Dalits spend 94% income on food, 15% on ultra-processed, packaged food: Study

By Rajiv Shah
A recent study has revealed that India’s marginalised and economically weak are consuming high quantities of ultra-processed and packaged food. In a country that faces one of the world’s gravest double burden of malnutrition, the lowest income quintile has gone from facing hunger to relying on unhealthy snacks.
This finding reinforces the concern that sub-optimal or poor nutrition is escalating diet related non communicable diseases (DR-NCDs) in India, putting at risk millions, particularly children across all socio-economic categories.
Releasing the study on 20 March, 2023 at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, at the MPs Round-table: Children Nutrition and Ultra-Processed Food, organized by Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) and People’s Initiative for Participatory Action on Food Labeling (PIPAL), senior Members of Parliament (MPs) and civil society representatives, called for urgent policy measures to make healthier foods available in the market and introduce clear warnings on packaged food to guide people’s choices.
India is home to around 45 million children who are stunted and 15 million who are obese. It is also the epicentre of adult obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. With 65% deaths every year due to NCDs, India is on the brink of a diet-linked health catastrophe. Poor nutrition, as a result of growing consumption of ultra-processed foods containing high levels of sugar, sodium, saturated fats, is considered by experts as a key risk factor, the study reveals.
Speaking at the event, Ashok Bajpai, senior Rajya Sabha MP from BJP, said, “Ultra-processed foods and drinks are relatively cheap and ready-to-eat which saves cost and time for daily wage earners. This important study has revealed that Dalit families or those from backward classes who have a meagre income, are relying more and more on these easy to purchase food items, without realising the negative impact it has on their health."

We, as representatives of the people, can play an important role in ensuring that packaged food available in the market is healthy and contains safe limits of negative nutrients," he added.

PIPAL – a national grassroots initiative for a healthier food system, conducted this survey in two districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – Varanasi and Gaya. More than 90% of respondents who were queried on their consumption of ultra-processed and packaged food, have a daily earning of Rs 400 or less, and about 40% are from the Dalit (Musahar) community. Majority of those surveyed are not literate.

The survey found that Dalit families are spending 94% of their income on food and about 15% of that expenditure is towards ultra-processed and packaged foods such as chocolates, carbonated drinks, jellies, biscuits and chips. Compared to this, their spending on healthcare and education is a meagre 1.3% and 0.5%. Findings also point to the fact that families with lower on no literacy were likely to spend more on packaged food.

Releasing the survey, founder and CEO of PVCHR, and one of the authors, Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi, said, “Adverse impact of ultra-processed food and beverages is even more pronounced on children who are stunted or have received inadequate nutrition early in their life. They are more susceptible to obesity and may have a higher risk of NCDs as adults."
H underlined, "For a country that bears the double burden of malnutrition, the best policy solution to ensure a healthier tomorrow for our children would be to make clear warnings regarding high content of sugar, sodium and saturated fat, mandatory on the front of all packaged food".
"It would convey to the vulnerable and poor, about the health harms of the packaged food and influence their purchasing decisions. It will also hopefully motivate+ the highly profitable and fast-growing food industry to make their products healthier”, Dr Raghuvanshi added.
India is one of the global leaders in the food and beverage industry with a sales volume of 34 million tonnes. As per forecasts of the Euromonitor data, India was set to emerge as the third largest market for packaged food in the world by 2020, after China and the United States, the study said.
BP Saroj, BJP MP from Machhlisahar, observed, “In Uttar Pradesh, especially in Varanasi, ready to eat or ready to heat ultra-processed food, is fast becoming the food of choice for the migrant workforce who neither have time nor resource for cooked meals.”
A member of the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Saroj stated, “It is the right time for a policy instrument that can empower people to make healthier choices and save lives. Evidence from across the world and India has shown that a simple front-of-pack label that warns people about unhealthy ingredients will have the most impact. We provide our support to FSSAI and eagerly await an FOPL regulation that is good for the people of this country. It is the need of the hour.”
With the debilitating impact of poor diets more than ever in focus, PVCHR and PIPAL hosted this evnt, timing it with the ongoing Parliament session. Present at the deliberation were Imran Pratapgarhi, Rajya Sabha MP and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health; Suhsil Kumar Singh, representing Aurangabad constituency; Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Member, Rajya Sabha; Sanghmitra Maurya, representing Badaun constituency and member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health; Pakauri Lal Kol representing Robertsganj constituency; and Netta D’Souza, Chairperson of the All India Mahila Congress.
Also present were Ashok Thakur, Director, NAFED; Rajesh Pratap Singh, ex-assistant director, Home Ministry; Dr OP Vyas, ex-joint registrar, National Human Rights Commission; members of civil society Shruti Nagvanshi and Pandit Vikash Maharaj; sarod maestro Varun Pathak; and Chairman, Bench of Magistrates Child Welfare committee and pediatrician Dr Arun Gupta.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

The architect of Congolese liberation: The life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba

By Harsh Thakor* Patrice Émery Lumumba remains a central figure in the history of African decolonization, serving as the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo. Born on July 2, 1925, Lumumba emerged as a radical anti-colonial leader who sought to unify a nation fractured by decades of Belgian rule. His tenure, however, lasted less than seven months before his dismissal and subsequent assassination on January 17, 1961.

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog