Monday, March 7, 2016

[Editorial # 78] Don’t let down the children : The Hindu

[Following editorial has been published in The Hindu on 7th March 2016. Read through it and try to answer the questions that follow. Please do not copy and paste answers. The objective of this exercise is to get you in the groove of answer-writing. Try to write in your own words. Don't hesitate to write in a bulleted-format, if you are uncomfortable in writing in paragraph form.]

With worrying levels of stunting and lack of healthy weight among children revealed by the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for 15 States, Budget 2016-17 was expected to provide some remedies. To begin with, it could have raised funding for the flagship nutrition programme, the Integrated Child Development Services. Instead, the Budget has dealt the ICDS a blow in the form of a 7 per cent cut over the revised estimate of expenditure for the previous year, of about Rs.15,500 crore. This follows the pattern of Budget 2015-16 which cut the outlay initially, but with provision of some supplementary grants later in the year. Such an approach to a welfare programme that is so crucial to the health of the next generation reflects a poor set of development priorities. It also defies economic reasoning, given that India has been growing steadily after liberalisation and has the wherewithal to substantially raise social sector expenditure annually. To their credit, several States have used the ICDS to improve health and welfare by providing good supplementary nutrition to children under six; the support of the Supreme Court has also helped in ensuring that commercial interests are unable to corner the funds, and there is provision for community oversight. The Ministry of Women and Child Development must focus on States such as Bihar and Madhya Pradesh with a large burden of stunted, wasted and underweight children as revealed by the latest NFHS data. Figures for all States together will give a full picture, including best practices.

Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of supplementary nutrition should prompt the Centre to enhance funding for the ICDS. Data from an earlier round of the NFHS show that when nutrition is available every day to children under two, there is a marked positive effect on their height, particularly for girls. Such early interventions have a life-long impact, in the form of higher productivity and earnings. Scholars have, however, found a tendency within the ICDS in some States to neglect the needs of children less than two years old. Only 6 per cent in this age group were getting adequate daily nutrition a decade ago. The more progressive States have corrected the bias, with striking results. There is a clear lesson here for others, and it is incumbent on the Central Ministry to monitor the implementation of the scheme. It can take the support of local communities and self-help groups, as provided for in the Supreme Court judgment of 2004, to ensure that wholesome cooked meals are provided and contractors are not engaged. More recently, the court wanted high standards of hygiene and nutrition maintained in ICDS centres. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has missed the opportunity in the Budget to secure the future of India’s children, but he can still make amends. Raising the outlay, instituting a mechanism to heighten awareness among communities in less developed States and achieving full coverage are needed remedies.

Questions:

1. What is National Family Health Survey? Who conducts it? What all data is collected during NFHS? What is the frequency of NFHS? Is the frequency optimal?

2. What is ICDS program? Which ministry implements it? Under which list of the constitution does the Children's nutrition and healthcare fall?

3. Appraise the performance of ICDS program since its inception? Why is the budget allocation for the same is being reduced?

4. What are supplementary grants? Does the government need to seek Parliament's permission for supplementary grants?

5. What is meant by wasting and stunting of children? What is the percentage of such children in India? What are the factors behind such numbers?

6. How can the effectiveness of programs like ICDS be improved? Suggest some measures in light of the verdicts given by the Supreme Court in this regard.

7. Why do you think community participation is necessary for improving the effectiveness of welfare programs? Explain with examples.

6 comments:

  1. National Family health survey is a large scale, multi round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
    It provides information related to fertility, infant and child mortality, family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, anaemia, utilization and quality of health and family welfare.
    Three rounds of survey have been conducted starting from 1992-93. 2015-16 is the latest and the fourth survey.
    Ministry of Health and family welfare designated International Institute for Population Sciences Mumbai as the nodal agency responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance.

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  2. Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS) Scheme. It was launched on 2nd October, 1975. It represents one of the worlds largest programme for early childhood care and development. It is India's commitment towards its children, nursing mothers, providing pre-school non-formal education and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on the other.
    Its beneficiaries are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
    It is under the Ministry of women and child development government of India.
    it offers a package of six services
    1.Supplementary Nutrition.
    2.Pre-school non-formal education.
    3.Nutrition & health education
    4.Immunization
    5.Health check-up and
    6.Referral services

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    Replies
    1. Child nutrition and health falls in List III.

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  3. It is an additional Grant that is required for meeting the required expenditure of the Government.
    When the grants which are authorized by the Parliament falls short, there is an estimate which is presented before the Parliament. These grants need to be presented and passed by the Parliament. The CAG brings such excesses to the notice of the Parliament. The Public Accounts committee gives its recommendations to the Parliament regarding the same.
    The Provisions for the same is provided in Article 115 of the Constitution.

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  4. Low weight-for-height (wasting or thinness) it indicates a recent and severe process of weight loss. This is related to acute starvation or severe disease.
    Low height-for-age (Stunted Growth) It relates to a process of failure to reach linear growth which is potential as a result of sub optimal health or nutritional conditions. High levels of stunting are due to poor socioeconomic conditions and exposure to adverse conditions.

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  5. 62million children under the age of 5 are stunted in India.
    7.4Million are wasted in India.

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