-Down to Earth Stunting among children below five did not improve at all; child obesity increased across several states Chronic malnutrition or stunting among children below five years did not improve at all while acute undernourishment or wasting worsened in the last half-a-decade in a majority of the surveyed states and Union territories (UT), according to the latest round of national family health survey (NFHS-5). Child obesity also increased in several states. The...

-Scroll.in Quality of life seems to have more do with social factors in India than economic growth. In 2008, frustrated by the agitation against forcible land acquisition, Tata Motors announced it would exit West Bengal. The company chose to move its Nano car plant to Gujarat. The then chief minister Modi claimed that he made Tata’s entry hassle free, inviting Ratan Tata with an SMS. The incident underlined the gap between Bengal and...

-The Indian Express Though overall trends do suggest an improvement in population control, use of modern contraception, reproductive and child health, immunisation and social determinants of health, a complete overhaul is needed to identify and address the multidimensional aspects of child malnutrition. Population-based surveys form the bedrock of the country’s health information systems. Use of accurate and nationally representative data can be instrumental in policy planning, programme design, health system monitoring and...

-Down to Earth Social, cultural stigmas reasons for lack of improvement The present-day education system has come a long way and age-old traditions have undergone a drastic change. One of the biggest achievements of India was the increase in literacy rate to 74.04 per cent in 2010-11 from 18.3 per cent in 1950-51. The country has been making great strides in educating children; at the time of Independence, India was largely illiterate (nine...

-Scroll.in Influenced by conservative vegetarian lobbies, most BJP-ruled states do not serve nutrition-laden eggs in school and Anganwadi menus. In her haunting short story Shishu (Little Ones), writer Mahashweta Devi depicts the cruelty of shrunk bodies deformed by acute hunger and starvation in Adivasi hamlets, due to chronic administrative apathy. Reminiscent of this dystopian parable, the recently released national family health survey 2019-’20, for the first time since the turn of the millennium...