You wouldn’t know that the government’s National Family Health Survey-5 shows that across India, children born between 2014 and 2019 are more malnourished than the previous generation. At least one of the three aspects of child undernutrition (stunting, wasting, being underweight) has gone up in 14 out of 17 states.
Yet, the FM simply merged existing central schemes to create “Poshan 2.0,” a staggeringly underfunded scheme whose allocation is barely 0.3 percent higher than its cash-starved predecessors. Overall, allocation for nutrition has fallen by 27 percent year-on-year. Clearly, this government does not value the health of the poor.
You wouldn’t know that India is reeling from a pandemic that has exposed the weaknesses of its public healthcare sector. The budget touts an astronomical 137 percent increase in healthcare outlay. This increase has been accomplished through some statistical skulduggery. Allocations for Water and Sanitation and the Finance Commission grants…