According to data released on estimated per capita calorie intake by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) of major states in India, Punjab has the highest calorie intake (2,223 Kcal) in rural areas while Jharkhand (1,900 Kcal) had the lowest in 2009-10. In urban areas, Odisha topped the list as its per capita calorie intake stood at 2096 Kcal while the lowest was in West Bengal (1,851 Kcal).

It was also interesting to see that during 2004-05 to 2009-10, in rural areas, 8 major States i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, reported a rise in estimated per capita calorie intake per day, while, the remaining major states reported a decline.

The data for urban areas showed that only three major States i.e. Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu reported a rise in estimated per capita calorie intake (Kcal) per day during this period, while the rest of the major States reported decline.

This a worrying trend as in spite of the economic development and ongoing initiatives towards poverty alleviation there is a decline in per capita calorie intake per day in most of the States. In fact, in both urban and rural areas, declining trend has been observed in the estimated per capita calorie intake per day as there was nearly 6% decline in 2009-10 in both rural and urban areas compared to 1993-94.