'Should India Remain Underdeveloped?' : Supreme Court Slams Union's Opposition To Adopt

The observations were made in the context of the failure of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to implement the Front-of-Package labelling (FOPL), a standard adopted at the international level. It may be recalled that the Court on February 10 observed.

It directed them to file another compliance report, and the matter was then taken up on August 13 before a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran. However, the Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar(for FSSAI) informed the bench that it can't.

What Happened

This didn't sit well with the Court, which disapproved of the Union's stand that India can't match the standards of developed countries. Should India remain as an underdeveloped country?

• It referred to UNICEF's Child Nutrition Report, 2025, as per which the percentage of overweight school-age children and adolescents increased from 2% to 10% between 2002 and 2022.

• The report notes that nearly 80% of what is available in the vicnity of the school are packaged items.

• Along with this, it also referred to the Economic Survey 2025-25, which records that India's ultra-processed foods market has increased more than 150% from 2009 to 2023.

Key Details

That's the question we are putting forward for the Union to consider. It reiterated that the matter concerns the health of the citizens, more particularly growing children whose health can't be compromised.

• Chilean government in 2016 introduced a food product labelling it as "high sugar content" if it contained more than 22.5g of sugar per 100 gm.

• Two weeks further time has been granted by the Court for the Union to reconsider its position, and interact with the Expert Committee it constituted in the main matter.

• But it directed that the Union will have to consider the issue from the perspective of Article 21, which encompasses the right to health and Article 47, which casts a duty on the State.

Why It Matters

Justice Pardiwala particularly pointed out that young children are exposed to packaged items which further deteriorate their health. The bench stated that refined sugar, refined flour, and trans-fats not only heighten the risk of heart diseases, obesity and hyperactivity in children, it.

• The Court has asked the FSSAI to consult with the experts on whether they want to follow coloured indicators, interpretive words, numbers, letters, symbols, or numerical information on the FOPL.

• The objective of stating these examples, the Court remarked, was to mention that apart from developed countries, even developing countries are adopting international standards of packaging.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by Live Law as more details emerge