Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rather frivolous allegation against the opposition for “eating mutton during [the month of] sawan,” much has been made of the fact that 75% of India is non-vegetarian. It is an important point given that in many northeastern states, governments helmed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or its allies find beef perfectly kosher while elsewhere extolling the virtues of vegetarianism on specific days or the year round depending on the food habits of the audience.
There is however, a more practical aspect to this conversation than just whipping up religious outrage in some pockets of the country who observe Chaitra Navratri. According to a Crisil report released earlier this year, to cook a vegetarian meal cost Rs 29.70 in December 2023 and to cook a non vegetarian meal cost Rs 57.6. Thus, one plate of non vegetarian food costs almost twice what a vegetarian plate would cost. These are important numbers in a country that is giving free food to 81.35 crore people and will continue to do so for the next five years.
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Free food grains (rice/wheat/millets) are provided under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana to an estimated 57% of the population – which means this massive proportion of the Indian population is too poor to even buy carbohydrates for their table leave alone proteins. To couch that poverty in a cloak of “holiness” perhaps makes perfect political sense for a government that has repeatedly fought global rankings tooth and nail – including the World Hunger Index that places India at 111 rank out of 125 countries – without trying to ascertain or address those numbers. Among the concerning highlights of that report are: “India’s child wasting rate, at 18.7% is the highest child wasting rate in the report; its child stunting rate is 35.5%; its prevalence of undernourishment in 16.6% and its under-five mortality rate is 3.1%”.
It is a fact acknowledged in medical literature that a large number of Indian children suffer from protein energy malnutrition or PEM – a problem that affects development and growth milestones and stems from the over dependence on carbohydrates in Indian households for their food. There are multiple localised studies which place the incidence of PEM at 67% in one-to-five-year-olds in Bellary to 60.7% in urban slums of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. That is why when state or Union Territory governments pander to perceived political dividends to drop meat (Lakshadweep) or propose referendums (in Maharashtra) to decide on whether eggs should be served it is apparent that these moves are far removed not just from science but the public health realities of this country. It is a different matter that serving eggs once a week, as Maharashtra had planned, would have anyway met only a fraction of the nutritional needs of a growing child.
Also read: India is Not a ‘Vegetarian Country’ Like the EAT-Lancet Report Would Have Us Believe
In 2020 the Observer Research Foundation in its article on protein deficiency in India wrote: “A 2017 survey shows that 73% of Indians are deficient in protein while above 90% are unaware of the daily requirement of protein. A recent survey across 16 cities in India on perception, knowledge and consumption of protein found a gap in the knowledge of quality protein in daily diets. Various myths surround protein consumption with 85% believing it leads to weight gain.
Globally, protein consumption is on the rise, averaging at 68 grams per person per day. India has the lowest average protein consumption (at 47 gm per person per day) as compared to other Asian countries as well as developed nations.”
Adding another one in this long list of alarming statistics – 57% Indian women and 25% Indian men in the 15-49 years age group are anaemic, says the National Family Health Survey 5 conducted between 2019 and 2021. This stems as much from micronutrient (iron) deficiency as from the lack of adequate protein intake. Haemoglobin is a compound that is made of iron and protein. That a low protein diet can be one of the causes of anaemia and can also cause the birth of low birth weight babies is well acknowledged. An anaemia control guidance developed by the National Health Mission (under the UPA government) in 2013 says: “Diets with little or no animal protein, as is often the case in our country, coupled with malabsorption related to parasitic infections of the small intestine, might result in Vitamin B12 deficiency and anaemia.” That document in multiple places talked about the salience of a protein rich diet in controlling anaemia. The Anaemia Mukt Bharat initiative launched in 2018 by the present government conveniently glosses over the importance of proteins in that conversation.
There is another population – a potentially large one in India – for which protein intake is crucial. By 2050 India’s geriatric population – people aged 60 years and above – is set to hit 347 million which would be about a fifth of the country’s total population at that point. Elderly often lose large amounts of protein from their bodies because of natural wasting of muscle mass associated with old age. This is a population that doctors say need additional protein intake to keep them functioning.
“During ageing, the body becomes resistant to the normal growth signals shifting the balance towards catabolism and muscle loss, leading to sarcopenia. Inadequate protein intake in the long run can not only accelerate the loss of muscle mass and functional inability but also impair the immune function and wound healing, while resulting in significant clinical consequences such as frailty, increased risk of falls with associated injuries and fractures leading to death,” reads a 2022 piece in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
It is a testament to the urgency and the vagaries of the electoral process that the man who had, five years ago, gone to the people with the promise to make them healthier – Ayushman Bharat – is now defining his political priorities by the food choices of his opponents. That the Ayushman Bharat has not quite lived up that hype is a topic for another day but over the last few years food (choices) have been more in the news than lack of nutritious food. We are just one step away from normalising that banal conversation.
But it is in the end, a choice we make.
Abantika Ghosh is a journalist and public policy professional.