Daily Current Affairs – 28th October 2022

Nutrition, Not Hunger Should Be the Priority

The fountainhead is a 16-year-old German and Irish organization, which measures and ranks countries on a hunger index at the global, regional, and national levels, but not at the sub-national level where some Indian states fare better. The Global Hunger Index’s (GHI) stated aim is to reduce hunger around the world. But its methodology focuses disproportionately on less than five-year-old’s.

Problematic methodology of GHI

Mixing the hunger and nutrition: In common parlance, hunger and nutrition are two different things. Hunger is associated with food scarcity and starvation. It produces images of emaciated people holding empty food bowls.

Wrong data collection methods: GHI uses childhood mortality and nutrition indicators. But its preamble states “communities, civil society organizations, small producers, farmers, and indigenous groups shape how access to nutritious food is governed.”

Irony of food grain availability: This suggests that GHI sees hunger as a food production challenge when, according to the FAO, India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of grain and the largest producer of milk; when the per capita intake of grain, vegetables and milk has increased manifold. It is, therefore, contentious and unacceptable to club India with countries facing serious food shortages, which is what GHI has done.

Data according to the latest National Family Health Survey Report

Comparative state level data collection: The sensational use of the word hunger is abhorrent given the facts. But there is no denying that in India, nutrition, particularly child nutrition, continues to be a problem. Unlike the GHI, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) does a good job of providing comparative state-level data, including the main pointers that determine health and nutrition.

Crucial health parameters included: NFHS provides estimates of underweight, (low weight for age), stunting (low height for age) and wasting (low weight for height). These conditions affect preschool children (those less than 6 years of age) disproportionately and compromise a child’s physical and mental development while also increasing the vulnerability to infections.

Undernourishment is included: Undernourished mothers (attributable to social and cultural practices,) give birth to low-birth-weight babies that remain susceptible to infections, transporting their handicaps into childhood and adolescence. NFHS includes undernourishment parameter.

Why nutrition is the best indicator of health?

Link between nutrition and disease: There are links between the nutritional status of young children with the post-neonatal phase when children suffer from acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases. Sanitation and hygiene require much more work.

Diet and food intake is important: Professor V Subramanian at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health writes, “There is a need to declutter the current approaches to child undernutrition by keeping it simple. I advise against a disproportionate focus on anthropometry (body measurements); instead, the need is to have a direct engagement with actual diet and food intake.”

How to overcome the child nutrition challenge?

Improving the breast feeding: The first child nutrition challenge relates to breastfeeding. The WHO and UNICEF recommend that breastfeeding should be initiated within the first hour of birth and infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months. According to NFHS 5, in India, the percentage improvement of children who were exclusively breastfed when under six months, rose from 55 per cent in NFHS 4 to 64 per cent in NFHS 5. That is progress, but it is not enough. By not being breastfed, an infant is denied the benefits of acquiring antibodies against infections, allergies and even protection against several chronic conditions.

Better nutritional practice: The second issue relates to young child feeding practices. At root are widespread practices like not introducing semi-solid food after six months, prolonging breastfeeding well beyond the recommended six months and giving food lacking in nutritional diversity. NFHS 5 shows that the improvement has been marginal over the last two reports and surprisingly, states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, UP and Gujarat are at the tail end.

Continuation of nutrition programmes: Almost one dozen nutrition programmes have been under implementation since 1975. Several more have been added of late, but most beneficiaries of these food distribution programmes are kids attending anganwadis or schools, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating mothers. This must continue but new-Borns, infants, and toddlers need attention too. Monitoring weight is an indicator, not a solution.

States must be encouraged: States should be urged to examine the NFHS findings to steer a new course to improve the poshan practices for the youngest and the most vulnerable sections of society.

Better child rearing practices: Helping mothers to better the lives of their infants and toddlers right inside the home by measuring and demonstrating how much diet, food intake and child-rearing practices matter.

Declining Funding to Welfare Schemes

Over the past three years, over 50% of existing central government sponsored schemes have been discontinued, subsumed, revamped or rationalized into other schemes. The impact has been varied across Ministries.

Social welfare Schemes which are discontinued, subsumed or revamped

Schemes under Ministry of women and child development: There are just three schemes now out of 19 schemes, i.e., Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. Mission Shakti itself replaced 14 schemes which included the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme.

Schemes under Ministry of animal husbandry and dairy: Just two schemes remain out of 12. Additionally, the Ministry has ended three schemes which include Dairying through Cooperatives, National Dairy Plan II, etc.

Schemes under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare: There are now three out of 20 (Krishonnati Yojana, Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperatives and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana), while there is little information on the National Project on Organic Farming or the National Agroforestry Policy.

Government spending on fertilizers

Declining fertilizer subsidies: Subsidies having been in decline over the last few years; actual government spending on fertilizers in FY2021 reached ₹1,27,921 crore. In the FY2122 Budget, the allocation was ₹79,529 crore (later revised to ₹1,40,122 crore amidst the COVID19 pandemic). In the FY2223 Budget, the allocation was ₹1,05,222 crore.

Price rise in NPK fertilizers: Allocation for NPK fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) was 35% lower than revised estimates in FY2122. Such budgetary cuts, when fertilizer prices have risen sharply after the Ukraine war, have led to fertilizer shortages and farmer anguish.

The status of other important schemes

Reduced budget of MGNREGA: The allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) went down by approximately 25% in the FY2223 Budget earlier this year, with the allocated budget at ₹73,000 crore when compared to the FY21-22 revised estimates of ₹98,000 crore. The Economic Survey 2022-23 has highlighted that demand for the scheme was higher than pre-pandemic levels as rural distress continues. Anecdotal cases show that actual funding disbursal for MGNREGA has often been delayed, leading to a decline in confidence in the scheme.

The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan: The GKRAY (June 2020, for a period of 125 days) sought to provide immediate employment and livelihood opportunities to the rural poor; approximately 50.78 crore person days of employment were provided at an expenditure of approximately ₹39,293 crore (against an announced budget of ₹50,000 crore, Ministry for Rural Development). The scheme subsumed 15 other schemes. With between 60 million to 100 million migrant workers who seek informal jobs, such a scheme should have been expanded.

Delayed payments for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA): ASHA, who are the first responders, there have been delays in salaries for up to six months. Regularisation of their jobs continues to be a struggle, with wages and honorariums stuck at minimum levels. There is one more example. Biodiversity has also been ignored.

Less funding or wildlife habitat development: Funding under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has declined: from ₹165 crore (FY18-19), to ₹124.5 crore (FY19-20), to ₹87.6 crore (FY2021). Allocations for Project Tiger have been slashed ₹323 crore (FY18-19) to ₹194.5 crore (FY20-21). A pertinent question is about meeting climate change obligations in the face of funding cuts.

What are the reasons behind slashing of Funds?

Funds lying idle: There are challenges such as funding cuts, disbursement and utilization of funds. As of June 2022, ₹1.2 lakh crore of funds meant for central government sponsored schemes are with banks which earn interest income for the Centre.

Some of the unutilized funds: For instance, the Nirbhaya fund (2013) with its focus on funding projects to improve the public safety of women in public spaces and encourage their participation in economic and social activities is an interesting case; ₹1,000 crore was allocated to the fund annually (2013-16), and remained largely unspent. As of FY2122, approximately ₹6,214 crore was allocated to the Nirbhaya fund since its launch, but only ₹4,138 crore was disbursed. Of this, just ₹2,922 crore was utilised; ₹660 crore was disbursed to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, but only ₹181 crore was utilised as of July 2021.

What should be the way forward?

State should get more funding for welfare: Rather than downsizing government schemes and cutting funding, one should right size the government. After the Goods and Services Tax reform, the Centre-State relationship has been transformed, with fiscal firepower skewed towards the Centre.

Need of efficient civil services: Our public services require more doctors, teachers, engineers and fewer data entry clerks. We need to build capacity for an efficient civil service to meet today’s challenges, i.e., providing a corruption free welfare system, running a modern economy and providing better public goods.

Making public service delivery effective: Rather than having a target of fewer government schemes, we should raise our aspirations towards better public service delivery.

Climate Crisis, India’s Solution – Mission LiFE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 20 unveiled the action plan for Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), an India-led global mass movement that will nudge individuals and communities for action to protect and preserve the environment.

What is LiFE?

Importance of individual efforts: Mission LiFE makes environmental protection and conservation a participative process and recognizes the importance of each effort no matter how small or big to save the environment both at the level of the individual and at the level of the community.

Chaning utilization attitude: The idea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle that focuses on ‘mindful and deliberate utilization’ instead of ‘mindless and wasteful consumption’.

Creating social networks: The LIFE Movement aims to utilize the power of collective action and nudge individuals across the world to undertake simple climate-friendly actions in their daily lives. The LIFE movement, additionally, also seeks to leverage the strength of social networks to influence social norms surrounding climate.

Creating Pro-planet people: The Mission plans to create and nurture a global network of individuals, namely ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), who will have a shared commitment to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles.

Seeks to behavioral change and individual actions: Through the P3 community, the Mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviors to be self-sustainable. LIFE recognizes that small individual actions can tip the balance in the planet’s favour.

Do you know pro-planet initiatives worldwide?

Denmark:  Denmark promotes the use of bicycles by limiting parking within the city Centre and providing exclusive bike lanes.

Japan: Japan has its unique “walk-to-school” mandate, which has been in practice since the early 1950s.

Mission LiFE

Why is the need for such movement?

Wrong perception about conservation: Environment protection, has for far too long been perceived as a policy issue by the general masses. There has been a perception that only national governments and international organizations can do something to protect the Earth and environment.

How mission LiFE will be helpful?

Mindless consumption of resources: The human race is plundering Planet Earth at a pace that far outstrips its capacity and ability to support life. A recent study says that if the current rate of consumption were to continue, by 2050, humans would need two more planets, in addition to the Earth, to continue to exist.

Declining natural resources and beauty: This means that we could be staring at major climatic crises in the years to come and our future generations may never get to experience the beauty of nature, the glaciers, the oceans, the snow and the rivers, that we have been fortunate to see and experience.

Unsustainable consumption pattern: What threatens our existence more than anything else is the pace at which we are producing and consuming. The consumption pattern of the world is mindless and pays scant regard to the environment.

Attitude change through mission LiFE: Mission LiFE tries to remind the world that the mindset of “use and throw” must immediately be replaced by “reduce, reuse and recycle” so that our scarce resources are not overexploited, and the world doesn’t crumble under the weight of all the waste that it is generating by the second.

Small efforts big Impact: Mission LiFE is a philosophy which shows how this can be made possible. It shows the power of small efforts to make big impacts. It believes in the individual’s capacity to change the world. It is the mantra to reverse historical and cultural wrongs wrecked upon the environment. Mission LiFE is the call to action for citizens and governments to save the planet.

What are India’s efforts for LiFE?

Environment friendly culture: In India, the cultural ethos of limiting needs and treating the environment and its resources with reverence has produced very visible results. India constitutes 17 per cent of the world’s population, but our contribution to global carbon emissions is only four per cent.

Less carbon footprint per head: Against the developed world’s carbon footprint of four tonnes per head, the carbon footprint of an average Indian counts to only 1.5 tonnes.

Multiple global initiatives: Despite not being part of the problem, with numerous global initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, the One Sun One World One Grid initiative, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, India has taken the lead in presenting and building solutions for the world by bringing the global community together.

Focus on collective actions of world community: The need to build these global alliances to fight climate change stems from the understanding that only collective action can save the world from the vagaries of climate change that are increasingly becoming a reality and are rising in ferocity.

Mindful utilization of resources: India offering knowledge from its religious and cultural ethos to the world, Mission LiFE aims to pull the world away from a “mindless and destructive” consumerist approach towards a “mindful and deliberate utilization” of resources. It is also, at the same time, an effort to prevent India from heading that way.

Shift towards sustainable policies: India is already working towards building a circular economy and moving towards a stage where all our energy requirements are met through the use of renewables. Our policies are all aligned towards ensuring sustainable development, where nature is not disregarded for development but where the most marginalized are not left to their destiny by denying them development.

What is the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA)?

The NBDSA has fined the news channel for turning a news debate on hijab into a “communal issue” and not adhering to guidelines.

What is the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA)?

The NBDSA is a self-regulatory agency set up by news and digital broadcasters.

It is an independent body set up by the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA), which serves as a representative of private television news, current affairs and digital broadcasters.

It describes itself as “the collective voice of the news, current affairs and digital broadcasters in India.”

Funded entirely by its members, the NBDA has 26 news and current affairs broadcasters (comprising 119 news and current affairs channels) as its members.

Various senior members of Indian media organisations serve on its Board of Directors.

Composition of the NBDSA

The body includes a Chairperson who is to be an eminent jurist, and other members such as news editors, and those experienced in the field of law, education, literature, public administration, etc.

They are to be nominated by a majority of the Board.

Former Supreme Court judge and jurist AK Sikri is currently serving as the Chairperson.

Functioning of NBDSA

Within this structure, it lays-down and foster high standards, ethics and practices in news broadcasting, including entertaining and deciding complaints against or in respect of broadcasters.

These standards mention a focus on objectivity, impartiality, maintaining discretion when reporting on crime against women and children, not endangering national security, etc.

Powers and authorities

NBDSA may initiate proceedings on its own and issue notice or take action in respect to any matter which falls within its regulations.

This can also be through complaints referred to the Authority by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting or any other governmental body, or by anyone else via its website.

A “two-tier” procedure is in place for redressing grievances, where any person aggrieved by the content of any broadcast is required to first make a complaint to the concerned broadcaster and then the Authority if dissatisfied.

Why was the channel fined?

The NBDSA held that the programme was in violation of the principles relating to impartiality, neutrality, fairness and good taste and decency.

It said that it did not have any problem with the subject but with the narrative of the debate.