Tackling malnutrition
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition is a major contributor to the disease burden in India and a predominant risk factor for death among children younger than 5 years of age. The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest-ranking countries in the world for the number of children with malnutrition. More than one-third of the world's malnourished children live in India. Among these, half of the children under three years old are underweight. The major reason for stagnant levels of undernutrition among Indian children is because of a failure so far to adequately prevent undernutrition when it happens most – in the womb, which is caused by poor nutrition of women before and during pregnancy. According to the Registrar General of India, the mortality of children under the age of five was about 59 out of every 1,000 live births which is one of the highest rates in the world.
Poverty is one of the main causes for malnutrition in India. There are sections of population who do not get their daily nutrition because of their low income. Nutrition deficiencies inflict long-term damage to both individuals and society. Providing all people with access to healthy food is a challenge for every country, including India. The Government of India has launched several programmes to converge the growing rate of nutritious children. They include Integrated Child Development Services, NCF, National Health Mission and Mid Day Meal scheme. It facilitates a supplementary nutrition programme, growth monitoring and promotion, nutrition and health education, immunization, health check-ups and health referrals, as well as pre-school education. But due to corruption, people are still not getting properly benefitted from these schemes and food provided under these schemes are usually of good quality, so it does not fulfil the need of people suffering from malnutrition. So the government and authorities need to take proper steps to provide nutritional food, monitor growth and ensure regular health check-ups because every citizen need to be healthy to build a healthy society.
Also the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to contain it have had inevitable negative impacts. Rising unemployment, food supply disruption, a downturn in international trade, etc. pose serious challenges to the already precarious Indian food and nutrition security. It could in turn further intensify the existing problem of malnutrition among women and children.
This in turn accelerates undernutrition and lowers immunity in the midst of a pandemic, making them more prone to infections and diseases. COVID-19 has also substantially affected the network of government-run health and development centres. So also government needs to prepare an alternative way to control malnutrition in a situation like COVID-19 pandemic.
Aadarshine Rajkhowa
Cotton University
Covid protocol
According to media sources, Covid infections are slowly but steadily rising throughout Assam. Because most people no longer adhere to any Covid protocol, the rise in Covid infections poses a bigger problem. Each person is required to fulfil his/her obligations. Covid protocol avoidance on purpose will have severe consequences.
Chandan Kumar Nath,
Sorbhog.
Pathetic road condition
Through your esteemed daily I would like to draw the attention of the authority concerned to the pathetic condition of the National Highway-37 from Jorhat to Dibrugarh. The road has become a dead trap for small cars. The 'ponds' in the road can easily cause damage to a heavy vehicle as well. Driving becomes more dangerous on rainy days as the potholes fill with water and the driver cannot judge their depth. The breakdown is continuing in the newly-expanded portion too. Thousands of trees were cut years ago for the slothful-paced expansion project, and the result we are facing is some regular dust bath. I humbly request the authority to look into the matter and take necessary remedial steps.
Sourabh Pran Borah,
Teok.
Some achievements!
Since 2017, the two paper mills situated at Jagiroad and Cachar stopped functioning due to total mismanagement of the authority concerned, leaving all the employees to their fate. Due to non-payment of their monthly salaries for a long time many employees resorted to extreme steps even to the extent of committing suicide. Many attempts were made by the then government to revive the two sick mills without any viable results. But ultimately it was once again at the untiring initiatives of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma that a viable solution to the long-standing problem seems to be on the cards, bringing some respite to the helpless employees. This is no doubt some achievement indeed for the present government.
The recent drama enacted by Bhupen Borah and company at Silchar by their sit-in protest rally against the government for flood relief negligence when the flood water has receded was yet another eyesore for all. We feel that it is high time for Bhupen Borah to take political 'sanyas' or a sabbatical.
Dr Ashim Chowdhury,
Guwahati.
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect
I would like to draw people's attention towards Rocketry: The Nambi Effect. The masterpiece is written, produced and directed by the popular and talented artiste R Madhavan. It is a pleasant surprise for movie audiences to see cinema chronicling the life and achievements of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, unlike major bollywood films which have glorified gangsters, criminals, terrorists and trafficking. It is an excellent example of film-making, especially based on real life. Every citizen of the country should support Nambi Narayanan Sir whose struggle is still going on. It is a matter of great shame and sadness that the IAS officer who framed him was caught 2 to 3 weeks ago. And it is of greater shame that in Mission Mangal film, his development of Vikas engine which contributed immensely to Mangalyaan, was not even mentioned. Scientists like Vikram Sarabhai and APJ Abdul Kalam were sparingly mentioned. Cinema is a very powerful medium to tell stories of inspiring legends and the audience does have a choice to not see films glorifying criminals.
Samrendra Narayan Singh
singhsamrendra234@gmail.com