Measuring Caste-based Inequities Impacting Indian Children: An Analysis of Minimum Nutrition Availability

Abstract

The Indian enigma, the prevalence of higher chronic undernutrition among Indian children compared to poorer countries, is driven by stunted children from the so-called lower caste. Based on this background, the study measures the extent of the inequities contributed by the caste system to the availability of minimum nutrition among children aged 2 years and less in the country. We use the third and fifth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and employ the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) for the analysis. HOI is the technique that measures the inequality of opportunity experienced by children. The study controls for other social, family, regional and child-level circumstances. Findings reveal that the success story of the economic growth of the country has not contributed to an equal allocation of minimum nutrition availability, where the absolute difference of the HOI index between children belonging to the low caste subgroups and others is high. On the other hand, considering the account of HOI across the two NFHS rounds for each subgroup, the improvement rate depicts an optimistic future.