May

28,
2018
STUNTING IN INDIA
In May 2018, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) published a report
titled ‘Understanding the geographical burden of stunting in India’.

About the study:

• The study covering all 640 districts of the country, highlights

the impact of women’s health on stunting of children.
• The study used data from the National Family Health
Survey-4 (2015-16).

Key findings:

• Global share: India accounts for approximately a third of

the world’s stunted children at 63 million.
• Decline in stunting: While levels have improved in the
country from 48% in 2006 to 38.4% in 2016, there are wide
variations across districts, from 12.4% in Ernakulam (Kerala)
to 65.1% in Bahraich (UP).
• Prevelance level:
o 239 of the 640 districts in the country have stunting
levels above 40%;
o 202 have prevalence of 30-40% and
o Only 29 districts have levels between 10% and 20%.
• Regional variation:
o High stunting districts are heavily clustered in the
northern and central India. All the southern states
fare much better.
o Inter-district differences are due to multitude of economic, health, hygiene and
demographic factors. Poor quality of life for women explains the gap between these districts
and low-prevalence districts in southern states.

Impact of Women’s Health On Stunting Of Children:

• The four crucial parameters in women that together contribute to a 44% reduction in stunting
among children are:
o levels of body mass index accounting for 19% of the difference between districts;
o education accounting for 12% of the difference;
o age at marriage contributing a 7% reduction and
o ante-natal care adding 6%.

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• Among other important factors are adequate diet for children (9%), household assets (7%) and open
defecation (7%).

Way ahead:

• The study has argued for a change in India’s approach to its malnutrition problem — by going
beyond the current focus on health and stressing district-by-district reduction of socio-economic
inequality and especially, gender inequality.

Stunting?
Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition,
repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.
It is defined as the percentage of children, aged 0 to 59 months, whose height for age is below minus
two standard deviations (moderate and severe stunting) and minus three standard deviations (severe
stunting) from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards.
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)?
• IFPRI is an international non-profit agricultural research center.
• Established in: 1975.
• HQ: Washington, D.C., USA.
• Funding: IFPRI is part of a network of international research institutes funded in part by the
Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which in turn is funded by
governments, private businesses and foundations, and the World Bank.
• Key publications:
o Global Food Policy Report: This annual report offers an overview of recent food policy
developments.
o Global Hunger Index (GHI): The GHI is a collaboration of IFPRI, the Welthungerhilfe, and
Concern Worldwide. It yearly measures the progress and failure of individual countries
and regions in the fight against hunger.
o IFPRI has produced the related Hunger Index for the States of India (ISHI) (2008) and the
Sub-National Hunger Index for Ethiopia (2009).

SAMAGRA SIKSHA
In May 2018, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) launched ‘Samagra
Siksha’ scheme for holistic development of school education.
About:

• Holistic (Samagra):
o ‘Samagra’ means a holistic approach to treat education as a whole. The Scheme sees school
education holistically without segmenting it into various levels of education (pre-school,
primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary levels).

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o Under it, union government will extend support to States from pre-school to senior
secondary levels.
• Two Ts: Quality of education will be improved at all levels by integrating the two T’s – Teachers and
Technology.
o Teachers: SCERTs and DIETs will be strengthened to make them the nodal agencies for
teacher training. Focus will be on integration of in-service and pre-service training structures
in States.
o Technology: Technology will be used to widen the access to good quality education.
 ‘DIKSHA’ – the national digital platform for teachers – would put high quality
teaching learning resources for ready use of teachers.
 The Scheme will support ‘Operation Digital Board’ in all secondary schools over a
period of 5 years, so as to enhance the use of digital technology through smart
classrooms, digital boards and DTH channels.
• Budgetary Hike: Earlier the budget on the three schemes ie SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education was
Rs. 28,000 crore in 2017-18. But the budget outlay on the new scheme will be now Rs. 34,000 crore
in 2018-19 and to Rs. 41,000 crore in 2019-20.
• Promoting libraries: About one million schools will get library grant of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 to
strengthen the libraries to ensure “Padhega Bharat Badhega Bharat”.
• Promoting sports: The Centre will give government schools grants for buying sports equipment so
as to promote “Khelega India Khilega India”.
• Promoting Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalaya (KGBV) to be expanded from
Class 6-8 to Class 6-12 to ensure Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

EXPRESSWAYS
In May 2018, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated two expressways in the Delhi NCR Region
namely Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) and Phase-I of Delhi-Meerut Expressway
(DME) to decongest Delhi.
About:

1. Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE): it connects Kundli (Sonipat district, Haryana) on NH 1 to

Palwal (Palwal district, Haryana) on NH 2 from the eastern side of Delhi. This will ensure
decongesting and de-polluting Delhi by diverting traffic not destined for it.
2. Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME): The 14-lane Delhi-Meerut Expressway, once completed will
reduce the commuting between the two cities from 4 hours to 45 minutes. Phase-I of the DME
stretches from Nizamuddin Bridge to Delhi UP Border.

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