{"id":54421,"date":"2020-02-13T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T11:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54421"},"modified":"2020-02-26T17:23:15","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T11:53:15","slug":"7-pm-nutrition-and-the-budgets-fine-print13th-february-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-nutrition-and-the-budgets-fine-print13th-february-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM |Nutrition and the Budget\u2019s fine print|13th February 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>Tackling\nnutritional problems in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news: <\/strong>Government\nAllocating Rs 35,600 Crore For Nutrition-Related Programmes in Budget 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Malnutrition:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malnutrition\nrefers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person\u2019s intake of energy\nand\/or nutrients. The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad groups of conditions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Under-nutrition<\/strong>,\nwhich includes wasting (low weight-for-height), stunting (low height-for-age)\nand underweight (low weight-for-age);<\/li><li><strong>Micronutrient-related\nmalnutrition<\/strong>, which includes micronutrient deficiencies (a lack\nof important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess; and<\/li><li><strong>Overweight,<\/strong>\nobesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease,\nstroke, diabetes and some cancers).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Status\nof the problem of Nutrition in India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The latest&nbsp;Global Hunger\nIndex&nbsp;(GHI) 2019 has ranked India a&nbsp;lowly 102 among the 117\ncountries&nbsp;it has mapped.<\/li><li>On the whole, the 2019 GHI report has\nfound that the number of hungry people has risen from 785 million in 2015 to\n822 million.&nbsp;<\/li><li>In India, only 9.6% of all children\nbetween 6 to 23 months of age are given a minimum acceptable diet.<\/li><li>As per the report, the child wasting\nrate is the highest (20.8%) in the world while the child stunting rate is 37.9%\nin India. Child wasting refers to the share of children under the age of five\nwho are wasted, i.e, they have&nbsp;low weight with respect to their height,\nreflecting acute undernutrition.<\/li><li>Among adults, 23% of women and 20% of men are\nconsidered undernourished in India.&nbsp; On the other hand, 21% of women and\n19% of men are overweight or obese.&nbsp; The simultaneous occurrence of over\nnutrition and under-nutrition indicates that adults in India are suffering from\na dual burden of malnutrition (abnormal thinness and obesity).&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Measures\ntaken by Indian Government:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The&nbsp;Integrated\nChild Development Services (ICDS)<\/strong> scheme&nbsp;was launched in\n1975. ICDS is one of the&nbsp;world\u2019s largest and most unique outreach\nprogramme for early childhood care and development&nbsp;and&nbsp;covers all the\ndistricts and blocks in the country. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme\nprovides a package of services including supplementary nutrition, nutrition and\nhealth education, health check-ups and referral services addressing children,\npregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls, key groups to address\ncommunity malnutrition, and also tackle calorific deficiency.<strong><\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Universal\nSalt Iodisation:<\/strong> National Iodine Deficiency Control Programme\n(NIDDCP) was initiated in 1992 with the goal&nbsp;that all salt for human\nconsumption will be iodised to ensure universal household access to iodised\nsalt.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Mid-\nDay Meal<\/strong>\nScheme was universalized in 1995. It aims to enhance nutrition of\nschoolchildren.<\/li><li>The Government is now working on close\nMonitoring of the Nutrition programmes by <strong>digitisation\nof the Anganwadis<\/strong>. This is expected to turnaround the entire system since\nit will help in real time monitoring of nutrition status of each child and take\nup immediate interventions wherever required.<\/li><li>Government enacted that <strong>National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA)<\/strong>\nin July 2013 with an intended coverage of upto 75% of rural population and upto\n50% of urban population for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains under Targeted\nPublic Distribution System. One of the guiding principles of the Act is its\nlife cycle approach wherein special provisions for supplementary nutrition have\nbeen made for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children in the age\ngroup of 6 months to 14 years.<\/li><li><strong>National\nNutrition Mission (NNM):<\/strong><\/li><li>NNM\nhas introduced a central nodal agency with extensive financial resources to\ncoordinate various central&nbsp;and state government schemes and imbue them\nwith additional financial resources.<\/li><li>The\nprogramme will&nbsp;cover all states and districts in a phased manner.<\/li><li>The\ncore strategy of the mission is to create decentralised governance systems with\nflexibility given to states,&nbsp;districts and local level with robust\nmonitoring, accountability and incentive frameworks that will\nencourage&nbsp;local solutions.&nbsp;<\/li><li>More\nthan 10 crore people are likely to be benefitted by this programme.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Poshan\nAbhiyan: <\/strong><\/li><li>The\nPrime Minister\u2019s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition, is Government of\nIndia\u2019s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children,\npregnant women and lactating mothers.<\/li><li>POSHAN\nAbhiyaan intends to significantly reduce malnutrition in the next three years.\nFor implementation of&nbsp;POSHAN Abhiyaan the four point strategy\/pillars of\nthe mission are:<\/li><li>Inter-sectoral\nconvergence for better service delivery<\/li><li>Use\nof technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and\nchildren<\/li><li>Intensified\nhealth and nutrition services for the first 1000 days<\/li><li>Jan\nAndolan<\/li><li><strong>POSHAN\nAtlas:<\/strong>&nbsp;To\nmap the crops and food grains grown in different regions of the country so that\nnutritious protein rich food in local areas can be promoted.<\/li><li>Indian Government has taken important\nsteps, such&nbsp;as the <strong>release of\nfortification standards for five staples by the Food Safety and Standards\nAuthority of India (FSSAI)&nbsp;to fight micronutrient malnutrition,<\/strong>\nrelease of food composition tables by the National Institute of Nutrition to\nincrease focus on dietary diversity, and now, the release of nutrition data to\naddress the issue of malnutrition more holistically.<\/li><li><strong>Giving\nimportance to Millets: <\/strong>In 2018-19, the Government of India\nlaunched a national millet mission which included renaming millets as\n\u201cnutri-cereals\u201d also launching a <strong>Year of\nMillets in 2018-19<\/strong> to promote nutritious cereals in a campaign mode across\nthe country. This could have been further emphasised in National Food Security\nMission (NFSM) which includes millets.<\/li><li><strong>Bharatiya\nPoshan Krishi Kosh:<\/strong> It was launched by Ministry of Women\nand Child Developemnt in collaboration with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in\n2019 in an attempt to bridge the gap between agriculture and nutrition. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Problems\nfaced in achieving the nutrition targets:<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Under-utilisation\nof allocated funds: <\/strong>The 2019-20 Budget allocation for Mid-day\nmeal scheme was \u20b911,000 crore and revised estimates are only \u20b99,912 crore.\nSimilarly there is under-utilisation of funds in ICDS, NFSM and horticulture\nmission that can be efficient in addressing micronutrient deficiency\neffectively.<\/li><li><strong>Utilising\nfunds on ICT rather than focusing on nutrition:<\/strong><\/li><li>According\nto Accountability Initiative, 72% of total expenditure of Poshan Abhiyaan is\ngoing into \u201cInformation and Communication Technology enabled Real Time\nMonitoring for development and setting up Common Application Software and\nexpenditure on components under behavioural change\u201d. <\/li><li>It is\nalso found on average that only 34% of funds released by the Government of\nIndia were spent from FY 2017-18 to FY 2019-20 till November 30, 2019.<\/li><li><strong>Flaws\nin human resource: <\/strong>Anganwadis are key to the distribution\nof services to mothers and children. But many States, including Bihar and\nOdisha, which have large vulnerable populations, are&nbsp;struggling to set up\nfunctioning anganwadis, and recruit staff.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way\nforward:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Anganwadis system is the backbone of\nIndia\u2019s nutrition target effort and there is urgent need to improve it.<\/li><li>Fortification, diversification and\nsupplementation may be used as simultaneous strategies to address micro and\nmacronutrient deficiencies.<\/li><li>Giving explicit emphasis and fund\nallocation to agriculture-nutrition linked schemes. Also, encouraging and\nintensifying farmers for&nbsp;agricultural diversification.<\/li><li>Directing the announcement to form\nFarmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) with an allocation of \u20b9500 crore to nutrition-based\nactivities.<\/li><li>Focus on nutrition-related\ninterventions, beyond digitization and intensifying the convergence component\nof POSHAN Abhiyaan, using the platform to bring all departments in one place to\naddress nutrition.<\/li><li>Ensuring early disbursement of funds and\nan optimum utilisation of schemes linked to nutrition.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nutrition budget\nallocation of&nbsp;Rs.&nbsp;35,600 crore as proposed in budget 2020-21 is a\nwelcome move. The budget provides the scope and opportunities for nutrition\nsensitive interventions in a substantial way. If implemented well, it can drive\naddressing protein hunger and micronutrient malnutrition popularly known as\nhidden hunger through improving\/diversifying both production and farming system\nwhich includes nutrition rich horticulture and agricultural crops, poultry,\nfishery production etc. The budget highlights climate smart nutrition sensitive\nagriculture and farming system. The intent needs to realised into action in the\nground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/nutrition-and-the-budgets-fine-print\/article30803731.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/nutrition-and-the-budgets-fine-print\/article30803731.ece<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: Tackling nutritional problems in India. More in news: Government Allocating Rs 35,600 Crore For Nutrition-Related Programmes in Budget 2020. Malnutrition: Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person\u2019s intake of energy and\/or nutrients. The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad groups of conditions: Under-nutrition, which includes wasting (low weight-for-height), stunting (low height-for-age) and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-nutrition-and-the-budgets-fine-print13th-february-2020\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM |Nutrition and the Budget\u2019s fine print|13th February 2020<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,955],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-pm","category-7-pm-brief-infograph","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":145,"cached_at":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}