Should the world go on a diet in 2014? There has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of overweight or obese people in the past 30 years. Previously considered a problem in richer countries, the biggest rises are in middle income countries and the developing world.

Department of Census and Statistics conducts Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) once in every five years. This survey provides information on Household Income and Expenditure to measure the levels and changes in living conditions of the people.

During September 2013, Parliament passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The NFSA seeks to make the right to food a legal entitlement by providing subsidised food grains to nearly two-thirds of the population. The Act relies on the existing Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) mechanism to deliver these entitlements.

Food security is back on the global agenda, triggered by alarm over the international food price surges of 2007-08. The international price of rice temporarily tripled, and wheat and maize prices more than doubled.

This new global report published by the World Food project analyses school feeding programmes in 169 countries and says that India has the largest school feeding programme in the world, catering to over 114 million children, but stands 12th among 35 lower-middle-income countries covering 79 per cent of its total number of school-going children.

India, the world’s second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, is throwing away fresh produce worth Rs133 bn every year because of lack of adequate cold storage facilities and refrigerated transport, according to data compiled in this new report by Emerson Climate Technologies