Mains Q & A 14 December 2022
Q1. Bhagat Singh and his comrades broadened the scope and significance of the Revolution. No longer was revolution solely associated with terrorism or murder. Elaborate. (250 words)
Paper & Topic: GS I Modern Indian History
Introduction
Bhagat Singh was a giant of an intellectual who, at the time, was a well-read political leader in addition to being a legendary revolutionary, thinker, and reader. Despite engaging in lethal combat with Britons, he remained devoted about reading and writing. He studied so that he could defend his cult of patriotism and be prepared to counter any arguments made by anyone who did not agree with him.
Body
A fresh perspective and understanding of revolution
Revolution was no longer associated with violence and bloodshed.
The goal was national liberation; following the overthrow of imperialism, a new socialist society was to be established, putting an end to “exploitation of man by man.”
“Revolution does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife, nor is there a place in it for personal retribution,” Bhagat Singh remarked in court. The bomb and weapon cult is not here. The necessity for a shift from the manifestly unfair status quo is referred to as a revolution.
Bhagat said that in addition to being freed from the yoke of foreign oppressors, peasants also needed to be freed from the yoke of landlords and capitalists. Bhagat fully adopted Marxism and the class approach of society.
The conflict in India would go on as long as a small group of exploiters uses the labour of regular people to advance their own objectives, he said.
It doesn’t really matter if the exploiters are wholly Indian, British businessmen, or joint ventures between British and Indian companies.
He offered a logical definition of socialism that calls for eliminating class prejudice and capitalism.
Two of the six rules Bhagat established for the Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha were that its members would avoid collaborating with organisations with a sectarian bent and would encourage tolerance for everyone, treating religion as a matter of personal conviction. This demonstrates how completely and deliberately secular Bhagat was.
According to Bhagat Singh, becoming a revolutionary needed “immense moral fortitude, but one also needs critique and independent thought.” He also recognised the value of releasing people from the psychological constraints imposed by superstition and religion.
Conclusion
Bhagat Singh and his friends significantly advanced the cause of national liberation. The Indian people were moved by their fervent patriotism, perseverance, and sense of sacrifice. They aided in increasing the country’s nationalist consciousness.
Q1. Bhagat Singh and his comrades broadened the scope and significance of the Revolution. No longer was revolution solely associated with terrorism or murder. Elaborate. (250 words)
Paper & Topic: GS II Government Policies and Interventions
Introduction
According to the Global Hunger Report, when the government merely offers free or deeply discounted wheat and rice, hunger is only reduced in terms of calorie intake. The ongoing lack of vitamins and minerals is known as “Hidden Hunger.”
People who experience this lack of micronutrients for healthy growth and development because the dietary requirements of the food they consume are not met.
Body
India’s efforts to guarantee its food supply
According to the National Food Security Act, over 800 million people are served by the Public Distribution System (PDS), over 100 million people are served by Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which has a network of 1.4 million Anganwadi Centers, and nearly 120 million school-aged children receive mid-day meals (MDM).
The recently revealed flagship project of the Ministry of Women and Child Development would be based on the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), also known as Poshan Abhiyaan. It has a $9,046 crore budget and is expected to receive a $200 million loan from the World Bank.
NITI Aayog, which worked on the National Nutrition Strategy, identified the 100 districts with the greatest incidence of stunting (NNS). Projects in these districts received higher priority.
The Poshan Abhiyaan has also established three-year goals to eliminate stunting, undernutrition, and low birth weight by 2% annually and reduce anaemia by 3% annually. The National Nutrition Strategy (NNS) has set some tremendously ambitious objectives for 2022.
Convergence, capacity building, infant and young child feeding (IYCF), food and nutrition, immunisation, institutional delivery, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), de-worming, ORS-Zinc, food fortification, dietary diversification, adolescent nutrition, maternal health and nutrition.
India has a serious issue with unrecognised hunger
Out of 107 countries, India is the 94th least hungry according to the Global Hunger Index 2020.
According to a health research done in 2015–16, more than 80% of mothers in India do not receive all the prenatal care they need, one in three infants in the country are stunted, more than 50% of pregnant women, and teenage girls are anaemic.
The preliminary results of the National Family Health Survey-5, 2019–20 indicate to a depressing reality.
2 million people in India are undernourished, according to FAO estimates in “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020.”
According to the study, 7% of children under the age of five in India are stunted (too small for their age) and 20% of infants under the age of five are wasting away (weight is too low for their height).
Anaemia and iron deficiency are ongoing issues in India.
Each year, more than one-third of the food that is produced for human use is lost or wasted globally.
Inadequate supply chain management results in the loss of 40% of the produce for fruits and vegetables and 30% of the grain produced.
In fact, many contend that millets, a traditional source of iron and minerals, have been forced off the market as a result of the NFSA’s reliance on wheat and rice.
A startling 90% of households stated that their food intake had decreased, according to studies, and 66% of houses had less food available than they did prior to the outbreak.
It is difficult for people who are less fortunate to acquire weekly iron and folic acid supplements as well as lunchtime meals because schools are still closed.
Supply chain problems have made it more difficult for Indian social safety net programmes to provide nutrient-rich meals and vitamin supplements.
Despite improvements in food accessibility, India still has high rates of malnutrition due to unhygienic conditions and a lack of access to clean water.
Unspoken worries regarding hunger
Children and women are more vulnerable.
The majority of women and children who experience “hidden hunger” reside in South Asia, particularly India.
important negative effects on health From conception to age two, it has particularly serious negative effects on children’s health and survival, with negative effects on both their physical and cognitive development.
Financial Cost: Medical expenses, the loss of human capital, and the decline in economic production lay a heavy weight on society and those who are impacted.
What should be done is
Throughout a child’s first 1,000 days of life, early life-cycle interventions must be used to lower the risk of infection and sever the link between malnutrition, illness, and mortality.
Stunting can only be reduced by 20% with direct dietary treatments; the remaining 80% must be addressed through indirect measures including access to water, sanitation, and hygiene.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should support behaviour change through social messaging, information-education-communication efforts for expectant and nursing women, policy complementarities with household sanitation, and social messaging.
Policy must promote the availability of affordable, rights-based nutrition programmes that address gender, community, and regional disparities.
To combat rising undernutrition, the Global Hunger Index report advises shifting back to traditional meals made up of readily available, biodiverse foods from the neighbourhood.
A nodal government organisation should be established to manage multi-sectoral programmes like the ICDS, the National Rural Health Mission, the midday meal programme, and the public distribution system in order to bring disparate efforts together and accomplish time-bound nutrition targets.
Fortification is a scalable, economical method for increasing nutritional intake that can be used on a variety of common commodities, such as wheat, flour, rice, and edible oils. To promote the use of fortified ingredients in the hot prepared meals offered by the ICDS, standards for food fortification should be established and suggestions revised.
The best strategy to improve a population’s nutrition is to diversify their diet because this can increase their intake of numerous nutrients, not just micronutrients like probiotics and antioxidants.
To increase micronutrient status, numerous low-cost, food-based programmes can be undertaken locally.
To assist individuals in learning specific behaviours that can enhance both the accessibility of food and the absorption of micronutrients, culturally relevant dietary modifications should be established. This information must be disseminated to the broader public through traditional media channels.
The government ought to encourage public-private cooperation in this area. By utilising technical solutions to scale up food fortification programmes through neighborhood-wide public awareness and education campaigns, the corporate sector can support government outreach initiatives.
Conclusion
Early childhood nutrition must get top priority if India wants to ensure that its development relies on rock-solid foundations. India must prioritise nutrition in its health plan and develop the institutional infrastructure that supports the administration of treatments if it is to reap the long-term demographic gains.
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