Food security mission renamed, focus on nutrition

Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered the renaming of the National Food Security Mission, his ministry's flagship programme to boost output of key crops, to the Rashtriya Khadya Suraksha Evam Poshan Yojana and reoriented its focus towards meeting nutrition goals rather than setting mere food-output targets, officials said.

- Zia Haq

NEW DELHI:

The new name in Hindi, which translates to National Food Security and Nutrition Scheme, aims to address concerns at a time when the country is striving to bring down the incidence of anaemia, stunting and wasting among children. It also fits in with the government's broader revivalist idea of using names in Hindi instead of English for government programmes.

The changes are aimed at making the programme resonate better with farmers and tackle malnutrition, a person familiar with the matter said.