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Universal food security program and nutritional intake: Evidence from the hunger prone KBK districts in Odisha

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  • Rahman, Andaleeb

Abstract

This article provides evidence on the role of consumer food subsidies in improving nutritional intake and diet quality by evaluating the expansion of the government food assistance program coverage in the hunger prone state of Odisha in India. In 8 districts of Odisha, popularly known as the Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput (KBK) region which is notable for extreme poverty and starvation deaths, the government did away with the targeted food assistance program in 2008 and made the scheme universal. Using a Difference-in-Difference methodology over two repeated cross sectional household surveys, this article finds that the shift from targeted to a universal food security program in the KBK region of Odisha has led to an improvement in the household nutritional intake and diet quality. Further examination suggests that proportion of households consuming below the recommended dietary allowance of calorie, fats and protein has declined significantly in this region post the intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Rahman, Andaleeb, 2016. "Universal food security program and nutritional intake: Evidence from the hunger prone KBK districts in Odisha," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 73-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:63:y:2016:i:c:p:73-86
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.07.003
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    2. Swati Narayan, 2021. "Time for Universal Public Distribution System: Food Mountains and Pandemic Hunger in India," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 15(3), pages 503-514, December.
    3. Negi, Digvijay S., 2022. "Global food price surge, in-kind transfers and household welfare: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Sivanandham, S. & Srivatsa Srinivas, S., 2025. "Enhancing food security at the last-mile: A light-weight and scalable decision support system for the public distribution system in India," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Anjani Kumar & Shinoj Parappurathu & Suresh C. Babu & P. K. Joshi, 2017. "Can better governance improve food security? An assessment of the public food distribution system in Odisha, India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(6), pages 1433-1445, December.
    6. Khosla, Sunil & Jena, Pradyot Ranjan & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2023. "Can rural livelihood programs enhance capabilities and reduce vulnerability to poverty? Evidence from a tribal region of eastern India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 85-98.
    7. Jaya Jumrani & J. V. Meenakshi, 2023. "How effective is a fat subsidy? Evidence from edible oil consumption in India," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 327-348, June.
    8. Patnaik, Unmesh & Das, Prasun Kumar, 2017. "Do Development Interventions Confer Adaptive Capacity? Insights from Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 298-312.
    9. Phadera,Lokendra & Sharma,Dhiraj & Wai-Poi,Matthew Grant, 2020. "Iraq's Universal Public Distribution System : Utilization and Impacts During Displacement," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9155, The World Bank.
    10. Sudipta Paul & Nilimesh Mridha & Sangeetha Vellaichamy & Premlata Singh, 2021. "Development of a composite measure for mapping rural food and nutrition security: application and validation in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region of India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(3), pages 617-635, June.
    11. Naschold, Felix & Bevis, Leah EM & Rao, Tanvi, "undated". "The individual and intra-household effects of food price subsidy reform in Odisha (India)," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274219, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Jaya Jumrani & J.V. Meenakshi, 2020. "A Fat Subsidy and its Impact on Edible Oil Consumption: Evidence from India," Working papers 311, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    13. Umanath Malaiarasan & R. Paramasivam & K. Thomas Felix, 2021. "Does Food Price Subsidy Affect Dietary Diversity? Evidence from South India," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 15(2), pages 268-290, May.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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