Governance & Social Justice (Systemic issues across Governments) by Abhishiekh Saxena

Model Answer

Question #1. Despite producing more food than ever, we are unable to mitigate hunger. Critically analyze the statement. Suggest measures for improvement.

Approach

• The question calls for analysis of hunger issues in India
• Contextual Introduction of Global Hunger Index and India
• Understanding of the Hunger and Malnutrition. Web of Factors Causing Hunger and Malnutrition
• Government Policy Interventions and Programmes to Combat Malnutrition
• Way forward  and conclude with the broader steps needed in this regard

Hint: 

India is among those countries in the world with the highest recorded numbers of undernourished. As the country aspires to fulfill its economic and social development goals, malnutrition is one area that requires greater attention. The state of hunger and malnutrition in India is worrying; despite the surplus production, India was ranked 101 on the 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI), lower than neighbours like Bangladesh and Pakistan. According to the report, 14 percent of India’s population is undernourished.  

A Web of Factors Causing Hunger and Malnutrition

As there are multiplicities of factors that ensure that every single human being receives sufficient nutrition, similarly, there are manifold variables that contribute to the occurrence of malnutrition in India. Compounding the economic and political factors that abet malnutrition are social and cultural challenges that tend to defeat the very purpose of the government programmes

• The high cost of healthy diets coupled with persistently high levels of income inequality put healthy diets out of reach. 
• Despite surplus production, the lack of incentivization of government policies for food security, and the leakage in the food security regime,
•  makes it difficult to cope with the ‘hunger’.
• Conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns are the major drivers slowing down progress, particularly where inequality is high.
• Hunger is a seasonal phenomenon in many parts of the country, with families dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, facing lean periods based on the sowing and harvesting cycle. 
• Income is also a factor, which enhances the cases of hunger, and malnutrition; families need money to be able to look after their daily needs, including a healthy diet, safe water, and sanitary living conditions.
• There is a lack of sufficient health and nutrition awareness among the people about wholesome, balanced and natural diets; healthy child-feeding and caring practices.
• Loss of food grains in FCI warehouses (due to rotting and theft) is an equally important reason for the lack of adequate access. 

Government Policy Interventions and Programmes to Combat Malnutrition

Article 47 of the Indian Constitution provides that it is the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. The government has so far taken several measures, direct, indirect, and other missions, to combat hunger and malnutrition: 

Direct Policy Measures

• Expand the safety net through ICDS to cover all vulnerable groups (children, adolescent girls, mothers, expectant women)
• Fortify essential foods with appropriate nutrients (e.g., salt with iodine and/or iron)
• Popularise low-cost nutritious food
• Control micro-nutrient deficiencies amongst vulnerable groups

Indirect Policy Measures

• Ensure food security through increased production of food grains
• Improve dietary patterns by promoting products and increasing per capita availability of nutritionally rich food
• Effecting income transfers (improve the purchasing power of landless, rural and urban poor; expand and improve public distribution system)
• Other: Implement land reforms (tenure, ceiling laws) to reduce the vulnerability of poor; increase health and immunisation facilities, and nutrition knowledge; prevent food adulteration; monitor nutrition programmes and strengthen nutrition surveillance; community participation

Plans, Programmes and Missions

• The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) (Mid-day Meal Programme) on 15 August 1995. The objective of the scheme is to help improve the effectiveness of primary education by improving the nutritional status of primary school children.
• India’s Nutrition Policy of 1993 was shaped on the basis of a detailed understanding of the factors responsible for the occurrence of malnutrition.
• National Food Security Act 2013 aims to ensure greater access to an adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices. Up to 75 per cent of eligible rural and 50 per cent of eligible urban population as identified by States/UTs are entitled to receive food grains (five kg per person per month of rice, wheat, coarse grains at subsidized prices of INR 3/2/1 per kg, respectively) under the Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS) launched in June 1997. 
• POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) was launched by the government on March 8, 2018, to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.

The target of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% .

POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to ensure service delivery and interventions by use of technology, behavioural change through convergence and lays-down specific targets to be achieved across different monitoring parameters.

• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana was launched on January 1st, 2017, wherein the cash benefits are provided to pregnant women in their bank account directly to meet enhanced nutritional needs and partially compensate for wage loss.

Way Forward: 

Though, the government has taken every possible measure to comprehensively involve each and every stakeholder in the policy measure; certain other changes are required to be done in the policy implementation. They are:

1. Food Transformation:

•   When transformed with greater resilience to major drivers, including conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns, food systems can provide affordable healthy diets that are sustainable and inclusive, and become a powerful driving force towards ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms, for all.

2. Multi-Sectoral Policy Transformation: 

•   Preparation of district-level action plans; initiation of pilot projects; monitoring and evaluation of progress indices; and provision of meals to pregnant women at Anganwadi centres;
•   Make the State malnutrition-free within 10 years;
•   Create a database of pregnant mothers;
•   Modernise Anganwadis through the use of corporate social responsibility funds;
•   Improve nutrition awareness of communities;
•   Foster inter-sectoral collaboration for nutrition action among departments; and 
•   Sufficient information and reliable and updated data, and the operationalisation of a national nutrition surveillance system. 

Conclusion:

Attention, however, needs to be paid to understanding what prevents the nation from achieving its goals related to nutrition. Undoubtedly, the agencies of State governments have to adopt a comprehensive and coordinated multi-sectoral approach which is formulated by taking into account the varied nature of local-level challenges. They have to demonstrate better governance, too. For its part, civil society must respond in a responsible manner. In particular, attention needs to be paid on building neighbourhood health and nutrition profiles and carrying out interventions based on identified needs.

Question #2. Availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of E-governance initiatives are key to their effectiveness. However, most of these initiatives lack one or more of these aspects. Explain with the help of examples.

Approach:

•   The question requires the analysis of E-governance
•   The demand of the question is to examine how Availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability initiatives are key to the effectiveness of e-governance
•   In the introduction, define governance

Then enumerate initiatives of the government to promote E-governance but which lack any of the 4 aspects- Availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability

•   Conclude, by suggesting a way forward

Hints:

E-Governance or `electronic governance' is basically the application of Information and Communications Technology to the processes of Government functioning.

Availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of E-governance initiatives are key to their effectiveness because it leads to

•   Better access to information and quality services for citizens
•   Simplicity, efficiency, and accountability in the government
•   Expanded reach of governance
•   Resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and cost reductions.  
•   Greater coordination & communication b/w departments of government

Some of the initiatives taken by the government are MyGov. DigiLocker, DARPAN etc. However, most of these initiatives lack one or more of the following aspects.

•   Availability: Common Services Centres are not yet common in rural areas of the country
•   Accessibility: MyGov aims to establish a link between Government and Citizens towards meeting the goal of good governance.  It encourages citizens to participate in various activities i.e. discuss, poll, talk, etc. however lack of digital literacy makes this initiative inaccessible to illiterate citizens.
•   Affordability: Despitecheap the internet the cost and affordability of ICT are still a big issue for rural citizens.
•   Acceptability: DigiLocker serves as a platform to enable citizens to securely store and share their documents with service providers who can directly access them electronically.  However, this has not yet found success yet and conventional methods continue.

Conclusion

E-Governance is getting momentum in India, but public awareness and the digital divide are important issues to be addressed. Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan(PMGDISHA) which aims to make six crore people in rural India digitally literate is a step in the right direction