India faces a 'double burden of malnutrition.' Critically analyse the policy response, citing recent nutrition campaigns and NFHS-5 findings.

Malnutrition in India is no longer a story of deficit alone. NFHS-5 (2019-21) shows under-five stunting falling from 38.4% to 35.5% and underweight from 35.8% to 32.1% [1], even as overnutrition spreads — a genuine double burden that policy has begun to acknowledge but not yet master.

The nature of the double burden

• Persistent undernutrition: despite NFHS-5 gains, more than a third of under-five children remain stunted, and progress is incremental rather than transformative [1].
• Rising overnutrition: obesity and diet-related non-communicable disease now coexist with hunger in the same households, prompting the "Mindful Eating" pillar of the 8th Rashtriya Poshan Maah (2025) [1].

Strengths of the policy response

• Institutional consolidation: POSHAN Abhiyaan (launched 8 March 2018, Jhunjhunu) was folded into Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, merging supplementary nutrition with behaviour change [2][3].
• Fiscal commitment: PM POSHAN carries an outlay of ₹1,30,794.90 crore (2021-22 to 2025-26) [3].
• Technology-led monitoring: over 13 lakh Anganwadi workers use smartphones linked to the Poshan Tracker, with ~13.87 lakh centres given growth-monitoring devices [1].
• Jan Andolan approach: annual Poshan Maah every September mobilises panchayats, schools and health facilities [4]; the 9th edition (2026, Varanasi) theme "Hamari Anganwadi, Hamari Jimmedari" shifts emphasis to community ownership [5].

Critical limitations

• Campaign-centric design: month-long drives risk episodic activity over year-round service delivery.
• Supply-side gaps: only 2 lakh centres are being upgraded as Saksham Anganwadi Centres with water, sanitation and ECCE material — a minority of the network [1].
• Weak obesity architecture: undernutrition retains institutional depth; the overnutrition arm remains largely awareness-based, without comparable delivery machinery.

The response has matured from food supplementation to a convergent, data-driven nutrition ecosystem, yet remains asymmetric across the two burdens. Strengthening Anganwadis as permanent community-owned hubs, universalising the Saksham upgrade, and building an obesity-response arm equal to the stunting one would align the mission with SDG-2 and the stated goal of a Suposhit Bharat by 2047 [1].