Beyond the 50-Metre Rule

Maharashtra’s junk-food ban near schools is a welcome start, but tackling childhood obesity will require action far beyond the gates.

The Maharashtra government’s recent move to ban the sale, advertisement, and distribution of junk food within 50 meters of schools is a welcome step in the fight against childhood obesity and bad nutrition. The ruling is clear and loud: schools should be encouraging healthy practices, not promoting harmful consumption. The order is also significant for its scale. It applies to government, aided and private schools across the state and covers nearly 1.08 lakh schools and around two crore students.

But the proposal poses a deeper question: Will banning junk foods in schools alone make children healthier? The answer is no, not because the restriction is silly, but because bad eating patterns are the product of a much larger ecosystem that extends way beyond the school gates. If the state is serious about keeping its children healthy, it has to develop a holistic school nutrition strategy that accounts for food surroundings, education, economics and lifestyle.

Radical Shift

India is undergoing a change in diet. Public health policy for decades has been about malnutrition and food insecurity. These continue, but are now joined by a growing epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity. The scale of this transition is becoming harder to ignore. UNICEF reported in 2025 that overweight and obesity among Indian adolescent girls rose from 2.4 per cent to 5.4 per cent between NFHS-3 and NFHS-5, while among adolescent boys it rose from 1.7 per cent to 6.6 per cent. India could have more than 27 million children and adolescents aged 5–19 living with obesity by 2030.

This represents a profound change in the nature of India’s nutrition problem. The country is increasingly dealing with the wrong kind of food, consumed in the wrong quantities and under increasingly unhealthy circumstances. The old problems of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency are now existing alongside overweight and obesity, sometimes even within the same household.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) have repeatedly warned about unhealthy diets and their contribution to non-communicable diseases. The latest Dietary Guidelines for Indians also distinguish foods high in excessive fat and added sugar as high-fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods. Children and adolescents consuming such foods in excess are at increased risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases.

Urbanization, increasing disposable incomes, and aggressive marketing of ultra-processed foods have all impacted children’s diets. The change is not merely a matter of personal preference. Food companies have become extraordinarily effective at placing inexpensive, convenient and highly palatable products in front of children. The colourful packaging, celebrity endorsements, and digital advertising make packaged snacks and sugary drinks far more attractive than traditional healthy foods. UNICEF noted in 2025 that three-quarters of young people surveyed had seen advertising for sugary drinks, fast food or snacks in the preceding week, with social media emerging as a particularly important channel.

The economics of this shift matter too. Ultra-processed food is increasingly available, portable and relatively easy to consume, while healthier food can require time, preparation and, in some circumstances, more money. The Indian Economic Survey 2024-25 noted that the market for ultra-processed foods had grown dramatically, from about $900 million in 2006 to $37.9 billion in 2019.

Healthier Norms

Maharashtra’s decision is therefore both relevant and necessary in this context. Schools are places where children develop lifelong habits. Limiting children’s access to unhealthy food at school can help reduce impulse purchases and help establish healthier behavioural norms. The FSSAI’s draft guidelines for school children had proposed restricting or limiting the availability of common HFSS foods within schools and the area within 50 metres of them. Its Eat Right School programme similarly seeks to inculcate healthier eating habits through classroom and extracurricular activities.

But the success of the 50-meter rule will be largely dependent on how it is implemented. If kids want to buy chips, sugary drinks, or candy, they can just walk a little farther. Vendors who are displaced from one location may move just outside the restricted area. The policing could end up being symbolic unless there is constant monitoring and collaboration of schools and parents.

More importantly, removing harmful foods without offering healthier alternatives could have unintended consequences. Many school canteens still sell refined carbohydrates, deep-fried snacks, and sugar-sweetened beverages because they are cheap, popular, and profitable. If schools want kids to avoid unhealthy foods, they have to provide affordable and attractive nutritious options. Fresh fruits, sprouts, whole-grain snacks, milk, buttermilk, and locally made healthful meals should be the order of the day. FSSAI itself has stressed that balanced, fresh and traditional foods should not be displaced by frequent consumption of foods high in salt, sugar and fat.

It’s not only about regulation but also about awareness that determines food choices. Children who understand how sugar, salt, and harmful fats affect their health are more likely to make informed choices throughout their lives. These themes can be reinforced outside of the classroom through embedding practical nutrition lessons into school curricula, hosting healthy culinary demonstrations, and engaging parents in awareness campaigns. FSSAI’s Eat Right School programme already provides a framework for this kind of age-appropriate nutrition education.

Parents are at the heart of any successful intervention. Most bad eating habits begin in the home. Schools can promote healthier habits, but they are not a substitute for nurturing home environments.

Physical exercise is another missing element of the dialogue. Healthy eating and physical activity go together. But academic pressures, smaller playgrounds, and more dependence on digital gadgets have diminished opportunities for children to exercise regularly. According to the World Health Organization, children and adolescents aged 5–17 should average at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a day, with muscle- and bone-strengthening activity included regularly. Many Indian students are still struggling to achieve this goal. Any nutritional strategy should therefore be complemented by investments in sports infrastructure and organized physical education.

Food Ecology

The larger food ecology also needs tending. Children are exposed to food advertising not only at schools but also on television, social media, gaming platforms, and influencer content. Restricting sales of junk food around educational institutions only addresses one source of exposure. Better front-of-pack nutrition labelling, increased transparency about food ingredients, and tighter controls on the marketing of unhealthy meals to children could all support families to make healthier choices. UNICEF and its partners have specifically called for measures including stronger nutrition labelling, restrictions on junk-food marketing and greater nutrition literacy among children and young people.

There is also a socioeconomic aspect that politicians cannot ignore. Many families can afford processed snacks; they’re easy and widely available. Healthy foods are often more expensive or require more preparation. Regulations aimed at improving health outcomes may actually worsen inequities if nutrition options are not affordable and accessible across economic strata. Instead of being focused mainly on punitive measures, public policy can help local food vendors, school kitchens, and small enterprises to provide healthier options.

Maharashtra’s initiative should be seen as the beginning of the conversation. It understands that children’s health needs more policy attention and that schools are critical to creating healthier futures. But to succeed in the long term, it will need to be a comprehensive strategy involving legislation, public awareness and more community involvement.

Healthy schools are not created by removing bad choices, but by creating conditions where the better choice is the easier choice. If Maharashtra's programme manages to deliver such a sweeping reform, it will have done much more than just enforce a 50-metre rule: it will have laid the foundation for a healthier generation.

(The writer is a columnist and climate researcher with experience in political research analysis, ESG research and energy policy. Views personal.)