India, Dec. 18 -- India's National Nutrition Strategy (2017), developed by NITI Aayog, was built on the momentum of the National Health Policy, POSHAN Abhiyaan and India's commitments to the SDGs. Its mission was clear: reduce all forms of malnutrition-stunting, wasting, underweight, anaemia and low birth weight through a strong life-cycle approach.

Nearly a decade later, India is confronted with a new nutrition reality that the 2017 framework could not have fully anticipated. Our understanding of nutrition, food systems, behaviour and health has evolved rapidly. Undernutrition still persists, but new threats-overweight, obesity, unsafe food, diet quality gaps and climate-linked vulnerabilities are now far more visible. Much has changed,...