Understanding policy debates from the past can help to explain and address the challenges of today. Agriculture can play an important role in the reduction of undernutrition in India. However, the nutrition-enhancing potential of agriculture remains underused. In order to understand the roots for the weak links between agriculture and nutrition in contemporary India, this paper follows the evolution of the policy debates on nutrition and agriculture from India’s Independence to the present. The frame analysis reveals several substantial shifts in the framing.