{"id":12302,"date":"2021-07-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/31-07-2021\/malnutrition-in-india-3\/"},"modified":"2021-07-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-31T00:00:00","slug":"malnutrition-in-india-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/31-07-2021\/malnutrition-in-india-3","title":{"rendered":"Malnutrition in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>In News<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Recently, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development has informed Rajya Sabha that there were <strong>927,606 severely acute malnourished children in India<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>Child Malnutrition<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Malnutrition<\/strong>, in all its forms, includes <strong>undernutrition<\/strong> (wasting, stunting, underweight), <strong>inadequate vitamins or minerals<\/strong>, <strong>overweight<\/strong>, <strong>obesity<\/strong>, and resulting diet-related noncommunicable diseases.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The term malnutrition<strong> addresses 3 broad groups of conditions:<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Undernutrition<\/strong>, which includes <strong>wasting<\/strong> (low weight-for-height), <strong>stunting<\/strong> (low height-for-age) and <strong>underweight<\/strong> (low weight-for-age)<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Together, the stunted and wasted children are considered to be <strong>underweight<\/strong>, indicating a <strong>lack of proper nutritional intake and inadequate care post-childbirth<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Micronutrient-related malnutrition<\/strong>, which includes micronutrient deficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess; and<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Overweight, obesity<\/strong> and <strong>diet-related noncommunicable diseases<\/strong> (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It is a <strong>chronic problem<\/strong> and a <strong>longstanding challenge <\/strong>for the public administration of India.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Causes<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Agriculture Output: <\/strong>The agriculture output from small and marginal holdings are either stagnant or declining due to reasons such as reduced soil fertility, fragmented lands or fluctuating market price of farm produce.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Low Income: <\/strong>Relative income of one section of people has been on the decline. <\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">This has adverse effects on their capacity to buy adequate food, especially when food prices have been on the rise.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The kind of work a section of people have been doing are less remunerative or there is less opportunity to get remunerative work. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Public Distribution System:<\/strong> The public distribution system of the state is not functioning well or is not accessible to everyone.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Rural Unemployment: <\/strong>The emaciated rural livelihoods sector and lack of income opportunities other than the farm sector have contributed heavily to the growing joblessness in rural areas. <\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The PLFS 2017-18 revealed that <strong>rural unemployment<\/strong> stood at a concerning<strong> 6.1 per cent<\/strong>, which was the <strong>highest since 1972-73<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>India&#8217;s Malnutrition Profile<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The first <strong>National Family Health Survey<\/strong> (NFHS) in <strong>1992-1993<\/strong> found that India was <strong>one of the worst performing countries <\/strong>on child health indicators.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">There are about <strong>189.2 million undernourished people<\/strong> in India with a majority of whom are women and children.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">According to government figures from the year <strong>2015-2016<\/strong>, <strong>22.9 per cent<\/strong> of <strong>women<\/strong> in the 15-29 age group are underweight, as compared to 20.2 per cent of men in the same age group. <\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Further, according to The <strong>State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report<\/strong>, in 2016, nearly 51.4 per cent of women of reproductive age in India were suffering from anemia.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Almost 50 per cent of women are facing severe undernutrition and Anaemia.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Around <strong>60 million children<\/strong>, which is roughly about half, of all children in India are <strong>underweight, <\/strong>about 45 per cent are stunted, 21 per cent are wasted, 57 per cent are vitamin A deficient and 75 per cent are anemic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Malnutrition has thus become the <strong>major contributor to the under-five mortality rate in India<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">These statistics indicate that <strong>undernutrition in India<\/strong> is <strong>a gendered problem.<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The root cause for these male-female differentials can be found in native socio-cultural norms and mindsets.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Such norms, rooted in patriarchy, would suggest that distribution of resources, including food, should be done in a hierarchical manner, with male members of the family typically at the top of the ladder.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"background-color:white\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Malnutrition and the widespread prevalence of stunting, wasting and nutritional deficiencies among women and children are <strong>well-recognised elements of India&#8217;s profile<\/strong> in the <strong>Global Hunger Index<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The prevalence of malnutrition in India has notably declined over the last decade, and the <strong>Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18<\/strong> revealed that major challenges remain.<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">According to the NFHS-4, the <strong>percentage<\/strong> of <strong>wasted, stunted and malnourished <\/strong>children in 2015-16 stood at <strong>21, 38.4 and 35.7 respectively<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">As compared to NFHS-4 data, the <strong>Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey <\/strong>(CNNS) compiled in 2017-18 showed an<strong> improvement of 4 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 2.3 per cent<\/strong> in wasted, stunted and malnourished children <strong>respectively<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>Measures Taken to Tackle Malnutrition<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Poshan Abhiyan<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It was approved in <strong>2017<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It is a <strong>multi-ministerial convergence mission<\/strong> with the vision to ensure the attainment of malnutrition free India <strong>by 2022<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The <strong>Ministry of Women and Child Development<\/strong> (MWCD) is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Integrated Child Development Services<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It was launched on<strong> 2<sup>nd<\/sup> October 1975<\/strong> and it represents one of the world\u2019s largest and unique programmes for <strong>early childhood care and development<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The beneficiaries under the Scheme are children in the <strong>age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Ministry of Women and Child Development <\/strong>is the implementing agency<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Matritva Sahyog Yojana<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) is a<strong> Conditional Maternity Benefit <\/strong>(CMB) Scheme launched in <strong>2010<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The scheme is being implemented by the <strong>Ministry of Women and Child Development as the centrally sponsored scheme.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It was launched for <strong>pregnant and lactating women<\/strong> to improve their health and nutrition status to better-enable the environment by providing cash incentives to pregnant and nursing mothers.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The <strong>centrally sponsored scheme<\/strong> was launched in <strong>2017<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Rs. 6,000<\/strong> is transferred directly to the bank accounts of pregnant women and lactating mothers for availing better facilities for their delivery to compensate for wage loss and is eligible for the first child of the family.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Implementation of the scheme is closely <strong>monitored<\/strong> by the <strong>central and state governments<\/strong> through the <strong>Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana-Common Application Software<\/strong> (PMMVY-CAS).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Mid-Day Meal Scheme<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The Mid-day Meal Scheme is a<strong> school meal programme<\/strong> in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It covers all school students studying in <strong>Classes 1 to 8<\/strong> of government schools, government-aided schools, special training centres, including madrasas supported under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>National Food Security Mission<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It was launched in<strong> 2007-08<\/strong> by the<strong> Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers\u2019 Welfare<\/strong> as a <strong>Centrally Sponsored Scheme<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It was based on the recommendations of the agriculture sub-committee of<strong> the National Development Council <\/strong>(NDC).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It focuses on the sustainable increase in the production of targeted crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>National Nutrition Mission<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It is the government\u2019s <strong>flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes <\/strong>for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Aim: <\/strong>To reduce stunting and wasting by 2 per cent per year (total 6 per cent until 2022) among children and anaemia by 3 per cent per year (total 9 per cent until 2022) among children, adolescent girls and pregnant women and lactating mothers.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The <strong>Ministry of Women and Child Development<\/strong> is the nodal ministry for implementation.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>National Nutrition Strategy<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The Strategy aims to r<strong>educe all forms of malnutrition by 2030<\/strong>, with a focus on the most vulnerable and critical age groups.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The Strategy also aims to <strong>assist in achieving the targets identified as part of the Sustainable Development Goals<\/strong> related to nutrition and health.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/news\/water\/as-told-to-parliament-july-29-2021-some-927-606-children-in-india-are-severely-acute-malnourished--78188\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color:#1155cc\">DTE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Recently, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development has informed Rajya Sabha that there were 927,606 severely acute malnourished children in India. Child Malnutrition Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight, obesity, and resulting diet-related noncommunicable diseases. The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad groups [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[31,30,47,108,55],"class_list":["post-12302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-government-policies-interventions","tag-gs-2","tag-health","tag-issues-relating-to-poverty-hunger","tag-welfare-schemes-for-vulnerable-sections-of-population-their-performance"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/5763875current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}