'We will give Rs 25,000 to parents having a second child or more at the time of delivery itself.'
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has directed schools to establish 'oil boards' to educate students and staff about the dangers of consuming high-fat foods and oils, serving as daily reminders to promote healthier eating habits.
The Union health ministry is urging all ministries and departments to display 'oil and sugar boards' in common areas to raise awareness about hidden fats and sugars in everyday foods and promote healthier lifestyles.
Food budgets in urban areas spent less on protein as compared to beverages and processed foods, reveals the Household Consumption Expenditure survey data for 2023-24.
The Bihar government has formed a state-level task force to monitor actions taken by authorities to prevent and eradicate child marriages in the state. Bihar has the second-highest rate of child marriage in India, with 40.8% of women getting married before turning 18. The government is implementing a multipronged strategy to combat child marriage, including stricter enforcement of the law, empowering girls through education, and raising awareness.
The decline in life expectancy was higher among young individuals and those aged 50 to 60.
In India, 11.9 lakh excess deaths occurred in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17 per cent higher compared to 2019, an international study has found.
On the heels of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), which revealed new demographic trajectories including the replacement level of fertility, the government will, on Monday, unveil extensive economic data related to health and the broader economy. New data will relate to per capita spending on health and proportions of the GDP to health spending. Health ministry sources said the NFHS-5 marked some areas for celebration but also some markers that should cause concern.
In the Interim Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a high power committee would be set up to consider the challenges arising from 'fast population grown and demographic changes.' 'But who wants data? It pays to feed people's fears, insecurities and apprehensions. If such fears don't exist, they must be created,' her husband Parakala Prabhakar says in this fascinating excerpt from his book, The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on a Republic in Crisis.
The Global Hunger Index exaggerates the measure of hunger, lacks statistical vigour and has problems on multiple counts, Union Health Ministry sources said.
Bihar has fertile grounds for caste to emerge as an electoral issue.
India remains a young nation, but it will not get younger in future. India has not managed to noticeably improve education. Nor has it managed to create employment opportunities, observes Devangshu Datta.
'The response from the government using words like malicious, deliberate, etc is diverting from the real issue.' 'The indicators related to young children such as stunting or child mortality are a reflection of the social development in the country.' 'That's how we have to look at it and not ignore the issue by denying the data.'
But the report also said that early marriage has been declining over time.
Efforts of the government have been successful in reining in the growth of population, she said in a written reply.
As per the fifth round of the NFHS, there are 1,020 women for every 1,000 men.
A timely phone call to Childline by a 15-year-old girl from a remote village in West Bengal's Purulia district helped the teenager prevent her marriage.
Experts, however, have raised concern over the decision, saying the move is akin to treating symptoms instead of the underlying causes.
At some stage this fall in the quality of life will begin to hurt anybody's popularity, observes Shekhar Gupta.
India has entered a 'demographic sweet spot' with half of its population being under the age of 29. This 'demographic dividend' is likely to last for 2-3 decades and provides the government a unique opportunity to harness the vast potential of India's youth, points out Raj Kishore Mishra, the former civil servant turned development professional.
The supplementary nutrition programme and the Poshan Abhiyaan under the Women and Child Development Ministry has been merged to launch Mission Poshan 2.0 to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, according to the Union Budget announced on Monday.
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