Mapping and Assessing Socio-Economic Wellbeing and Food Wellbeing in India

Wellbeing is a multifaceted concept. Its definition has evolved to become more holistic over the years. The paper attempts to build up the understanding of the concept wellbeing and various methods to measure it. The paper also elaborates and analyses various indicators of socio-economic wellbeing and food wellbeing in India at state level. Standard score and ranking method has been applied to assess the situation of each state in context to the variable selected. Food wellbeing is a very broad concept that deals with availability, accessibility, stability, consumption and happiness linked to consumption of food. Due to lack of relevant data, the paper takes into consideration calorie consumption and nutrition deficiency challenges like overweight and underweight population. Over weight and underweight reflects various health challenges linked to it. The data shows that the socio-economic wellbeing level is higher in states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep. The level of wellbeing is very low in states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. Food wellbeing indicators perform well in states of Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Kerela, Andhara Pradesh, Sikkim and Goa. In states of Uttrakhand, UttarPradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are at the lowest of food wellbeing indicators. The data links various socio economic and health indicators with calorie consumption and nutrition deficiency indicators with the help of correlation matrix.