy. The foundation works towardhelping the weaker sections of society, through charity-driven socioeconomic measures.

Together, with the acclaimed India FoodBanking Network (IFBN), the foundation introduced the concept of the food bank in Noida and Ghaziabad wherein a chain of donors is used for procurement of food supplies delivereddirectly to those most in need, thereby eliminating supply chain delays.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation also offers free medical aid to the poor in 18 villages around Noida and Ghaziabad by periodically-organized free health checks and camps, with the aim to reach out to those socially marginalised and under-served sections of society in a short span of time. It also aims to sensitize the youth towards the needs of the poor by getting them involved with the Foundation’s schemes and programs.

The Fight Against Malnutrition

The value of good nutrition can hardly be overstated. Well-developed cognitive abilities along with sound physical and mental health and a healthy attitude towards life add up to greater earning capacities in adulthood, and consequently, a stronger nation.

It has been observed that the average wage of stunted and malnourished individuals is nearly twenty percent less compared to their counterparts. The cumulative effect that a large malnourished section can have on a nation’s economy is, therefore, immense.

The above analysis must be a strong area of concern from India’s standpoint. The nation, despite riding a decade of high economic surge, has widely been ineffective to cut back malnutrition. The country, according to the World Bank, ranks below some of the poorest sub Saharan nations on the prevalence of underweight children.

India faces a horde of issues when it comes to malnutrition, so much so that the Integrated Child Development System (ICDS), India’s central policy framework that aims to fight malnutrition, has been rendered partially ineffective.

It’s a little ironical that India does not suffer as much from shortage of production and poverty as from the lack of well-organised food delivery and nutrition. Food subsidies and special schemes are launched from time to time, but various demographic, socioeconomic, and geographical inequalities reduce their impact.

Another issue is the widening chasm between the classes. India’s strides on the economic front have not produced an equitable growth model. The already rich have benefited while the poor have little to draw out of it. The divide has created a palpable societal imbalance favouring the urban rich.

Furthermore, malnutrition cannot be treated with one yardstick across the country. There are several local and demographic factors at play. Certain states, for example, have been traditionally more predisposed towards child malnutrition. Others are affected to varying degrees and exhibit vastly different statistics for boys and girls. A one-size-fits-all approach cannot make a viable solution.

Realising the need for India to adopt a more inclusive approach on malnutrition, the Ponty Chadha Foundation has introduced a set of measures aimed at countering the issue with a modern, empirical approach.

The foundation has set out a plan to identify prevalent local factors to be met with tailor-made food banks. A food bank is a typical supply chain,which takes local influences into account and delivers quality controlled supplies directly to a pre-identified demographic.

The first of the chains is set up in Noida and Ghaziabad and has won the backing of the India FoodBanking Network (IFBN). The Foundation now looks at expansion into other parts.