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TOPIC: General studies 2General studies 3
- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Issues relating to poverty and hunger
- Inclusive growth and issues arising from it
- Public Distribution System and Food security
Background:
India has been able to dramatically reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty from 306 million people living on less than $1.90 (on a PPP basis) a day in 2011 to 48 million today.
However, a similar dynamism in record against malnutrition is not seen. The country is home to the largest number of malnourished children in the world despite major government interventions:
Fighting Anaemia: Simpler strategies required
This compels us to think of simpler and effective strategies like fortification of food staples with essential micronutrients like iron and vitamin.
What is food fortification?
Fortification is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D to staple foods such as rice, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content. These nutrients may or may not have been originally present in the food before processing.
Food fortification: A critical strategy
Food fortification is a largely-ignored, yet critical, strategy which has proved an effective, affordable, scalable and sustainable intervention in many countries. India had tested the idea when it successfully tackled the widespread problem of goitre by mandating iodised salt in 1962. As there are numerous programmes to address malnutrition, this simple idea of fortifying meals has the potential to reach every segment of the population.
Policy-makers have recently begun to address this blind spot to change the country’s nutritional landscape.
However, given that fortification of these staples is still relatively new in India, traction has been slow.
Centrally-sponsored scheme on rice fortification in PDS:
The Department of Food and Public Distribution, facilitated by the NITI Aayog, has recently launched a centrally-sponsored scheme on rice fortification in PDS. The programme is designed to cover 15 districts, initially.
Rice is the staple for 65 per cent of the Indian population, most of whom are located in high malnutrition burden states. Supply of fortified rice through a network of fair price shops is a cost-effective intervention to address anaemia across all sections of the population.
Way ahead:
A successful pan-India scale up of fortification will depend on many factors —
Connecting the dots:
TOPIC: General studies 1 and 2
- Population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues
- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources; poverty and hunger
- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
Introduction:
Data from the 4th National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-16 for the survey period 2013-15 has signaled a monumental shift in modern Indian demographics. For the first time in its history, India has reached a TFR (Total Fertility Rate) of 2.18, which is below the average world replacement rate of 2.3.
Population growth is past its peak:
There are not enough young people coming into India to replace the current population. As can be seen in the population pyramid chart, from NFHS 4, there are fewer babies being born over the last 10 years. The population pyramid has inverted for the first time ever. This rate of decline is only expected to accelerate in the coming years.
India is now on the verge of becoming an older country, where we can expect the country’s average age to increase over the next few decades.
Pic: https://images.financialexpress.com/2019/05/1-679.jpgWill India become older before becoming richer?
This demographic movement is a monumental event that will significantly shape national policies in the coming decades, necessitating the government to take some difficult decisions.
Way ahead:
Here are a few noteworthy measures the government will need to prioritise:
1. Increasing women’s participation in the workforce:
To bolster the capacity of wealth creation of India’s working class, India must tap into the underutilised working-age women population.
2. Improving social security:
3. Reimagining education for tomorrow:
Today’s job market is vastly different from what it was a decade back. Further, 65% of children joining primary school today will eventually work in a job that does not yet exist.
4. Implementing tech-enabled healthcare:
The use of technology in healthcare coverage will be necessitated with a growing older-aged population in India. With a doctor-to population-density of 1/1,700, the country’s dearth of quality medical talent is not a predicament that it can soon overcome.
Technology can be revolutionary in delivering quality healthcare services in India by improving access, increasing efficiency of diagnosis and care, and further, reducing the cost of healthcare delivery and insurance.
Conclusion:
There needs to be enough wealth created by the country’s working-class population for the growing segment of longer-living senior citizens that will increasingly rely on pensions. India will need to move beyond policies for population control and towards building wealth at a brisk pace.
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The geography of industrial growth in a federal polity