Mission Poshan 2.0

 

 

 

 

It is heartening to find that the Budget 2021-22 has dedicated a substantial quantum of funds for public health. The most important, but often underestimated, aspect of healthcare is nutrition. Indians are woefully inadequate in terms of nutritional requirements. We mostly consume wheat-based rotis or, rice and its products. But these are all mostly carbohydrates and some proteins. People in the poorest sections of India still find a good, wholesome food a luxury.

 

So, out of Rs 24,435 crore allocated to the Women and Child Development ministry, an amount of Rs 20,105 crore has been assigned to Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. “To strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, we will merge the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyaan and launch the Mission Poshan 2.0,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. This is very welcoming. The older Poshan Abhiyaan was itself ambitious, yet pragmatic in its approach — the programme had specific targets for reducing stunting, anaemia, under-nutrition and low birth weight. Also, according to ‘Mission 25 by 2020’, the National Nutrition Mission aimed to achieve a reduction in stunting from 38.4% to 25% by 2022. Therefore, the holistic merger to come up with a Poshan 2.0 is really a big step towards making a healthy India. Here, it would be heartening if the WCD Ministry also involves temples, gurdwaras, and others who regularly provide free food to the poor to scuttle the menace of malnutrition more thoroughly. Moreover, governments — Centre and States — should tackle the menace of food wastage in middle-class and rich households (and family functions therein), as another way to save and divert precious food to poorer households. They could also collaborate with the food delivery startups to do this more comprehensively in cities.

 

Another curious bit in the Budget is the inclusion of sanitation and water supply under the rubric ‘Health and wellbeing’. Of the over Rs. 2 lakh crore allocated, close to Rs. 36,000 crore are dedicated to water and sanitation. Now, some analysts have questioned this peculiar budgeting sub-header. However, they must keep in mind that India is no Europe. A big portion of our health issues also comes from bad sanitation and lack of access to clean drinking water. That this is still a problem even after over 70 years of independence is a bit of an embarrassment for sure. But as it stands, we have a problem and it indirectly leads to negative health outcomes. If in the next two-three years, if most Indians will get access to clean drinking water, imagine the positive domino effect from the same on our health and wellbeing. So, it is actually good that government considers lack of access to water and clean sanitation not only as a general public good concern, but also as impacting healthcare, all of which makes it a high-priority issue.

 

 

Another important announcement was the PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana. There was some perception that the Central government was shifting the rural healthcare asset creation duties to state governments. So, it was heartening that the Finance Minister put out an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore to support the health and wellness centres and build resilient healthcare assets. This apart from the Rs 37,000 crore to the National Health Mission in this one year adds up to give major boost to healthcare of the citizens. However, truth to be told, health is a state subject. So, irrespective of the central allocation, the ultimate onus to implement these schemes falls on the shoulders of the district collectors and district chief medical officers. And they will have to ensure that every citizen in their districts is being given the best of healthcare services within their powers.

 

 

Unsurprisingly, a big chunk of health Budget was taken by vaccines for Covid-19. And this was much needed. However, it would be prudent if the government were to continue allocating this amount to healthcare even in the foreseeable future at least until most Indians attain reasonable health and wellbeing. All in all, the Budget’s big focus to strengthen India’s healthcare not just from Covid-19 management standpoint, but also overall holistic healthcare was long awaited. I will only expect this great beginning of the new decade, with a focus on people’s health, to only continue.