Addressing the Unequal Burden of Malnutrition

The poor are not uniformly disadvantaged. For the most health indicators, the status of ‘excluded groups’ such as scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, and Muslims is significantly worse than that of other castes and religious groups. Our analysis of rural India indicates that, while nutritional status is closely linked with levels of income, education and access to public health services, social identity is an additional aggravating factor in nutritional inequality. While the constitution of India acknowledges that discrimination across social groups exists, greater action to address it is called for. This note makes some policy recommendations to minimise these differences.