Hunger is not a rite of passage — it’s a policy failure

The silent crisis of student malnutrition could threaten not only individuals but the broader promise of India’s demographic dividend.

The image of India’s premier universities has always been built around aspiration, opportunity, and the promise of mobility through knowledge. Yet beneath the prestige and the bustling energy of academic life lies a less visible but deeply troubling reality: food insecurity among students.

It is a subject that has not found its rightful place in mainstream policy debates or the discourse around higher education reforms, but its impact is already evident in declining diet quality, deteriorating health, and the gradual erosion of student well-being.

For thousands of young Indians who leave their hometowns and families in pursuit of academic excellence, the choice between a nutritious meal and an essential textbook is not merely anecdotal, it is increasingly routine.

Global and national food insecurity

Food insecurity, as defined by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), goes far beyond the absence of calories. It includes affordability, diversity of diet, hygiene, cultural acceptability, and the dignity of access to food. India, despite rapid economic growth, continues to grapple with this challenge on multiple fronts.

The Global Hunger Index 2024 ranks India 105th out of 127 countries, placing it in the category of ‘serious hunger’. Around 14 per cent of the country’s population, nearly 19 crore people, remain chronically undernourished. At the global level, food insecurity is equally staggering, about 2.33 billion people experienced moderate food insecurity in 2023, while more than 864 million endured severe deprivation.

Food insecurity on our campuses

Amid this backdrop, the food insecurity faced by students in some Indian universities emerges as a unique and particularly damaging dimension. While hunger is often associated with rural poverty, agricultural distress, or urban slums, the university space has remained an underexplored frontier.

Evidence from other countries shows that food insecurity among university students is consistently higher than in the general population. In the United States, the prevalence ranges between 14 per cent and 59 per cent, while in the United Kingdom it touches 29 per cent, nearly double the national average. These figures suggest that students are disproportionately vulnerable, and India is unlikely to be an exception. Yet here, empirical data remains scarce, anecdotal accounts dominate, and systematic assessment is virtually absent.

What little evidence exists is telling. An ethnographic study on Delhi University’s North Campus highlighted significant shifts in dietary patterns among migrant students. Once in the city, students consumed fewer fruits, nuts, and green vegetables, while fast food became a staple, pointing not only to the absence of affordable and healthy options, but also to the pressures of migration itself.

A study at Allahabad University revealed that meals served on campus were predominantly carbohydrate-heavy, with nearly 700 kilocalories coming from cereals alone, and sanitation standards remained questionable. At universities in Kashmir, research using Dietary Diversity Scores (DDS) showed that barely 42.9 per cent of day-scholars and 44.6 per cent of hostellers with normal BMI consumed moderately diverse diets. The correlation between dietary diversity and indicators such as waist-to-hip ratio made the impact of inadequate nutrition on student health abundantly clear.

Malnutrition is not a temporary inconvenience

These studies paint a worrying picture: students, already navigating financial, academic, and emotional stress, are further constrained by limited food access. Malnutrition at this stage of life is not simply a temporary inconvenience. It chips away at concentration levels, lowers immunity, increases the risk of lifestyle diseases, and weakens the overall academic experience.

For students from lower- and middle-income households, who are already stretching budgets to meet tuition, rent, and transportation costs, food becomes the first expense to be compromised. The outcome is a generation of young adults whose intellectual and professional potential is dulled by something as basic as the absence of a healthy meal.

More data required

If India’s aspiration is to build world-class universities and a globally competitive workforce, food security on campuses cannot be treated as peripheral. The interventions must be systematic, evidence-based, and rooted in data. The first step is the establishment of a standardised system to measure student food insecurity. Mechanisms such as the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), already used internationally, can be adopted by educational boards and mandated across universities. Without structured measurement, the problem will remain invisible. With it, policymakers can identify vulnerable campuses, map hotspots, and track the success of interventions.

Once data is in place, universities can begin experimenting with solutions that blend policy, innovation, and partnerships. Nutritional stipends targeted at needy students, subsidised meal programmes modelled on Karnataka’s Indira Canteens or Tamil Nadu’s Amma Unavagam, and tie-ups with State-run community kitchens could reduce both the cost and logistical barriers to nutritious food. Alumni networks, which have been leveraged for scholarships and infrastructure funding, can also be tapped for last-mile food voucher schemes that ensure no student slips through the cracks. Equally crucial is the restructuring of university canteen contracts. Nutrition benchmarks, transparent pricing, and sanitation standards must be made non-negotiable, with compliance monitored by student-led committees.

Models to adopt

Examples from within India offer workable models. Anna University has already created a network of subsidised vegetarian canteens, supported by student-led mess committees and scholarships for hostellers, ensuring access to affordable food while maintaining student agency. Centurion University in Odisha has gone further by creating an integrated food ecosystem. It runs its own livestock chain, baking units, and millet-based food production, thereby guaranteeing students nutrient-rich, affordable options.

It supplements this with food pantries, subsidised meal programmes, and an emergency food assistance fund, a comprehensive approach that not only addresses hunger, but also nurtures dignity and choice. These examples show that the solutions are neither utopian nor prohibitively expensive; they merely require intent, co-ordination, and modest resource allocation.

The role of business, philanthropy, and private sector partnerships must not be underestimated. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, which often gravitate towards infrastructure or scholarships, can be meaningfully redirected to support food access initiatives on campuses. Technology startups in the food delivery and agri-tech space can be incentivised to innovate around low-cost, nutritious meal delivery models. Universities themselves can consider social enterprise approaches, for instance, integrating food production units within vocational training programmes so that student nutrition is tied to practical learning and livelihood generation.

Hunger is not a rite of passage

Addressing food insecurity in universities is not just about combating hunger, it is about securing academic integrity, mental health, and future competitiveness. A student constantly worried about their next meal cannot bring the same focus to their research, their exams, or their entrepreneurial ideas as one who is well-nourished. Malnutrition affects memory, concentration, and stress management, skills that are central to academic success. The silent crisis of student hunger/malnutrition, therefore, threatens not only individuals but the broader promise of India’s demographic dividend.

At its core, the problem demands a shift in how society views the link between food and education. Just as libraries, laboratories, and lecture halls are seen as essential parts of the learning ecosystem, so too must nutrition be considered integral to academic success. Hunger or malnutrition should never be normalised as part of student life. It is not a rite of passage; it is a barrier. Every time a student compromises on food, the cost is paid not only in their personal health but in India’s collective intellectual capital.

When young people migrate from small towns and villages to India’s major academic hubs, their hunger should be only for knowledge, not for survival. To allow food insecurity to persist in universities is to undermine the very foundations of our education system. If policymakers, universities, and private players can align efforts, the solutions are within reach. Nourishment must be recognised not as an adjunct to learning but as its cornerstone. In the quiet dropout statistics that hunger leaves behind, India risks losing some of its brightest minds before they ever reach their potential.

(Megha Jain is assistant professor, Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi and senior visiting fellow, Pahle India Foundation. Bishal Kalita is research assistant, Pahle India Foundation.)