Budget Outlays for Nutrition-Specific Interventions: Insights from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh

By:
Saumya Shrivastava, Chandrika Singh, Nilachala Acharya, Preetu Mishra, Richa S. Pandey, Rabi Parhi, Sourav Bhattacharjee, Abner Daniel, Vani Sethi
Date:
2017

Examining three fiscal years of state budgets, the paper finds that direct nutrition intervention (DNI) budgets remain <2% of total state budgets and, despite absolute increases, declined as a share of total budgets in three of four states between FY 2014–15 and FY 2016–17. Large resource gaps exist against program norms and costed needs (e.g., ~66–75% for several micronutrient and diarrhoea-control DNIs), indicating urgent need to prioritise and adequately finance DNIs, especially health-related ones, to meet coverage goals.