National Nutrition Mission: NITI Aayog

Recently, the NITI Aayog has released “Accelerating Progress On Nutrition In India: What Will It Take”.

It is the third progress report on the National Nutrition Mission or the Poshan Abhiyaan.

Key features

• The third progress report (October 2019-April 2020) takes into account the status on the ground and implementation challenges encountered at various levels through large scale datasets.

• These datasets are the NFHS-4 and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS).

• According to the report, India’s targets are conservative on stunting as compared to the global target defined by the World Health Assembly (WHA). It is a prevalence rate of 5% of stunting as opposed to India’s goal of reducing stunting levels to 13.3% by 2022.

• The targets of reducing prevalence levels of anaemia among pregnant women from 50.3% (2016) to 34.4% (2022) and among adolescent girls from 52.9% (2016) to 39.66% are also considered to be conservative as compared to the WHA’s target of halving prevalence levels.

• In the wake of the pandemic, experts warn that deepening poverty and hunger may delay achieving the goals defined under the Mission.

Suggestions by the NITI Aayog:

• On Stunting: (1) To improve complementary feeding using both behaviour change interventions and complimentary food supplements in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS); (2) To work towards investments in girls and women; (3) To improve water, sanitation, handwashing with soap and hygienic disposal of children’s stools.

• On Wasting: (1) To include interventions that go beyond the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and also address moderate wasting; (2) To scale-up to reach facility-based treatment of SAM; (3) To urgently release a full strategy for prevention and integrated management of wasting nationally.

• On Anaemia: To scale-up scenario that focuses only on health sector interventions which will achieve modest improvements in anaemia among women of reproductive age.

National Nutrition Mission ( 2018)

Objectives of National Nutrition Mission:

• To improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

• It is backed by a National Nutrition Strategy prepared by the NITI Aayog with the goal of attaining “Kuposhan Mukt Bharat” or malnutrition-free India, by 2022.

Aims:

• To reduce stunting, undernutrition, anaemia and low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively; (2) To address the problem of malnutrition in a mission mode.

• 50% of the total budget comes from the World Bank or other multilateral development banks and the rest of the 50% is through the Centre’s budgetary support.

• The Centre’s budgetary support is further divided into 60:40 between the Centre and the States, 90:10 for the north-eastern region and the Himalayan States and 100% for the Union Territories (UTs) without legislature.

PM MITRA Parks for Textile sector

With a view to attracting investment, boost employment generation and positioning itself strongly in the global textile market, the Government has approved the setting up of 7 (Seven) PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks in Greenfield/Brownfield sites including plug and play facility with an outlay of Rs. 4445 cr for a period of seven years upto 2027-28. 

The salient features of the PM MITRA Scheme are:-

• Willing state governments to have ready availability of contiguous and encumbrance-free land parcel of 1000+ acres for being eligible.
• It is envisaged to be in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. 
• There is a provision of Development Capital Support (DCS) @30% of the project cost with maximum support of? 500 Cr and ? 200 Crore per park for Greenfield and Brownfield PM MITRA Park respectively. The DCS is for the creation of Core Infrastructure.  
• There is a provision of Rs. 300 Cr. per park for incentivizing the industries to set up their units in the park. There is a provision to use 10% of the park’s area for Commercial Development (CD) and the revenue stream from CD may help the maintenance of common assets and facilities.
• The selection of sites will be by way of challenge method with weightage of parameters for example connectivity, power infrastructure, water and wastewater disposal system, Industry Friendly labour laws, Single Window Clearances, Stable and Conducive industrial/textile policy of the state.  States like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana have expressed interest so far.
• The government of India is implementing the Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP) which provides support for the creation of world-class infrastructure facilities for setting up textile units. A government grant up to Rs. 40.00 crores per park is released in instalments, subject to the progress achieved in creation of infrastructure and common facilities. Out of 56 Textile Parks approved/ sanctioned, 24 parks have been completed as per scheme guidelines. In these parks, a total of 1757 units are operational, and Rs.12470 crs(approx) of investment have been mobilized and have generated 95644 employment till date.

Agroforestry in India

What is Agroforestry?

Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.

• In agroforestry systems, there are both ecological and economical interactions between the different components.
• Agroforestry can also be defined as a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels.
• Agroforestry is currently practised on 13.5 million hectares in India, but its potential is far greater. Already an estimated 65 % of the country’s timber and almost half of its fuel wood come from trees grown on farms.

Types of Agroforestry in India

There are three main types of agroforestry systems:

• Agrisilvicultural systems are a combination of crops and trees, such as alley cropping or home gardens.
• Silvopastoral systems combine forestry and grazing of domesticated animals on pastures, rangelands or on-farm.
• The three elements, namely trees, animals and crops, can be integrated into what is called agrosilvopastoral systems and are illustrated by home gardens involving animals as well as scattered trees on croplands used for grazing after harvests.

National Policy on Agro-Forestry

• Agroforestry is defined as a land-use system that integrates trees and shrubs on farmlands and rural landscapes to enhance productivity, profitability, diversity and ecosystem sustainability.
• It is a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of woody perennials on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production and builds social institutions.
• Major policy initiatives emphasize the role of agroforestry for efficient nutrient cycling, organic matter addition for sustainable agriculture and for improving vegetation cover.  These policies include:

1. National Forest Policy 1988,
2. the National Agriculture Policy 2000,
3. Planning Commission Task Force on Greening India 2001,
4. National Bamboo Mission 2002,
5. National Policy on Farmers, 2007 and
6. Green India Mission 2010

• However, agroforestry has not gained the desired importance as a resource development tool due to various factors.
• India became the world's first country to adopt a comprehensive agroforestry policy.

• There would be an investment of US $30 to 40 million attached to the new policy.
• The policy is not only seen as crucial to India’s ambitious goal of achieving 33 % tree cover but also to providing many of the other benefits discussed during the Congress, such as increasing food and nutrition, supplying fodder, fuelwood and timber for India’s growing population.
• The policy promises greater coordination across the wide range of agroforestry programs currently operating in different ministries, such as agriculture, rural development and the environment.
• It will be implemented through a newly established mission or board solely dedicated to agroforestry.

Basic objectives of Agroforestry Policy in India

• Encourage and expand tree plantation in a complementarity and integrated manner with crops and livestock to improve productivity, employment, income and livelihoods of rural households, especially the smallholder farmers.
• Protect and stabilize ecosystems, and promote resilient cropping and farming systems to minimize the risk during extreme climatic events.
• Meet the raw material requirements of wood-based industries and reduce import of wood and wood products to save foreign exchange.
• Supplement the availability of agroforestry products (AFPs), such as the fuel-wood, fodder, non-timber forest produce and small timber of the rural and tribal populations, thereby reducing the pressure on existing forests.
• Complement achieving the target of increasing forest/tree cover to promote ecological stability, especially in vulnerable regions.
• Develop capacity and strengthen research in agroforestry and create a massive people's movement for achieving these objectives and to minimize pressure on existing forests.

The strategy of Agro-Forestry

• Establishment of Institutional Setup at the National level to promote Agroforestry

1. An institutional mechanism, such as a Mission or Board is to be established for implementing the agroforestry policy.
2. It will provide the platform for the multi-stakeholders to jointly plan and identify the priorities and strategies, for inter-ministerial coordination, programmatic convergence, financial resources mobilization and leveraging, capacity building facilitation, and technical and management support.
3. The Ministry of Agriculture has a mandate for agroforestry. The agroforestry Mission / Board will be located in the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) in the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
4. The actual implementation may involve convergence and dovetail with a number of programmes.
5. Agroforestry research and development (R&D), including capacity development and pilot studies/testing and action research, should be the responsibility of the ICAR

• Simple regulatory mechanism - There is a need to create simple mechanisms/procedures to regulate the harvesting and transit of agroforestry produce within the State, as well as in various States forming an ecological region. There is also the need to simplify procedures, with permissions extended on automatic routes as well as approval mode through a transparent system within a given time schedule.
• Development of a sound database & information system
• Investing in research, extension and capacity building and related services
• Improving farmer's access to quality planting material
• Providing institutional credit and insurance cover for agroforestry
• Facilitating increased participation of industries dealing with agroforestry produce
• Strengthening farmer access to markets for tree products.
• Incentives to farmers for adopting agroforestry
• Promoting sustainable agroforestry for renewable biomass-based energy

Benefits of National Agro-Forestry Policy

• Agroforestry is crucial to smallholder farmers and other rural people because it can enhance their food supply, income and health.
• Agroforestry systems are multifunctional systems that can provide a wide range of economic, sociocultural, and environmental benefits.
• Agroforestry produces food, fuel and fibre, contributes to nutritional security, sustains livelihoods, helps prevent deforestation, increases biodiversity, protects water resources and reduces erosion.
• Agroforestry is also viewed as a means to reduce rural unemployment, with timber production on farms currently generating 450 employment days per hectare per year in India.
• The climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits of agroforestry are also significant driving forces behind the policy.
• As the land-holding size is shrinking, combining tree farming with agriculture is the only way to optimize farm productivity.
• Over 80 per cent of farmers in India are small land-holders, owning less than two hectares or less and 60 per cent of the cultivated area; they rely on rains for irrigation. These rainfed farms are under stress because of the absence of assured irrigation and low biodiversity. Agroforestry is seen as a solution for them to meet the challenges of food, nutrition, energy, employment and environmental security.

Submission on Agro-Forestry

• To tap the potential of agroforestry, the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is implementing the Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) Scheme from 2016-17.
• There is a provision of financial assistance to farmers under the Scheme for plantation activities along with the development of various types of nurseries for producing quality planting materials like seeds, seedlings, clones, and improved varieties to meet the requirement of quality planting materials/seeds for the farmers.
• Capacity building and training are also important interventions of the scheme to support the agroforestry sector.
• To increase market linkages and access and to promote the consumption of agroforestry goods, the scheme is implemented in those States which have relaxed feeling and transit regulations for important agroforestry species.
• Further, initiatives have been taken for the formation of 15 Farmer Producers Organization (FPOs) in the Agroforestry Sector to link the farmers with the market and industry in an organized manner.
• The Scheme promotes the plantation of trees only for landholding farmers.
• Up to 5% of allocated funds are utilized for capacity building and training activities like training of farmers/field workers, skill development, awareness campaign, publications, seminars/workshops, conferences etc. to raise awareness of the scheme among the farmers.

What is the Census of India?

• The decennial Census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011. 
• While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881.
• Post-1949, it has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
• All the censuses since 1951 were conducted under the 1948 Census of India Act.
• The last census was held in 2011, whilst the next will be held in 2021.
• The Census of India, one of the largest exercises of its kind, enumerates and collects demographic and socio-economic information on the Indian population.

Why the Census is important?

• Enumerating, describing and understanding the population of a society and what people have access to, and what they are excluded from, is important not only for social scientists but also for policy practitioners and the government.
• However, as early as the 1940s, W.W.M. Yeatts, Census Commissioner for India for the 1941 Census, had pointed out that, “the census is a large, immensely powerful, but blunt instrument unsuited for specialised enquiry”.
• This point has also surfaced in later critiques offered by scholars who consider the Census as both a data collection effort and a technique of governance, but not quite useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society.
• As historian and anthropologist Bernard Cohn had demonstrated, the Census may in fact produce an image of society, which suggests the epistemological complexities involved.
• It is also important for the Delimitation exercise.

While the usefulness of the Census cannot be disregarded, for instance with regard to the delimitation exercise, there is a lack of depth where some issues are concerned. In this context, the discussion around caste and its enumeration have been controversial.

Evolution of Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC)

• Since Independence, aggregated Census data on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on certain parameters such as education have been collected.
• With demands to conduct a full-scale caste census gaining traction over time, some have seen the inclusion of broader caste information as a necessity to capture contemporary Indian society and to understand and remedy inequalities, while others believe that this large administrative exercise of capturing caste and its complexities is not only difficult but also socially untenable.
• Following decades of debate, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted in 2011 and took a few years to complete; this was a distinct exercise from the Census of 2011.
• The SECC, which collected the first figures on caste in Census operations since 1931, is the largest exercise of the enumeration of caste. It has the potential to allow for a mapping of inequalities at a broader level.

The main concerns

• It would be disingenuous to ignore the emotive element of caste and the political and social repercussions of a caste census.
• There have been concerns that counting caste may help solidify or harden identities, or that caste may be context-specific, and thus difficult to measure.
• These discussions along with various counterarguments are not new.
• Commenting on the 1941 Census, Census Commissioner Yeatts observed that, “Thanks to the acute interest in community figures, practically all communities this time were census-conscious and took pains to see that their houses were in the list and that they themselves were counted.”
• In discussions around caste, scholars such as Nicholas Dirks and Cohn have demonstrated that the Census had the effect of marking out caste and community in the forms we see today.
• The other concern is whether an institution such as caste can even be captured completely by the Census.
• Questions remain on whether the SECC is able to cover the effects of caste as an aspect of Indian social structure in everyday life, or at least to illuminate our understanding of its impact at varying scales — from the local, to the regional and to the national scale.
• Can the SECC take into account the nuances that shape caste and simultaneously the ways in which caste shapes everyday life in India?
• The Census and the SECC have different purposes.
• Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas according to the SECC website, “all the personal information given in the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households”.
• The Census thus provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
• This difference is significant since it influences not only the methods of collection but also the use and potential for misuse of data.

A road map

• What is needed then is a discussion on the caste data that already exists, how it has been used and understood by the government and its various departments to grant or withdraw benefits, and also its utility for the important academic exercise of mapping social inequalities and social change.
• Linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys or the National Family Health Surveys that cover issues that the Census exercises do not, such as maternal health, would be significant for a more comprehensive analysis, enabling the utilisation of the large body of data that already exists.
• This linking of the Census with the National Sample Survey data has been suggested in the past by scholars such as Mamta Murthi and colleagues.
• Statisticians such as Atanu Biswas point out that Census operations across the world are going through significant changes, employing methods that are precise, faster and cost effective, involving coordination between different data sources.
• Care must however be taken to ensure that digital alternatives and linking of data sources involving Census operations are inclusive and non-discriminatory, especially given the sensitive nature of the data being collected.

Time lag and planning

Apart from themes specific to enumerating caste, there are other issues that the Census and the SECC in particular face.

• The first relates to the time lag between each Census, and the second to the delay in the release of data.
• The first of these is inherent in the way the Census exercises are planned.
• The second, however, also has important repercussions to understanding social change since data may remain un-released or released only in parts.
• Nearly a decade after the SECC for instance, a sizeable amount of data remains unreleased.
• While the Census authorities present documents on methodology as part of a policy of transparency, there needs to be a closer and continuous engagement between functionaries of the Census and SECC, along with academics and other stakeholders concerned, since the Census and the SECC are projects of governance as well as of academic interest.
• Before another SECC is conducted, a stocktaking of the previous exercise, of what has been learnt from it, and what changes are necessary, beyond changing exclusionary criteria for beneficiaries of state support, are crucial to enable the Census to facilitate effective policy work and academic reflection.
• Concerns about methodology, relevance, rigour, dissemination, transparency and privacy need to be taken seriously if this exercise is to do what it was set up to do.