PARLIAMENTARY DISCOURSE ON NUTRITION: What motivates law makers to ask questions

The review of two decades of parliamentary questions on nutrition and associated topics revealed information on the topics of interest, themes covered, nature of discourse and what influenced the composition of questions. We found that a majority of the questions raised focused upon the national level implementation of key programmes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDMS), Public Distribution System (PDS), Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP), Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (SABLA) and Poshan Abhiyaan. In terms of house-wise distribution of questions, Lok Sabha had a higher number of questions as compared to the Rajya Sabha. The peak years for number of questions raised in the Parliament were 2009, 2011 and 2020. Poshan Abhiyaan, launched in 2018, was identified as the likely stimulus for many questions. Other important events in the nutrition domain were not found to be linked to the number or type of questions raised. In terms of probable triggers, only 10.7% of the total questions had references to specific articles or publications. Other key findings include: ` ` Out of a total of 52,698 questions, 2,005 questions (4%) were raised on nutrition and associated themes. The highest number of questions (233) were raised in 2021 and the lowest number in 2004 (38). The years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2021 saw higher number of questions being raised ` ` Considering the underlying themes of major nutrition programmes, nearly 891 (44%) questions were addressed to the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), 532 (27%) questions were directed at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), followed by 230 (11%) questions at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution ` ` Four broad categories of questions have emerged: Questions on the prevalence of malnutrition in the country; questions on nutrition programmes and interventions; questions on implementation of policies and plans of action; questions on institutional bodies including composition, roles and responsibilities and reports submitted by these institutions ` ` The number and composition of questions were driven by critical events and probable triggers related to nutrition that had occurred in that particular year but not limited to a particular session (there are 3 sessions per year) ` ` Majority of questions raised (74%) focused on the implementation of policies and programmes at the national level, whereas only 10% of the questions were concerned with the implementation of policies and programmes in specific States ` ` Five types of sources were cited in the Parliamentary Questions - newspaper articles, Global Hunger Index, Reports, reports published by the UNICEF, Supreme Court Orders and reports published by International and domestic organizations ` ` Amongst all the sources, reports published by UNICEF have been referred to the highest number of times and constituted 37.5% of the total number of questions that had mentioned a reference (81/221) ` ` The discourse on nutrition as evident from analysis appears to be repetitive and limited in scope. This is especially relevant in cases where sources or references were not stated clearly. Many questions leaned towards being outside the realm of discussion, thereby not suggesting any clear change in the policy, legal and institutional frameworks associated with nutrition.