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Having won only 28 seats in the 2012 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has managed a good deal crossing the three figure mark by ensuring 105 seats for its nominees in the most populous and crucial state of the country. 

The ruling Samajwadi party headed by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will contest the remaining 298 seats in the 403-member Vidhan Sabha. With Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on a 3,500 Km ‘Kisan yatra’ in UP, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra played a vital role in hammering out the seat adjustment with the Samajwadi party. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also reached out to Akhilesh Singh ensuring her party got the best possible deal in the prevailing circumstances. This is the first time that the SP and Congress are having a truck. Priyanka’s role in working out the arrangement has been vital. She is expected to confine her campaigning to her mother’s constituency of Rae Bareli and brother Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi.

The Congress is contesting all the ten assembly segments in these two constituencies. The bitter struggle in the first political family of UP, Samajwadi party patriarch and the wrestler-turned-politician Mulayam Singh Yadav has lost the battle for the ‘cycle ‘ symbol. His marginalisation is all too apparent. The autonomous Election Commission of India granting the ‘Cycle’ symbol to youthful chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s faction of the SP has been a severe blow to Mulayam Singh or Netaji as he is widely known. The ECI’s decision was on account of the large majority of legislators and party loyalists vociferously endorsing Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership had won the day.

The mantle of leadership in the SP founded by Netaji 25 years back passed on to Akhilesh Yadav on January second. This facilitated the smooth installation of the chief minister as the national President of the regional party. Since then he has gone from strength to strength. Things have since moved fast in forming a la 2015 Bihar style “”mahagatbandhan”” for keeping the Lotus party at bay in UP. The JD (U) and RJD are extending support. This has the portends of resurrecting the Congress to some extent which has been in political wilderness in the state for the last 27 years. It managed only 28 seats in the 2012 assembly elections.  

The Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh appears to have gone off the radar of both the SP and the Congress. The SP made it clear it is not interested in a tie up with Ajit Singh’s RLD. The Congress has also not evinced interest.

The importance of Western UP cannot be undermined as it accounts for 67 seats in the state assembly. It is the bastion of the Jats. Significantly no less than 26 Muslim candidates won from Western UP in 2012. Simultaneously, Akhilesh Yadav does not want to alienate the dwindling Mulayam Singh loyalists. Worried by the SP-Congress truck, the BJP is once again indulging in its familiar game of communal polarisation. 

In a three cornered contest the BJP might well be pushed to the wall with the minority Muslim vote ranged against it. It is in this context that the Lotus party is seeking to project itself as a saviour of the other backward classes in a desperate bid to regain power in UP after 14 years. 

Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diktat of steering clear of giving tickets to the relatives of party leaders, the party has just done that. The saffron brigade appears to have alienated its supporters of small traders as well as the Brahmins. In the general elections in 2014 the BJP secured a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha for the first time since it was formed in 1980. 

It won a staggering 71 seats in the Lok Sabha out of the 80 from UP finishing with a tally of 73 as its allies in the NDA baggeg two. It is unlikely that the BJP will be able to replicate that humongous performance in the ensuing February-March elections.

The BJP’s first list of candidates there is not a single Muslim candidate and is banking on communal polarisation in riot affected western UP. Tickets have been distributed to leaders involved in communal incidents including sitting MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana, both of whom are accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. The wife of the BJP/RSS leader accused in last September’s Bijnor incident has also been fielded. This has sent a wrong signal to the minorities all over the country. The BJP has resorted to playing the communal card amid reports of the Jat community being disillusioned with it. 

With reservation for Jats in a limbo, they might desert the BJP this time and consolidate their votes along with the minority community in favour of the SP-Congress alliance. The outcome in UP will set the stage for the saffron brigade in the general elections two years later in 2019.  

As the main campaigner for the BJP, PM Modi’s sudden decision of demonetisation created problems galore because of poor planning coupled with the Centre’s failure to anticipate the problems which got compounded with the RBI issuing new directives on a daily basis for nearly a month. The Lotus party is handicapped as it has not announced a chief ministerial face in the critical cow belt. One of their pledges is building a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. 

The Modi government urgently needs to increase its strength in the Rajya Sabha where it is handicapped being in a minority. This has compelled the BJP led NDA at the centre to resort to Ordinances which has been decried by constitutional experts.Important legislation pertaining to economic reforms has invariably hit a wall and fallen by the wayside in the Rajya Sabha. With BJP strategists focussing on non-Yadav OBCs, the party is wooing the most backward castes which can alienate the Brahmins as they don’t vote in sync with the OBCs. 

On the other hand the Samajwadi party government has not crowned itself with glory during its rule in Lucknow over the last five years. There were too many centres of authority. Despite that Akhilesh Yadav has focussed on development which is critical for UP and appears to have caught the imagination of the youth. In all this Mayawati of the BSP who fancied her chances of becoming the chief minister for a record fifth time in UP appears to have lost the plot because of the SP-Congress alliance. Her gambit of splitting the 20 per cent Muslim votes in the state might not fructify.

Akhilesh Yadav’s test lies in leading the party to victory because of the BJP’s negative campaign against him. That is not his only challenge in the seven-phase assembly elections in UP but overcoming the the problems arising once the dust at the hustings settles down.   

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator. The views are personal.)”

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In an extraordinary gesture of warmth and friendship, United Arab Emirates (UAE) has lit up the iconic Burj Khalifa in Dubai and several other important buildings in Abu Dhabi in Indian flag colours. Three times on Wednesday evening, the musical fountains adjacent to the world’s tallest building leapt to the strains of Jai Ho and Vande Mataram as a mile high electronic tricolour draped the Burj Khalifa, official spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry said. Coming on the eve of India’s Republic Day and coinciding with the State visit of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the combination of lights and music drew rapturous applause from crowds of Indian, Emiratis and other visitors. The same inspiring sequence will be repeated on Thursday as well.”

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A strong movement demanding quality of education is being seeded in government schools in several villages across rural Karnataka, Southern India. Jawalgere, Raichur District is one such village. It lies at a distance of around 45 km from Raichur town in Northern Karnataka, and is inhabited by communities engaged primarily in farming. Literacy levels amongst them are low and several families have children who are first-generation learners.
On a warm afternoon, the Government Higher Primary School (GHPS) in Jawalgere is abuzz with activity despite it being a Saturday when the school gets over early. There are large cauldrons of food cooking in the school kitchen. A dais has been readied and speakers, mike-sets, festoons and other arrangements are visible. Gram Panchayat members are bustling around supervising arrangements for a math contest being organized with a view to assess levels of performance among children studying from levels III to VI.Contestants have been drawn from six schools of five villages of the panchayat. Around 250 children sit in orderly lines under a colourfulshamiana pitched on the sprawling ground of theschoolwaiting for the contest to begin.
The contest has been initiated with assistance from Akshara Foundation, which has helped to set the question papers and ensured processes for evaluation and assessments of the results by volunteers (educated youth) from the village.The questions for the contest are basic, e.g. a child from Grade VI is asked questions that a child of Grade V is supposed to know answers to. This is done with an intention to assess how well a child has learnt basic math concepts. Additionally, there is a consolidation of the performance of each school, which shows starkly that learning levels are distressingly low among children from most schools – a particularly alarming result is that of a boy from Grade VI who has scored 0/20. Others are only marginally better.As a follow-up to the contest, each gram panchayat gets a report card which clearly points to areas for improvement so as to sustain the movement.
By the end of the day, five prizes out of nine have been won by children from one school, while the other four have been won by children across four schools. The winners will get small cash prizes donated by the community, and a medal. This motivates them to keep performing well. A gram panchayat member, while handing over the prizes demands answers from the teachers, “We send our children to school to learn and trust that the teachers are doing their jobs. These results show that there are some problems. We cannot accept this situation and need to discuss solutions because if our children don’t study well they have no future.” His voice is but one of many from across the districts where the math contests have been held.
The contest however, is not just a one-off event.It is a part of Akshara’s overall programme – GanithaKalikaAndolana (GKA) , designed to enhance math skills in the children, which is gaining momentum in four districts of Karnataka. The contest at Jawalgere is one of many that have already been conducted successfully. It is in fact the first step in a process initiated by the Gram Panchayat to ensure that children don’t merely go to school, but also learn and assimilate what they have learnt. Their demand is for quality of education – a first in many ways. Across the four districts, over 550 math contests have already been conducted by gram panchayats, and the results are being followed up by corrective action, where required. A look at how GKA works…
GKA – a birds-eye view
Behind GKA is AksharaGanitha, a programmedesigned by Akshara Foundation to improve numeracy skills and facilitate classroom teaching of math in government primary schools. The Government of Karnataka has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Akshara Foundation to implement GKA in all schools in the six districts of the Hyderabad Karnataka Region over twoyears (2015-2017). This includes an intervention that imparts special math learning techniques and skills through the use of specially designed aids and a learning kit. Training is given to teachers on the use of the math kits and the principles on which they are designed.They are also provided with guidelines for evaluating the effectiveness of the kit. A research team from AksharaFoundation carries out assessments regularly to understand the impact of the programme, thus completing the loop of comprehensive learning, assessment and assimilation.
GKA is housed within AksharaGanitha and seeks to involve communities in the process of learning, by motivating them to demand quality education for their children. It is a coming together of several stakeholders – gram panchayats, school staff, School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMC), parents, local elected representatives, village elders and other interested stakeholders. The involvement of a large range of stakeholders ensures that there is strong ownership for children’s education. Ashok Kamath, Chairman, Akshara Foundation says, “For every development practitioner seeking to bring change, it is a challenge to shift priorities from supply to demand. The GP contests have done just that. They have demonstrated that the cause of children resonate with communities and that they can and do demand the best for them. This movement is gaining momentum and the demand for quality in education is only bound to grow hereon.”
The GP-owned math contest is an example, which involved planning at several levels, all of which was undertaken by the community itself. Beginning with the gram panchayat members agreeing to bear the costs involved, right up to selecting the venue and planning the course of the contest, the process was owned by the communities of the five villages, and led by the Jawalgere Panchayat.
“While Akshara Foundation works closely with teachers and cluster resource persons (CRPs) to ensure teachers use the math kits to ensure that children learn math concepts thoroughly, that by itself is not enough,” says Shankar Narayan, Head, Operations & Community Initiatives,Akshara Foundation. “It is important for parents and the larger community to get involved in sustaining demand for quality education, an element that has been missing from our education system for long. We at Akshara are trying to enable this process through GKA.”
There is evidence that it is working. “The first GP contest was held in 2016. It had minimal response and buy-in but as the results became evident, there was a sense of awakening in the community. They realized that their children deserved more, and we began to get requests for GP contests to be held in more villages. Soon it was becoming difficult to keep up with the demand and now, we request that they block dates well in advance for conducting the event. This encourages us to think that quality of education is finally becoming a priority among communities,” says Shankar. What is even more significant is that gram panchayats take an active role to raise funds from the community to conduct the contests, each of which can cost up to Rs 25000/-, including Rs 6000/- which is cumulatively given out as prize money to the nine prize winners (three per grade),thereby demonstrating the strong motivation they have towards bringing change in the education system, as well as to the lives of their children.
GKA has seen spontaneous response from communities. “Being unlettered themselves, they often feel hesitant to hold school authorities accountable. But when they see the results, they feel compelled to do something and demand action. This is a very encouraging trend and we hope that the demand for quality of education becomes stronger,” says Shankar.
By facilitating this movement, Akshara Foundation wants to ‘wake up the village’ thereby giving credence to the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.”

BharathiGhanashyam is a freelance journalist.
Journalist in Residence Scholarship – 2015, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
WHO – STOP TB Award for Excellence in Writing on TB – 2011
EU India – Thomson Foundation Award for Excellence in Writing on HIV – 2006″

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The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled has asked the Supreme Court to consider, in its next hearing on February 14, issues related with the guidelines prescribed by the Home Ministry on the national anthem vis a vis disabled people. The disability group believes that the guidelines, issued in compliance with the Supreme Court order of December 9, 2016 on the national anthem, would lead to unnecessary harassment for persons with disabilities.

In a statement issued here, the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled has said that the guidelines specify that those whose lower limbs are affected and are wheelchairs users will position themselves to the “extent of maximum attentiveness and alertness”. While conceding that persons with intellectual disabilities will have difficulty in understanding and comprehending and showing respect to the National Anthem, it prescribes that those with mild intellectual disability can be trained to understand and respect the National Anthem. For those who are not considered as mild, the guidelines say that relaxation may be considered. What would constitute these relaxations however have not been specified.

Apart from the fact that patriotism and nationalism and respect for national anthem and national symbols cannot be imposed and has to be generated by inculcating democratic and secular values, the apprehension is that these provisions can be easily misused to the disadvantage of the disabled. In the case of many disabilities maintaining a steady body posture is a big challenge. Who will determine what constitutes “maximum attentiveness and alertness”, when it comes to a person standing with the support of crutches, or a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy — the other cinema goers, the management or staff of the cinema hall or the police, the statement pointed out.

Even before these guidelines were issued a disabled activist and writer Salil Chaturvedi was thrashed in a cinema hall in Goa last October for not standing up when the National Anthem was being played. Chaturvedi who has a spinal injury is a wheelchair user, the statement said.

Ironically, the guideline itself admits that “unwarranted incidents against persons with intellectual disabilities” may occur, and asks for wide publicity to generate public awareness. Sensitisation on disability issues, needless to say, must first start from government department, police, and judiciary.”

The Indian Navy’s Annual Theatre Readiness Operational Exercise (TROPEX) got underway on January 24. The month long exercise will have ships and aircraft of both the Western and Eastern Naval Commands, as also assets from the Indian Air Force, Indian Army and the Indian Coast Guard exercising together. The exercise is being conducted off the Western Seaboard. The last edition of the exercise was conducted in January 2015. 
 
TROPEX has grown in scale and complexity over the years and will see participation of major surface combatants and air assets of the Indian Navy including the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, nuclear submarine Chakra, Landing Platform Dock (LPD) Jalashwa, the recently commissioned destroyer Chennai, the P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft operating alongside SU-30 MKI, Jaguars, AWACS, IL-78 Flight Refuelling Aircraft of the Indian Air Force and Infantry units of the Indian Army. The exercise will be conducted in various phases, both in harbour and at sea encompassing the various facets of war-fighting and combat operations. 
 
TROPEX 17 assumes special significance in the backdrop of the current security scenario. The exercise is aimed at testing combat readiness of the combined fleets of the Indian Navy, and the assets of the Indian Air Force, Indian Army and the Indian Coast Guard. It will also strengthen inter-operability and joint operations in a complex environment, according to Navy’s spokesperson in New Delhi.

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51pGapM0OVL._SX353_BO1204203200_”” alt=””51pGapM0OVL. SX353 BO1204203200 “” />The book “”Sikkim – Requiem For A Himalayan Kingdom”” is a well researched book by Andrew Duff, a freelance journalist based in London. It provides valuable insight into late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s thinking and her firm resolve and ruthlessness in annexing the tiny Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim in 1975. 

Against the backdrop of a Cold War machinations in Asia, the author recounts the last days of this landlocked Kingdom and the inside story of its last King Palden Thondup Namgyal along with his American wife Hope Cooke who together believed they could revive the ancient Kingdom. 

As the then head of Government, Gandhi had used her intelligence services to shatter their dreams surrounding the Palace with troops in capital Gangtok and making Sikkim the 22 state of the Union of India. 

Duff was fascinated by Sikkim thanks to his paternal grandfather having trekked from Darjeeling to Sikkim and found the hills captivating and breathtaking. “”Notes on a ten day circular route into the Sikkim Himalayas tour in October 1922″” that his paternal grandfather had written fascinated the young Scot. He decided to retrace his grandfather’s journey to Sikkim. 

It was in the 1980s Duff journeyed to the beautiful hilltop monastery of Pemayangtse when he was a teenager living in Edinburgh. From there over a period of time he travelled through Nepal into Tibet where he began to comprehend the delicate political and religious connections and tensions between the countries across the Himalayan region. 

But it was Sikkim’s tale that obsessed the author. He learnt that Sikkim’s ties to Tibet and its position alongside the biggest chink in the Himalayan massif had made it geopolitically valuable for centuries. 

The British involvement in Sikkim and Tibet in the early twentieth century had set up many of the Kingdom’s problems. After the British left in 1947, the Himalayan region had been at the centre of a period of international intrigue across Asia, a second front for the Cold War. Sikkim never stood a chance of being independent. 

Duff managed to have first hand, contemporaneous accounts of the years from 1959 to 1975 during which Thondup and Queen Cooke or Gyalmo had tried to reinvigorate the Kingdom of Sikkim. In all this Tibet’s occupation of China since 1950 cannot be overlooked. It was important to understand the motivations of Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 to 1984 which remained critical in telling the story of the Kingdom. 

Sikkim is a cautionary tale of what can happen when a small Kingdom tugs at the tailcoats of the Great Powers. Thondup, a shattered man after the annexation of Sikkim, died in 1982 but Cooke moved to New York. In 1835, the British had secured a permanent presence in the region by persuading the Chogyal at that time, Thondup’s great grandfather to sign over a small ridge of Sikkimese land, Darjeeling, nominally as a sanatorium or hill station. 

The initial deal was undoubtedly underhand but by the time the Chogyal and his advisers realised they had been misled, it was too late. They lodged a formal complaint to Calcutta who accepted in 1846 that Darjeeling had been acquired in a very questionable manner but by then the town was already a thriving hub of commercial activity in the hills. 

For the British it was the start of a concerted effort to open up trade through the land route that they had discovered lay alongside Sikkim: the Chumbi Valley. 

Following the annexation of Sikkim the official press organ in Sikkim, with Thondup’s knowledge, put out an angry piece emphasising what they called India’s ‘fascist policy’. On December 14, 1950, five days before the Dalai Lama fled Lhasa, Thondup’s father, Sir Tashi, finally signed a new treaty formalising the arrangement between India and Sikkim. Given the worsening situation in Tibet no one was under any illusion about the strategic rationale behind the terms. 

Sikkim’s status as a protectorate of India was confirmed; Sikkim would enjoy autonomy in regard to its internal affairs while the government of India would remain ‘responsible for the defence and territorial integrity of Sikkim’ with the right to station troops there. The government of Sikkim was to have no dealings with any foreign power. 

It was in 1974 that things began to take shape leading to the annexation of Sikkim the next year in 1975. India’s worry was apparent with China having taken control of Tibet which was Sikkim’s immediate neighbour in the North. This tiny 70 miles by 40 miles territory was definitely being eyed by China which could have been gobbled up by the Dragon given its expansionist designs. 

Listening to the late night broadcast over All India Radio on August 29, 1974, Thondup and his adviser Jigdal Densapa could hardly believe their ears. The report stated that Gandhi intended introducing  an “”Amendment Bill”” to the Indian Constitution in the Lok Sabha aimed at converting Sikkim into an ‘associate state’. 

Just six days prior to this, then External Affairs minister Swaran Singh had written a letter to Thondup that they “”were looking into the legal and constitutional implications””, a draft bill had been prepared and Parliamentary time had been found for it to be discussed. The government was mistaken if it thought that the bill could slip through without any adverse reaction. 

The Hindustan Times newspaper was vehement in its criticism of the government’s actions. In a leading article entitled “”Kanchenjungha, Here We Come”” was accompanied by a cartoon “”The Autumn Collection!”” that depicted Indira Gandhi sashaying in a long Himalayan dress emblazoned with the word “”Sikkim””. The accompanying article was no less harsh and the newspaper’s respected editor B G Verghese, who died recently, was sacked within hours of the newspaper hitting the stands in the morning. The article embarrassed the government no end. It observed “”If it is not outright annexation, it comes close to it. To suggest anything else would be self deception and compound dishonesty with folly…..The worst suspicions about the manner in which the protector has seduced its helpless and inoffensive ward, with some genuine and much sympathetic drama, will not find confirmation. No country or people voluntarily choose self-effacement, and the Indian government is not going to be able to persuade the world that Sikkim’s “”annexation”” to India represents the will of the Sikkimese people. Indeed this issue has never been placed before them.””   

Many Sikkimese felt that India’s “”sense of justice”” had now been casually cast aside. What had started as a movement for democratic change within Sikkim had been hijacked and now threatened the very existence of Sikkim itself. Even as Gandhi assured that Sikkim’s ‘distinct personality”” will be respected, she pointed out that the Act was merely a response to a request from the leader of a democratically elected Assembly. The Indians had done their preparation well. 

Duff’s book is absorbing. A disappointed and dejected Thondup died in 1982. His old friend Nari Rustomji wrote in an obituary “”Sikkim’s existence for the rest of the world was a non-event. His (Thondup’s) principles might have been unrealistic and all wrong but he was not prepared to the very last to compromise with them. He was intoxicated by the passion for his land and his people.””

TR

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator.)
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In a rather interesting development, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India[ASSOCHAM] has urged the Government to reduce the customs duty on seafood and chicken to bring down food inflation and meet the growing demand for these food articles.

In its pre-Budget memorandum on indirect taxes submitted to the Centre, the organization said the custom duty of 30 per cent imposed on chilled and frozen sea food was too high and it should be brought down to 10 per cent.
Local fisheries will not get affected in any way by the imports since the domestic production of sea food was much below the demand, it said.
“High import duty makes it unviable to bring in a variety of sea food products available globally which shall reduce food inflation tremendously and provide much-needed proteins to Indians at cheap cost,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM.

On poultry imports, the chamber has suggested to the Central Government to reduce customs duty on chilled and frozen chicken meat to 20 per cent.
The move, Mr. Rawat said, was unlikely to destabilise the Rs 40,000 crore Indian poultry industry because majority of Indian market preferred live poultry over frozen food. “Though chicken is a basic non-vegetarian food, but import duty on chicken products is as high as 100 per cent. As such, India is not able to import chicken,” highlighted the ASSOCHAM recommendation.

Considering that prices of chicken produced in India are mostly much higher than that in rest of the world as its cost is decided upon its production, ASSOCHAM appealed that it should be based on international prices. “This shall have huge impact on food inflation,” it said.

The memorandum noted that demand for frozen chicken and sea food are likely to grow steadily because of factors like growing affordability, rising health consciousness, increasing consumer awareness and with more women getting into jobs.”

With several cases of malnutrition and under nutrition reported in children across media platforms in India, there has been a marked shift in policy interventions related to the improvement of nutrition level in the past few years. The government with its schemes and strategies tried to better the scenario with programs like Integrated Child Development Services, National Family Health Surveys, National Food Security Act 2013, and Mid-Day Meal schemes. But all of that met with limited success. Further, it is common knowledge that cases of malnutrition and under nutrition not reported and not known far outnumber the ones reported. The root of the problem lies in the lack of availability of proper data.Hence, the above plans showed little results with selective execution.
Why Nutrition Survey
To highlight the poor condition “Global Nutrition Report 2016” outlined the ranking of countries from lowest to highest on stunting (low weight for age) India ranked 114 out of 132 countries i.e. poorer than Nepal and Bangladesh. On wasting (low weight for height) India ranked 120 out of 130 countries. As per India Health Report: Nutrition 2015, over 38 per cent of children in India have stunted growth.
The need of the hour is to have more inclusive and targeted surveysat a regular basis with better implementation practices for the policies in India. It is to be noted that Comprehensive Nutrition Surveys in most developed countries are conducted in every three years. For instance, government of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in association with UNICEF conducted Comprehensive National Nutrition Surveys in 2009 and 2012. Taking a step in this direction the government of India with its Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation joined hands with UNICEF India to conduct a ‘Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey’ (CNNS).
Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey – a break from past
The CNNS coming after the three National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) holds importance especially when the last NFHS conducted was in 2005-06. And ever since, India hasn’t had any comprehensive national survey on nutrition. In fact, Ex-PM Dr. Man Mohan Singh called it a ‘national shame’ while launching the `Hungama’ report. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said child malnutrition would be tackled on a ‘mission mode’. However, there is still clear lack of data to suggest the action being taken.
The 3rd NFHS which stated “Young children in India suffer from some of the highest levels of stunting, underweight, and wasting observed in any country in the world, and 7 out of every 10 young children are anemic.Although poverty is an important factor in the poor nutrition situation, nutritional deficiencies are widespread even in households that are economically well off. Inadequate feeding practices for children make it difficult to achieve the needed improvements in children’s nutritional status, and nutrition programs have been unable to make much headway in dealing with these serious nutritional problems.”
What is CNNS?
The CNNS started out in March 2016 with an aim to cover 1.20lakh children in the age-group of 0 to 19 years. “CNNS is a multidisciplinary survey that includes biochemical and nutritional samples. It even takes into account cognitive domain, anthropometric, household food security, water sanitation and socioeconomic features,” mentioned Jee Hyun-rah, UNICEF Nutrition Specialist.
As of now, the survey has been completed in around 10 States of India and it is expected that all States of India will be covered by the end of 2017. According to several health related organizations, there is an evident lack of data at present. There is no clear mechanism to monitor the levels of nutrition even when there are nutrition missions in place. For instance, in 2005 Maharashtra became the first State to launch a Nutrition Mission. It was followed by five other States namely Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, and Karnataka.This survey is expected to plug the loopholes and fill the gap that exists in government policies. It will take into account mineral and vitamin requirements, nutritional deficiencies like Vitamin A, Folic Acid, Zinc, and protein deficiencies.
CNNS includes measuring deficiencies in body mass, micronutrients, vitamins, minerals as well as worm infestations among children.“The survey will help create the right policy interventions to address the root cause of malnourishment,” said Hyun
Referring to the 2005-06 data of NFHS it was found that “almost half of children under the age of five years (48 percent) are chronically malnourished.” Also underweight children under five years of age are in the range of 20 to 60 per cent in different states. Sikkim and Mizoram faring well with around 20 per cent children underweight while Madhya Pradesh being worse off with 60 per cent. And that more than half (54 percent) of all deaths before age five years in India are related to malnutrition.
The way forward
With the current survey exercise in full swing in many districts, soon there shall be proper data for the state to plan and target its programs in a better way. That is if more data should lead to better implementation practices, more targeted policies and greater awareness. Now that the first step is taken, it should be followed with a restructured ICDS scheme, multi-sectoral approach and better coordination among various state agencies. Some recent steps in this direction like the setting up of Nutrition Rehabilitation centers at district and sub district level, vitamin A supplementation strategy in children for reduction in pneumonia and diarrhea related mortality, National Iron Plus initiative for control of anemia and others are laudable. But there is still a long way to go before we fully realize our directive principle of raising the level of nutrition as per article 47 and that the road to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals of zero hunger and good health and well-being still lies so far ahead.
S M UMAIR is an independent journalist.

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Several health groups and doctors advocating for healthcare have demanded urgent intervention of the government to end the nexus between hospitals, doctors and the industry that is resulting in exorbitant prices of life saving coronary stents. Government must immediately implement a legally binding code for marketing of health products including devices, they said in a statement issued here.

“We have consistently highlighted the unconscionable prices that patients across the country are paying for stents that are pushing patients and their families into increasing indebtedness or leaving them without life-saving treatment,” said Dr. Mira Shiva of the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN). “The pricing data which was submitted by the industry to the NPPA has made it clear beyond doubt,” she said.

The analyses of industry data published by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on its website, which show the massive margins charged at each step in the distribution and supply of stents. The data indicates that by the time the patient gets the stent, the increase from the original cost of the stent is often in the range of 1000-2000%.

“With the evidence of over-pricing now crystal clear, the government must act immediately to control the prices of these life saving devices” said Advocate Birender Sangwan. “There is a clear obligation under the Constitution for the government to fulfill the fundamental right to health and ensure the affordability of medical devices such as stents.”

The inclusion of coronary stents in the National List of Essential Medicines, which prompted the current efforts by the NPPA towards price fixation, arose from a petition filed before the Delhi High Court by Advocate Sangwan. In a second petition, also filed by Sangwan, which is pending before the same court, the Government has been directed to make a report to the Court after the ceiling prices have been notified. Even as the NPPA is examining different formulas to fix an affordable price for stents, industry lobbying to thwart these efforts appears to have increased in recent weeks.

The All India Drug Action Network, Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare, Third World network, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and the National Working Group on Patent Laws have demanded. That the price fixation of coronary stents should be limited to two categories – Bare Metal Stents and Drug Eluting Stents – as instructed by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in its notification dated 21 December 2016. The ceiling prices fixed by the NPPA must meet the objective of ensuring true affordability and should be fixed on the basis of the CGHS reimbursement rates. 

Also, the government should act in the public interest and uphold fundamental right of right to health and not succumb to pressure from the industry or the medical establishment, and should develop standard treatment guidelines for cardiovascular interventions with the help expert doctors free from conflict of interest and implement medical audits of procedures.

 It also asked the Medical Council of India to investigate the professional misconduct of doctors, particularly office bearers of the Cardiological Society of India that have allegedly indulged in unethical lobbying. 

“Reports indicate that companies and industry associations are lobbying intensely for a ceiling price based on a simple average of hospital prices which will ensure that the profiteering continues unabated and hospitals can take huge cuts on the stents. There is an urgent need to fix the price at an affordable price that does not expose people to the exploitation of hospitals and stent manufacturers” alleged Malini Aisola of AIDAN, in a statement issued by the groups.

There are also attempts, primarily by foreign companies and cardiologists acting on their behalf, to exclude from price control the highest priced stents, which also happen to dominate the market, the statement said. The NPPA data also shows that the largest cut goes to the hospital, which can be as high as 650% more than the price at which the hospital purchases the stents from the distributor.

“We are extremely alarmed at the role that doctors and hospitals are playing in the exorbitant pricing of stents,” said Dr. Arun Mitra of the Alliance Of Doctors For Ethical Healthcare (ADEH). “While the government fixes the prices of stents, it must also take urgent action to investigate and haul up the medical establishment for corrupt practices and overcharging. A mandatory ethical marketing code that covers medical devices must be immediately implemented,” he added.

The issue of the high pricing of stents has also attracted the attention of the Rajya Sabha’s Committee on Petitions, which is undertaking its own investigation into the matter in response to a petition submitted by Sulagna Chattopadhyay.

“This whole sordid saga of high pricing at the expense of helpless patients has highlighted not only the importance of the price control of stents but also the lack of standard treatment protocols and as well as the high costs of medical procedures,” said Mr Chattopadhyay. “There must be a holistic regulation and rationalization of the treatments, medicines, medical devices and procedures available for heart patients without which the exercise of price control will be in vain.” “

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The Khadi and Village Industries Commission has taken up an initiative to revive all the Khadi institutions that had closed for want for adequate working capital and marketing support.

As of 2011, 267 Khadi institutions had got closed. Of them, 143 have been revived over the past three years and the remaining would also be soon brought on their feet in a phased manner. Announcing this, KVIC Chairman, V.K.Saxena, said a sum of Rs. 3.09 crore was released in 2014-15, Rs. 1.06 crore in 2015-16 and Rs. Rs. 3.08 crore in 2016-17 for the revival programme. The balance institutions would be revived in a phased manner.

Meanwhile, he said, 152 new khadi institutions have also been registered during the last two years – 89 in 2015-16 and 63 in 2016-17.

In addition on October 2 last year, to mark Gandhi Jayanti, KVIC launched  Ã¢Â€Â˜Khadi Institutions Registration and Certification Sewa’ (KIRCS), an online portal for Registration of new institutions and bringing more and more people to join the Khadi movement in rural areas. The portal has drastically reduced the time taken for registration of a new Khadi institution from an average of three years to a mere 45 days. 

As many as 143 new institutions have applied for registration for Khadi certification and production using the portal. This will not only boost the production of Khadi, but also expand employment opportunities at the door step in the rural areas and bring new Khadi artisans in the 

KVIC fold. (The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.) “