This article develops a novel analytical framework by combining discursive periodization with an examination of persistent exclusions in the governance of hunger. Moving beyond the conventional “poverty/production” paradigm, it traces how Indian regimes since independence have framed hunger across five phases: famine and scarcity, entitlement, productivist modernization, liberalization, and rights-based digital governance. Employing the Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA), the study reviews policy documents, media, and academic sources to show how each phase redefined hunger while reproducing silences around inequality and structural injustice. The paper concludes by foregrounding hunger as a political construct and advocating justice-oriented, intersectional approaches to food security.