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The problem is: People do not know much about the programmes and the authorities are not doing enough to make them popular. In the last seven years the country had not made any progress to improve the nourishment situation. The malnourishment level among Indian children
has gone down by merely one percent. While 47 percent of children were malnourished seven years back, currently it is 46 percent. Furthermore, every year 2.1 million children in India do not survive to celebrate their fifth birthday. This means one out of every five children under the age of five dying worldwide is an Indian.

The building capacity, integration of NRHM and the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) of the Ministry of Women & Child Development and better awareness campaigns are required to improve India's health situation. The programme needs to be made more effective and goal-oriented. It needs very good managers who can work on a Gandhian mission and vocational commitment to improving rural health.

Concluded.

Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth started his career as Lecturer at Post Graduate Dept. of Economics, Government College, Gurdaspur, and later at Khalsa College; Amritsar, specializes in Quantitative & Development Economics. Has the distinction of serving Punjab Agricultural Univ, Ludhiana, for more than 2 decades and remained Director-Principal of Saint Soldier Management & Technical Institute, Jalandhar. Currently, heading GAD Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar, a self-financed research institute. Has been honoured with various awards, including Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award, etc.
Article posted on December 14, 2008.