-The Indian Express A complacent approach that assumes that all necessary measures, including the Poshan Abhiyan, are in place and the reversal in progress is only momentary will be a sure way to inflict a debilitating, irreversible impact on children’s nutrition and their well-being. Did child undernutrition in India worsen during the COVID-19 pandemic? The consensus is: yes, most likely. But did we do well in reducing child undernutrition before the lockdown?...

-The New Indian Express While the state now has a TFR of 3, as compared to the last survey when it stood at 3.4, Kerala and Goa are among 8 states where the sex ratio at birth has worsened. NEW DELHI: Even as the Centre has expressed its intent of adopting measures to control population growth, the total fertility rate in a large part of the country has shown a considerable fall...

-Livemint.com * The neonatal mortality rate (NMR) slipped in 15 states and UTs in comparison to NFHS-4 (2015-16) * The survey also found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children age 12-23 months across all states/UTs The Under 5 and infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down in 18 states and union territories but in parallel 16 states recorded an increase in underweight and severely wasted under 5 children among 22 states that...

-Livemint.com * States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP, and Tripura, who have reported more than 30 percentage points in the proportion of children whose families own a smartphone include * There is limited evidence on the extent to which this content is reaching children and the impact it is having on their learning NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the huge push, only one third of India’s school children are pursuing online education and a smaller cohort...

Multidimensional poverty is about non-monetary poverty and is strongly associated with the challenges of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although previously defined only in monetary terms, poverty is now understood to include the lived reality of people’s experiences and the multiple deprivations they face. India’s multidimensional headcount ratio (H) i.e. the proportion or incidence of people (within a given population) who experience multiple deprivations has reduced from 55.1 percent to...