Imagine a huge mansion on the verge of ruin with its tattered gloomy-looking inhabitants. The 11th chapter of the Economic Survey released on Friday, 'Thali-nomics: The Economics of a Plate of Food in India', can seem like the sudden show of a delightful trick by one of those family members who had just a moment ago looked lost.
Just when it was felt all macroeconomic indicators (consumption, investment, production) that define India's fiscal health were dangerously dysmal, here is a happy dance number: The cost of Thali meals in the country, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian has shown a sudden fall after Narendra Modi took over.
Thali-nomics, as the Survey says, is an attempt to quantify what a common person pays for a Thali across India. Problem is, Thali-nomics does not fit well with the 'Zero Hunger' figures put out by NITI Aayog in its latest Sustainabe Development Goals Index.
Here are the questions that animated the Thali-nomists. "Has a Thali become more or less affordable? Has inflation in the price of a Thali increased or decreased? Is the inflation the same for a vegetarian Thali as for a non-vegetarian one? Is the inflation in the price of a Thali different across different states and regions in India? Which components account for the changes in the price of a Thali – the cereals, vegetables, pulses or the cost of fuel required for its preparation?"
And here is the answer for all these questions put together. " Both across India and the four regions – North, South, East and West – it is found that the absolute prices of a vegetarian Thali have decreased significantly since 2015-16 though the price has increased in 2019. As a result, an average household of five individuals that eats two vegetarian Thalis a day gained around Rs 10887 on average per year while a non-vegetarian household gained Rs 11787, on average, per year. Using the annual earnings of an average industrial worker, it is found that affordability of vegetarian Thalis improved 29 per cent from 2006-07 to 2019-20 while that for non-vegetarian Thalis improved by 18 per cent."
In other words, a year after the Narendra Modi government came to power, vegetable and meat prices fell quite dramatically increasing the purchasing power of Indians, putting an additional Rs 1000-plus monthly in a household's kitty.
The gain is, on average, 6.5 per cent of an individual worker’s yearly wages.
There are more dimensions to the Thali surprise. "In terms of vegetarian Thali, it is found that, an individual who would have spent around 70 per cent of his/her daily wage on two Thalis for a household of five in 2006-07 is able to afford same number of Thalis from around 50 per cent of his daily wage in 2019-20 (April to October)."
"Similarly, the affordability of non-vegetarian Thalis has also increased with the share of wages required decreasing from around 93 per cent to around 79 per cent between 2006-07 and 2019-20 (April to October)."
Now put Thali-nomics against the SDG Index put out by NITI Aayog. Thali-nomics can feel like a motivational talk that came a bit too late. The SDG Index shows that the decline in the cost of Thali has had no effect on hunger in the country. Twenty-three of India's 37 states and Union Territories suffer from rampant hunger.
Here are some shocking SDG statistics that could jolt the Economimc Survey reader of her Thali-nomics reverie.
As many as 34.7 per cent of children under 5 years of age are categorized as stunted in India as per the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) Report 2016-18 of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), almost half of the pregnant women in the country aged between 15 and 49 years are anaemic.
A total of 40.5 per cent children aged 6 – 59 months are anaemic in India.
Of the children aged 0 to 4 years 33.4 per cent are underweight in India
