Government Interventions

National Nutrition Strategy

• To mark the National Nutrition Week in the first week of September 2017, the NITI Aayog released the National Nutrition Strategy. The strategy seeks to bring nutrition into the national development agenda and to deal with problem of nutrition in a comprehensive manner.
• Vision: The vision of the National Nutrition Strategy is to achieve Kuposhan Mukt Bharat (India free from malnutrition) by 2022.
• Focus: The focus is on preventing and reducing undernutrition across the life cycle- as early as possible, especially in the first three years of life.
• Goals: The National Nutrition Strategy seeks to contribute to key national development goals for more inclusive growth, such as the reduction of maternal, infant and young child mortality, through its focus on the following two monitorable targets-
  • Reduction in percentage age of underweight children below 5 years from the present 35.7% to 20.7% by 2022.
  • Reduction in prevalence of anemia in children (6-59 months) from the present 58.4% to 19.5% by 2022.
  • Reduction in prevalence of anemia in women and girls (15-49 years) from the present 53.1% to 17.7% 2022.
  • In a longer term perspective, the strategy will also aim to progressively reduce all forms of under nutrition by 2030.

Necessity for National Nutrition Strategy

The National Nutrition Strategy was launched to correct the present pathetic nutrition situation in the country, especially among the vulnerable sections like - women and children.

The present nutrition situation can be assessed from the below given facts from the NFHS-3&4.

• In 2015-16, the percentage of stunted children under 5 was 38.4%.
• Between 2005-06 and 2015-16, there has been a rise in the percentage of children who are wasted from 19.8% to 21%. High incidence of wasting was recorded in Punjab, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Sikkim.
• While the prevalence of underweight children was 38% in rural areas, it is 29% in urban areas.
• According to WHO, infants weighing less than 2.5 Kg are 20 times more likely to die than heavier babies.
• The national average weight at birth is less than 2.5 Kg for 19% of the children.
• As per an estimate, around 58% of children in India are anaemic. It is due to nutritional deficiency of vitamins, iron and other essential minerals.

Constitutional Provision Regarding Nutrition

• Directive Principles of State Policy under Part IV of our Indian Constitution has the provision regarding the nutrition and public health.
• Article 47 says that the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.

Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018

• Food Fortification is a scientifically proven, cost-effective, scalable and sustainable global intervention that addresses the issue of micronutrient deficiencies.
• In October 2016, FSSAI operationalized the Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016 for fortifying staples namely Wheat Flour and Rice (with Iron, Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid), Milk and Edible Oil (with Vitamins A and D) and Double Fortified Salt (with Iodine and Iron) to reduce the high burden of micronutrient malnutrition in India.
• The ‘+F’ logo has been notified to identify fortified foods.

Special Nutrition Programme (SNP)

• This programme was launched way back in 1970-71 for the same target group as in ICDS i.e. children below 6 years age and expectant and nursing mothers. The programme is confined to tribal areas and slums.

Balwadi Nutrition Programme

• Bal (children) wadi (home or centre) Nutrition Programme is a contemporary of SNP and is being implemented since 1970-71 by the Central Social Welfare Board and national level nongovernmental voluntary organisations, namely, Indian Council for Child Welfare, Harijan (Scheduled Castes) Sevak (Service) Sangh (Board), Bhartiya (Indian) Adimjati (Scheduled Tribe) SevakSangh and Kasturba (wife of Mahatma Gandhi) National Memorial Trust.
• This segment of nutrition programme is thus implemented essentially by non-governmental organisations.

Wheat Based Supplementary Nutrition Programme

The scheme was started with the twin objective of providing supplementary nutrition to children and popularising wheat intake. Min of Food places at the disposal of the Department of Women and child Development about 100 thousand tonnes of wheat from the central reserves annually and that Department, in turn, sub-allocates this wheat among States which utilize the wheat mostly to produce wheat based ready-to-eat nutrition supplements. With the spread of ICDS, this wheat or its products are increasingly being utilised for distribution of supplementary nutrition in ICDS and mid-day-meal programmes. The wheat is supplied to the State Governments by the Food Corporation of India at the same subsidised rates as for the public distribution system.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme

National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, popularly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) was started in 1995 in an attempt to enhance enrolment, retention and attendance while simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children in school. It currently covers nearly 12 crore children.

Institutions

National Technical Board on Nutrition (NTBN)

• The NTBN was constituted in 2017 under Ministry of Women & Child Development to make technical recommendations on policy relevant issues on nutrition.
• The National Technical Board on Nutrition (NTBN) has recommended that severely malnourished children must be fed freshly cooked food prepared from locally available cereals, pulses and vegetables, and distributed by anganwadicentres.
• India’s top nutrition panel has recommended that severely malnourished children must be fed freshly cooked food prepared from locally available cereals, pulses and vegetables, and distributed by anganwadicentres, as part of the country’s first-ever guidelines for nutritional management of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
• The National Technical Board on Nutrition (NTBN) has approved guidelines proposed by Ministry of Women and Child Development.

National Institute of Nutrition (NIN)

• National Institute of Nutrition is India’s premier nutrition research institute that works under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ministry of Health and Family, Government of India.
• The NIN was founded by Sir Robert McCarrison in the year 1918 in Coonor, Tamil Nadu, and was later shifted to Hyderabad in 1958.
• The main mission of NIN is to enable food and nutrition security conducive to good health, growth & development and increase productivity through dedicated research, so as to achieve the national nutrition goals set by the government of India in the national nutrition policy.
• The other centres that also function at the NIN are the Food and Drug Toxicology Research Centre (FDTRC), National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB), and National Centre for Laboratory Animal Sciences (NCLAS).