problem of malnutrition

The problem of malnutrition is multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral in nature. The Government is implementing several schemes which have an impact on the nutritional status of the people. 
 

                  The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Schemes is being implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development through state Governments/UT Administrations.

                  The scheme provides a package of six services, namely supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, nutrition & health education, immunization, health check-up and referral services. Three of the six services namely immunization, health check-up and referral services are delivered through the public health system of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

            The Government has recently taken various steps which include univesalisation of the schemes with special focus on SC/ST and minority habitations, revision in cost norms as well as the Nutritional and Feeding norms of the Supplementary Nutrition component of ICDS.

Besides the ICDS, the Government is implementing a number of other schemes throughout the country, which directly or indirectly affect the nutritional status of women and children. Some of these are as follows. 

Reproductive & Child Health Programme under the National Rural Health Mission being implemented by the ministry of Health & Family Welfare has interventions which include Janani Surasksha Yojana (JSY) to promote institutional deliveries; Immunization; Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness; Specific Programmes to prevent and combat micronutrient deficiencies of Vitamin A and Iron& Folic Acid through Vitamin A supplementation of children till the age of 5 years and Iron & Folic acid.

(i)             Iron and folic acid supplementation for infant, pre-school children adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women; iodized salt is being provided for combating Iodine Deficiency Disorders.

(ii)            Mid-Day Meal programme of Department of School Education and Literacy.

(iii)           Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls and Kisori Shakti Yojna of Ministry of Women and Child Development.

(iv)          Availability of essential food items at subsidized cost through Targeted public Distribution System and Antodaya Anna Yojna by Department of Food and Consumer Affairs.

(v)           Provision of safe drinking water under the National Drinking Water Programme and sanitation under the Total Sanitation Campaign of Ministry of Rural Development etc.

Conservation of Lesser Cats in India

The Government of India has taken the following measures to conserve and protect wildlife, including all the lesser cats species, in the country:

i.              Threatened species of wildlife including all the lesser cats are included in the Schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby affording them the highest degree of protection.

ii.             A network of Protected Areas has been established to conserve wildlife and their habitats including rare animals.

iii.            Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been set up to check illegal trade in wildlife and its products.

iv.            Financial and technical assistance is extended to the State/UT Governments under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes, namely, ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats', ‘Project Tiger’ and ‘Project Elephant’ for providing better protection and conservation of wildlife.

v.             The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has been amended from time to time and made more stringent against wildlife related offences.

Lesser cats are part of faunal life along with other species. A network of protected areas viz. National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation and Community Reserves has been established in the country.   Lesser cats, along with other species are afforded protection in these Protected Areas. The state wise details of Protected Areas in India are at Annexure-I .

As per BirdLife International, there are 465 Important Bird Areas in India. State-wise details of Important Bird Areas are at Annexure-II.  The Important Bird Areas Programme of BirdLife International aims to identify, monitor and protect a global network of Important Bird Areas for the conservation of the world's birds and other biodiversity. Important Bird Areas are identified, monitored and protected by national and local organisations and individuals.

The Government of India consider all the ecological factors including the  biodiversity occurring in the area while examining the proposals for diversion of the forest land of the Protected Areas for the developmental projects.

Plants Nullifying Ill Effect of Toxic Gases

It is a fact that forests and jungles have the capacity to nullify the ill effects of the toxic gases. It is well recognized that plants play an important role in reducing air pollutants including toxic gases. Government is encouraging green belt in the industrial premises, urban conglomerates, road sides etc. While granting environmental clearance to industrial projects, the Ministry stipulates a condition to develop green belt for mitigating air pollution as per the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) determined on the basis of leaf extract PH, ascorbic acid, total chlorophyll and relative water content varies among different plant species. Some studies have indicated that Ficus, Albizia, Pithecelobium, Phyllanthus and Polyalthia are some of the trees having high APTI.

Launch of IPv6

The Government decided to facilitate the use of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) in the country in June 2009.

National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap was released in July 2010. Salient features of this roadmap include action plan for telecom service providers, formation of Task Force for implementation of IPv6, formation of Indian IPv6 Centre for Innovation and development of standards and specifications for IPv6 conformance and interoperability etc.

The steps taken by the Government for transition from Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) to IPv6 by stakeholders include the following.

         i.            Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) in Department of Telecom is coordinating with all stakeholders for transition from (IPv4) to IPv6.

       ii.            Central Government Ministries/Departments, State Governments and Telecom operators have been advised to procure IPv6 complaint equipments.

      iii.            Five workshops were held in New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata during 2009-10 for creating awareness and working out methodology for transition from (IPv4) to IPv6.

     iv.            IPv6 training program was held in November 2009 in association with Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), Australia.

       v.            Checklist for facilitating (IPv4) to IPv6 transition has been issued by TEC in December 2009.

     vi.            Interactions and meetings are held by TEC with nodal officers from various government organizations and service providers for transition to IPv6.

    vii.            It has been decided to form a Task Force on IPv6 implementation with three tier structure having oversight committee, steering committee and nine working groups.

Growth of Telecom Sector

The Union Government has taken various steps in line with strategy to spur Telecom Sector Growth.  These are:

• Setting up of an independent regulatory body in 1997 – the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), to assure investors that the sector would be regulated in a balanced and fair manner. Further changes in the regulatory system took place with the TRAI Act of 2000 that aimed at restoring functional clarity and improving regulatory quality. TRAI has come out with various regulations and directions, which included Telecom Mobile Number Portability regulation 2009, Telecom Tariff order 2009 as well as orders regarding Quality of Service etc.
• The Universal Service Obligation fund has been introduced in 2003 as a mechanism for transparent cross subsidization of universal access in telecom sector. The fund was to be collected through a 5 percent levy on the adjusted gross revenue of all telecom operators.
• Opening up of its telecom sector to foreign investors up to 100 percent holding in manufacturing of telecom equipment, internet services, and infrastructure providers (e-mail and voice mail), 74 percent in radio-paging services, internet (international gateways) and 49 percent in national long distance, basic telephone, cellular mobile, and other value added service.
• Decision of not capping on the number of access providers in any service area. 122 new UAS licenses were granted in 2008 to 17 companies in 22 service areas for benefit of consumers by increased competition.
• Permission of dual technology spectrum under the same UAS/CMTS licence.
• Decision to introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP), that will alow susbscribers to retain their existing numbers while switching over from one service provider to another.
• With a view to regulate unsolicited calls from telemarketers, a regulation has been implemented whereby “National DO not call Registry” has been put in place.
• Conclusion of Auction of 3G/BWA Spectrum in 22 circles for Telecom Service Providers. Rollouts expected by the end of 2010.
• Target has been set to achieve 40% rural teledensity by 2012.
• Target has further been set to achieve 20 million Broadband connections by end of 2010.
• Broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats by 2012.