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- October 2019
Index
Toppers Talk
Art & Culture
Polity
- Right to access internet is fundamental right declares Kerala High Court
- Legal rights of Deities in India, Difference in Natural and Juristic Person
- Bru refugees refuse to return to Mizoram
- No animal sacrifice in Tripura temple-Orders High Court
- EC’s Order on Reducing Sikkim CM’s Disqualification Period
- Law Ministry issues corrigendum to Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act
- Appointment of the Judges in India.
- New Chief Justice of India- How is CJI appointed?
- Indian Penal Code 1860, HM Amit Shah wants to Overhaul IPC
- National Population Register (NPR) 2020
- Whistle Blowers Allegations on Infosys
Governance & Social Justice
- 60% girls in Delhi colleges anaemic
- Niti aayog’s School education quality index
- Multipurpose National Identity Card
- Population pyramid : India Vs China, Demographic dividend Phase of India
- UN Population Report, India will become the most populous country by 2027
- Supreme Court upholds SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendments Act
- Comparing Population Pyramids of India and China
- Waqf boards-Their governance and purpose
- Harvard Admissions Case
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- Ist Anniversary, Problems and solutions
- Significance of sexual and Reproductive Health-Status of reproductive services in India
- Pregnancy in Old Age, What is In Vitro Fertilisation-Risks and legal shortcomings
- Supreme Court Judgement on NGOs and RTI
- Social Stock Exchange
- Rajasthan Govt changes EWS norms, Sets Rs 8 lakh family income as only criteria
- Global hunger index 2019
- No Government job for those with more than two kids
- Ranitidine CANCER risk
- IIT Council Introduces Tenure track system
International Relations
- Bangladesh growing faster than India ?
- Cyprus dispute explained
- Donald Trump impeachment
- India wins Hyderabad Nizam case against Pakistan
- India’s reply to Pakistan at UNGA
- Prime Minister of Malaysia calls India and invader in Kashmir
- Should India recognise the armenian genocide ?
- Why are CARICOM countries important for India ?
- Why are countries leaving OPEC ?
- Attacks on Saudi Oil facilities
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation issues statement on Jammu and Kashmir
- Sri Lanka’s relations with India & China
- US troops start pullout in Syria as Turkey prepares for operation
- What are Vanilla Islands?
- India-USA trade deal
- UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award-2019
- Modi – Xi Informal meet at Mamallapuram – Historic Chinese links
- India China informal summit in Tamil nadu
- Pakistan save from FATF blacklist till 2020
- USA blacklists China organisations over Uighur Muslim abuse
- Why is Chile burning ?
- Why is the Philippines important for India
- Xi jinping Nepal visit 2019 and impact on India
- India Pakistan Cross LOC Trade suspended, Should India revoke suspension?
- Protests in Lebanon
- Chennai to Vladivostok Sea Route
- End of baghdadi
- Indian government’s security advisory
- Indians no longer require Visa to visit Brazil
- Non Aligned Movement 2019 summit
- US backed Ceasefire between Turkey and Kurds
- Pakistan stops postal exchange with India
- China’s GDP growth slows to 6% slowest in 27 years
- Common Goods for Health project by WHO
- Turkey attack Kurds in Syria
Geography
Economy
- Behavioural Aspect of Farmer Suicide
- Is rural India really open defecation free ?
- Global Growth Slow Down
- Nobel Prize in Economics 2019
- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
- SBI wrote off bad loans worth 76,000 crores
- Surge in Onion Price
- Agriculture Credit by RBI’s Internal Working Group
- What is Debt to GDP Ratio?
- Yes Bank Crisis
- Nobel prize in Literature – Controversy
- Boosting Indian Exports
- Sopore Fruit Mandi deserted
- What is Pink Collarisation?
- Mizoram to have Broad Gauge railway line by 2021
- Demand downturn in Indian Economy
- Payment facilitation fund
- Participatory Guarantee Scheme
- RBI’s 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy 2019-20
- Tourism restrictions lifted in Kashmir
- Link between Jobs, Farming, and Climate
- Draft Social Security Code 2019
- State Tax Revenues, SGST and Central Tax Devolution are likely to fall short
- Competitiveness Index 2019 by World Economic Forum
- NITI Aayog’s Water Resources Strategy
- BSNL and MTNL financial issues-DoT prepares Rs 74000 crore revival plan
- 20th Livestock Census
- India falls 10 ranks in World economic forum’s Global competitiveness index
- RBI stops Printing Rs 2000 Notes
- What is the Unified Approach proposal of OECD?
- FCI granaries overflowing
- India’s Economic Growth 2019
- Financial Sector Scams in India
- Labour Market of India
- New Strategic Disinvestment Process
- Payment Delays to Sugarcane Farmers
- Why India’s IMF Quota is not increased
- What is monetary policy Transmission? Why banks are not reducing interest
- Mahatma Gandhi’s theory of Economics
- India moves up 14 spots to 63 on world Bank ease of doing business index
- New amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act
- Power Sector Scenario in India
- Telecos to Pay Rs 96,642 crore to the Government
- Camel population declines in Rajasthan
- Merger of BSNL and MTNL
- World bank on Indian economy
Defence & Security
- Nagas Kukis Conflict, What is the cause of the latest tensions?
- Case against 50 Celebrities controversy
- Can Indian Government intercept WhatsApp?
- UP Government fires 25000 home guards, Is Yogi Government’s decision justified?
- NCRB’s Crime in India 2017 report
- Aadhaar Social Media mandatory linking case
- What is TechSagar? National repository of India’s cyber tech capabilities.
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- ISRO’S Project NETRA
- Facebook’s LIBRA Currency in trouble
- WHO launches first World report on Vision
- 2019 Nobel prize in physics
- 2019 Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine
- Elon musk’s starlink project
- NASA’s ICON mission
- New King of the Moons in the Solar system is Saturn
- What Is Spectroscopy ?
- Quantum supremacy
Environment
- Climate Vulnerable Mapping Of India
- C40 Cities
- Gujarat Unveils emission trading scheme
- Forest Plus 2.0
- Himalayan States seeks Green Bonus
- India to Phase Out Single Use Plastic (SUP) by 2022
- Role of Volcanoes in Global Warming
- NH 766 ban controversy, Protests in Kerala against night traffic ban on the forest stretch
- Climate Change needs Global Solution
- Aarey Forest -2185 trees to be cut for Mumbai metro
- Government to build 1400 km long Green wall
- Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi
- Aerosol formation brightening clouds
- Anthrax outbreak in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Two affected buffaloes died
- Species in News from June to October 2019
- Climate Action Summit 2019
Prelims bits

Tag: GS 2|| Governance & Social Justice|| Human Development || Health
Why In News?
- According to an analysis of data collected from ongoing anaemia detection and awareness camps of the Delhi government, about 60% of female students in Delhi colleges are anaemic, well above the national average.
Anaemia:
- Anaemia can cause weakness, breathlessness, lack of concentration and if the haemoglobin level falls quickly over a few days, it can even lead to cardiac failure.
- Anaemia is a condition in which a person has a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells or quantity of haemoglobin, which reduces the capacity of their blood to carry oxygen and can lead to a number of health problems, and even death.
- It is considered a severe public health problem if more than 40% of the population is diagnosed with anaemia.
- Men with haemoglobin levels of less than 13.0 grams (g) per decilitre (dL) are considered anaemic, as per World Health Organization norms. Women with levels lower than 12.0 g/dL are considered anaemic if they are not pregnant. Among pregnant women, levels lower than 11.0 g/dL signal
Prevalence
- Anaemia in women and children has been a major problem in India for half a century.
- According to National Family Health Survey-4, the national average of anaemia among women between 15 and 49 years is 53% and in Delhi it’s 54.3%.
- While the national average came down from 55.3% to 53% between NFHS-3 and NFHS-4, it rose from 44.3% to 55.3% in Delhi.
- Just over half (51%) of Indian women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) are anaemic, according to the just-released Global Nutrition Report 2017.
- Low haemoglobin levels lower productivity and cause illness and death, and thus impose an economic cost.
- The loss of gross domestic product to anaemia was estimated at $22.64 billion (Rs 1.50 lakh crore) in 2016, more than three times the health budget for 2017-18.
Details:
- Nutritional deficiency is by far the most common cause of anaemia worldwide.
- Nearly half the cases of nutritional deficiency-related anaemia in India are caused by consuming too little iron.
- Inadequate intake of the vitamins B9 (folate) and B12 is also a frequent cause.
- The state programme officer of Delhi said that the distribution of IFA tablets would be extended to colleges.
Steps taken by the government:
- The government is putting in place dedicated, preventive and promotive strategies to make India anaemia-free.
- A flagship programme to address anaemia in women and children was introduced as far back as 1970, the National Anaemia Prophylaxis Programme, concentrated on distributing iron and folic acid tablets among two vulnerable population segments–pregnant women, and children aged 1 to 5 years.
- In 1991, the flagship programme was renamed National Nutritional Anaemia Control Programme and made part of the National Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme, which attempts to cater to the overall needs of mothers and children pertaining to health and disease.
- Yet more than half the targeted population remained anaemic in 2015.
- Anaemia Mukt Bharat(AMB) was launched in the year 2018 as part of Intensified National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI) Program for accelerating the annual rate of decline of anaemia from one to three percentage points.
- The target groups for AMB are Children 6-59 months, 5-9 years, Adolescent Girls & Boys of 10-19 years, Women of Reproductive Age (15-49 years), Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers.
- Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) program includes supervised weekly ingestion of Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablet.
- To control worm infestation biannual deworming with Albendazole is
- Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)has been launched to focus on conducting special ANC check up on 9th of every month with the help of Medical officers/ OBGYN to detect and treat cases of anaemia.
Why Anaemia still persists?
- Low political commitment is one of the major reasons. Anaemia has not been taken as seriously as we should have.
- Interventions that look at possible means to enhance the dietary intake of iron such as food fortification in addition to iron and folic acid tablets have not been implemented.
- The supplements failed to reach all the intended beneficiaries in adequate amounts, and not all beneficiaries who received the supplements actually ingested them.
- Iron-folic acid supplements are meant to be distributed under the National Nutritional Anaemia Control Programme and the Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFAS) programme, an initiative introduced in 2013 to reduce adolescent anaemia, estimated to affect more than half of all adolescent girls and just under one in three adolescent boys.
- Fewer than one in three pregnant women have access to iron and folic acid supplements, according to NFHS-IV, even after the percentage of women consuming these supplements during pregnancy doubled between 2005-06 and 2015-16, from 15% to 30%.
Way forward:
- The programme as merely a preventive intervention given India’s high rates of malnutrition and maternal mortality. India has to continue to need an all-out effort against anaemia to prevent as well as manage it.
- To better target anaemia prevention and treatment, a pan-India survey of 100,000 children and adolescents was conducted to check for vitamin B12 deficiency and worm infestation.
- A parasitic infestation can cause malabsorption of essential nutrients, which, in turn, can cause anaemia, which is why de-worming tablets are also distributed under the existing iron and folic acid supplementation programmes.
- To improve the coverage of the WIFAS programme for adolescents, there are plans to use the Mid-Day Meal programme software that requires schools to update the number of beneficiaries every week.
- Efforts to improve supply to women have been on since the launch of the National Iron Plus programme in 2013, under which the government provides supplements to all women of reproductive age irrespective of their haemoglobin levels and pregnancy status, unlike earlier initiatives. What needs more emphasis is improved consumption.
- Creating awareness is particularly vital because anaemia can go undetected until it becomes severe.
- Greater awareness can boost community-wide demand for supplements, compelling wider distribution.
Additional Info
Mains Question
What are the Steps taken by the government in prevent Anaemia?