GS Paper 2 10 marks · 150w 9 min Medium
Poverty and malnutrition create a vicious cycle, adversely affecting human capital formation. What steps can be taken to break the cycle?
Subtopic: Social Justice · nutrition and human capital
How to structure your answer
Introduction (the poverty-malnutrition trap) → how the vicious cycle operates → steps: nutrition and early childhood → food security and fortification → cross-cutting measures (WASH, women, livelihoods) → Conclusion (multi-sectoral approach)
Written within the word limit
167 words · target 150 words · 9 min
Poverty and malnutrition reinforce each other: poor households cannot afford adequate, diverse food and healthcare; malnutrition impairs cognition, immunity and productivity; the resulting loss of earnings deepens poverty. This vicious cycle stunts human-capital formation across generations. NFHS-5 shows persisting stunting (35.5%), wasting (19.3%) and high anaemia among women, underlining the challenge.
How the cycle operates
- Undernutrition in the first 1,000 days causes irreversible cognitive and physical deficits.
- Weakened learning and health lower future incomes, perpetuating deprivation.
Steps to break the cycle
- Strengthen the first 1,000 days through POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anganwadis and maternal nutrition.
- Guarantee food security via NFSA, PDS reform and PM POSHAN (mid-day meals).
- Scale food fortification and dietary diversity to tackle hidden hunger.
- Invest in WASH (Swachh Bharat, Jal Jeevan Mission) to cut infection-linked malnutrition.
- Empower women through education and health, since maternal well-being shapes child nutrition.
- Raise incomes through MGNREGA, skilling and livelihood support.
Because the drivers are inter-linked, a convergent, multi-sectoral strategy, uniting nutrition, health, sanitation, education and livelihoods, is essential to convert vulnerable populations into productive human capital.
What an examiner expects to see
- Poverty and malnutrition form a self-reinforcing intergenerational cycle.
- Undernutrition in the first 1,000 days causes irreversible cognitive/physical deficits.
- NFHS-5 shows high stunting, wasting and anaemia, signalling the scale of the problem.
- POSHAN Abhiyaan and Anganwadis must target early childhood and maternal nutrition.
- Food security via NFSA, PDS and PM POSHAN underpins the response.
- Fortification and dietary diversity address hidden hunger/micronutrient deficiency.
- WASH investments cut infection-driven malnutrition.
- Women's education, health and household incomes are decisive cross-cutting levers.
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- NFHS-5 data on stunting, wasting and anaemia
- POSHAN Abhiyaan and the ICDS/Anganwadi network
- National Food Security Act, 2013 and PM POSHAN (mid-day meal)
- Food fortification initiatives (fortified rice in PDS)
- Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission (WASH)
Terminology to weave into the answer
vicious cyclehuman capital formationfirst 1000 dayshidden hungerPOSHAN Abhiyaanmulti-sectoral convergence