Childhood undernutrition: A comparative analysis of Scheduled Tribes and others in the mid-Indian Tribal Region

A high level of child undernutrition in India is well recognized. But one of the disturbing aspects of the nutrition situation in India is that there are substantial differences in level of child undernutrition across social groups, with Scheduled Tribes particularly disadvantaged. In this context, the paper aims to explore the level of child undernutrition among Scheduled Tribes, compared with Scheduled Castes, other backward classes and ‘other’ castes in the six states in the mid-Indian tribal belt inhabited by a substantial proportion of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It also tries to see if there are variations in child undernutrition across social groups after taking socio-economic and other factors into account.